Building Your Management Muscle
Basics of Being “The Boss” – Part 1
Moving forward with our exploration of the various “spokes” of the Wheel of Business, let’s make a shift from the Leadership spoke to the next one. To do that, let’s start with an interesting question …
What if you were employed by … YOU?
It may be a bit humbling for some of us to REALLY step back, consider and answer that question. If you read our blog regularly (or follow us in other ways), one thing you have hopefully picked up on is the need for wellness providers to get and stay tuned into a key fact. Specifically, we strongly believe you must bear in mind that besides providing a valuable service, you are also in BUSINESS! We often talk about balancing the “service hand” and the “business hand”.
This is especially true if you are one who owns your own practice. In such a case you have secured that much desired role of “being your own boss”. Congratulations!
Of course, with that typically comes being the “BOSS” of others, too. How are you doing with this role? Were you ever properly prepared for it? Let’s admit it, many practice owners never really were! Here’s another set of challenging questions to ask yourself:
- What impression would you have OF you … if you worked FOR you?
- What observations would you make if you could really view yourself from the “other side” of the employer-employee relationship?
- What about things like congruency, ethics, and passion for what you do?
- How would your leadership influence YOU?
- Would you follow you?
Those are sort of tough to think through. Aren’t they? Okay, let’s transition from leadership to management here.
John Maxwell, an author and speaker on the topic of leadership says, “Leadership is influence. Nothing more. Nothing Less.”
Maxwell stresses a term “Leadership Ability”. He says (and we agree) that “Leadership ability is always the lid on personal and organizational effectiveness”. Of course, Maxwell has tons of ideas and resources to grow people in this area, and we highly recommend his material. One of our early mentors used to say:
“Your practice is waiting for its leader to show up!”
A part of leadership is authority. If it’s YOUR business, then YOU must step up and BE the authority. Many “should be” leaders struggle with the balancing act of fostering good working relationships, getting team input, etc. while trying to establish and maintain authority. It’s a tough line to walk, but well-worth the effort.
This and our next writing will cover that spoke of The Wheel of Business known as MANAGEMENT. We will outline some basics that we believe any practice owner or leader can incorporate to address this challenge.
- Think Team! A true championship team is not dependent any one person … including YOU as the doctor or owner! We’ve all heard the ol’ saying “There is no ‘I’ in team”. We believe an indicator of a great leader is the performance of those following him or her. Clarity with individual roles and expectations, as well as team goals is essential as a business owner attempts to build a great team to help serve his or her patients.
- It’s not all about you! As you build a championship team, don’t forget that your front desk person, rehab assistants, nurses, Associate Doctors or whatever type of team members you have are all living a life of their own. In those lives are other things besides you, your clinic, and your patients. We realize that may be a surprise to some. Lol!
We certainly suggest that you insist team members remain fully present and leave their “stuff” at the door when they come to work. At the same time, they are human. They will have boyfriends, girlfriends, spouses (hopefully not all three!), kids who have school, games, dance lessons, concerts, and a bunch of other “stuff” like menstrual cycles, financial challenges, relationship challenges, illness and deaths. Plus, hobbies and other legitimate priorities. The point is this: Life happens and it’s not all about you! Bear with your team.
- Hire Carefully! One positive thing about being a business owner is that we are able to decide WHO our team will be made up of. Did you ever stop and think just how much time you will spend with your team? It’s estimated that on average, Americans will spend 40% of our living time on the job. Think about it: many health care professionals easily spend 8-10 hours per day and 40, 50 (or more!) hours per week at the office. At that rate, you will be around your team way more than you will your own family and friends. So, choose carefully!
We are often asked, “Should I hire experience and skill? Or personality and energy?” Of course, the right answer is BOTH! But, seriously, if one is forced to make that choice, we always suggest you hire energy. Even more importantly, watch for people with a desire to be on YOUR team – not just someone wanting to land “any” job and be on any team!
If you are working to build a championship team operating with good ethics, a strong purpose and systems that allow things to run smoothly, then you WILL attract quality people that want to work specifically for you … and that purpose. If you’re doing your job of serving and influencing your patients, their families and your community, then you should have people approaching you about being on your team. It never ceases to amaze us that when it’s the right time for us to add to our team, the right person approaches us about wanting to work for us.
Because they are typically focused on rendering great care, effective management is an area we often see lacking among wellness providers. Yet, it is critical to reaching your full potential of creating wellness for your patients and in your community.
Our observation is that very, very few clinic owners have ANY management experience before launching their business. As a result, they lack both management focus and management systems. Their “management muscle” must be built up … ASAP! Stay tuned for our next blog when we will do some more work on this very vital spoke of the Wheel of Business.
By now, you have probably sensed that the Activate DNA Weight Loss leadership team provides more than just a proven and effective weight loss program. Besides the turn-key system, we also focus on the support and coaching of our providers to have a healthy business overall.
