There is not a week that goes by that I don’t get an email from a doctor complaining about their staff. It sounds something like this:
- They don’t get what we do!
- They don’t go the extra mile!
- They don’t care!
- They don’t do a good job!
- They are ruining my life!
Does any of that sound familiar?
If you have been in practice for more than a year, you have had at least some staff challenges if not a full melt down!
We have doctors ask us all the time. “How do I get my CAs on fire? I have heard of these legendary beings, or even worse, I have seen them, but why aren’t MY CAs rock stars?!”
Is it possible to get them on fire? The answer is yes! 100% yes!
Take them through this process and they will either get on fire or they will leave. Either one is fine!
And yes… it is fine if they leave. I know that is a scary proposition but at least you now have an opportunity to find an amazing CA who can rock your practice and your world!
I had a patient who I just loved. She was a good friend and referred tons of her friends and family. She just adored me and what I did and I adored her.
Within a month or so after hiring her as a CA, my practice dropped in half. I could not figure out what was going on. A patient of mine pulled me aside and said, “Russ, your new CA is killing your practice! She is scaring patients away!”
She loved me so much that she felt the need to protect me from patients who forgot to bring payment, missed appointments, or didn’t sign up for care plans. She gave them the “cold shoulder” and made sure they no longer felt welcome. Her emotions clouded her judgement and made for some terrible issues.
I had to let her go. My practice popped right back up again.
On the other hand, I have had amazing CAs who have really taken control and grown the heck out of my practice. Trust me on this, I hear it all the time. Your CA can double your practice or cut it in half. Put the time into making sure you have the right CAs and do what I lay out below. You will be amazed at what happens!
Step 1: Get them on board PHILOSOPHICALLY.
- Help them REALLY understand the vital nature of chiropractic.
- Help them understand what chiropractic IS and is NOT in YOUR office.
- Help them understand how your patients’ LIVES can improve by having a healthy, functioning nervous system and reasonable lifestyle.
Remember: just going to your healthcare talk once is not enough. This is continuous education. But GET THEM TO GET IT if you want them to help OTHERS get it!
Help them understand that this job is really a calling, not just a job or a career. If helping people live better lives is not their calling, they really need to find something that is their calling. YES they need to know how to type, answer phones, and deal with people, but if they do not have this calling they won’t be the right fit. If their WHY is not big enough, they will never be the AMAZING ROCKING CA you are looking for!
Step 2: Go over this chart with them and find out if they are in the zone, stressed and overwhelmed or board.
If they are stressed and overwhelmed, they CANNOT grow or take on new tasks!
Instead we must REORGANIZE.
Building a practice is a theoretically simple endeavor.
- Reorganize (make space)
- Fill it.
- Repeat.
This is pretty simple to grasp, but not always easy to execute.
One of the great blunders we make is to tell the team we are going to grow the practice. If they are stressed and overwhelmed, then growing the practice means “more work for them”. How do you think they will feel about this?
Instead, let them know help is on the way. YES I KNOW YOU DON’T THINK THEY SHOULD BE OVERWHELMED! After all you are only seeing X patients a day! But THEY ARE overwhelmed so you must figure out why, reorganize, and fix the problems so they feel that there is space to grow!
Pro tip: If your front desk CA is overwhelmed and you do not already have your patients pre-paying and pre-booking, you can DRAMATICALLY decrease your CAs stress just by having your patients pre-pay and pre-book. Imagine how much time they would have if they did not have to meet with each person, take money, talk with them, write or print a receipt, enter it into the computer, do the banking etc.
There are TONS of ways to help them go from stressed to in the zone or even bored.
And if you REALLY want to grow your practice, you need a ton of space which takes a ton of reorganizing!
Step 3: Now that we have the right people who feel passionate about serving more people and we have reorganized so they are ready to grow, we can now set goals and objectives.
The classic mistake is to set goals too high and allow them to fail!
I like to start with quarterly objectives. But for some this is just way too big. I don’t care if we start with weekly goals. But just make sure it is doable. Make sure they can be successful, and they see that this process of setting goals and accomplishing them really can work.
Step 4: Let them know that if they do a better job and we serve more people they deserve more money. Set up a bonus system. Bonus systems NEVER work if we have not done steps 1-3. If your team’s goals are too far out of reach or ill-defined, the idea of a bonus never becomes real. They will prefer a simple raise and won’t be “in it to win it”. This will kill your growth and momentum.
Pro tip: Some people do not want money as a bonus. Find something that will work for them and inspire them. But know that bonuses alone will never work in the long run. So PLEASE MAKE SURE you nail steps 1-3.
These are just simple things that you can do right now. I promise you will see amazing results when you trust the process and get out of your own way!
As always email me and let me know how it goes. We are always here to help!
-RR