A Clinician's Guide to Changing Culture

As a business consultant I see the same thing in every business; a clinician turned business owner. Things move along as a one (wo)man band and the practice grows. This practice gets big enough one day that it needs someone like myself. Someone who can come in and help things flow a bit smoother. This change of flow is a culture change.

Here is a secret tool I use.

EACH Method:

Empowerment

I find that business owners tend to allow their practitioners to get caught up in the mundane. The mundane of "seeing clients, doing administration, going home." I urge you to rethink this mentality. Mind you, not all of your practitioners are going to get excited about leading a staff meeting, going to a team building day, or even having coffee in the lunch room together. However, if you leave room to empower your practitioners to grow outside of the standard "see your clients, do administration, go home" routine, some will flourish. That's the point. Some will flourish. What does empowerment look like in your practice?

Accountability

I love this one. Mainly, because I'm a firm believer that regardless of the role in a practice, everyone needs accountability. Top down and bottom up. If you are a part of an organisation, you should be held accountable. Do you as the owner allow for someone to hold you accountable for things you say you'll do? Do you float in and out of the practice as though you're above the rules? Do your practitioners throw tantrums that you let them get away with? Is your reception running ragged because things aren't streamlined? I urge you to take an honest look around your practice and see where accountability is missing. If any part of the practice is responsible for holding itself accountable, may I suggest you sit down with your staff and review how to make amends?

Courage

This one is a bit more tricky. For each person, courage looks different. So for this, I ask that you look around and see where your comfort zones are and have the courage to push them. Push your comfort zones in the slightest most controlled manner. Have the courage to admit when you're wrong. Have the courage to set an example of the culture you wish to see in your practice. Have the courage to let people go that don't serve that culture. Have the courage to set hard boundaries about change. Have the courage to change directions. Have the courage to let go.

Humility

Over the weekend I went indoor rock climbing. Before I tell you about how this ties in, I'll share a bit about rock climbing with you. There are generally two people. One is on lead and the other is on belay. The one on lead climbs the wall first. They set the route and once at the top, they establish the anchors to make sure the one on belay (or once they're on the wall, they are called "second') is safe to make the climb next. So with that knowledge I tell you my weekend story. I meet some friends of mine at 11:00 am at HardRock in the City CBD, whilst waiting for them to show, I see a bunch of students in red and black shirts that simply read, "Follower, Leader." With each shirt the "Leader" had a tick beside it. I think to myself, "hmmm, that's a nice sentiment, but if everyone is a leader, who is left to belay?" Teaching future students to be a leader is important. Everyone should know the knots to tie in the anchor, but at the end of the day, without someone to second, or follow, the leader is left redundant. Regardless of your role in your business, take time to let someone else lead. Set examples of being the second. Make it safe to fail and most importantly, share your own set backs and failures. It's important for not everyone to be a leader.

By starting with the EACH Method, you set yourself up for recreating a culture more aligned with the behaviours you wish to see in your practice. You will also start to see some of the challenges that you are asking of your practitioners and staff. Change is not easy. However, if you get your own buy in first, then your staff's it will help pave the way to better culture.

Apply knowledge liberally #outsidetheboxthinking