Perhaps one of the most overlooked, yet ultra-important ingredients for running a successful chiropractic practice is to surround yourself with the “right” people, especially the ones you work with everyday.
And please do not underestimate the value of not only interviewing and selecting who you feel is the best person for every available position in your chiropractic practice, but also to have the desire and know-how to work diligently in an attempt to shape them into your ”A” Team.
It is simply not good enough to hire a “nice’ person, who shows up every day, does his or her job fairly well, then goes home and starts all over again the next day. Rather, the idea is to hire right, terminate quickly if a mistake has been made, and spend an extraordinary amount of time in two areas -- Training and Accountability.
Training does not mean that a senior employee haphazardly trains a new employee and the owner is devoid of responsibilities. It means that the boss takes a large part in the training, training and training again philosophy which is the cornerstone of creating a fully engaged, knowledgeable and caring employee. One who is desirous of being part of a team who believes in the leadership and the purpose of chiropractic.
The “boss” trains the employee on the intangible aspects of the chiropractic practice, such as its purpose, mission and vision. Additionally expectation management should be utilized. This is to insure that all employees have the clarity as to what is expected from them and what you can, in turn expect back in the way of performance.
The owner/leader should also play a huge part in interactive training and should have regular rehearsals pertaining to office concepts and policies, as well as the phrases and sentences used by all members of the team.
What matters is that training is viewed as a never-ending process and I will even be bold enough to state that, in my opinion, it takes two full years to thoroughly train an employee and turn them into a true para-professional.
Second to training comes Accountability – an easy to understand word, but an area that is weak in almost every business I have studied. Being accountable comes from being sufficiently trained so you feel confident.
I know a CEO who is particularly adroit in holding his Administrative Team accountable. At the end of each week every one is required shoot him an email telling him what they have accomplished that week, how their department is doing, what needs to be accomplished and any ideas that can contribute to making things better.
He knows what is going on at all times and uses this information to report back to the entire team during Team Meetings. These emails are collected and used during periodic employee reviews.
So Training and Accountability are key ingredients that all leaders utilize to build their team, avoid the staleness of rogue repetition, and engage everyone in the process of constant and never-ending improvement. There should never be a time when the boss or anyone in the support team is not improving themselves.
Clean up these two areas and most assuredly your chiropractic practice will run more smoothly and efficiently. The only caveat, of course, is that the doctor or owner of the practice must exhibit the characteristics of leadership, be strong, decisive and organized so that the staff respects the leader and is willing to act accordingly.
Lastly, when you think all of the above is accomplished – take a deep breath and train again!