I’m sure you’ve all heard the phrase ‘stop and smell the roses’? Well, we have been given the opportunity with the lockdown over the last couple of months to do just that. As many of you are looking to re-open soon (if not already), now is the time to step back and observe your business and your life. Have you got the right view of where you want to be and how you are achieving this?
Such great opportunities are now open to you. Here are some ways to look at what improvements can be made in the running of your business.
REFLECT ON HOW THINGS USED TO WORK
The way you treat staff and patients can help or destroy your business. Research has shown that the greater the ratio of positive to negative feedback can improve your business. The higher the ratio the better. Question yourself. Will I really be happy with more stress? This is the time to get the actions right for the business.
Were you successful in delegating the right tasks to your team? We’ve been using a digital version of our agile board to help us work remotely and understand what the team is working on. This system helps the team work together so that the right tasks are performed by the right person in the allotted time. As a manager, you have an instant overview of how your team is performing and where needs to be improved. We have used the lockdown situation to convert from a wall sized chart to a digital version. No huge wall space needed!
GET TO KNOW THE NUMBERS & IMPLEMENT NOW
Observe your own efforts as you scurried around in the past trying to be everything to everyone, making that extra £, getting that extra patient, feeling drained and exhausted and not enjoying any of it. Often, we don’t like change but it’s not always a bad thing. We have been given the time to think through the changes we could make. Use this opportunity to make these changes.
Implement a system of key performance indicators (KPIs) to help you track your performance to allow you to make more informed decisions in the future. For example you could track the value of your patients, conversion of new enquiries to treatment, average daily yield of your associates and of course business growth and profit.
You could also set up a better record keeping system such as Xero. Just think of your peace of mind without the agony of finding those important receipts or remembering what you did months ago when January comes around. Think of the stress when your accountant asks you ‘what was that transaction on the 23rd?’And you can’t even remember the 23rd! Mistakes are made if you are tired and stressed. An incorrect decision can be very costly.
STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES
This is the time to see how the frenzy affected you and all those around you. As we move back into some form of ‘normality’, remember how it feels to not be rushing. You can now look to the future and have a clearer view of what you want for your business, yourself and those dependent on you. Embrace this change, learn from it and move forward with a positive attitude.
If you need any help or support doing this, get in touch and we can help.
