Don’t forget CA training!
By Steven P. Weiniger, DC

A symbiotic relationship exists between staff a chiropractic practice and its staff. The practice needs them, and they need the practice. Look at any great practice, and you will see a great staff supporting a great doctor.

These practices are managed by DCs who know that practice performance is directly linked to having a trained, responsible staff with strong spirit and high morale.

According to management guru Peter Drucker (author, teacher and consultant specializing in strategy and policy for businesses and social sector organizations), an organization’s most valuable asset is its staff’s knowledge. A trained and effective staff is a resource, not a cost, which is why Drucker encourages businesses to “expose staff as well as managers [DCs] to the best ideas, and see to it that they are trained in how to apply them.”

Yet few DCs send staff to continuing-education seminars.

Fast Company, a business magazine, listed chiropractic as No. 4 of the top 25 professions for 2005. This is not surprising, because despite some negativity from those in and about the chiropractic profession, chiropractic has a great thing going for it: We get amazing results helping people. Our patients frequently feel dramatically better the moment they get off the table. And when we help people, we ourselves derive a psychic benefit — motivation — to continue our work.

Self-motivation is easy, compared with motivating staff. Concerning attracting, keeping, and motivating knowledgeable workers, Drucker says, “We already know what does not work: bribery.”

A better approach: Empowerment. Empower your staff with the understanding of how they contribute to your helping people, as well as with the knowledge they need to help people directly. This tactic gives your staff the same psychic boost you get from helping people.

This empowerment can only come through training — skill-based and knowledge-based. Both types of training are important for staff members to feel they are a vital part of effectively contributing to something worthwhile.

SKILLS-BASED TRAINING

Skills-based training is usually specific to an office. It involves mastering such things as setting up appointments for new patients, correctly selecting the forms to have patients complete, working with insurance companies, and routing patients through the office.

You can accomplish skills training through a variety of ways:

• One-on-one training. You can do this yourself or delegate it to a more senior staff member.

If you delegate training, pick a staff member who is not only skilled and experienced in the job, but also knows your practice, is well acquainted with your philosophies, has an excellent customer-relationship demeanor, and is well motivated to work effectively as well as efficiently.

• Learning from peers. People learn from each other’s experiences. Ask your team to bring to your staff meeting a situation that the entire staff can discuss, such as handling a chronically complaining patient. Give each staff member the opportunity to relate his or her experiences to the group. This allows everyone to benefit from the learning experience.

Not only do staff members learn from each other, but when you incorporate this type of learning experience into your staff meetings, you also build teamwork and buy-in as team members come up with solutions to plaguing problems.

• Learning from experts. Schedule your suppliers to give short training sessions — for example, on nutritional products or on using newly purchased equipment.

• Learning from in-house experts. In any office, individual staff members develop expertise in particular areas of interest. Ask your experts to share their expertise, such as coding or completing insurance forms. This exercise allows your staff to cross train, an invaluable benefit, especially when someone is out on vacation or with illness.

Whatever your method, the point is to have a mechanism by which skill-based knowledge is transferred to everyone.

Remember that training is not merely telling. When a point is complex, role-playing can be a very effective training tool. Afterwards, remind staff what they have learned. Create involvement at your next staff meeting discussing the point.

KNOWLEDGE-BASED TRAINING

Knowledge-based training can be a more profound kind of continuing education and is often best delivered in a more traditional classroom setting. Having something explained, experiencing hands-on interaction, learning history and relevance, and having the opportunity to ask questions are the best ways for many to turn data and information into knowledge and wisdom.

A seminar that teaches front-desk scripts is not the same as a seminar in which your staff learn how to help people.

You already know that empowering your patients with knowledge of their body allows them to experience an improvement in body motion and feel stronger.

Educating your staff not only inspires strong spirit and high morale but also allows them to experience the wonders of the chiropractic profession more fully. When they learn firsthand how you are helping that patient with low back pain or how to help you teach the patient with shoulder pain to do certain exercises, they are empowered to satisfy the patient more effectively, which is the ultimate purpose of any practice.

Steven P. Weiniger, DC, is managing partner of www.BodyZone.com, an online resource helping people to move naturally. His seminar on Integrating Chiropractic with Posture Rehab exercises is sponsored by the University of Bridgeport Chiropractic College. He can be reached at Weiniger@bodyzone.com.