You are a professional therapist and run your own practice as part of a national hospital. Years ago, you hired Javier Albert, the former city councilman for your section of the city, to manage your practice. Javier has worked for you for almost 15 years, and knows the business inside and out, including billing, scheduling, supply management, and handling confidential and sensitive issues. He has unmatched credibility and seemingly boundless empathy for patients as well as the solid technical skills to do the job. The patients, the insurance company claim handlers, and the other professionals find his personality engaging and pleasant.
Unfortunately, lately, he hasn’t been as attentive as he needs to be when it comes to communicating. You’ve been getting complaints about voice-mail messages gone unanswered for days, confusing emails that require two or three rounds of clarification, and reports and bills that are haphazardly thrown together. As valuable as Albert’s other skills are, he’s going to cost the practice if this goes on much longer. The soft skill relationships are vital to your practice’s survival, and he’s the employee most involved in the channel.
Your task: Without restating the passage above, write a memo which includes an informal performance appraisal and improvement plan for Albert. Be sure to compliment him on the areas in which he excels. You must also address and highlight the areas in which he needs to improve: punctual response to client messages, including clear writing and careful revision, production, and proofreading. Your plan must include a path to success, a time frame for that path and how Albert will be evaluated for success on that path. It must be SPECIFIC as to the expectations — this is an essential part of effective business communications: specificity.
Use what you have learned in this class so far to supply any additional advice on the importance of these skills. (Use proper Memo Formatting!)
