Questionnaire

I should have read Stephen Covey much before I actually did, Actually, I would have benefited tremendously if I had the book in my formative years, But probably Covey himself was in his formative years at that time. Anyway I read his book much after I went through the hurt I felt I did not deserve, and being people-centered then, it hurt quite a lot. It all began after I became Head of my department. I had been a resident doctor in the same institute20 years ago, but somehow it did not feel such a long time ago. I still felt the pains I had experienced as a resident, and wanted to set things right for those doing residency now, and for those who would do it in future. I held a few meetings with the resident doctors, trying to find out their current problems, and how they expected to get them solved. The meetings yielded nothing. They would just stare somewhere waiting for the meeting to get over, so that they could go away to do whatever they had to. I decided not to waste everybody's time, and asked them to elect one representative for each unit, I would meet the six representatives every fourth Thursday. Now six residents started staring somewhere, waiting for the meetings to get over. Nothing was gained, Then I declared that only those representatives who had any problems or anything to discuss should attend the meetings. I was astonished to find that I was the only person attending the meeting. I knew very well that things were not so well that they did not have any problems. I don't know why they refused to communicate with me, though I had been Adult-Adult in my approach,. Perhaps they were conditioned to expect a Parent-Child relationship with their bosses, and could not accept anything different. I put up the suggestion box, and it failed miserably, I have written about it in another post. Then I had this brainwave, and I got an Associate professor to help me build a questionnaire in which we included a lot of questions about their living and working conditions. I put up questions like whether they got time for breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday. I tried to find out if they got reasonable duration of sleep every night. I asked if they had time to read. My colleague put questions to find out if they were stressed, depressed, and if they ever had to take recourse to psychoactive medication. We thought we had prepared a comprehensive questionnaire. We distributed copies to the residents. In my democratic method of management, I used to call all staff members, and discuss issues at hand, So I told them about this idea. I know four of the staff members disliked me, not because of my looks or such things, but probably because of my type A personality, perfectionist approach, and being a stickler for rules and discipline. So one of them, a Professor, said they were not consulted, and the content of the questionnaire wasn't approved by them. I said I needed that information for improving the working and living conditions of the residents, and I did not consult them, since there was no policy decision to be made, Then the professor said that Ethics committee's permission was required for this study. I said that it wasn't a study on human subjects, but just a questionnaire for finding out what they needed. Another professor, quite friendly with this first professor, and equally unfriendly with me, supported the first one. Finally I got exasperated and told them that I had done this in my capacity of Head of the department and was not asking their opinion, but just giving them information. They did not like it, It came out later that two resident doctors who went around speaking against the questionnaire were inspired to do so by their heads of units, which were none other than these two professors. They said we had asked unethical information like use of or need for psychoactive drugs, and the question “At what time do you get to go to sleep” was not proper, that it was sexually oriented. If I were not directly involved, I would have laughed. I couldn't. The two professors could be seen standing outside the canteen, counseling the two residents. The second professor got his resident to write to the municipal commissioner on the stationery of the Association of Resident Doctors, of which the said resident was local secretary. My colleague who had helped me develop the questionnaire was quite upset, when she saw a copy of that letter. I finally got my own unit resident to collect signatures of all residents who were supporting me. All except these two residents, and one who was on long leave signed. Some even said that I was the only person who had shown desire to improve their lot. My senior resident, wise for his years, said something I cannot forget. He said “Self-proclaimed leaders believe the world is following them. But when they turn back to see, they find there is no one following them, This leader falls in that category", The storm settled down. What I find difficult to accept even after having read Covey is that the world has a lot of people who cannot accept any activity, however good it might be, only because it is undertaken by someone they cannot stand. They fight it, even if it means a great loss to a number of people in need. That also reminds me of the person who was Head of Department before me. This person had grown to dislike me so much that wherever I made any good suggestion, this person would criticize it even before thinking about it. Well, you have to live with people of all sorts, including such people, and make progress despite them.