Joseph Farina is a Local Eye Site “Community Contributor.” Joseph has a B.S.B.A. in Business Management, an A.A.S. in Ophthalmic Science and Technology, and over 20 years of ophthalmic operations management experience, holding a vice president position for three different multi-state ophthalmic companies. Most recently, he served as president of a consulting company that specializes in services to the eye care professional.
Joseph authored today’s Local Eye Site blog entry, “How is Your Culture Affecting Your Bottom Line?” We hope you enjoy it, and are able to take away some helpful information for managing your eye care practice.
What does the culture at your company say about what it values most? Does your culture produce the type of results you want or need? A culture is simply the way people think and act, and it does produce results. Every practice or organization has a culture, no matter its size. The culture produces the results and the results reinforce the culture.
Whatever the size of the organization, leaders create and reinforce the culture. An effective culture requires a good leader. This might be the doctor, supervisor, director, manager, or technician. The leader must provide open, honest, and respectful communication; this will supply valuable information for effective cultural development. Is finger-pointing, confusion, denial, and/or procrastination what you are hearing from your culture? Are members saying things like “I did not know that was the number we were trying to achieve? That is not my responsibility. They gave me bad reports. I did not know I got paid to do that also. Did you actually think I could exceed that number? Things will get better. Didn’t you receive that memo?” If this is what you are hearing, your culture is not producing a culture of full performance. Manage your culture or it will manage you.
The greatest management task is always directing people to produce the desired result. To accomplish this, the leader must drive the experiences. Experiences should be 1) realistic, 2) recognizable, 3) results driven, and 4) time sensitive. They must take into consideration the abilities of all employees at all levels of the organization. Take “baby steps” to construct the change you want, and then multiple “baby steps” to produce long term results. Recognizable experiences illustrate that things are different from before. “This is how we do things now.” Results driven experiences are action-oriented. Employees must work from their minds and hearts to take ownership. With more ownership comes focus and change from their empowerment. Time sensitive experiences are actions which individuals can do today, this week, or this month. They are NOT just a “to-do list”. They are clear actions that contribute to the practice or company that all are committed to achieve. Using these concepts, I produced a major culture shift at an eye care organization. “Baby steps” and open communication provided opportunities for employees to take ownership and pride in the work that was accomplished. All issues were time sensitive, and employees believed the results were realistic achievable. Everyone within the organization was involved, and things were done differently than before. This process produced record results with a $2.8M revenue increase, a 62% increase in laboratory productivity, and a 30% improvement in patient/customer service.
In this trying economy, your culture is the single most important component to achieving results through all the employees successfully. Ask yourself these questions:
1. Do we have a business plan, and does everyone understand it?
2. Is everyone committed to achieving it?
3. Does everyone have an opportunity to participate in goal setting?
4. Is the billing/receivables department operating at a high performance level?
5. Are the right dollar amounts being spent in external/internal marketing?
6. Are operational reports prepared properly?
7. Are phones being handled at peak performance?
8. What are our capture rates?
9. Did we get that new appointment?
10. Did we follow up with the patient on their insurance?
11. Was the patient notified of a change in surgery?
12. Was the patient notified of a new date of delivery?
The lists of questions to ask yourself are endless. All answers to these questions come back to culture development. The size of the organization does not matter. The leader sets the expectations by example and communication. Experiences change and reinforce the culture, and the culture produces the results. If you apply these principles in all departments, you will be able to construct or realign the culture you desire, even in this difficult economy.
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