Tag Archives: gamification

Failure to Follow Through

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It is the ‘follow through’ that makes the great difference between ultimate success and failure, because it is so easy to stop. — Charles Kettering

Failure to Follow Through

If it worked once it probably will work again

There is a management disease that many businesses, including chiropractic and other health practices, can suffer from. It is called “Failure to Follow Through.”

I noticed this at one of the first offices I worked with in Northern California – years ago. Their numbers were down. When I visited their office on a hot summer day, the reception room was empty, and few patients were scheduled. I noticed they had a thick binder of photos of patients and staff on the lower shelf of a dusty bookcase. The photos showed happy staff, doctors, and patients. There were also patient success testimonials, several years old.

We all met together for a staff meeting. I asked the doctor and staff if they could name a few specific actions they did back then. I said, “let’s start with marketing.”

Well, it turned out that they ran advertisements for a bi-yearly promotion. So I asked if they had done this in the last few years. “No” was their answer.

“What else were you doing at the time,” I asked. They said they always discussed financial and scheduling arrangements away from the front desk. Are you doing that now? “No.”

What else were you doing during that time? “We used to call the new patient after the first adjustment.” They also did progress exams. “Doing it now?” “No.”

The list went on and on.

Being the brilliant practice management scientist that I am, I encouraged them to re-implement what they had been doing. They did, and a few months later, the office was filling up again.

Practice Management

If it worked once, it probably will work again. Make minor improvements as needed, but why change the system if it is working?

Well, you can get bored, right? Or a staff member who knew the system left and their duties were not replicated by someone else. Or, everyone gets bored, so you feel the need to change things to bring excitement back into the office, and key procedures quietly start disappearing.

Discontinuing your successful procedures can create a roller coaster ride for your practice, with numbers going up and then down. And this can cost you thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars.

A checklist of successful procedures is essential, but that is not enough. They need to be reviewed regularly.

That, too, is not enough. We need to keep the practice environment fresh and lively while still maintaining those activities that are helping us grow and develop. We are not on an assembly line, and we are not robots!

I cover this in my book, The Goal Driven Business. (See Goal Driven Principle #17, Goals, Games, Groundhog Day). This is part of the Goal Driven System of practice development and includes checklists, reviews and coaching, and other components, such as gamification.

Gamification is a new term for an old principle: we like to play games! As video games became more prevalent, businesses saw that they could adapt elements of gamification to help engage employees and customers. Nothing new, really.

To make your office feel new again, you can think of a new promotion for this summer or new colors to paint the office. Spend a morning reviewing your goals, mission, and policies, and then go to a spa for a reward! One office creates a health theme each year and makes t-shirts promoting the theme for staff and patients.

Keep it fun — but stick to your winning ways.

Patient Management

ALSO… like practice management, patient management can also be affected by failure to follow through. Your patients need help to adhere to their treatment plan to achieve their health goals.

Stick-to-itiveness is simply being true to our goals.

Make improvements along the way and keep it fun. But help each other and your patients follow through.

Your goals are waiting for you!

Ed

Goals, Games, and Groundhog Day

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It is a New Year and already we are knee-deep in its work.

But it is a NEW YEAR and it is important that you take time out to make new plans and then review them often.

Life Works in Cycles

Each year in Wisconsin, the leaves fall and then the snow falls. But by July the strawberries are ready for the pickin’. Every month, we can see the full moon. Each day, we can see the sunrise – if it is not cloudy.

In human endeavors, we seem to follow this natural rhythm of following cycles. After we finish the 9th grade, we are ready to begin the 10th grade. We are excited to finish when we get out of school for the summer, and then again, eager to start the new grade when we begin again in the fall.

These are all cycles.

What would happen if you stayed in the 9th grade, year after year? How would you feel?

Yet, in our work life we fall into the trap of doing the same thing over and over and over. This is not the first unique and special patient you have ever seen…this patient is a customer just like all the others — just another case. Today is not the first day of the rest of your life, it is just like yesterday which is the same as a long line of days that go on and on. And on…

We get beaten down by the tedium, working endlessly for some forgotten purpose, as if the assembly line we were on never stopped and was always the same.

This is a major cause of stress.

Groundhog Day Syndrome

You can’t do one thing forever, like in the movie “Groundhog Day.” In it, the main character visits a town in Pennsylvania where everyone watches to see if a groundhog can see its shadow. This is traditionally on February 2 (This year, it is on a Saturday.) The only problem is, for this character, the day keeps repeating and repeating, the same each day. It drives the character to suicide, but even that doesn’t work. Finally, he falls in love and wins the girl and has a new life.

Anything in life that begins, it seems, must end. It can start again, but it must end so that a new iteration can be created. It is the cycle of life.

Goals and Games

This is an important factor in what is called Gamification. With the advent of computer games, design elements are added in to make the game fun, challenging, and motivational.

But games are nothing new. Baseball is a game. It has a season and games and innings. It has cycles. Games have been part of human behavior since the beginning. The Olympics started in 776 BCE.

One aspect of games that can be overlooked is the fact that they are just an activity for play. Play is something we do naturally as toddlers. As we grow older, this activity becomes structured into organized sports and games, but at the core is the desire to have fun. To play.

We can lose this sense of play when what we do has no end and no beginning. Persistence is a good quality, but it can lead to an enforced dullness that buries our enthusiasm.

It is important to keep in mind that in business, as in sports, keeping the perspective of play is more effective than bearing down on one’s duties with serious gravity. Practices that incorporate some of the components of a game into their operations are more productive and have a better time.

What are your goals for 2019? For the 1st Quarter? For this month… or for today? Higher numbers? New team members? Community wide outreach program? New training and greater knowledge?

As soon as you make a goal, you start a new cycle and begin a new game. Try to win. But you could lose. Either way, don’t get too serious about it and just be grateful to be able to be in the game.

Set new goals and play. Play — to win. Have fun. Smile a little more!