When the chips are down, who do you turn to?
You got into medicine to help patients.
You graduated from medical school and decided to go it alone and open your practice.
You started by hiring a receptionist, then as your patient numbers grew, you brought on a nurse.
Then another nurse followed, Perhaps you brought on a scribe or another receptionist.
Suddenly, you’re having…
- staff meetings
- year-end reviews
- “huddles” during the day
Then you notice that productivity fell off.
Some staff aren’t getting along as they once did.
You overhear the receptionist say to her friend on the phone: “This clinic isn’t the same as it was. I liked it better when it was just me and the doctor.”
You’re getting pulled in all directions and you’re focus is moving further away of the simplicity that you started with – helping patients!
Imagine having someone that you can call for advice, get an “outside perspective”.
Someone who…
- knows your staff
- understands your goals
- is invested in helping you to be a better leader.
For many, this idea is not something they have considered.
Unfortunately, many physicians don’t because they…
- see it as a cost and not an investment
- figure they can “bootstrap it” and manage it themselves
- don’t know what they don’t know
Or they are a victim of this adage: “When it’s raining, I can fix the roof. When it’s sunny, I don’t have to.”
When things are going well, you feel like you can manage things alone.
When things are not going well, you have a “Calgon take me away moment”.
In this case, you have 2 choices:
- Keep doing what you’re doing and hope that things will change.
- Explore new ways of doing things and gain a fresh perspective.
What do I mean by “fresh perspective”?
Here’s an example…
Do you have staff who are constantly asking you about things that they could figure out on their own?
Have you considered…
That they are “high norms”?
In other words, they have a perfectionist tendency that requires them to get each task done to their “level of acceptability”.
You’re giving them feedback, but it’s not working.
So, how can you adjust your feedback?
Perhaps they require really clear expectations? Or a refinement to the system.
Did you consider that those with high norms also tend to do what is asked of them and aren’t great with taking the initiative to make changes to systems without “permission”?
See what this rheumatologist said about the impact that Human Scaffold has made in his clinic.
You’ve made it to the end of this article – congrats!
You have 3 choices…
- do nothing and continue your scroll to another website
- email Mike for a complimentary custom plan for your medical clinic
- book a chat with Mike to see if your clinic is ready for change