Lesson 2:
Need More Staff?
TIPS-The Ideal Practice System

Do You Really Need More Staff?
...Or do you need to implement a more effective way of doing business?

How can one doctor provide high-quality care to 4-5 times more patients/pet owners than another doctor in the same number of hours, with the same number of staff? What things make one practice more effective than another - even with less staff?

Doctors often think that if they add more staff, then they'll be more productive. This is not always the answer. Today's lesson will explain how to create a highly-effective practice with less cost to you and your staff.

What is a Highly-Effective Practice?

Before we discuss what things make one practice more productive than another, let's clarify what we mean by a highly-effective practice. A highly-effective practice is one that:

1. Provides consistent, high-quality care
2. Is highly-profitable (as much as 50% profitability)
3. Allows the doctor to serve the community to the full measure of his/her talents and abilities.
4. Plans ahead for what their patients will need today, in 1 month, 6 months or a year.

Highly-effective practices are less stressful, more fun and can afford to employ the right staff. Doctors who create this kind of practice don't suffer from the frustrations and burnout that drive other veterinarians into early retirement. Doctors who create a highly-effective practice enjoy more success in every other area of their life because they can leave work behind each day and get on with their personal life.

3 secrets of highly-effective practices...

There are 3 things that highly-effective practices have in common. You, too, can learn how to use these 3 secrets to become fully-productive.

1. Hire the right people
2. Be the right leader
3. Use the right processes

You can only be as productive as the people you hire, the way you lead them and the processes you use to run your clinic.  This lesson will cover how to identify the right people.

Hire the right people...

Payroll is one of your biggest expenses. So before you decide to add more staff, you need to make sure that you have the right people working for you now. Right people do the following 3 things:

1. Right people make their goals.
2. Right people add energy to the practice.
3. Right people set a positive tone.

Right people make their goals.

Right people make their goals because they are open to learning and growing. They don't bring you problems, they bring you solutions to problems.

Each person in the clinic needs goals. These goals should be related to something the person has influence over. These goals can be specific to a problem, or can be the ongoing practice goals.

Example #1: A front desk person wants to raise the number of potential clients they schedule for appointments. Their goal can be the percentage of potential clients they schedule. (This statistic was explained in detail in Lesson 1).

Example #2: A kennel tech's goal can be the desired percentage of boarding occupancy.

Example #3: The main goals which every practice should track are pet owners new to the practice, pet owner visits, charges, collections and the average amount collected per pet owner visit. There is no rule for which departments or staff members will be responsible for which practice goals. The best way is to decide who has the most influence over the outcome of specific goals.

It's not enough to set a goal - well, actually sometimes it is. Usually, however, it is necessary to take action to get the desired results. It's important for staff to identify what action steps are needed to reach the goal. Is there a need for training? Or a change in thinking? In Example #1 above, maybe the front desk person feels uncomfortable about his/her marketing role, about the cost of services or doesn't understand the vision of the clinic and his/her role in that vision.

When the necessary action steps are determined, they become part of an ongoing plan to improve performance. The action steps are to be scheduled and the results monitored by the doctor, trainer, or whoever is in charge of the training. Given the opportunity, the right people in the right position will make their goals.

Right people add energy to the practice.

You can tell who the right people in your practice are because they are the ones who give you energy, rather than taking it. The right people are the ones who don't take your attention, who are not a distraction. When you have the right people, the less it will feel as if you're having to lead them and the more it will feel as if they are buoying you forward. If you hear yourself saying that someone is a really a nice person, but they just don't seem to be able to do this or that the way you want it, they're taking energy. If this is the case, ask yourself these questions:

1. Are they in the wrong seat on the bus?
Is there another position where you could utilize their strengths? Is there someone better suited to take over some of his or her responsibilities? (A great front desk person will be great with people, but may not be great with details. If necessary, give the details to another staff person.)

2. Is it a training problem?
Get them the training. Don't expect everyone to remember how to do something right the first, second or even the third time. Whenever possible, have a training manual for each department so that everyone knows what is expected of them. People retain information longer when they can see what you want them to do, so show them what you expect. Explaining the "why" behind the training helps even further. Why is it done this way? What's makes this an effective way to do it? Next, walk them through it until they're ready to do it themselves. Then, watch them do it. This step can include follow-up training sessions until they've achieved the level of expertise necessary to consistently perform the task to the standards of the clinic. You can then sign them off on that skill. Training never stops; however, with the right person, once the skill is in place, it takes very little effort to keep it in place.

3. Is it a responsibility problem?
If you've made your expectations clear and a staff member doesn't take responsibility for his or her actions, they're probably not the right person.

Right people set a positive tone.

Right people are optimistic, energetic, and a joy to work with. People enjoy being in the presence of people who set a positive tone. An upbeat team member will help build the business because customers will return and tell their friends about people they enjoy being around.

You cannot afford to have negative people working for you. The transfer of negative emotions to you, other staff and pet owners is too costly.

So, do you really need more staff?  Or, do you need a more effective way of doing business - beginning with hiring the right people?

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27636 Ynez Rd., L7-187, Temecula, California 92591