Your Patients & Your Team: 3 Tips for Delivering Quality Service to Both

The service you provide to your patients is without a doubt important, but what about the way you serve your team?

I'd like to tell you about the 3 duties of your leadership that will create a quality practice for your patients AND a quality place people will love to work.

The more you limit staff turnover, the more sound your business will look to your patients. 

The Problem

Most of us treat our patients as the most important thing to the livelihood of our practice. They get all the smiles, preferential treatment, benefit of the doubt, etc. We have a duty to give them a good experience after all.

But we often forget/neglect the people who work in our practice also need to feel important, recognized and served. 

When the inevitable issue with a patient arises and they complain about a staff member, we are quick to jump on the side of the patient. (Unless of course, the patient is unruly and outright belligerent and rude) I mean the patients DO provide the dollars and cents to pay our employees and keep our doors open.... right?! 

Wrong. When we neglect the machine that provides the services, the machine will eventually break down. There are way too many healthcare business owners that neglect this simple rule: Serve your people AND your patients.

The Duty Mindset

A duty mindset means you have a responsibility to serve others in a non-selfish way. Adopting a duty mindset helps us do more by empowering others to be their very best and supporting them to do so. 

It helps us avoid the bad feelings that come when we are not recognized, but rather our whole team is recognized. Think about it, how many times do you read a google review that talks solely about how great the doctor is? The provider is 90% of the time who gets the credit for a great experience. What about the rest of the team and how it services your patients?

A duty mindset, helps us do the work not minding who gets the praise.

This mindset fills us with a sense of responsibility and maturity and it helps us deal with our ego and vanity.

You have a duty to serve your own growth and craft, your team, AND then your customers. Yes, in that order. 

#1: You have a duty to your craft

"The way you've always done it," is where innovation goes to die. How many of you are still using outdated techniques and procedures? For heaven sakes, I had a CNP tell my son last year to use the RICE method on his sprained foot! That is no longer the method of dealing with acute injuries. Its been refuted in the last 5-10 years and replaced with more favorable methods for the healing process. (although RICE it is still taught - unfortunately) Stop living by the, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," mantra. 

Or even worse, you're holding onto outdated ways of thinking. You have a duty to continue to develop the way you think and the way you lead your business. A huge mistake I see a lot of business owners make is that they don't believe they need to advance themselves. They believe in moving their business forward, but neglect a simple rule.....

Your business only grows as much as you do. We are so quick to update our kitchens, clothes and cars, but will hold onto beliefs and values we learned 20 years ago they may no longer be serving us. The quickest way to tank your business is to stop developing yourself. 

Be sure to continue to grow your business's #1 asset - yourself.

Be sure to continue to learn new methods in your particular niche.

Be sure to read new articles and research that is released. 

Staying on top of your personal growth and your business growth will be a hand over fist return on your investment every single time.

#2: You have a duty to your team

As healthcare providers, we are often the second, third or even fourth touch point at our offices. Someone answers the phone, or greets people when they walk in the door, an assistant brings them back to an exam/treatment room, maybe someone takes vitals or subjective information, and THEN you finally see them. 

Your people need to be an extension of the vision you have for your business. The phrase, "You are your business," definitely applies here. But not YOU, as in the physical you. YOU, as in your vision for your business.

Your vision creates buy in from your team. A rallying point that they can get behind and deliver upon every single day. It serves as a teaching point and reference point for your team each day. 

Show your team your vision and don't be afraid of telling them your dream for the practice. No one wants to jump in the car and ride endlessly without having a destination in mind. Show them where you would like to go and how they are an integral part of serving the vision and without them the business would fail. 

The #1 trait that you need as a leader in your business is vulnerability. The more you show yours to your team, the more they will show you theirs. Take the time to serve your people and learn their desires and values for their life. Help them reach their own personal goals. 

It is your duty as the leader to make sure your people feel seen, heard, and understood. Stop thinking that people will do what you say just because you're the boss. You must hold yourself to a higher standard and SHOW people how to act not TELL them what to do. 

 #3: You have a duty to your patients

Once you have taken the time to instill values and create team synergy, then and only then, will you be able to focus on the duty you have to your patients. 

The #1 complaint I hear from most patients is that they never feel like they get adequate time with their provider to get their questions answered. They feel they wait too long to be seen for such a short period of time. 

Is that how you would like any of your buying experiences to be? Let's say you go to buy a car and the salesman doesn't really listen to you, never asks if you would like some water, and only pushes you towards a car that you really don't want or like, just because he believes its the best thing on the market and you should just buy it because he said so..... are you going back there?

Then why would you expect your patients to come back to you if they unseen, unheard, or misunderstood?

Set clear expectations and visions for the way you would like your team to treat your patients. How will they:

• greet people on the phone or in the waiting room
• escort patients to and from the back office
• address questions from patients
• get the necessary information they need to make the best decision for their health
• introduce you ancillary products to them
• send emails with the proper language

Remember, sales is service & service is sales. When you make it a point to serve your patients they will return, they will refer, and they will buy your ancillary services. 

In closing

Combining all 3 of these duties will not only give you a sense of accomplishment if you're patient and put them in to place, but they will ultimately give your employees a work place to brag about and a patient base that will be a huge referral source for you. 

Cultivate your dream practice by first finding the vision you have for it. Then actively use the duty mindset to deliver it. 

Cheers -

Tribby