Photo Credit: Getty Images/Review of Optometric Business
Why trust—not perfection—drives practice excellence
By Bethany Fishbein, OD
April 9, 2026
We all want things to be perfect in our practices.
What a world it would be if we got all of the necessary information in one efficient phone call, scheduled flawlessly, kept an immaculate environment, ran on time all day every day, never had a remake and delivered only perfect experiences 100% of the time.
But given that our profession is still one that relies on humans, perfection is (at best) unlikely.
When something goes wrong in your practice—a frustrated patient, an incorrect order, a scheduling error, a missed detail—what happens next?
How you and your practice leaders respond in those moments shapes how your team sees you and how they see themselves. It’s where your team decides whether you trust them and if it’s safe to trust themselves to make decisions in the best interest of your business.
When people feel trusted, they step up and do more. When they don’t, they play it safe—defaulting to asking and waiting.
As a result, practice owners describe frustration with their experienced, well-trained staff who interrupt them multiple times every day with questions they feel those same people should be able to answer on their own.
But when I speak to staff members in these practices, they’re receiving the opposite message: don’t mess up.
Playing It Safe vs. Getting Better
There is a big difference in how teams operate in an environment where they are trying to play it safe and an environment where they feel comfortable.
In a play-it-safe culture, the goal is to avoid mistakes and stay out of trouble. So people protect themselves. They ask before acting, stay in their lane and avoid anything that they could mess up. It’s not because they’re incapable, but because it feels safer that way.
In a culture focused on getting better, the goal is growth. Mistakes aren’t ignored, but they’re not feared either. They’re expected. People in these environments try things, use their judgment and adjust quickly when something doesn’t work. They know they’ll be supported, not punished.
The Fallout of a “No Mistakes” Culture
Most leaders don’t set out to create a play-it-safe culture, but it’s exactly what they (or their practice managers/leaders) end up reinforcing.
Staff members describe receiving a sharp correction in front of a patient, a passive-aggressive “as I’ve told you before” email after hours, an eye roll or a heavy sigh—or sometimes nothing at all, just a quiet takeover of the task. The message is unsaid but still loud-and-clear: “We don’t trust you to get this right.”
And when people don’t feel trusted:
- They hesitate and wait for direction—not because they don’t know what to do—but because they’re afraid to do something wrong.
- They don’t take initiative, only acting on things where they’re pretty close to sure they can get it perfect.
- They lose confidence and enthusiasm, constantly feeling like they “can’t do anything right.”
- They ignore or hide small problems and wait for someone else to notice and fix it.
If your team seems overly cautious, constantly frustrated or too dependent on you, this could be the reason.
How to Turn It Around (Even When You Don’t Have Time)
The good news? You don’t need a massive culture overhaul (or even a meeting!) to shift things. It can happen in small, everyday moments, especially when things don’t go perfectly.
If someone is capable of handling something, let them handle it—even if it’s not exactly how you would do it. The goal isn’t that they do it your way—the goal is that they can handle it on their own.
When someone makes a reasonable decision—even if it wasn’t perfect—tell them. Thank them for making decisions, let them know you saw their thinking and show appreciation for them being willing to take on a challenge.
When something goes wrong, resist the instinct to correct immediately or take over. Let any immediate frustration pass. Then ask, what happened there? And “What would you do next time?” Don’t solve the problem for them; trust they know enough to start figuring it out themselves.
And be intentional with your corrections. People need feedback, but the tone in which it’s given matters. A frustrated “we’ve gone over this” or “this isn’t good enough” shuts people down. A calm “let’s walk through this together and figure out what happened” keeps them engaged.
Treat everyday moments—mistakes, feedback, missed expectations—as the culture-building opportunities they are.
Encourage Learning to Build Confident Teams
Cultures that encourage learning don’t just feel better to work in. They actually perform better. Teams become more confident, more capable and more invested. And as a leader, you get to spend less time firefighting… and more time moving things forward.
Read more insights from Dr. Fishbein here.
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Bethany Fishbein, OD, is a practice owner, practice management consultant and certified executive coach. She can be reached at bethany@leadersofvision.com |
