How would you handle a scenario where a team member is resistant to taking on additional workload?

Assessing workload is a key factor. In case I feel they have the required bandwidth, I will have a private conversation with the individual and try to convince them of the importance of the task to the project as well as tge team. In case they still refuse, this will be added to their next review conversation.

To address your team member's resistance effectively, start by evaluating their current workload to ensure it is manageable. Engage in open communication to discuss their tasks, deadlines, and the time needed for each activity. This dialogue will shed light on whether their resistance stems from workload capacity or other underlying concerns. Fairly distributing work among team members is crucial for efficient practice management and fostering a productive work environment.

Perform a staffing analysis on all qualified to take on the work. Ask the team to list out all the tasks they do in a day and the time they spend on each. Shadow each team member and perform a time study analysis on each task they do within the timeframe, even if it is considered downtime. Analyze the nonvalue and value-added time, compare the list to the actual time spent doing what, identifying items that can be taken off their list and that you can replace with a value-added activity. Also, you can use the results to promote level loading. If the team is capable of performing certain tasks, but one has more availability than the others, you have solved the issue.

I would meet with the team member to discuss his ambivalence, while reviewing his current workload. I would ask about his goals in the organization and discuss how increasing his workload successfully would make him more valuable to the organization. Prior to all of this, a manager must assess his personnel to decide who is the right person to delegate to.

To me, this is key to understanding the hesitancy. We can’t address the issue until we know this answer. When we do, we’ll understand next steps.

Creating standardized expectations for certain roles are key to driving productivity in the workplace. It’s also important to use data driven, evidenced based resources as your source of truth when setting expectations. When you are sharing the expectations with your team, it’s important to include your resources and sharing the “why” behind the goals. Often times, when you bring in data and resources, your team will respond better to the request. For example, imaging techs have productivity standards that are driven by quality and accreditation standards. These standards and quality of care should be discussed and the resources can be shared so they better understand the expectations for their role.