10 Thoughts on Practice Management

After more than thirty years as the thing that this publication is named for – an eye care professional – and more than twenty-five years in management positions, I have received and given a lot of advice. Take it with a grain of salt, or take it to heart, but here is what I believe:

1. Crap Flows Downhill. I know you’ve heard it before, and I know it sounds a bit snarky, but there is a lot of truth and wisdom in those three small words. If you have real problems in a practice, organization, or even in a family, keep looking up and you’ll discover from where it is originating. Of course, we could put a more positive spin on things and say that good things flow downhill too: honesty, diligence, hard work, professionalism, and integrity.

2. Leaders Aren’t Liked, They’re Respected. Far too many practice managers make their decisions through the filter in their mind that says, “But if I do this, they’re not going to like me.” If the action you are thinking of taking is unpopular, you are probably right. In that moment, you would not be liked. But rest assured, if you are honest, fair, professional, and most importantly consistent, you will be trusted and respected. And the longer you conduct yourself in that manner, guess what? Maybe they will eventually like you too!

3. You Can’t Lead Unless You Like Yourself. It all comes down to self-esteem. I’m certainly no expert in self-esteem, but in my mind it all comes down to this: You can’t make people change. You can’t make people do anything. All you can ever do is conduct yourself in a certain way – lead in a certain way – and hope that staff members follow your lead. If the overall vibe you give off is that you do not like or respect yourself, why would anyone ever be inclined to follow your lead? Answer: They won’t.

4. You Can’t Change Other People. Enough said.

5. You Can (and Must) Share Information. I’m sure most of you have heard the old adage that “Information is power.” True enough. But if you want to be an effective practice manager, the saying should be amended to “Information is power, but the sharing of information is power times ten.” Have you ever worked for a boss who was really stingy with information? You’re on a need-to-know basis, and by God you don’t need to know much! Why are they that way? In my experience, that boss thinks that information is a source of his or her power. They are usually wrong. The hoarding of information will never be the reason for your longevity or success as a manager, but it might be the reason for your demise. Share as much good, solid, work-related information with your employees as you can. Not only does that empower your staff to do a more effective job, it will pay off huge dividends for you as well.

6. Most People Will Not Change Until They Feel Uncomfortable. That’s right, UNcomfortable. Far too many people think for that aphorism to be true the word “uncomfortable” should be changed to something like comfortable, or respected, or secure. No! May I humbly suggest to you that the real reason people in work groups do not make positive changes in their behavior or attitude is because nothing bad ever happens to them. In other words, there is never really any real consequence to them for not changing their behavior. Ironically, sometimes to effect a positive change in an individual and/or a work group, the leader has to shake things up a little bit, and make people feel just a tad uncomfortable.

7. Whatever You Focus On Is Going To Get Better Those of you who are familiar with my writing, know that I am not a Pollyanna, or everything’s-coming-up-roses guy. Still, the truth and wisdom of this saying seems self-evident; to me it just makes sense. If you really work to improve something, eventually it has to get better. Not overnight, and not maybe without some hard work, but if you work to improve something, eventually it will improve.

8. Whatever Behavior You Accept Is Your Fault. To a certain degree. And I don’t care if the “unacceptable behavior” is coming from an employee, a peer, the doctor, or even your boss. If there is something going on in the office that is a constant source of stress and strife, and you go home and complain to your wife or husband about it…and you lose sleep over it…but then you go back to work day in and day out and make no effort to try to “fix” it, in some weird way I’d say you must not think it’s all that bad.

9. You Are Judged By Your Least Effective Employee. Scary, huh? If you don’t think that you are judged by your least effective employee, ask yourself this question: When’s the last time your boss called you into his or her office and said something like this to you: “Hey, I just wanted to thank you. You do such a fabulous job supervising, Bob and Mary, and Alex, and Debbie – you do such a good job, I just wanted to say thanks!” As opposed to the last time they called you into the office and something like, “You know, you’ve really got to do something about crazy Jeff…you have to fix Jeff.” You see, sadly, they take for granted the wonderful job you do with and the good results you get from Bob, Mary, Alex, and Debbie, and they judge you on the one – that one employee who would drive anyone crazy – who gives you a hard time. If nothing else, thinking about this one ought to motivate you to try to rid yourself of the “Jeff” in your world.

10. Leadership is the Ability To Communicate a Person’s Worth and Potential So Clearly That He Comes To See It In Himself. Those words were spoken by Dr. Stephen R. Covey, the author of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in a training session I attended in Kansas City, Kansas, a few years ago. I’d like to think that this is how I felt about my employees in the latter years of being an active manager, and I’d like to pass it on and share it with you. For what it’s worth, I think what Dr. Covey said is also a pretty good description of what it means to be a good parent – to communicate your child’s worth and potential so that they come to see it themselves. Powerful words.