Average staff are task oriented. This means they focus on completing all the tasks that have been assigned to them. If they are assigned the front desk, they take care of those tasks. They answer the phone just like they are supposed to, they give new patients their paperwork just like they are supposed to, and so on and so on. If they are an “insurance” CA, they do all the tasks of insurance and usually stay out of everything else. They fill out the forms just like they are supposed to, submit the bills, report the results and keep all the paper work just like they are supposed to. These are nice people completing their tasks and going home.
However, responsibility is for CA’s who want to do more than fulfill tasks. You want to make a difference. You want to impact your world and leave a positive mark on society. This isn’t for the mediocre or the indifferent. This isn’t for people who don’t care. This is for the big hearted. The excellent. The caring. The great ones. To be advanced and more valued in the office, you have to move from being task oriented to being Responsibility oriented.
Many offices are filled with task oriented team members. They perform their tasks and do what it takes to not get fired. They are good people. They do the tasks of their job; they clock in and clock out. If they work at the front desk they answer the phone and write names in appointment books. They are completing the tasks but something is missing. Their heart and their mind! This then leads to the lack of great results.
Our responsible staff answer the phone, but that’s not enough. We’re not satisfied unless we book that new patient or keep that existing patient on our schedule. We get results! New patients. Saved appointments! The task oriented front desk answers the questions they get on the phone and takes no responsibility for the results. They think it’s up to the patients or fate. They usually wait for the patient to either ask or insist for an appointment. The task staff doesn’t lead the conversation, they go along with whatever the patient says or doesn’t say. They don’t care about the results of a phone call. All they know is that they did their job by answering the phone and answering questions. See the difference?
As responsible CA’s we are sad if someone doesn’t schedule. We hate it when they drop out of care. We take it personal because we care. We think of things to say on the phone that will cause a non-patient to schedule and will cause a canceling patient to keep their appointment. We are committed to LEADING the patient instead of the patient leading us. We take an active role in the success of our patients or prospective patients. We expect all patients to become a wellness patient and we expect to get all of their family into the office as well. We make it our mission to make sure our patients never miss an appointment and they will NOT drop.
We go for the whole family. We stay with a patient until their whole family has become patients in the office. Why? Because we don’t come to work to perform tasks. We come to work to win! We want to make a difference in our patient’s life and we want to help them. We want to grow the practice and make the 5 year plan happen. We came to work to win!
Let’s compare a task oriented CA to a responsibility driven CA: The task CA answers the phones, answers the questions, and hangs up the phone. The responsible CA books the new patient. They don’t hang up until they have an appointment scheduled.
The task CA cancels the appointment if the patient calls to cancel and they reschedule to another day if that is what the patient calls and asks to do. The responsible CA talks the patient into keeping their appointment because they know how important it is to keep them on their schedule. If the patient asks to reschedule to another day, the responsible CA reschedules to a better time that day!
The task CA let’s the patient lead. The Responsible CA leads the patient. The task CA takes no initiative getting the rest of the patient’s family under care because new patients and referrals aren’t their task. The responsible CA looks at their information to see what family members they have and goes to work on the patient to get them in. Getting referrals and new patients is one of the primary reasons they came to work.
The task CA bills. The responsible CA collects. The task CA instructs the patient. The responsible CA INSPIRES the patient.
The task CA minds their own business and if something is missed or wrong, they don’t say anything because it isn’t their problem. The responsible CA catches errors and works to correct them.
The task CA thinks any patient on the verge of becoming disgruntled is the doctor’s problem. The responsible CA goes to the potentially upset patient and tries to solve the issue before it becomes a problem.
The task CA will keep working in their area even if they see a patient needing some help in another area. They will let the phone keep ringing and let it go unanswered because answering the phone is not one of their tasks. The responsible CA answers the phone even if that isn’t their task because they don’t want to miss the call. They do whatever it takes. Why? The responsible CA makes sure the PURPOSE of the clinic gets done. They are there to win. Their mission is to see the 5 year plan of the office become fact!
The task CA will gossip but mind their own business as far as positive work goes. They are not a clinic cheerleader – they are a clinic gossip. The Responsible CA is a Team cheerleader and protector. They encourage other staff and make the doctor WANT to hit their goals. They help make the necessary changes in the office. When a patient asks a task CA how they are doing, they will respond with “tired” or “ready to go home” or “thank God it’s Friday!” The responsible CA responds with “Great!” For the responsible CA, time flies because they are doing what they love. The work never ends because there’s always more that can be done.
At our office, we choose to admit mistakes and work immediately to find a fix. The question isn’t whether or not we will make a mistake. The question is, “how are we going to handle it?” The task CA tries to cover up mistakes or blame it on others. We would rather tell our doctor up front about the mistake rather than the doctor “discovering” them. When we have to discover mistakes it usually means it has had time to get worse.
The point is that it doesn’t matter what we do wrong, it only matters how we HANDLE it. We must take responsibility and tell the doctor. We will apologize for any mistakes and then MOVE ON! The only people who make mistakes are the people who are actually DOING something. A lazy staff that shows no effort, probably won’t make many mistakes but they won’t accomplish anything either.
Work hard, go for the win, and don’t be afraid of making some mistakes. The only real mistake you can make is not taking responsibility for your mistakes.
At our office, we are committed to our Five Year Plan. We are committed to being awesome. We do whatever it takes for patient satisfaction and inspiration, always thinking and coming up with ways to improve and encourage our team. When a storm is coming up, we print off the schedule and save all records before power is lost. We bring a patient some water and a snack if they have been waiting a while and engage the patient before they get upset. We spot equipment that doesn’t work before the patients even come in and get it fixed so that the office is never down. We notice when a bulb on the sign is out and get it replaced rather than waiting for the doctor to spot it. The worst thing we can do is to not act!
We CAN and many times WILL be the best run office in the country. We make sure the procedures are being done and are being done correctly. It is so easy for a procedure to get dropped. It is so easy for a procedure to never get started! We want to make sure we ARE the best chiropractic clinic in our area!
We realize that sometimes staff get sick or go on vacation and that we must do things on some days that has nothing to do with our task. We will do whatever it takes to win the day. We have a whatever it takes mentality because we feel responsible for the results of the clinic. We can hardly wait to get to the conferences to learn and be motivated. We know the better we all are as a team, the closer we are to winning as a team. The only way our office is going to be able to accomplish our 5 year plan is for us to be a responsible team player. It can’t be done by the mediocre. It’s too big. It requires us to be stars in the office. We must do it if we are going to get the 80% of our area under chiropractic care. We must take winning personally and take responsibility for every aspect of the system.