Four pillars of a successful practice: 4. Motivate your staff
Employees perform optimally when they have a clear sense of mission, feel like part of a team, continue to learn, are welcome to share ideas, and are applauded for their successes
3. Empower your staff
Office management is complicated. Few ObGyns have a thorough understanding of all business aspects of a medical practice. Most successful ObGyns have learned to delegate the responsibility of running the office and to empower their employees to take control and assume responsibility for their decisions and actions.
In my practice, I empower any employee to make financial decisions up to a limit of $200 without consulting me. For instance, if the office needs a new telephone answering machine, I expect my employees to consider which features we need, check the machines that are available, and compare prices at the local electronics outlet, office supply store, and online retailers to find the best machine at the lowest price.
The take-home message: More than ever before, ObGyns should do what we are best trained to do—diagnose and treat diseases. Very few ObGyns are experts on fax machines. Don’t waste time on activities that your staff members can do.
4. Promote a positive mental attitude
As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” This is also true of the practice of medicine. When the doctor has a positive mental attitude, employees are motivated by the example. When a doctor is easily irritable and carries problems from home to the office and takes her frustration out on the staff, the employees will, in turn, take it out on the patients.
I have an attitude that employees are on stage. The moment they walk in the door in the morning, they have to leave all other problems and concerns behind them. They need to believe that they are responsible for making sure that each patient has a positive experience with the office at every contact point. That includes the telephone, the receptionist who welcomes patients to the practice, the nurse taking the patient into the exam room, the billing clerk who handles the patient’s bill, and, yes, the doctor, too! We all contribute to the patient’s experience, and we all need to have a positive attitude.
5. Recognize achievement
Nothing is more motivating for an employee than for the doctor to recognize his achievements and accomplishments. When an employee improves in job performance, tell him directly. You will satisfy that employee’s need for self-esteem, improve his confidence, and help him fulfill the need for self-esteem from fellow employees.
6. Show your staff that you care
Your employees need to know that you care about them not just as workers but as individuals with their own personal lives. When one of my employees is sick, or one of her family members is ill, I call her at home to check on her and make sure that she has access to adequate medical care. If someone gets sick in the office, I call another medical office and get the employee seen immediately.
7. Catch your employees doing things right
My philosophy is to praise in public, pan in private. When I catch an employee doing something right, I send a thank-you note to her home address, making sure that it arrives on a Saturday. I hope the employee will show my note to family and friends. I use a specially created card or a “thanks a million” check (a non-negotiable replication of a check that is made out to the employee and says, “Thanks a million,” with my name signed at the bottom).
You will be amazed at how appreciative the employee is that you not only recognized her superior service but took the time to put your recognition in writing.
8. Reward your staff for saving money
If a staff member comes up with an idea that saves the practice money, give her a bonus. For example, in my practice, the 15-year-old autoclave broke down. When I tried to get parts, I was informed that the machine is no longer made. The nurse in our office took the autoclave to the hospital’s biomedical engineering department, where workers installed a $30 part that saved me from buying a new $2,000 machine. The nurse deserved to be rewarded for that, so I gave her a $50 check on the spot.
I try to motivate my staff not just to earn more money for the practice but to reduce expenses, so I pay them when they identify and design money-saving ideas.
9. Involve your employees in decision making
Ask your employees for advice. Then make sure you follow it. Your staff members are on the front line; they want the office routine to go well. Include them in the decision-making process, whether the task is writing a mission statement or policy manual, determining a change in procedures, implementing an electronic health record, or meeting new job candidates. By including them, you make them feel like part of the team.
