Some things need to change. Sometimes it will be a surprise what those things are. Here is a little story to set the stage:
The Pot Roast Ends
A young woman was preparing a pot roast for dinner, following a recipe that she had learned from her mother. She cut off the ends of the roast before putting it in the oven, as the recipe instructed. Her husband, who was watching her, asked why she did that. Said that she didn’t know, but that was how her mother always cooked it. She decided to call her mother and ask her the same question. Her mother said that she also didn’t know, but that was how her grandmother always cooked it and she suggested that her daughter call her grandmother and ask her. The young woman did so and asked her why she cut off the ends of the pot roast before cooking it. Her grandmother said that she did that because when she was first married she had a very small oven, and the roast wouldn’t fit in it unless she cut off the ends.
The Moral
The moral of the story is that you should not blindly follow traditions or habits without understanding the reasons behind them. You should always be curious and willing to learn new things and adapt to new situations.
What did you learn?
This story can be a good parable when it comes to managing a healthcare practice, because it shows the importance of being flexible and innovative in a changing environment. Health care is a dynamic and complex field, and challenges emerge constantly. If you stick to the old ways of doing things, without questioning their effectiveness or relevance, you may miss out on opportunities to improve your services, reduce costs, and increase patient satisfaction. You might also waste time and resources on unnecessary or outdated procedures.
Engaging Your Staff
Activating your staff to get their input as to more productive and innovative ways for the practice to run can be done with key questions to get them to think in new ways:
- What are some of the challenges or problems that you face in your daily work?
- How do you usually solve these challenges or problems? The advantages and disadvantages of your current methods?
- Are there any alternative or better ways to solve these challenges or problems? How can you find out or learn about them?
- What are some of the goals or expectations that you have for yourself and your work?
- How do you measure your progress or performance?
- Are there any areas or skills that you want to improve or develop? How do you achieve that?
Same for You
As the owner of the practice, you should also ask yourself some more questions such as:
- What are the vision and mission of the practice and how do they align with the values and needs of the patients and the staff?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the practice?
- What are the short-term and long-term goals and strategies for the practice? How are they communicated and implemented?
- How do you monitor and evaluate the results and outcomes of the practice? How do you celebrate the successes and learn from the failures?
A Hot Resource
Transforming your practice into a more productive, profitable, and satisfying one will help you achieve better outcomes for your patients, your staff, and yourself.
Hiring a consulting and training company to help you optimize your practice by identifying and eliminating any inefficiencies or gaps in your processes, systems or staff can be extremely beneficial. Getting yourself trained on executive skills and management tools can entirely change the face of your practice for the better and reduce your stress and your hours. This is what The Art Of Management Inc. has done for over 1800 practices across Canada so far.
