With the end of the year fast approaching I am sure that you are hearing others (and maybe yourself) saying – “OMG, where did the year go?” Quite a valid question, I would say. Are you and your practice where you thought you would be by this December when 2013 began? How does your reality line up with the reality that you imagined at the beginning of the year? Have your plans resulted in the outcomes that you set 12…
Chiropractic is the most sustainable, cleanest, energy efficient, non-polluting health care system that I know of. As chiropractors, we work with the most powerful ally in our area of endeavour – LIFE. Based on the fundamental premise that we are living in an organised and intelligent world we study what normal looks like. (Even the study of pathology is the study of the ‘normal’ death of a living system) and assist wherever we can to facilitate a person to adjust…
Some of the most humbling times of my professional life have been when I have left a practice and moved on. When people know that you are leaving they make a point of sharing their gratitude for what chiropractic under your watch has done for them. This is when the tears of appreciation flow and the stories of personal change come to the fore. For many of us we may find that the day-to-day humdrum of practice with all of…
A rare thing happened in the practice yesterday. The power went down. Something happened to the lines outside and several thousand people were off the grid for the afternoon and evening. In our building, we have an extensive group of health professionals and it was interesting to observe the behaviours that were elicited by this sudden change in the environment. In some cases, it was a state of emergency and in others just a slight change in plans was called…
Sunday, October 20, 2013 will mark the 100th year anniversary of the death of DD Palmer. This record of the memorial service to honor DD’s passing came from Peter H. Morgan, DC MEMORIAL SERVICE In Respect to Dr. D. D. Palmer, Discoverer of Chiropractic, October 23, 1913, at The P.S.C. In respect to D. D. Palmer, discoverer of Chiropractic, who died at Los Angeles, Monday morning, October 20th (1913), memorial services were held at The Palmer School of Chiropractic, Chiropractic…
A sustainable practice is a practice that has a long-term growth plan for its team. Practices, which adopt a huge vision, which includes a hairy audacious ‘why’, create an environment for growth on all levels. With an expansive attitude the practice supports the individual growth of practice members and the practice team alike. There are upsides and downsides to this phenomenon. The upside is that people are constantly challenged to be their best and produce their best work. In an…
Continuing on our theme of sustainability in practice today I wanted to address the issue of education. A well-educated group of chiropractic consumers are a delight to work with and they set the scene for a stress free, enjoyable and sustainable practice that produces great results and significant shifts in humanity. In order to educate anyone on anything there are some fundamental pre-requisites. Firstly, your primary thought needs to be that the person already knows the answers and your job…
In our continuing current discussion on practice sustainability we find that there is a constant flow of new people into the practice. The ultimate driver of this is the good name of the practice but it is driven by specific design. Inbuilt into every interaction is the awareness that the products and services that you offer are sought after by the circle of influence of every person who you attend to. Every person has a network of people who they…
Continuing with the theme of the past few weeks let’s look at another of the key distinctions of sustainable practices and identify a few suggestions for you to implement in your practice if this is an issue for you. The sustainable practice is a practice that functions as if it’s on ‘rails’. Things happen smoothly, everyone knows their role, they perform them impeccably, there are no ‘fires’ to put and all team members are able to cover for each other….
Following on from the previous blog where I outlines the elements of an unsustainable practice, this week and in the coming weeks I will take a few moments to identify some of the many characteristics of a sustainable practice. I will outline some of the key distinctions of these practices and identify a few suggestions for you to implement in your practice if this is an issue for you. The mark of a sustainable practice is in the ability to…
Chiropractic, like most of the health care professions, is populated by a group of people who are passionate about providing their services and skills of health care upon their practice members. They are there to serve people in their business and do the very best they physically can. Unfortunately, they often pay little attention to the structure or the operation of their business outside of the clinical delivery. This leads to practices being unsustainable in the long run. Most chiropractors…
The much used quote of Ghandi’s “Be the change that you want to see in the world” is very relevant when it comes to considering the challenge of moving your practice members into the “Best Customer” category that we spoke of last week. The fact is that most practices spend most of their time, money and resources on getting new people and rolling out the ‘red carpet’ for them in the initial stages of their care only to lose the…