If you’re an allied health practice owner you probably have 1 or more practitioners working with you.
Further, I assume you were once a practitioner working with a practice owner?
In order for this relationship to work both practice owners and practitioners need to be able empathize with each other, they need to be able to get into each other’s heads.
Easier said than done particularly as most practitioners have never run practices.
Hi, I’m Dr. Andrew Arnold (Chiropractor), The Practice Leverage Expert, and Founder: The Million Dollar Wellness Practice.
Today I want to talk about how to bridge this communication gap so that practitioners love working for practice owners and practice owners attract and love their practitioner team.
#1 Get clear on what motivates you and then share. For practice owners it may be growing the practice to reach an overall gross income or practitioner team. For practitioners it may be reaching a certain occupancy or feeling secure working with a practice owner.
#2 get clear on perspective. Practice owners show your team the hourly running costs. Help them understand your fixed costs when they are not busy. The reasons behind the commission structure. Practitioners help your practice owners understand your fears around scheduling patients, where your training and mentoring gaps are, your medium to long term plans, like a buy in opportunity.
#3 create a higher purpose founded on a team created vision and mission statement. Your higher purpose maybe related to the wider community, education, donations, joint ventures…This creates something worthwhile for the practice brand and each practitioner brand in collaboration with the practice.
#4 make sure you schedule fun team events thru-out the year. The practice is only what it is because of the people that work in it, including practitioners and practice owners. It is a means to an end for all concerned at the end of the day so you may as well have fun along the way.
#5 give more than you take. This goes for practitioners and practice owners alike, if you come from giving rather than receiving, the collective consciousness will grow strong and support everyone. This could mean sharing knowledge, covering a shift, supporting someone thru a difficult time etc. Share the love.
#6 Refer to your colleagues often. This may seem counterproductive but the more you refer away from you the more patients you will attract, and the better the health outcomes for the patients. Give it a try.
I know I’ll think of many more, but I’ll save that for part 2.
Allied health practices are all about collaboration on every level. Bring this to your next team meeting and see what happens.
About the Author:
Dr. Andrew Arnold (Chiropractor) is the ‘Practice Leverage Expert’; Principal Chiropractor and owner, Cranbourne Family Chiropractic and Wellness Centre; Accredited Business Coach; Founder, Million Dollar Wellness Practice. Andrew is married to Dr. Linda Wilson, the Stress Specialist and has two children, Isaac and Bella. He lives in Melbourne, Australia.