Increasing Efficiency

A practice can be a very busy environment and the pace can be fast and furious with patients coming and going.  It is easy for things to fall through the cracks.  Sometimes important things.  Things that are dropped service to the patients and cause upsets.  You may, as the boss, find yourself firing off orders or directions or requests to your team and then later on find that they were not done or were incorrectly done.  You can get frustrated.

Why Don’t Things Get Done?

The following may be some of the reasons why something doesn’t get done:

• The person who got the order had a lot of other things to do.
• They couldn’t comply with your order without other people doing certain actions as well, but those other people didn’t do what they were supposed to do.
• The person given the order didn’t understand why it had to be done.
• They thought leaving it for later would be okay.
• There are other pressures on them – other people also demanding that they get things done – something other than what you wanted them to do.

However, knowing all those “reasons” doesn’t change the fact that you still need it done!

You as the boss may come up with your own reasons:

• The staff don’t listen.
• The staff don’t care.
• The staff are incapable.
• I’m just not cut out to be the boss. Fire me first.

But, when it comes right down to it, you’ve got a good staff. They do listen, they do care, and they are capable. And you ARE cut out to be the boss. Keep the job.

What can you do to remedy the situation?

1. Give the order in writing whenever possible.
2. Give a time or date that it is to be done by.
3. Give the reason that you need it done by that time.
4. Give it a priority number, e.g. “this is #1 Priority”, or “this is low priority, get it done some time this week.”
5. Make sure the person understands the order and importance.
6. Make sure that it is possible for the person to be able to get the order done, i.e. they may be in the middle of 3 other rush projects or orders.
7. Ensure the person has the materials or supplies to carry out the order.
8. If needed, supply them with help if it is a rush priority and a tall order for one person to get done on time.
9. Handle any problems the person may present to you as to why it can’t be done or done by the deadline. Work out a solution.
10. Ask for a written note saying the order is completed and what was done and have them put it in your in-basket (rather than bothering you in the middle of whatever else you’re doing).

Doing these actions will create more efficiency and reduce frustrations. Give it a try!

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