I hear from sales representatives who visit a lot of practices every week that you can tell very quickly which practices have mastered the art of hiring well and building an exemplary team. These 'reps' tell stories about how enjoyable it is to visit those practices with rock star teams, as the environment and attitude is totally unique. On the contrary, practices who struggle to hire well and to build a good team are not pleasant to visit or do business with.
When working with effective teams, it is immediately apparent that they are 100% focused on serving customers. Teams that are ineffective typically have team members who are only focused upon themselves. They aren't happy doing what they do, and they certainly aren't focused on satisfying customers. In this case, there a numerous 'fierce conversations' that need to be had.
How do you make the transition to build an effective team, if you don't have one now? Some suggestions:
- ask your 'reps' to recommend non-competing practices who are particularly good at hiring well and building an effective team, and call them to see if you can come observe and discuss with their management what they do to be effective.
- read "Good to Great" by Jim Collins to establish some mind-shift in how you approach leadership and building your team. After you've read it, have some of your key managers and leaders read it as well, and discuss it.
- read "Fierce Conversations" by Susan Scott, and have the conversations that you need to have.
- make a commitment to changing the culture of your practice. Effective teams aren't effective by accident. They've developed a strong team culture, which doesn't happen overnight. Make the commitment long term to change your culture.
- if you have questions, submit them confidentially, at IsMyPracticeHealthy.com.
