Staff Management

Motivate Staff with Empowerment

By Laurie Sorrenson, OD, FAAO

A great business management challenge facing independent optometrists is figuring out how to motivate employees. Some ODs take the approach of offering end-of-year bonuses or staff-wide bonuses for meeting practice goals. My practice takes more of a holistic approach.

Motivating solely by financial bonuses can be de-motivating over time. I believe we should pay as well as we can and use the more intangible methods to motivate. Daniel Pink, author ofDrive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, talks about autonomy, mastery and purpose. ODs need to not micromanage their employees and let them have some autonomy.

Wondering how you can do that? Give your staff the authority to handle problems.

My staffers have permission to spend up to $200 to manage a patient problem without getting “permission.” Our practice goal is to handle any situation that is disrupting patients or our workflow as expeditiously as possible. Doctors need to let employees do what they do best. That sometimes even means paying for continuing education for some staffers.

Employees need to feel that they are good at what they do. Each staff person needs to know that they are contributing to the practice and society. Confirming insurance benefits is just as meaningful and important as finding a patient’s intraocular pressure. Remind each of your employees how important their job is and why their job is so important. Once employees understand that it is the job of everyone at the practice to make patients see, look and feel better, they will each become more engaged in their jobs. That engagement will translate into happier, longer-lasting employees.

How do you motivate your employees? Which incentives have you found work best?

Laurie Sorrenson, OD, FAAO, is president of Lakeline Vision Source in Austin, Texas. To contact her: sorrenson@att.net.

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