By Laurie L. Sorrenson, OD
, FAAO
We all have changes we would like to effect in our practices. Whether it’s the wish that staff members would do a better job gathering information from patients when scheduling appointments or the goal of having opticians serve more as fashion consultants than salespeople, there are many changes a practice leader strives toward over the course of her career.
I’m no exception. I’ve learned over the years some tricks to implementing change. The first big change implementation lesson I learned was the importance of having staff embrace the needed change. Changes in the way you serve patients and do business won’t be successful if your staff isn’t fully on board.
For that reason, the changes I implement begin by interacting with my staff. When I think we need to evaluate or improve on something in our office, I solicit feedback by different methods. Sometimes it’s just with an e-mailed survey to staff to get their thoughts on a subject. I respect the insights of my staff so much that when I know an improvement needs to be made but I’m not sure what to do, I ask staff for suggested solutions. If we are falling short somewhere in serving patients, and I’m not sure of the best way to approach the issue, I know my staff members who interact directly with patients more than I do, will have great ideas on how to improve.
When e-mails to staff members with quick surveys or questions don’t suffice, we do small focus groups. For example, at one office meeting we broke staff down into small groups to discuss patient flow, bottlenecks and how the patient experience “felt.” We generated some really interesting ideas and implemented quite a few.
One of the things I reiterate to my staff is that, once we decide to do something, we do it! No matter the misgivings. We put in a time frame during which we will “go for it,” and at the end of that time frame, if it isn’t working, we stop! Nothing we decide to try is permanent. But constant communication by e-mail and at office meetings to reiterate planned changes and tweaking as we go along is imperative.
I try to instill a culture of “it is never good enough.” In other words, we can always improve, so let’s keep trying.
How do you approach change in your practice? Do you include your staff in the ongoing effort to serve patients better? Or do you prefer more of a top-down approach?
Laurie L. Sorrenson, OD, FAAO, is president of Lakeline Vision Source in Austin, Texas. To contact her: sorrenson@att.net.
