Creating a distinct culture in your practice will take consistent work over time. Fortunately, there are a couple of simple techniques I’ve used to create and maintain the right culture in my own practice and I want to share those with you now.
Using Annual Reviews to Enhance Your Practice Culture
Annual reviews for your staff are very important. You need to take a lot of time to get them done. Then once you do them, you’ve got to revisit them quarterly to make sure you’re putting value on the annual review.
You’re going to set goals in these annual reviews. There’s going to be communication about the past and about the future. Once the review is done, you’ve got to hold your team to those agreements contained in the review. It gives the annual review greater value.
During the quarterly review, check the progress on goals. You shouldn’t look at the annual review at the end of the year and realize that you haven’t looked at it in all that time. If you haven’t worked on any of the goals in a year, you’ve diminished its value. It’s up to you to make sure to hold the standard of importance for these reviews.
Surveys: Feedback from Staff Helps Improve Your Culture
You should survey your staff once or twice a year. I’m not a fan of anonymous surveys, I believe you need to train your people up to stand behind their words. We need to be professionally mature, not talking behind people’s backs.
The reason I changed from anonymous surveys to ones with staff names on it was that we were doing anonymous surveys and then somebody said they wanted to learn more about Excel. I couldn’t help them because I didn’t know who they were.
So train your team up on surveys and why they need to be able to stand behind whatever they’re going to say. This prompts them to say things in a kind way. They state the problem they see and list solutions. That’s what I want to hear. I want to invite their participation in making my practice better. Anonymous surveys can just invite staff to complain.
Staff Survey Sample
We include four questions in our surveys to our staff:
- Ask your staff to list three things that your practice does well. Put your practice name right in the question. (After this, you’re going to ask them about aspects of the practice that they don’t like so much so you want to give them a chance to say some nice things about the practice right up front.)
- Ask your staff what three things they would do differently if they were running _____ (practice name). For each item, what are their solutions to those problems? (They should be detailed in their answers.)
- Next, what would cause them to leave _____ (practice name)?
- Finally, why do they stay at _____ (practice name)? (You want to know what they value, what keeps them there because you want to protect whatever that factor is.)
As far as why a person would leave, usually people say they want a life change, better financial compensation and so on. You need to know so you can stay competitive.
Get the Help You Need to Generate a Fantastic Private Practice Culture
Annual reviews and surveys are a start, but it will take much more to generate and maintain a great culture in your practice. There’s lots more help available to you in our Lemonade Library. Log into this library of webinars now and look for inspiration and guidance!
About Diane Crecelius
Diane Crecelius is a physical therapist and founder of a multi-million-dollar, multi-location practice with well over 3,000 visits per week and 200 staff! In the past several years, Diane has worked tirelessly to support Peds-A-Palooza® Community & Conferences and the success of Private Practice Owners. Diane has presented at nearly every Peds-A-Palooza live and virtual conference since the first sold-out conference in 2018. Her extensive knowledge derives from her decades in practice and from being trained and consulted by Survival Strategies, Inc. She uses this training to help Private Practice Owners learn how to thrive and expand while keeping their stress low.