One of the best things that can happen to your eyecare practice is having a staff that patients recognize year after year throughout their life stages.
People talk about how they want to grow old with their families and loved ones, but there are also a lot of benefits to your practice growing old with your staff and patients. In fact, a lot of the rules that apply to other relationships in your life apply to your optometry staff, people you spend at least 40 hours of a week with if not more.
We want to discuss the reasons you'd want to retain your staff and how you might be able to accomplish that today.
Retaining the Relationships in Your Eyecare Practice
Constant Contact
Every relationship is fueled by open and candid communication. When your employees are doing their job well and efficiently, it's usually partially due to good communication between your technology and your patients and your staff. We suggest you set up the infrastructure ahead of time. This means scheduling regular one-on-one and staff meetings to discuss roadblocks, new products, processes, and optimizations. It also means proactively starting conversations about personal growth, interpersonal conflict, scheduling vacations, and job satisfaction. If the managers in your practice are opening up the channels of communication, it makes the tough moments all the easier.
Familiarity
This applies to getting to know your staff's personal goals and career aspirations as well as making sure they're all familiar with the trajectory of your practice. The OD and office manager usually have a good idea about the finances and future of the practice, especially if expansion or a big move are on the horizon. You can choose how much you share big decisions with staff, but it's always a good idea to get their buy-in before you invest in software, medical equipment, or tools that the staff uses day-to-day. Make sure you're investing the time they need in training, troubleshooting, and accreditation to meet your larger goals. Give them the respect and importance you expect to be treated with.
Quantitative Measurement & Reward
The best fuel, especially for a competitive staff, is reward. If you're setting expectations and measurable goals from the start, you should be conducting performance reviews every 6 months to make sure that your staff is on track. Many companies base their annual bonuses off the ratings on reviews, but you can give bi-annual or quarterly bonuses to motivate your staff through busy seasons. If you want to be most effective with your goal measurement, use reporting tools like those through EDGEPro and VisionWeb's Revenue Cycle Management dashboard (if you utilize our outsourced billing services). These dashboards can help you track your frame board revenue, insurance claim rejections/denials/reimbursements, and even monitor the productivity of each individual on your team.
Take the pressure off yourself by delegating to your staff. Our ebook can help.
