Are You Prepared for Harassment Allegations?
Do you have an HR partner when an investigation is needed?
In healthcare, most days run on process, predictability, and patient flow. But every so often, something happens that tests not just your policies—but your leadership.
In a recent “Tales from the Trenches” scenario on Eye Care Leadership Live, I talk about a time when a patient made a serious allegation against an employee. The details aren’t the point. What matters is how situations like this unfold—and how leaders respond when the stakes are high, the facts are unclear, and time is not on your side.
These are the moments that define your culture.
You Can’t Predict the Moment—But You Can Prepare for It
One of the first lessons from this situation is simple: you never know when a crisis will land in your lap.
In this case, the allegation came through a physician who immediately recognized it needed to be escalated. That instinct alone is worth noting. Leaders at every level should know when something is beyond their scope—and feel confident handing it off quickly.
Luckily this physician had an HR expert they could transfer the call to.
If you’re running a practice or business, having a trusted HR advisor or partner isn’t optional. When something serious happens, you don’t have the luxury of researching solutions in real time. You need someone you already trust—someone who understands your business, your values, and how to navigate risk.
Trust Is Built Before You Need It
When allegations surface, details matter. But getting to those details requires something deeper: trust.
When you are investigating a sensitive matter, the person asking the questions must have the safety and trust of the staff or else getting the facts will be very difficult. People don’t share difficult or uncomfortable information unless they feel safe doing so. And in many cases, they’re worried—about retaliation, about not being believed, or about making things worse.
That means leaders need to do two things well:
Create psychological safety quickly in the moment
Build a culture of trust long before anything goes wrong
Empathy plays a critical role here. So does clarity. Employees and patients alike need to know their concerns will be taken seriously and acted upon. If they don’t believe that, they will hold back—and incomplete information leads to poor decisions.
Facts Matter—So Go Get Them
Once trust opens the door, the next step is disciplined fact-finding.
That means asking hard questions, even when the topic is uncomfortable. It also means gathering every form of available evidence—conversations, documentation, messages, and when available, physical or digital records like video or photos.
Too often, leaders hesitate here. They worry about overstepping or making things worse. In reality, failing to investigate thoroughly is what creates risk.
You don’t need to assume guilt or innocence early on. But you do need to pursue the truth with consistency and professionalism.
Step Back Before You Decide
Even with strong facts, decisions in these situations are rarely easy.
There’s often ambiguity. Conflicting accounts. Incomplete certainty.
This is where many leaders get stuck in the weeds—overanalyzing details without stepping back to ask a more important question:
A useful way to frame it is to look at the “30,000-foot view”:
How would this decision look a year from now?
How would it feel if it became public?
Would you stand by it if it were questioned in court—or by your own team?
Who are you as a clinic? What do you stand for?
When you zoom out, the right path often becomes clearer. Not because every fact is certain, but because your values are.
Culture Is the Final Decision Filter
At the end of the day, situations like this are not just about resolving a single issue. They are about reinforcing—or undermining—the culture you’ve built.
Your employees are watching how you respond. Your patients are affected by the outcome. And your reputation is shaped by both.
Strong leaders don’t just ask, “What happened?” They also ask:
What do we stand for?
How do we want people to feel working here?
What standard are we willing to uphold, even when it’s difficult?
Because in moments of uncertainty, culture becomes your compass.
And if you’ve built it well, it will point you in the right direction—even when the situation doesn’t come with clear answers.
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