I really like it when you can identify major crossroads or benchmarks that form the basis for practice success. Life and business are not that complicated. There are simple, straightforward strategies that literally define a business’ success. There are causes and effects, actions and reactions, momentum and trajectory that will define the level of success you enjoy. If you can find these, implement them, and continue to grow and modify the original matrix, you can grow your practice 15% to 20% per year for your entire career. You can assume that this is not rocket science or a deeply buried or hidden secret that only the few will ever glimpse. No, it’s not that difficult and the answers to most everyone’s questions have been resolved decades ago. It is that weird, counter intuitive fixation with self-discovery, rather than just paying for the advice, reading from a book or article, or listening to those who have already made the mistakes and have their feet on the exact path you need to take that stalls a practice or doctor and holds them back. Use these areas as a light to guide you so that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel or stumble in the dark. Here are the three areas that you must master.
1. Modeling: This is also one of the 5 cornerstones of leadership. You need to understand the fact 89% of your staff and patients are visual learners. They are going to take their cue from you. As the owner and leader, culture and attitude comes from the top (you) to the bottom (everyone else). You cannot abdicate this job to anyone but yourself so be careful, everyone is watching. If you want people showing up early, ready to work, then you need to model that. If you want staff to take ownership in the office and grow every day in their jobs, you need to do that, too. If you want your staff to be the face and voice of the practice in a way that inspires patients to show up, pay for their treatment, and refer everyone they know, then you need to model that exact behavior. All the time.
2. Staging: This is the proverbial “begin with the end in mind”. Find a mentor or another office doing what you would like to do and learn everything you can from them. Secondly, take that information and create a picture of that time in the future when you have arrived at this particular result that has built and imagined from the example and instructions you got from that office or coach. Get that picture solidly in mind and then begin to re-create your office, staff vision, and protocols to stage the journey so that you end up exactly where you want to. Systematically do away with the old limiting beliefs and excuses that have held you back in the past. Even though everything worth striving for is usually up hill, you can’t just allow every problem to move you away from your vision. It takes persistence, a clear vision that is communicated to your team, and the consistency of working on this every day. There are no excuses, just results.
3. System design: After vision comes action. Systems and protocols are the structure that insures a repeatable, scalable, and transferable action to consistently get the results you want. Each system is designed with the end in mind, not your current situation. Do what winners do and reap the rewards of following the examples of those who have successfully gone before you.
Summit Practice Solutions has been around for almost three decades helping doctors just like you attain practice benchmarks that they never imagined were possible. Coaching is not expensive. It is priceless. I encourage each and every one of you to take the time to give us a call to discuss your concerns and let us help you see the solutions in an entirely different light. This is how you Summit.
Michael Abernathy, DDS
972-523-4660 cell
[email protected]