If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
By Mark Sanna, DC

With the rapid pace of change in the world today, it can be seductive to view all change as desirable and necessary. In many ways change can be one or both of these things.

In business and industry, the outmoded and inefficient are quickly and ruthlessly consigned to the economic graveyard for failing to observe this maxim. Few of us would or could do without washing machines, refrigerators, cell phones, or computers.

Change, therefore, can be seen as only truly necessary when a better alternative becomes available or when whatever we are using no longer works.

DON’T MESS WITH SUCCESS

Being creative and headstrong are not necessarily a bad thing. Creativity, after all, is the mother of invention and is necessary to the advancement of all things.

But, when it comes to your practice, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” In other words: Don’t mess with success!

Chiropractors love to tinker. Have you caught yourself looking for an office procedure, new patient promotion, or practice-management system that is working perfectly well and then you do one of two things: change it or stop doing it all together?

Stop! Don’t do it. Once you have implemented an office procedure that accomplishes its intended purpose, in a reasonable time frame, and using a reasonable amount of resources, don’t try to “fix” it. It’s not broken!

The most common result of trying to fix something that isn’t broken is a loss of time, energy, or money. And in the end, the “fix” isn’t any more satisfactory than the original.

THE PARETO PRINCIPLE

The Pareto Principle states that 20 percent of what we do produces 80 percent of the results. The value of the Pareto Principle for chiropractors and chiropractic team members is that it reminds you to focus on the 20 percent that matters:

• When the “fire drills” of the day begin to sap your time, remind yourself of the 20 percent you need to focus on.

• If something in the schedule has to slip, if something isn’t going to get done, make sure it’s not part of that 20 percent.

Take a look at your practice: What are the things that you do that produce the best results?

Make a list of those things, and focus on doing more of them. (Opening your own mail, answering e-mail, and surfing the Web during patient hours should not be on your list.)

Showing up on time — before the first patient enters your office — should be on the list. When you are on time, you send a strong message to your patients and your practice team members that being on time is important. We can’t ask of others what we do not demand of ourselves.

The moral (actually, two morals) to this article should be obvious:

• If someone is successful and you’re not as successful as he or she is, then there is a good chance that person knows something you don’t (or at least something that you haven’t accepted yet); and

• Be creative, be different, but “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

SIDEBARS:
2 secrets to success
What isn't broken

Mark Sanna, DC, ACRB Level II, FICC, is CEO and president of Breakthrough Coaching. He can be contacted at 800-723-8423 or through his Web site, www.mybreakthrough.com.