It is more than that.

Running a service-based business is hard, always having to please your customers, provide exceptional service and a world class product. In an ever-squeezing economy, people look for and expect excellence in exchange for their money.

And while chiropractic is perfectly positioned to provide this for our patients, as soon as you look to grow your practice, the task becomes harder. And it is not on the customer facing side.

This is the weakness of a service-based industry, it can be quite easy to please customers and have great front-end service, but if the back end is not up to scratch, cracks quickly appear. While your customers may be pleased, cohesiveness within the team can be strained, and this leads to bitterness, resentment and ultimately it will eventually affect the customer and the overall practice.

So, this week I want to highlight to potential cracks in your team, to help you seal them and continue to win. For this I am going to assume that your customers are satisfied, that all your staff are lovely and friendly people who everyone ‘adores’. And as such it makes this whole exercise even harder.

It is the unspoken, the non-tangible stuff that really gets into the crack of a team. The tasks not completed, the excuses for not getting work done on time, the person who is always a little late. These simple little things are like a dripping tap, initially it is no problem, but have you ever tried to go to sleep at night with a tap that will not stop dripping? I have! And yes, I did not sleep.

This is what those actions are like, they are so small in isolation but when compounded bread disharmony and frustration.

So what is the fix?

1.      Communication.
If you see it, say it. Be open and honest in your conversation. This is not to bash the person who is wrong, but to openly acknowledge the short coming and ask if they see it. Ask if they could improve it. And all of this is much easier done with a clear set of team values. Which brings me to point 2.

2.      The Values.

If you do not have these, STOP, go back to my previous blogs on values and create your own. Values are like the boss, they should be seen as the boss, and everyone else, including the ‘boss’ should sit around a round table with equal voice. Values are the written determination of the ‘unwritten rules’ within a business. It is how you all show up, act, and work together to win.

So if we take the examples above:

‘The task not completed’, for this a value of Excellence – we see our tasks to completion.
‘The excuses for not getting work done’, for this a value of Leadership – we are solution orientated and do not shift blame.
‘The person who is always a little late’, for this a value of Loyalty – we show up early and prepared.

You see for all actions in your business there should be a value to typifies what it means to do it well, and when it comes to the open communication, be sure to ‘not make it personal’ and refer back to the values.

Trust me, if you get this right, which is easier said that done, you are onto a winning streak.

With love,

Tom