Four pillars of a successful practice: 4. Motivate your staff

READ THE REST OF THE SERIES
Pillar 1: Keep your current patients happy (March 2013)
Dr. Baum describes his number one strategy to retain patients (Audiocast, March 2013)
Pillar 2: Attract new patients (May 2013)
Pillar 3: Obtain and maintain physician referrals (June 2013)

The success of any medical practice and any marketing program begins and ends with the staff. You can gain new patients, forge excellent relationships with referring physicians, and maintain a plentiful number of existing patients—but if you don’t have a staff that is excited, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable when answering the telephone and managing patients, your marketing plan will be ineffective, and you will be disappointed in your practice.

In this article, I review the importance of motivating employees by providing measurable, written goals in the form of a succinct, effective mission statement and policy manual. I also offer practical strategies to inspire your employees by sharing the power, vision, and rewards.

Start with your mission statement
Nearly every successful practice and every successful business has a well-defined vision, mission, goal, or objective. The mission statement should spell out the purpose of the practice and the methods of achieving it. It serves as the road map, providing direction to all members of the staff, doctors included.

The mission statement for my practice is:
     We are committed to:

• excellence
• providing the best urologic health care for our patients
• persistent and consistent attention to the little details because they make a big difference.

Develop a policy manual
Every practice should have a manual that contains its rules and regulations. Ideally, this manual should also serve as a guide for any new or temporary employee who comes to work in the office.

The manual should cover job descriptions, the dress code, hours of operation, the division of office responsibilities, vacation and sick days, and emergency telephone numbers.

In my practice, we summarize our policy manual with this expectation:
     Dr. Baum’s policy manual statement:
     Rule #1— The patient is always right.
     Rule #2— If you think the patient is wrong, reread rule #1.
     ALL OTHER POLICIES ARE NULL AND VOID.

We post the mission statement in prominent places throughout the office (the reception area and most of the examination rooms, our Web site, and on a large banner in the employee lounge) to remind us and our patients of our dedication to excellent customer service.

Whenever a mistake or problem occurs, the first question we ask each other is, “Did we adhere to the mission statement and the policy statement?” Usually, we discover that we did not. We use the mission statement and the policy statement to refocus us on our number one priority: our patients.

10 LOW-COST WAYS TO MOTIVATE STAFF
A well-motivated staff creates an effective team environment. Most enlightened businesses have discovered that team management leads to increased output and productivity. Your employees want to be valued as human beings and individuals, not just as workers. The more you include them in the process of running the office, the more invested they become in helping to improve the way it works.

1. Review staff performance regularly
Employees like to know where they stand and how they can improve performance on the job. Motivated staff members appreciate feedback on their progress—or, even, their lack of it. The best way to furnish this important feedback is by conducting periodic performance reviews.

I suggest that you meet with your employees on a scheduled basis every 3 to 4 months. Give each employee a worksheet before the scheduled review (see Worksheet below), and then go over her responses during the review. You can learn a lot about what motivates her during this process.

I always end each performance review on a positive note, by telling the employee how great an asset she is to the practice. I document these meetings in the employee’s file.

2. Encourage continuing education
Just as physicians need continuing medical education to stay up to date, your staff members require continuing motivational experiences. Encourage your staff to participate in continuing education courses and support their efforts financially—you’ll get a favorable return on your investment.

I suggest that you offer to pay the fees for any seminars and classes your employees take. You may want to suggest courses in computers, social media, marketing, or any other subject area that will help the practice grow and prosper.

To make these educational experiences even more effective, ask employees to share what they have learned with other staff members. This can be done at a staff meeting. Simply ask the employee who attended a seminar or a course to share the information with the rest of the staff by briefly reviewing the course or describing what he learned and how it applies to the practice.