It goes without saying that when you are the sole practitioner the practice is all about YOU.
The practice is yours in all aspects of ownership, responsibility and control. You are the focus and it is you who calls the shots. In your practice it is you who are there to serve your practice members and your team faithfully rallies around you to help you fulfil this important role.
When you are the focus of the business it is appropriate to expect that your team are there to look after you. Why, you may even name and brand the establishment around you, your name or your favourite icon. Here, you will be the brand.
What happens then, when you decide to take on another chiropractor or two? Even if you haven’t named the practice after you there will be a lot of the previously described identity that will still be strong within the business.
In order for a practice to operate well as a an associate driven business you must change your business model from a practice where you are there to look after the practice members to one where you are there to look after the team (especially the associates) and let them, in turn look after the practice members. This is a very different ball game.
The challenge in this transition for most chiropractors is in the notion that if they give up control they will lose their business – very far from the truth. It does mean, however that control is distributed across the organisation, not vertically as it would be in the sole practitioner model. In this model the ultimate responsibility remains the same but the point of power moves to everyone in their respective capacity.
This model empowers all. It allows ownership, responsibility and control to be spread throughout all of the team resulting in greater leverage and a huger impact on all levels.
Oh yes, when your practice is branded around you there is a bit of work to do to get it shifted to an associate driven level but the payoff is so great in all areas when you get it right.
So take the time to do an audit on your practice (even if you currently have several associates on-board) and see where the business is built around you.
You probably won’t have to look too far to know whose practice it is. If this is the case there is work to do if you wish to have an Associate Driven Practice.
To help you pinpoint the areas that need attention, download our FREE Associate Driven Practice Checklist
Dr Mark Postles
