How often do you or should you have departmental meetings to raise issues, concerns? Once a month every two weeks?

I think we need you back in the UK, Umish. I'm sure that the NHS could squeeze in a few more meetings, just for you!

Hint:- the good leader knows his people, and talks (as in, listens) to them everyday ... as in, all the time. He is the first amongst equals, and knows what's going on without wasting time on meetings.

For what it's worth, back in Bygone Days we had army techs scattered about in the various British Military Hospitals (remember those, anyone?) all over Germany. For reasons amounting to tradition, we (that is, the Section Heads) used to gather at "HQ" once a month. When a new OC (boss) turned up, he (rightly) questioned the need for such regular meetings, and we tried once every two months. We found that worked just fine ... and I'm talking here about the days way before email, mobile phones and all the rest. The key point here, though, is that I (or my immediate boss ... but usually me) used to visit all those outposts on a regular basis. That is, got off my ***** and went out and saw things (and met those concerned) for myself!

what year was the Bygone days Geoff?

A bit before your time, no doubt, Umish. But it doesn't really matter, does it? The kit is still kit, and techs are still techs (and leadership is still leadership ... etc.) whichever era we are taking about.

Hi Umish

We are a large Clinical Engineering Department with various sections covering several sites so full departmental meeting are not very practical.

Because of the above we have regular meetings of a kind and find them very useful for collating info from all our sites and distributing it through the whole department. This is what we do…

We have monthly section managers meetings (minuted) the relevant details from these are cascaded by the managers to the various sections as required after these meetings.

We also have monthly one-to-one meetings on an informal basis (not minuted) between managers and their staff. We also 'walk the floor' having daily contact with our end users and find this is one of the best ways to find out if we are 'getting it right'. This info is fed back to the monthly section managers meetings.

All our staff has an appraisal annually.

We very rarely have a full departmental meeting unless something comes up Trust-wide that affects all staff and needs urgent distribution.

Hope this helps - John

Hi Umish

I also manage a large service across multiple sites, and therefore it is difficult to get representation from all the sites - but i do have one large meeting every 6 months where i expect each site to be represented. I also visit all our sites on a regular basis, 2 weekly minimum, but most of them once a week. During these visits, i speak to the on site staff, review key performance indicators, and listen.

Why wait for a 'meeting' deal with the issues immediately if and when they occur, this way they are not allowed to grow.

If it is possible to deal with something immediately - that is always the best solution. I prefer getting things sorted out asap.

Hello from Canada

I am new to the forum.
We have meetings scheduled for each month but at least a third of the time they are cancelled for various reasons. We also cover a large teritory(about 2000 square kms)in eastern Canada and getting everyone at the meetings is vertually impossible

Indeed. That's why we have wonderful technology available now ... like video conferencing, for example ... or "simply" the internet!

You may not be aware of it, but there is a tradition within the NHS for managers to spend almost all of their time in meetings. The more committees they sit on, the more important they feel. Take it from me that a high percentage of that time is simply wasted (at great expense to the tax-payer, need I add).

But there is an upside. The longer they are huddled together with the other managers (and there are ... er, plenty) the longer the blokes at the coal face get left in peace to crack on with the real work!