Patients come second.

As a doctor, you work for your patients.

As a business owner, you work for the business end of the practice.

Both of these roles have different outcomes. As the doctor, your outcome is healthy and very happy patients. As a business owner, you want to see a profit.

When you begin your practice, you do so as a business owner and doctor. Any management or leadership you do is done from these roles. I call this an Entrepreneurial or Personality-Driven Practice. This is workable until you reach about 50% of your full capacity as a provider.

Beyond about 50% capacity, the practice needs focused leadership and management. It is time for you as the owner to step into the role of Clinic Director if you want your enterprise to continue to grow.

The outcome of the Clinic Director is not the same as that of doctor or business owner. In simple terms, the outcome is a well-run organization that provides excellent service at a profit.

So, who does the Clinic Director work for?

The staff! The employees. This is called servant leadership and management.

This is a major shift in mindset for most highly driven entrepreneurial business owners. But it can be done, and if done correctly, there is no limit to practice growth, prosperity, and independence.

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES

Customers Come Second, Employees Come First

Year after year, Southwest Airlines ranks at the top for customer service and profitability over other airlines. And for good reason. They are excellently managed and led!

Their goals, purpose, and values are well-defined. They are a Goal Driven Business.

In their book about Southwest, authors Keven and Jackie Freiberg reveal that Southwest believes that the love and support they show their employees will be passed on to their customers. Servant leadership is a central theme.

Chapter 18 of their book caught my attention: Customers Come Second — But Still Get Great Service. In it, they say at Southwest, “Treat your employees with care and concern if that is the way you want them to treat each other and your customers.”

WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW TO IMPROVE SERVICE AND INCOME IN YOUR CHIROPRACTIC HEALTHCARE PRACTICE

I use Southwest as an example, but there are many others.

In a smaller service company like a chiropractic or dental business, the doctor doesn’t have much time to be the Clinic Director or senior manager, isn’t paid (at least directly) for being one, and isn’t trained in management. Also, more than likely, doesn’t want to be a manager or leader. But what if there was a simple method to be an effective Clinic Director?

Well, there is. It is covered in my book, the Goal Driven Business, and is gone over in detail in our Practice MBA training program. In 2024, I will post more information on this subject and the Fast Flow CEO Method, as I am 100% certain that this is the stumbling block behind all stumbling blocks that keep practices from achieving greatness.

You can do this now:

1. Define and communicate your goals and procedures. These need to be reviewed, in one form or another, by everyone weekly.
2. Clinic Director. Set time aside as the senior coach of your team to develop your people professionally, and as you can, personally.

If you put your team first, they will put the patient first.

This is, when all is said and done, the Golden Rule.

Or perhaps… we could also call it the Goal Driven Rule!

Seize the Future,

Ed

*Nuts – Southwest Airlines, Keven and Jackie Freiberg

—————————————————-

If your practice building efforts aren’t taking you to your goals,
there are reasons — many of which are hidden from you.

Find out what they are and how to sail to your next level by getting and implementing my new book, The Goal Driven Business.

The Goal Driven Business By Edward Petty

Find them, invest in them, and see your practice improve.

One of the aspects of practice development that you become familiar with after 30 or so years in the field is the concept of Leverage Points. Once you can spot them and work out methods to take advantage of them, your practice significantly improves.

According to Donella H. Meadows, Ph.D., leverage points “Are places within a complex system (a corporation, an economy, a living body, a city, an ecosystem) where a small shift in one thing can produce big changes in everything.” *

HIGHER LEVEL LEVERAGE POINTS IN YOUR PRACTICE

Ms. Meadows lists 12 levels of increasing effectiveness where leverage might be found. The top levels that can make the most significant changes are:

• Goals
• The mindset from which the business arises from
• The power to transcend assumptions and accept new goals and values.

This is the Above Down Inside Out shift that can ignite the Innate power in a practice.

I have seen this when the clinic owner or team member becomes extraordinarily inspired and motivated, filled with a sense of mission. I also have noticed this in offices that shift from an entrepreneurial practice that is entirely dependent upon the owner to a systematized and goal-driven business.

TANGIBLE LEVERAGE POINTS

Adding a scribe or clinical assistant can be a practical example of utilizing a leverage point in a more tangible application. This might allow you to see an extra 10 patients a week and provide better service with less stress. In the end, you would have a positive Return on Investment for what you paid for the extra help.

Another example might be a situation where your front desk can’t keep up with check-ins, check-outs, call-ins, questions, data entry, cash collections, marketing reminders, and just being friendly. By adding the right person at the front desk, even a part-time during prime time in the afternoons, your volume might surge. (I have seen this.)

For a marketing example, you might be next door to a gym that sees hundreds of people each month. You could leverage your location with just a little effort to create a very beneficial relationship for their business and yours.

There are many examples of finding areas of your practice where the return will be positive when given more support.

LEVERAGING PRACTICE MANAGEMENT

In my experience, the number one leverage point is management.

As a practice grows, the admin tasks multiply exponentially. These start to fill up the doctor’s time, and eventually, growth hits a plateau.

By adding someone to take care of office administration or clarifying the duties of someone currently in that role, you can better concentrate on service, production, and leadership.

As a result, revenue increases and stress decreases. Proper training for the manager is essential and, unfortunately, usually absent.

As an aside, we are solving this now through our Practice MBA program. We are just a little more than ½ way through the training, and I am both impressed by their work and proud to be helping them become Goal Driven Managers.

But leverage points could be anywhere. Even between your ears! (haha!)

Look for where you might find a log jam or an untapped resource. Invest some time in supporting that area and see if that doesn’t make a big difference in practice.

You have untapped power in your business just waiting to be leveraged.

Ed

*Reference https://donellameadows.org/a-visual-approach-to-leverage-points/

—————————————————-

If your practice building efforts aren’t taking you to your goals,
there are reasons — many of which are hidden from you.

Find out what they are and how to sail to your next level by getting and implementing my new book, The Goal Driven Business.

The Goal Driven Business By Edward Petty