So many lenses, so many practitioners;
How to make your practice stand out from the pack - Part 4

Dr. Gary Gerber

This article is the fourth in a series of practice management articles from one of the foremost practice management experts in the US and founder of “The Power Practice”, a leading practice management consultancy . Dr Gerber has presented in the UK several times now and has seen many similarities between US and UK practice.

“My practice would be so much easier if I didn’t have any staff.”  I overheard this comment while walking around a recent trade show.  I felt like telling the doctor, “It would be even easier if you didn’t have any patients.”

Nearly 80% of the questions we field from our clients relate to staff management topics.  Without question, a good staff can make or break a contact lens practice. And, when trying to separate your practice from the pack, you have to realize that your staff are an integral part of your practice that require constant nurturing and developing.  If your staff management technique has been to throw your hands up in the air and wave the white flag, then accept that your practice will never break out from the pack.  It takes an exceptional team to accomplish this feat.  Here are three tips you’ll need to achieve that.

1.  Tell your staff what you want them to do.  Sounds obvious, doesn’t it?  That is until you discover that one of the major sources of employee discontent and reasons for leaving a practice is, “What I was supposed to be doing was never carefully explained to me.  My ‘training’ consisted of watching someone else do their job, and I think she learned by watching someone else.”

Beyond training skills like how to make appointments, don’t forget to initiate your staff to your higher level goals and practice philosophy. Do your staff know the history of your practice? Do they know your degree of training? Do they share your passion for trying to problem solve difficult contact lens fits and do they internalize the pride you get in helping people lead better lives through great vision?  It’s your job as the business owner to share your doctrine and “contact lens passion” with your team.  They need to hear it from you in no uncertain terms.

2.  Once you tell your staff what to do, you have to monitor and measure their execution and compliance.  For example, if you’ve instructed your staff to answer the phone a certain way, let them know that at certain unannounced periodic intervals, you will have someone call the office and record the calls.  If you’ve just discussed the new benefits of a toric contact lens at a staff meeting, let them know there will be an informal quiz in two weeks and they are expected to know (for example) “the three reasons patients prefer these lenses compared to older technology toric lenses.” 

Practitioners often lament, “I tell them the same thing a hundred times and they still don’t get it right.”  That’s simply because they don’t have to!  Without compliance measures in place, there is no incentive to assimilate new information.

3.  Reward those who “get it” and fire those who don’t.  In our consulting company’s experience, practitioners are very resistant to fire poorly performing employees or reward good ones.  By definition, reluctance to trim the dead wood or encourage growth of top performers leads to a middle of the bell curve staff.  Worse, mediocrity is a sure fire way to never stand out from the pack.  Instead, if after telling your staff member what is expected of them, training them, giving them ample tools and time to learn and perform they STILL don’t measure up to your expectations and their written performance targets, we recommend, subject to following the appropriate legal procedures, terminating the employee and replacing them with a better performing team member.  A tough call for sure, but unless you’re willing to be stuck in the middle of the bell curve of practice performance, a necessary step.

How can your staff help you stand out in a large crowd of contact lens practices?  Tell them what you want them to do, make sure they’re doing it, reward them when they do and replace them when they don’t.