“The devil loves an idle mind.”
THE TRICK to keeping your practice lively, fresh and fun — and profitable, is to have your team set their own goals. Then, help them achieve them.
Without creative goals, we all can get bored. Attention drifts and performance and service slip.
According to Self Determination Theory, people want to have their own game. They want a degree of autonomy to demonstrate their competence in an activity they can control. They want their own sandbox.
Working in alignment with others in a group, people also want to be part of a community that shares a larger purpose – and is going somewhere.
This concept can be applied to your practice. Here is an example:
Steu Smalley (Steu has two major roles)
- Role: Billing and Collections. Goal: Collections, Collections Percent
- Role: Financial Consultation. Goal: Number of patients who accepted care, Percent of accepted care
Roseanna Danna: (Roseanna Danna has two major roles.)
- Role: Front Desk Coordinator. Goal: Total visits, Percent full capacity, Kept Appt. %
- Role: Internal Marketing. Goal: Patient referrals, Reactivated patients
It is understood that each office area depends on other areas, so teamwork is essential. However, everyone can improve the outcomes in their area.
Here are 7 steps to implement individual goals achievement.
- Define roles and goals. Define the major roles, goals, and statistics for each team member.
- Past statistics. Review past statistics if available.
- Set goals and action steps. Each team member should write down their goals and action steps for the upcoming one to three months.
- Copy to you. Team members provide you with a copy of their goals.
- Team meeting. Each team member should state their goals and action steps at the monthly team meeting so that everyone knows each other’s goals.
- Follow-up coaching. During the month, check in with each team member using the form they filled out and check their progress. Coach them as needed.
- Repeat the process each month.
Implement this program gradually, starting with key positions.
This approach promotes responsibility, accountability, and constant improvement while focusing on business goals. And it makes work more enjoyable.
We teach this procedure in our Practice MBA program for managers and clinic directors.
If you want management and leadership training for you and your manager or manager-to-be, please sign up on our waitlist. I will send updates soon with unique information about key tips on practice leadership, management, and marketing.
Seize your goals in 2025!
Ed
PS. MBA 2025. We are starting a wait list for our next MBA program, which will begin in March. We only take a limited number of students, so if you are interested, please get on our wait list here. [LINK]
Bravery is one of the themes of our practice manager training program.
