0:00:02 - Mark Henderson Leary

Welcome to Practice Freedom. What if you could hang out with owners and founders from all sorts of healthcare private practices, having rich conversations about their successes and their failures, and then take an insight or two to inspire your own growth? Each week on Practice Freedom, we take an in-depth look at how to get the most out of both the clinical side and the business side of the practice, get the most out of your people and, most of all, how to live the healthy life that you deserve. I'm Mark Henderson Leary. I'm a business coach and an entrepreneurial operating system implementer. I have a passion that everyone should feel in control of their life, and so what I do is I help you get control of your business. Part of how I do that is by letting you listen in on these conversations in order to make the biggest impact in your practice and, ultimately, live your best life. Let's get started. Welcome back, practice leaders. 

Another episode of Cure Gold. I hope We'll see this is a shorter one. Why have a system? A system? I teach a system. I commit my life to having a system and teaching a system. I have to give credit where credit is due. This is, uh inspired, the phrase inspired by sandler sales, training love what happens when sandler sales with the best, with with good. It's not a paid ad, it's not no pay, it should be. Anyway, I'm trying to give credit where credit's due. My guys, brad and Troy, taught me a ton of great stuff, and in the hands of good instructors. I guess the reason I say that is not all. Sandler instructors are great, but the good ones are great and can teach you really how to be a super ethical salespeople, to take the friction out of selling so big fan of it. Totally subject for another episode. 

Back to the lecture at hand. They talk about why having a system matters. It's a fundamental tenant of their system. Understand what the value of it is. One of the big components of that is something I'm going to say in a second after. I remind you, before we get into this content and really dig into the rant, there's only one reason I do this I want to help you bring your vision to life. If you see an amazing practice in your future that is serving as many people as possible, that is delivering massive value, healing people, and you've got everybody in the organization rowing in the same direction, everyone executing, and you are part of this healthy culture that you love to be a part of, proud of, and everybody in it is proud of it. But you're stuck and you don't see how to get there. Please don't stay stuck. Please reach out. Practicefreedomcom slash schedule. We'll talk about what a first step or a next step could look like for you to make that real, but that's a perfect segue into this A system, the first step in the process. 

In my opinion, there's a bunch of things you need to do to get there, but the first step in the process is to implement a business operating system. Why a system? Very, very simple, and maybe this is over in 60 seconds. This is a very imprecise comparison, but I think it works. Simple problems require answers. Should I go left or right? Left Done? 

Complex problems when circumstances change, when things evolve over time, multiple inputs, multifactorial relationships evolve. Complex problems require systems because too many things are moving. To know the answer, to calculate accurately on a dynamic basis, your practice is immensely. You will never know how complex it is, so many moving pieces. In EOS, for example, there are six key components that you must master to gain control of the business. Now, these are principles, right? So the EOS didn't invent these components, they're just the names we give to the aspects of your business that help you understand using a system, a taxonomy if you will to understand what's going on in the business. So you're running the practice, if you will. To understand what's going on in the business. So you're running the practice. 

The six key components in every business are vision, no-transcript people got to have the right people for your organization, but who is that for your organization? Data the third component we have to be able to know what's real and what's true and what's not. We have to be running the business on actual facts. Probably have plenty of facts, we have the right ones. If we get clear on those first three things, got that vision aligned, it's fired up, everybody's aligned and we've got the right people and you got the data, you're going to start seeing stuff. You're going to see some problems, obstacles, opportunities. How many opportunities do you have in your organization? How many good ideas, how many great ideas? Probably so many. You can't figure out what to prioritize. So this idea, this fourth key component we call issues, it's really understanding how to prioritize what, to put your energy into solving what matters most in terms of taking advantage of opportunities and solving problems to get you closer to that vision faster. 

