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34 NOVEMBER 2017 | EMSWORLD.com W hile organizations may vest an enormous responsibility in their front-line supervisors, the ability of managers to coordi- nate activities, resolve conflicts and work across traditional boundaries is critical to agency growth and success. Unfortunate- ly, certain common traps can ensnare even the most seasoned manager. Here's how to navigate them. 1. Don't Let Your Boss Get Blindsided A famous political maxim is "Always be the bearer of your own bad news." An important corollary to that is that you have to watch your boss' back. Your boss has to trust you, as you are essentially acting as an arm of your chief officer(s) by managing functional areas and keeping their span of control reasonable. That trust is built on competence, consistency, integrity and, most of all, communications. If you're going to be successful in watching your boss' back, you'll have to develop your own trust relationships. If your staff trust you, they will come to you with issues before those issues become problems. They will share critical intelligence with you because they know you can keep something in confi- dence or will act when it's appropriate. This trust goes all the way down the line to every employee and provider in the system, not just those who report directly to you. The worst thing that can happen is that your boss finds out something that you knew about, or should have known about, via an external source. This demonstrates that you do not have the pulse of your organization, and it limits or removes the time you other- wise might have had to gather further infor- mation, develop a consistent message and, most important, for your boss to control the flow of information up to his or her boss! Of course this does not mean you should inundate your boss with information. An essential part of your job involves triaging the stuff that gets up the chain of com- mand—what can you act on immediately and not even bother the boss with; what can you handle but should let him or her know about right away; and what you need to get clearance on before you act. Knowing these levels of authority and using them to effectively keep your boss in the loop is essential for a good manager. 2. No 'Second Opinions' One of the most common occurrences in EMS agencies, especially in larger departments, is that employees will shop around for an opinion. They will go to one supervisor or manager with an issue, and if they don't like the answer they get, they'll simply go to another one. If they don't like what mom says, they just go ask dad! Like in a family, this ends up being divisive. It creates conflict between mom and dad, and it can yield inconsistency that can dam- age operations and create human resources problems. In a family, it's fairly easy to pre- vent this from happening. In an organization it's much more challenging. The solution to this is regular, ongoing and detailed communication between relevant personnel, but this is easier said than done. Communication should be both horizontal (for example, between different supervisors on other shifts or around parts of a larger system) and vertical (up and down the chain of command). There is no magic bullet for this, as each system has different structures and needs. You can use a daily operational huddle, where everyone on shift spends 15 or 30 minutes getting on the same page and THE EMS MANAGER'S It's a tough role linking the front lines to the top—here's what to know By Matthew R. Streger, Esq. This article is the second in a series of three focusing on common pitfalls that may trip up EMS leaders. In keeping with the National EMS Management Association's officer competencies, lessons will be divided into those for supervisors, managers and executives. Find Part 1, for supervisors, at www.emsworld.com/article/218771. FOR SUCCESS 7 KEYS