The smooth running of your practice depends on the effortless flow of communication and knowing how to get “un-stuck.”
DO YOU EVER ASK YOURSELF WHY you aren’t getting many new patients? Do you wonder why some patients are not complying with care, missing their appointments, and showing up late? Does it feel like your patients aren’t listening to you?
You know that statistics show that patients who attend healthcare classes get better faster, stay better longer, and spend less money over time; so all of your patients should attend these classes, right? And you probably tell them this over and over again.
In addition, perhaps you’re having a staff problem. Does it seem like your employee lineup is always changing? Just when you think you have your dream team assembled, a key personnel member doesn’t show up to work, never to return!
And, just when you think everyone working for you is successfully cross- trained, your newest hire announces that the position “just isn’t for me.” Or, you may find that on your busiest morning, your favorite team member calls in sick for some reason. Do any of these scenarios sound familiar? Don’t worry, you are not alone.
When you have an annual marketing plan in place, you would like to believe that by donating your time to educate people in your community on health, wellness, and safety issues, that you will attract many new patients to your practice. When you educate employees in their workplace on how to have more energy, decrease stress, and increase productivity, you’d think they would soon show up at your practice.
Because you’re doing spinal evaluations at health fairs, in corporations, and at health clubs, you should be seeing lots of new patients. So why is it that when you schedule those new patients, they don’t show up? Do you blame it on your location or the quality of people you’re seeing? Maybe it’s time to take responsibility and realize that the problem could be you.
You surely know by now that what you envision for your practice and your staff doesn’t always go according to plan. The unexpected happens, and people don’t always perform according to expectations.
Business is all about people and energy. Building a practice is about forming relationships and managing the flow of energy among people. Therefore, you are in the people business and you must make sure that your energy flows at all times. But energy manifests in different ways.
Attention, mindset, emotion, passion, and awareness are all ways in which energy flows, and these generate behaviors that you must be conscious of all of the time. It’s the things you do and the way you do them that determines the outcome. If the energy isn’t flowing, then you are probably dealing with blockages.
It is crucial to notice where your blockages are or you will impede your path to success. One of the most common symptoms of a stuck practice is communication blockage.
Solving communication blockage begins with the awareness that the condition exists. There are some obvious symptoms you should be ready to spot. If patients and staff are complaining or irritable, or if there’s too much chitchat among patients and staff, these are signs of a blocked practice.
It’s a fact of life that every so often the business leader gets stuck. The same holds true for chiropractors.
It may be due to a business problem, an external factor, or even a personal issue. Whatever the cause, you’ll know it when it’s happening and it doesn’t feel good.
A blockage can feel like you’ve reached a plateau, like you’re treading water and spinning your wheels. If this is happening, don’t feel discouraged, because it happens to everyone who tries to run a business.
As soon as you recognize that you’re dealing with a blockage, acknowledge it, and then take action steps to solve it instead of panicking. You may need to view things objectively, looking both from outside your practice and from within.
Consider spending time with someone you view as a role model or talk with an accountability partner or coach. Getting un-stuck takes effort and commitment.
Trying to run a blocked practice is no fun and it’s not healthy for you. Getting un-stuck isn’t just a good idea, it’s essential to your success.
