Just like James Bond, always have an exit strategy

Healthcare Purchasing News,  July, 2006  by Fred W. Crans

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There is a folk song made famous in the late Fifties by the Kingston Trio about a man who gets caught on the subway after an unannounced fare increase. With no change for transfer and unable to get off, poor Charlie is doomed to ride forever on the MTA. The song begins with this stern warning, which I am also using as the introduction to this article:

   Throughout history, the people of Boston have
   rallied bravely whenever the rights of man have
   been threatened. Today, a new crisis has
   arisen. The Metropolitan Transit Authority,
   better known as the MTA, is attempting to
   levy a burdensome tax on the population in
   the form of a subway fare increase. Citizens
   hear me out. This could happen to you ...

Let's suppose that you are a supply chain director. You are knowledgeable, dedicated, honest, energetic, committed to excellence--just an all-around crackerjack leader. Every day you show up on time, plan the future and deal with the present. You motivate your staff and delight your customers with the service levels you provide. Your yearly performance reviews are way above average. You may have even been identified as someone whose proverbial star is on the rise.

Then out of the blue something happens that rocks your world. You come to loggerheads with your boss--or worse yet, the CEO--you know your employment is in jeopardy and you are stuck without an exit strategy. What do you do? How should you react? How do you go about keeping the family fed and the career path intact?

How successfully you react to such a situation is a function of many variables, among which are:

* The "real" severity of the crisis

* Your career path stage

* Your available options

* Your responsibility matrix

Let's look at this issue from three stages in the career path, play out an event scenario and see what each an appropriate response would be.

* You are 35, you have your B.A. and are the director of materials management for a standalone hospital. You have worked at the organization for 10 years and are perceived as upper-level management material. You are working on your MBA.

* You are 45, you have your MBA and are director of materials management for a midsized integrated delivery network (IDN). You have been in healthcare supply chain management for 20 years.

* You are 55. You have been in healthcare supply chain management for 30 years. You have an MBA and are well-known in the industry. Your current position is vice president, supply chain, for a large IDN.

At each of these stages in your career path you are the same person, right?

Of course not.

At each stage of your work life you have different experience levels and capabilities, different personal and professional goals and different responsibilities. How you react to a workplace event will be influenced by the following:

* Experience level in the supply chain

* Years of experience with the organization

* Educational background

* Gender

* Personal goals & responsibilities

* Perceived capabilities

* Age

So let's fabricate a situation in which something happens that is so dramatic and volatile that when the dust clears, you know your current employment situation is in jeopardy. And then, let's see how you might approach the situation ...

The Scenario

As a member of the Supply Expense Reduction Team, you have been asked by the chief operating officer (COO) of your organization (who acts as leader of the group) to "quietly" prepare a market basket of items in order to investigate opportunities associated with possibly changing the group purchasing organization (GPO) that your organization uses. You report the request to your boss--the chief financial officer (CFO). You receive permission to go forward.

You prepare a market basket and submit it to two competing GPOs, but do not send one to your current GPO because you have been told to do this "quietly." In the course of the discovery phase, you are asked to sign non-disclosure agreements by both GPOs in which you promise not to share their response with any competitors. You sign.

Responses come in and you have your staff analyze them. Your staff prepares a spread sheet, and you give it to your boss. A few days later he tells you that the CEO is prepared to sign on as a shareholder with your current GPO. You ask him if he has read the spreadsheet you sent him. He responds with, "What spreadsheet?" and you remind him of the one you had just forwarded. You tell him that both of the other GPOs were tracking at a significant savings over your current one.

He reads it and says, "I'll tell the CEO. We'll have to discuss it." A few days later a meeting is scheduled and you arrive to see members of your current GPO sitting in the conference room with a copy of your detailed analysis.

Needless to say, not only does the meeting go badly, but you can tell early on that the CEO has made a "Jeopardy!" decision--that is, he knows the answer be wants and no matter what questions you ask or points you raise, he will arrive at that answer.