This is my 19th year in business. I am amazed how far we have come. We have been through so much; good and bad economies, natural disasters-pandemics, hurricanes. We have team members come and go. I have made mistakes and have had successes. I have overpromised and under delivered and have underpromised and over delivered. One thing I am most proud of is that I have always put my team and our patients first!
My mentor, Peter Hamerling always asks, “Matt, Do you have happy patients? Do you have happy employees? If the answer is yes, you have a successful practice!” It is important to have the right amount of communication to achieve happy patients and employees. In the past 19 years, I have found a cadence of communication that has been effective for keeping our vision, goals and day-to-day communication front and center. This cadence keeps me on track and prevents the dangers of over- or under-communicating.
Important reasons to have a set meeting schedule:
- Keeps team connected and unified in a positive way that advances the mission of the organization.
- Keeps our Vision 2027 three-year goal plan front and center
- We are all busy with patient care and our day-to-day tasks, so meeting regularly allows us the opportunity to stop and review our goals to be sure we are continuing to make progress.
- Provides a forum for team members to have input and feedback on organizational processes, because together, we are better.
At Allied, our Communication Cadence has evolved many times over the course of 20+ years, through much trial and error, to a streamlined version that we utilize today and which we find works best for our team:
Annual Team Appreciation and Leadership Day
This half-day yearly meeting focuses mainly on team appreciation:
- We close the clinic at 11:30 am and provide lunch, which is served to staff members by the management team.
- The Annual meeting is meant to be a fun day for the staff, filled with great food and games and recognizing each other for a job well-done.
- We give awards and acknowledge second-mile service to our patients, our clinic, and each other.
- We introduce a theme for the upcoming year to unify the team and keep everyone focused on a common mission. In 2024, that theme is “You Matter.”
- The Annual Meeting is when we introduce our three-year vision – or reflect on the progress that has been made on past Vision goals.
Monthly 30-Minute All-Team Meeting
These short meetings allow us the opportunity to connect with our team and review the state of the clinic with brief team updates (business team, clinical team, wellness team, etc). These meetings are not meant as a forum for extensive discussion or problem-solving.
- Look at the data and metrics to see how we are doing as a clinic:
- Number of new patients seen.
- Cancellation or no-show percentage.
- Products sold.
- Ala carte services sold (dry needling or laser treatment packages).
- Review and celebrate progress of goals set for previous quarter
- Set new goals for upcoming quarter
- Review upcoming vacations and scheduling issues
- Recognize birthdays and work anniversaries
Quarterly Workshop
These two-hour luncheon meetings allow us to:
- Review past quarterly goals and celebrate victories.
- Everyone is invited to bring a side dish or dessert if they choose to show off their culinary skills.
- Set next quarter goals that help to advance the three-year Vision.
- Break into teams for discussions about alps with steady growth, wins and challenges that will help us learn going forward into the next quarter.
Bi-Monthly Email
- Twice a month, we send an email to the team to keep everyone focused on our goals and to convey reminders about policies, vacations, anniversaries, milestones, wins, challenges, etc.
It has taken more than 20 years for us to come up with a connection and communication cadence that works for us, our business and our team – that keeps us focused on our Vision and headed in the same direction – without overkill.
We have learned that goals must be small and attainable. Larger goals MUST be broken down into smaller goals – because goals that are too lofty lead to frustration and disappointment.
We need the time to celebrate small wins because they fuel the enthusiasm that leads to the big wins and the eventual accomplishment of the Vision.
As a leader, I have learned we are looking for small, steady, sustainable progress each year! I have learned that it is possible to both over- and under-communicate with your team. This steady cadence of communication not only facilitates steady growth, it also leads to a peace of mind that could never be accomplished with ad hoc, “put-the-fire-out” meetings. I have also learned that a steady expression of appreciation goes a long way in preventing fires from getting started in the first place.
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