Becoming a Leader (in your Office) Part 1
Becoming a Leader (in Your Office) Part 1
Leadership is an interesting thing.
Lots of people avoid it like the plague. Others scramble up the ladder for personal and financial gain. A small minority seems to embrace it or is forced into it for altruistic reasons.
Whatever the case, if you want a successful practice, you must become an effective leader.
Whatever the case, if you want a successful practice, you must become an effective leader.
If you have avoided being a leader in your office, the results are easy to locate. Constant miscommunication, staff that fail to follow up with assigned tasks, stacks of unfinished reports, and unsatisfied or uneducated practice members walking away from an otherwise beneficial service are just a few of the effects of an ineffective leader at the helm of the practice.
I should know, I was guilty of all of the above at various points in my career.
Whether you like it or not, the chiropractor must be an effective leader. For your practice members, your staff and your community.
Before you can lead others however you must be able to lead yourself. A task many never consider. What are you currently leading yourself towards? What are you talking about? What are you reading? What are you filling your time and mind with?
Your practice members come to you because they perceive you to be an expert. Do you currently feel like an expert in all aspects of your profession? Are you refining your skills, improving procedures, and keeping current on the research or contributing to it? Can you confidently discuss our chiropractic philosophy with versed colleagues, or other providers and practice members?
Leadership begins at the source. Choosing to address our fears and weaknesses takes courage, strength and preservation. It takes an attitude of constantly striving to be the best in all aspects of our lives.
If you are not happy with your current practice success, it is very likely you have not addressed your fears attached to being a leader, committed to becoming an expert in your chosen field, or are an ineffective communicator. All of that can be addressed if one is willing to put in the work.
It’s easy to blame others and outside circumstances for our lack of success. There’s plenty of others, including “leaders” in the profession that will commiserate with you and assist you in sucking. That is not a trait of leadership. Those are the actions of an oligarchy. One that keeps others suppressed to maintain the status quo or unwittingly believes others are incapable of pulling themselves out of the muck they have created in their lives.
Perhaps they are right. I hope not.
But more on that next time…
