How a Medical Technologist Can Benefit from Office Politics – Part Two
This blog is a continuation of the previous blog, please see it for more background on the information in this blog.
A medical technologist who wants to start using politics carefully to get ahead would be wise to consider how success is measured by leaders in the organization for which he or she works. If a medical technologist knows what exactly the goals the organization looks to meet are, then that medical technologist can focus on those goals specifically. It also makes sense for a medical technologist to carefully consider the manager’s style. A medical technologist should think about whether the way that they work is fitting in with the manager’s style. A medical technologist can observe those who the manager praises and promotes, and once determining what skills and methods the manager prefers, a medical technologist can work to improve those skills within themselves.
The last important thing that a medical technologist can remember when becoming involved in office politics is never to make enemies. Be friendly and inclusive to everyone in the lab, don’t ever exclude other medical technologists. Work to find common interests to become closer to other medical technologists. Try to help other medical technologists to get ahead, because if you help others to do better, this will probably be recognized as a strength on your part. Working to build relationships within the lab will also help the whole laboratory because if the medical technologists understand each other better, the lab will most likely function more effectively.
Find a job as a medical technologist.
Source:
Glenn, Dave (October 6, 2008) Why Playing Office Politics is Essential. Advance for Medical Laboratory Professionals. Page 7.
Office Politics Video Guide for a Medical Technologist – Part Two
This is the second video about how to play office politics successfully. This video is not geared towards medical technologists specifically, but it offers several tips that will help medical technologists and just about anyone who works with others.
Find a job as a medical technologist.
Office Politics Video Guide for a Medical Technologist – Part One
The last blog I posted was about office politics and how a medical technologist can be involved while maintaining integrity. This video, while not specifically geared towards medical technologists, offers some great insight into office politics.
Find a job as a medical technologist.
How a Medical Technologist Can Benefit from Office Politics – Part One
Office politics are usually considered to be a negative thing that most medical technologists try to avoid. However, when the office politics are played correctly by a medical technologist, they can really be helpful. Politics can help to advance a medical technologist’s team goals. Politics can also help advance a medical technologist’s career, without a medical technologist having to put integrity on the back burner.
Often, medical technologists associate politics with being manipulative in order to get ahead. Because of this belief, medical technologists sometimes want to stay as far away from politics as possible. But, this can lead to medical technologists being overlooked for advancement opportunities. It is best to have the best of both worlds as a medical technologist, which means being involved with politics while holding onto integrity.
One easy way to be involved in politics as a medical technologist is to help those in the lab with influence to accomplish their goals and the laboratories goals, so long as the goals are moral. This way, you will be recognized as valuable and will get more opportunities to advance because a person with influence in office politics sees you as valuable.
Office politics are all about learning how to influence people effectively and make advantageous relationships with those who can influence people to your benefit. There are ways that medical technologists can do this without being selfish.
Check back soon for part two of this blog.
Find a job as a medical technologist.
Source:
Glenn, Dave (October 6, 2008) Why Playing Office Politics is Essential. Advance for Medical Laboratory Professionals. Page 7.
What a Histotechnician can do to Keep Peace in the Lab – Part Three
If a histotechnician’s job is standardized, it can help reduce conflict. Every histotechnician in the lab should know exactly what they are expected to do and how they are expected to do so. This way, there won’t be arguing between histotechnicians about differing workloads or processes.
Managers of histotechnicians can also have group activities outside of the work place in order to allow histotechnicians to interact on a personal level and get to know each other better. If histotechnicians see each others’ families and feel like they know each other on a more personal level, this can help lower conflict.
If a manager sees that one histotechnician is often involved with conflicts, it is important to talk to that histotechnician promptly. The manager should discuss what motivates the histotechnician to start conflicts and make sure there is no underlying problem. If no problem that can be solved is found, the histotechnician should be told that the behavior will not be tolerated and made aware of the consequences.
Conflict should always be handled when it arises, never ignored. Conflict decreases the productivity of histotechnicians and could cause errors. Conflict can also cause a histotechnician to be unhappy at work, which might be seen by those interacting with the histotechnician. Even though histotechnicians don’t speak often with patients directly, they speak to those who do speak with patients, and unhappiness can be a chain reaction. So, whether conflict is a daily occurrence, or whether it happens only occasionally between histotechnicians, managers should be ready to resolve the conflict.
Find a job as a histotechnician.
Source:
Koehler, Amanda (October 20, 2008) Controlling Conflict. Advance for Medical Laboratory Professionals. page 24-25.
What a Histotechnician can do to Keep Peace in the Lab – Part Two
Avoiding conflict entirely is also a problem. Those histotechnicians who do not want to deal with issues that could result in conflict do not deal with issues that need to be resolved. Some amount of conflict and disagreement is also necessary to come up with new ideas and personal growth for histotechnicians in the lab.
Managers of histotechnicians will probably have a tough time predicting when these conflicts might happen, or between which histotechnicians they might happen. There can be negative personal feelings between two histotechnicians that might never actually rise to the level of conflict. Or, those negative feelings between histotechnicians might come to the surface with no warning that a manager could see.
It is important to recognize that things such as small spaces and a room temperature that is too warm or too cold can affect a histotechnician’s mood, and cause conflict where there wouldn’t have been any conflict normally.
Histotechnicians should be encouraged by managers to work out issues with each other if possible, before escalating the situation by bringing in a manager. Involving a manager can create resentment which will make the relationship even worse than it was before, so it is best for histotechnicians to work with each other if possible. However, there are situations where managers should get involved right away. These situations are those which could negatively affect patient care, or those that involve intentional inappropriate behavior.
Check back soon for part three of this blog.
Find a job as a histotechnician.
Source:
Koehler, Amanda (October 20, 2008) Controlling Conflict. Advance for Medical Laboratory Professionals. page 24-25.
What a Histotechnician can do to Keep Peace in the Lab – Part One
Some amount of arguing and bickering goes on in nearly any workplace. Laboratories where histotechnicians work are no exception. Conflict if left unresolved can damage the lab environment by compromising relationships between histotechnicians and in turn causing stress on the job. Stress on the job means more turnover, and more absences. The end result of conflict will often be lower productivity. Even with perfect management, conflict between histotechnicians will probably still exist, but proper management can bring lower the level of conflict significantly.
Controlling and minimizing conflict is easier for a histotechnician when the reasons why the problems come up in the first place are understood. Often, disagreements come up between two histotechnicians and are based upon personal feelings. Reasons that two histotechnicians might harbor negative feelings for each other might include differences in religion, politics, race, mannerisms, and personalities.
Disagreements about work related things are quite common also. Histotechnicians will argue about who is doing more work or who is taking more breaks. Sometimes a histotechnicians will blame an error on another histotechnician.
Conflict is much more likely between histotechnicians when there are misunderstandings. Communication is one of the most important things histotechnicians can work on to minimize conflict. It can be so easy for two histotechnicians to have an honest misunderstanding that leads to conflict.
Check back soon for part two of this blog.
Find a job as a histotechnician.
Source:
Koehler, Amanda (October 20, 2008) Controlling Conflict. Advance for Medical Laboratory Professionals. page 24-25.
