Eric Davis, D.C.
What teams are you a part of?
My guess is that you are a part of many teams and most have nothing to do with sports. If you are married, serve any community organizations, help at your church or are active in your professional state organization, then you are part of a team. Inside your practice is no different, whether you are an owner or an associate, you are a part of the team. Everyone in the office must work together to achieve goals. By virtue of being in health care, we are all on a bigger team. We must all work together to ensure our laws are protected, our patients have access to care and our communities can achieve the health that is available to them through conservative care. Everyone plays a vital role.
Most people don’t view life this way, but it makes sense when you stop and think about it. This mindset may change how you approach challenges in your life when you evaluate your team. If you surround yourself with a great team, anything is possible. Let’s consider how this can help your practice.
As much as we would like to think we are single-handedly ready for success, most of us have had help. If you have a staff of two or thirty, it’s a team effort. Staff meetings can be a great way of getting the entire team involved in setting goals to be achieved and laying out the plan required by each person to help execute those goals. If everyone on the team is not on board or the goals are unclear, the team cannot efficiently succeed. The part most of us fail at is that we must revisit our plan and measure our success. Be open and honest with your team. If something isn’t working, change it. Things rarely go 100%, according to plan. Make sure you keep all the team members engaged and focused on the goal. As a leader, you must be cautious to not get caught up in micro-managing every job. You must depend on your team members to do their part, set good policies and do evaluations of your team members. Let the team know how they are doing, not only where improvement is needed but where they are excelling. With some education, guidance and setting expectations, you can let them fulfill their role on the team and you can focus on your responsibilities.
By assembling a team of committed individuals that have been allowed to provide input into the goals to be achieved and the steps to follow to execute that plan, you have engaged them in the process and empowered them as an important part of the team’s overall success. This process will help create momentum for the entire team to work together and be successful. This process is not only applicable to your practice, but every team you are a part of.