Dr Phillip Palmer, November 2013 - The end of 2013 is upon us and this provides an excellent opportunity to draw a line in the sand between what was and what will be. It is the time of year that individuals make New Year’s resolutions like deciding to quit smoking, to exercise more etc. As a business owner it is also a great opportunity to make some business resolutions and start 2014 afresh with new goals and direction.
In the first month of 2014 consider having a “2014 Kickoff” meeting with your team where you put time aside to discuss and shed the problems of the past, set some goals for the future and get everyone motivated for what is ahead.
The rules for a “kickoff meeting”:
- Be prepared. Set a time for the meeting with the whole team for the first week of work for 2014. Ask the team to prepare for the meeting during their break by reflecting on 2013 as their input will be expected. You want their help in acknowledging both the successes and progress made over the past year and things that we would like to change, what they would like to do better and what they would like to stop doing.
This is everyone’s opportunity to put their stamp on the goals and direction of the practice in the year to come. For that to occur, everyone’s participation is required.
- Be positive. Part of a manager’s responsibility is to lead the team and to motivate the people in it. It’s hard to motivate if you aren’t a positive force yourself. At the beginning of a new year after a break, it’s often easier to be optimistic about the future than most other times (if you allow yourself to be).
What ends up motivating employees is the additional insight into the business from their manager (you) and your ability to be “charged up” in your delivery and optimism about the year ahead.
- Be inclusive. This meeting shouldn’t be you reading a good and bad list from the head of a table. It is an opportunity or you to gain valuable input from your team. At every juncture in this meeting you need to ask the team for their ideas and what they think of what worked, what didn’t work, what can be done better and how. Your team see your practice day in and day out from a very different and valuable perspective. They want to work efficiently and (hopefully) they want your business to be successful. Not asking for their perspective on this would be to ignore a valuable source of information.
In addition, gaining the input of your team into the future goals of the practice allows them to take ownership of these goals and then they take responsibility to achieve them.
The Agenda of the meeting
The agenda of the meeting has two specific components looking back at 2013 and a plan for the future.
Looking back at 2013: Start the meeting with a snapshot of where the business was at a year ago and what has happened in the last 12 months. The agenda for this section should include:
- Acknowledge the changes over the year. Who is new in the team and what were you doing differently.
- Acknowledge the successes of the last year. These could be production based success, changes for the better in the practice (procedure based or systems based) or facility (integrated new technology, refit, better signage). Thank the team for the role they had in those successes
- Acknowledge the challenges over the past year and things that you feel the business could do better.
A plan for the future (2014 and beyond): Once you have acknowledged the last year it is time to start planning for the one ahead. An agenda for this section of the meeting should include:
- What do you as a business owner want to achieve in the year ahead? This doesn’t necessarily have to be only money based, it could be related to your work hours or tasks that you want to delegate, or work you want to bring in-house instead of referring out.
- What are you committing to do better as a manager leader?
- What do you as a team want to do better? (eg recalls, giving each other feedback)
- Is there any training that you or the team feel the practice would benefit from.
- What professional goals does the team want to achieve in the year ahead
- Are there any challenges coming up that should be acknowledged (street works, new competition, new legislation)
- Are there any milestones coming up that need to be celebrated
Each of the items coming from this section needs to be documented on an action list with deadlines, with incremental steps and people who agree to be accountable for them.
Some sample business goals for 2014
For principal
- Increased leverage % in the practice
- Increased holidays
- Cut down time in practice by 10%
- Do Clinical Education course (Sleep dentistry, Ortho, implants)
For practice
- Increase % paid on day
- Increase % re-appt
- Get accredited
- Get job descriptions done
- Get procedure manual done
- Do courses as a team or for individual team members
- Leave the practice at 5pm every day
- Implement bonus system
- Delegate X task
- Solidify retirement plan
- Give/ get feedback better
- Increase NPs by 33% thru new marketing initiatives
Conclusion
2014 has the opportunity to be the start of you and your team working in an ideal productive and no-stress practice but it will almost certainly not happen by accident. It will be the result of reflection and analysis on what was and what could be, realistic goal setting and a commitment to improvement. Most practice management program clients have an Annual Plan every year that initiates this discussion. They then should have coaching each month to help with motivation towards these goals and to keep on track throughout the year.
For you - It can all start with your 2014 kickoff meeting!