How I Manage by Wandering Around 
 

Hi folks! 

This again is a post from a decade ago when I was the Medical Director in a multispecialty hospital in Calicut in the little state of Kerala in India. 

Yes, we had started a New Year, and it was the time to make resolutions and stick to them. Of course, that was always the difficult part. Making new year resolutions is very easy, the difficult part is following them diligently. 

For the past year I had been taking "rounds", not medical, but management rounds every day between 3 and 4 pm when the wards in my hospital and most areas in the hospital are less crowded and the personnel are less busy. In management parlance, this is called Management By Walking/Wandering Around (MBWA). I was told about the benefit of this practice by one senior management consultant who was a close friend. This had paid off dividends like I never imagined. 

People always come out openly with problems when you meet them in their home turf instead of 'summoning' them to your office to talk to them, give them feedback about their performance or ask for suggestions. They feel more comfortable when you meet them in their familiar surroundings, and they feel that you are more "approachable" and come out with issues before they turn into real problems. This was the real reason why I preferred to take my administrative rounds in the afternoons going around the hospital. 

When you meet a worker or a staff member in their familiar setting, they tend to trust you more and this can thaw relationships and remove the impediments to effective communication. And specifically, if you speak to them in their mother tongue or a vernacular language, you will be more effective and get your message across. Many things can be accomplished by this simple method as they develop trust in you. 

Also, I have learned many new things by sharing with the staff members which would have been impossible had I confined myself to my office. By wandering or walking around you get to understand the working and functions of the organisation better. 

When you walk around and meet people and chat informally getting to know them, listening most of the time, nodding, but not speaking much or criticizing them, they feel better motivated to follow your advice rather than you accosting them from a pulpit and trying to inspire them. 

You can boost their morale by this, as this type of interaction makes them feel better about their jobs and when they are heard by a person superior to them, it gives them a boost to do better. 

But one should also be cautious when implementing the MBWA policy. You should be careful to look relaxed, not to take a contingent of people with you while going for rounds, listen and observe more than you speak and go around all areas equally without concentrating only on specific areas. I for one, go on such rounds alone, never accompanied by any other staff member. Never judge or criticize when you are on such a round. Chat with them rather than giving them instructions.  Do not be didactic. 

And of course, don't overdo it. 

It has paid off wonderful dividends in my case and I find that their smile and greetings are sincere and warm when they meet me as they feel that I am genuinely interested in them and their welfare. 

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