We all want to take our practice to the next level but sometimes it can seem that we're stuck on a plateau and we just can't break through that ceiling. Here are my top tips for upleveling your practice and breaking through that ceiling to achieve the practice of your dreams and live your very best life! 1. Believe in your dream In order to achieve the practice of your dreams you need to firstly have a dream and believe in it whole-heartedly! You need to be clear on what you want and be fully committed to getting it! Manifesting your dream is an excellent way to get everything you have ever wanted and if you really commit to it amazing things will happen! Check out one of my favourite books on the subject, The Secret by Ronda Byrne. Don't just build your vision, believe it and live it into existence! Inspire your team to do the same. 2. Recruit & Inspire an amazing team of people If there is one thing I can tell you with absolute certainty, it is that you categorically cannot do this alone. You need to have a team of people around you that can allow you to really focus on your piece of the puzzle whether that's treating patients, concentrating on marketing or finances or whatever else. Your team needs to believe and want your dream on a real level, they need to be passionate and engaged and they need to feel inspired and valued. 3. Communicate your vision and inspire a team culture that supports it An inspired and engaged team can only work towards your dream practice if they first understand their own personal vision and secondly understand your vision, your why and where they are going. Invest your time and efforts into developing a team culture that supports your vision, ensure that everyone is onboard, involved and feels valued. Set an example and treat your team well, a thank you goes a long way. 4. Develop systems that keep your practice running like clock work Systems........my favourite word :) A good system should be developed, documented and implemented to ensure that all the vital functions in your practice run like clock work even when a vital team member is on holiday or off sick. Your entire team should be familiar with key systems and so should you! Systems must be monitored and reviewed, tweak them as much as is needed to ensure the practice is running as productively as possible. 5. Monitor, track and adapt What is measured improves, this is a very accurate phrase. Decide what key metrics are important to your goals whether that be new patient numbers, a specific type of treatment,, treatment conversion, enquiry conversion, UDA's, turnover, profit.........the list is endless and you don't need to track absolutely everything but you should track what is important to you and what is likely to have the biggest impact on your goals. Tracking and monitoring metrics is important but what really matters is the subsequent action you take. If something isn't working, you aren't seeing the desired results, talk about this with your team and discover the root cause and adapt your systems, process or whatever else is needed to turn it around. 6. Keep learning Learning helps to keep your passion going strong, it also helps to keep your team vital and engaged. Never stop learning and developing, it can only serve to further your dream. If you'd like any help in upleveling your team and your practice get in touch to find out how I could help.
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If there is one thing that is going to make or break your practice it is your team! In this blog post I will be sharing some of the common habits I see amongst awesome teams. Habit # 1 Clarity of purpose & direction If you don't know where you are going how do you expect to get there? The same applies to your team. A vision & purpose developed in partnership with your team is an essential step to achieve this. As Simon Sinek says 'people don't buy what you do they buy why you do it'! Make sure your team understands and appreciates why you all do what you do and set a clear vision of what you are trying to achieve. Habit # 2 Clarity of Responsibility Does everyone in your team understand their job? They know what their key responsibilities are and they know when and how they are expected to deliver them? I'm not talking about having job descriptions, of course these are an important tool but don't assume because someone has a job description they understand their job. Once everyone understands the expectations of their own role they must also understand the role of their team mates. It's great to have reliable team members who are great at their job however a back up plan is a necessity. Habit # 3 Empowerment An empowered team is an essential element of a successful practice. Once your team understand their responsibilities and there are clear expectations for delivery of a role give them the trust and ownership to do a good job. Micro-management is a real problem in many practices and it stamps out empowerment resulting in teams reluctant to go that extra mile. Habit # 4 Seek first to understand then to be understood One of the 7 habits of highly effective people identified by Stephen Covey is hugely relevant in building an awesome team. If you are genuinely interested in your team members, you listen to their problems and triumphs and I mean sincerely listen, your team will appreciate you all the more for it. The real benefit is that by demonstrating understanding your team will mimic this behaviour and your team and patients will be feel better understood resulting in improved trust and relationships. Habit # 5 Synergy A team that truly understands their purpose and direction as well as each others responsibilities ultimately leads to better collaboration. A collaborative team works together in synergy, they feed off each other making decisions together. The benefit of a collaborative approach is a more efficient workflow and increased productivity. By working together to achieve a common goal and utilising everyone's skills to full effect your team will be truly awesome. Habit # 6 Prioritise An awesome team knows what is important. This comes from a clear understanding of purpose, direction & responsibilities. By knowing what is important your team will be able to prioritise workloads to achieve success. Habit # 7 System driven A practice runs on systems, good systems are the key to success. Systems should be clear and straightforward and regularly reviewed to make sure they are working. Systems should make life easier and help the business run smoothly. Each team member should be fully trained in all systems relevant to their role and should have a good understanding of all systems outside the scope of their role. Habit# 8 Proactive not reactive Have you ever come into work on a Monday morning and thought 'why are there so many gaps in my book this week'? The likelihood is that the thought will then disappear until you find yourself in that gap because you get 'busy' with the day. The problem with this is that the gap will not be filled. If your team are working proactively, looking ahead to identify gaps and collaborating to fill those gaps the problem is solved. Proactive teams identify problems before they become problems and use systems to beat the problems. If you would like help to build an awesome team feel free to get in touch. Today I have spent the day reviewing our practices performance for this year so far, comparing it to the previous year and looking at key information that can help us identify areas for improvement. This is something I do on a monthly basis but the purpose of today was to start the process of budgeting and forecasting for the next financial year.
With the end of the current financial year looming its a time to reflect on the past and plan for the future. If you want to increase revenue and more importantly profits, this process is essential for success. The budgeting process allows you to focus on what you want to achieve in the year to come. This could include the personal income you want to achieve, planning for projects requiring capital spend, introducing new revenue streams for example a new product or service or even the addition of another staff member, these are all things that need to be planned for both operationally and financially. Does your practice plan for the future? Do you have a written budget and financial forecast for the whole financial year? Does your team know what you want to achieve and how you plan to achieve it? Have you got a formulated marketing plan that ties into your financial forecast? If you answered no to any of the above, start planning now! Someone once told me 'what you monitor tends to improve' and this is so true in the case of budgeting. If you have a written plan to work to for the year and you review it on a regular basis with your team you all become more focussed on the achievement of this plan and you'll be amazed at the results of this increased focus. In the difficult economic climate that we are currently in, this planning process has never been more important. I firmly believe that for a practice to succeed or even survive in today's economy you need to be switched on and on the ball with your numbers! You may be asking yourself 'where do I start?', well we can show you and support you through the whole process email us at info@practice-perfection.co.uk to find out how we can help, we'd love to hear from you. |
Welcome to the Blog!I want to help you build the practice of your dreams, I hope you find insight and inspiration in my blog. Archives
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