I just had
to comment on the latest development in the never-ending saga of the Oslo
University hospital merger of four large city hospitals and the health
enterprise Health Southeast that owns this hospital. The managing director of
the latter, Bente Mikkelsen, made it into the news big-time during the weekend, when it was
reported that she was planning to participate in a five-month long course on
strategic leadership at the NATO Defense College in, of all places, Rome,
Italy! The course was to start in February, and was to be paid for by the
Defense Department (the reason for its involvement was not explained), whereas
the cost of room and board would have been paid by her employer. The total cost
of the course plus room and board was outrageously expensive. She was also to
retain her regular salary during her leave of absence. According to one of my
colleagues, she had been interviewed on TV and had said that she looked forward
to sitting outside in the warm Rome sun and drinking a glass of wine (wouldn’t
we all love to be doing that). Her decision to take this course and to leave
her directorial duties behind her in Oslo for five months did not meet with
much support among hospital personnel at any level. And I can report that she
was the butt of derisive jokes the entire day. After a massive uproar on the
part of the public and hospital personnel, she dropped her intention to take
the course. But she offered no apology for her poor judgment and timing.
Why did
this incident garner so much media attention? Because she was planning to
hightail it out of Norway at exactly the time the newly-merged hospital needs her to be there to oversee the
progress associated with the merger that she set in motion at the behest of the
current ruling political party—a merger that has proven to be quite
controversial, difficult to achieve, and one that will cost more money than it
will save. As Jay Leno once said to Hugh Grant on national TV when the latter
had been caught doing something naughty—what were you thinking? The same
question applies here. The hospital runs with a huge budget deficit at present.
While the rest of us are told to save money,
while budgets are being cut and employees are being laid off, it was ok for the
managing director to spend money on a
NATO course (still no explanation as to why she needs this course) and to talk
about how much she looked forward to enjoying the warmth of Italy. Talk about
lack of emotional intelligence. I’m sure those employees who have recently lost
their jobs were thrilled to read this. I’m sure they wished her well and were appropriately
concerned for her career progression. By the way, the answer to the question what was she thinking is--she wasn’t.
