HOW TO BUILD A STAFF DRIVEN PRACTICE

Eric Huntington, DC

Co-Owner Developer of the Chiropractic Business Academy

drhuntington@chirobizacademy.com

WHAT IS A STAFF DRIVEN PRACTICE? 

It’s a practice in which the staff members take an active role in creating the future of the practice.

Staff members do this by working effectively and efficiently, without the need for much oversight. They are guided by the general direction of the owner through company policy and training. They don’t need orders to know what to do. Orders ARE issued, however, as a method of coordination but not as a necessary part of getting the staff member into action.

More important than just doing their jobs, the group members of a staff driven office create on their posts. They don’t just handle the work created by the blood sweat and tears of the owner, but they create more opportunity for the organization through their own efforts.

In short, the work, the responsibility, and the energy needed to maintain or grow a practice are truly shared amongst all in a staff driven office.

WHY HAVE A STAFF DRIVEN OFFICE?

First, it’s more fun to play in a group that you like than by yourself. Whether you are truly the only person in your office, or it just feels that way, I’m sure you can imagine that it would be more fun and more productive to have staff in your office sharing in the work, responsibility and rewards of practice.

Secondly, you can get more done with a group than you can by yourself. Each person has a limit as to what they can accomplish alone. This is what stalls the growth in most practices—the personal limitation of the owner doctor. This limitation does not occur in the Chiropractic Business Academy model because it’s staff driven. The only limitation is your ability to hire, train, apprentice and keep great staff, and to organize. The limitation is not your own energy, or time.

Lastly, you build an asset that will continue to pay you money after you retire, move on to another game, or that you can sell for a significant price. Even the largest of chiropractic offices can’t usually be sold for more than a few hundred thousand dollars because the owner selling the practice is the person who wears all the major hats within the practice—and he or she is leaving! What’s that worth?

BUILDING THE STAFF DRIVEN OFFICE!

It starts with an owner who is hatted as an executive. He must know how to envision an ideal scene for an activity, organize it’s into parts, organize those parts into workable actions, and assign those actions to manageable posts that can be occupied by a staff member.

That executive must also know how to assign proper statistics to each of the activities and set up a reporting system so that vital information is logged and routed to him on a regular basis. This allows him to monitor areas without micromanaging them, or having to do them himself. It also allows him to predict future needs of the office, and reverse a downturn in statistics before that downturn crashes the income.

If that executive also logs significant changes in the organization against graphed stats, such as key hires or new marketing activities, he then has a tool on which he can look back to evaluate the effectiveness of changes on stats.

• Key #1 of how to build a staff driven office is that the owner is trained in executive skills.

The executive must be hatted on how to find potential staff members. It rarely happens that you will find a great staff member in an interview. It’s more likely that you will find a potentially great staff member in an interview.

By and large, great staff members are created, not found. This is more a comment on our current education system and the commonly excepted work ethic of this society, than on any one individual staff member. 

Most people are willing and need a lot of help. Some are very capable and can be great with some training and guidance. Few arrive ready to take on the world—because most in that condition run their own organization or have found their way into higher paying industries.

• Key #2 is that the key staff members are trained in some or all of the executive skills, just as the owner. It is also critical that all staff are trained thoroughly on how to perform their job duties and on the general administrative workings of the office.

Staff pay should somewhat mirror the incentives of the owner. A business operating in a capitalistic system promises certain rewards to an owner, in exchange for value provided by that business to society. If the owner of a company provides value to others, in excess of the resources he expends providing that value, he earns a profit. This is a good incentive.

If staff members earn greater compensation, as the business provides greater benefit to the community in excess of its expenses, then the staff member will most likely work harder, smarter and more efficiently, to continue expanding the company—just like an owner. Not all staff will respond this way, but the ones you want, will.

• Key #3 is to pay a low base and an incredible production bonus for staff.

In chiropractic practice, we have a worthy purpose and an effective method of achieving that purpose. A staff driven office has a leader who sets the direction of advance.  It can be the owner, or someone designated by that owner. 

• Key #4 is to be the leader of your group. Everyone wants to go somewhere, and you either need to lead or get out of the way, by assigning a leader and letting them lead.

This is by no means a complete list of everything you need to build a staff driven office—but if you get these points in, you’ll be well on your way.

The Chiropractic Business Academy (CBA) trains chiropractors to build profitable staff driven offices. CBA does this by training the owner and staff, and providing ALL the administrative, marketing and sales tools needed to build profitable practices.

Our program is thorough, detailed and easy to implement. Best of all, its success to your bottom line is guaranteed in your service contract with CBA. Call my office to learn more.

888-989-0855

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