Now, process is the fifth key component. This is really about making it easy enough to work here. It's more complex than you think. You must systemize the predictable so you can humanize the exceptional. That is the Four Seasons quote. Not an EOS thing, but understanding, you know it's. You think just some good judgment is all it takes. But your business, your practice, is so complex. You must drive consistency through many, many touch points your exams, your introduction, your appointment setting, your billing, your invoicing, your revenue cycle, things like this must have consistent processes, which is actually kind of the essence to hold that thought of why you must have a system. 

And the last component is traction. You must be measuring towards the vision. You must have the pulse to make sure that you are making progress on the vision. Because, as Gino Wickman loves to say, making progress on the vision, because, as Gino Wickman loves to say, vision without traction is hallucination. And as my investment banker and venture capitalist friends like to say, the last thing I need is another great idea. It's not about the ideas, it's about the execution. Are you getting it done? Are you making it happen? And you must measure this. And so, thinking back to process and the overall system. Fundamentally, I mean, there are probably two simplified reasons. There's a million complex reasons, but two simplified reasons. 

Having a system goes back to that first point I said. It's a complex problem. Your business, it's dynamic, and a system, a taxonomy, a complete model of sort of ins and outs is required. It must be able to give you answers to questions that your brain and other people's brains cannot, on the fly, figure out. You have to rely on something out of sight, and a system is a way to do that. It's a set of algorithms. 

Even if you just think about how do we choose right people, right seat, for example? It's very simple We've got to have the core values and we've got to have them in the right seat. So this isn't mystery. This isn't like some magic behind the curtain. It's just like okay, what's the system teaching me? Well, we're going to figure out what the core values are. It's an exercise that can take you a couple of hours. It's not some magic, but if you don't do it, it's not going to happen and you're not going to know if you've got the right people in the right seats in your organization and do you have a tool to just assess whether they're above the bar or not. Do you have this tool in place Not magic, but if you don't have it, it's not going to happen and you're not going to get these dependent and interdependent answers that lead to things like well, this is somebody who even fits in our culture. 

Do we have a clear understanding of what jobs we even have here? Are we just trying to, like, get stuff done? Did we stop and ask, like, what are the jobs, what are the most important jobs that we need to get done here? And did we document it and get crystal clear on what each of these seats are? Do we have this tool called the accountability chart? And then did we go back and try to put the right person into that job and then all the things that go with back to process? 

So the system concept is understanding that it's just the surrender to the complexity of the business. Your business, and healthcare in particular, is too much for one person's brain to keep track of things. And stop trying to make everybody in the organization a master of complexity. Even when you say and I'm going to drive, we work together, I'm going to drive towards simplicity. You're going to have to simplify the business and guess what happens at the end of the road of simplification. When you've simplified to absurd levels in the organization, guess what? You're left with A very complex business still, because the one you started with was unreasonably, unmaintainably complex, and so we're hoping to get manageably complex. 

That's the first piece. The second piece of that is we have to be able to measure processes of the six key components. That component is just a great place to look and say you know, there's too many places to measure. Everything is about judgment. Just be smart, take care of people, like, don't make stupid choices. That's not a formula that does not work. Now, using the system, we increase the odds of good outcomes by getting people who share our core values and putting them jobs so they can do that, absolutely does that. But that is not enough. It's an awful lot. 

But really, this idea of how do we measure progress, how do we know? I think you can argue. Certainly in a traction component we need to measure progress. That's one of the main disciplines of traction is the measurement. But what are we measuring? Very often we're measuring repeatable things in the organization all process and making sure we don't make people wait long, making sure we have a scheduling process that notifies people so that they're not surprised about their appointment and they actually show up, and they show up on time and their paperwork is filled out and we have everything in place and we can measure this. So measurability is a key part of having a system. Managing the complexity is the other part of that. This is pretty quick. I think we're getting near the end of this, so we're 10 minutes in. 

I could really dig into each of the components. In fact, let me just kind of do a mental around the world. Why have a system? Do you have core questions of vision? Have you answered them? What do you want from the business? Do you really know? Do you have a way of revising that? Do you have a way to come back at a reasonable cost of your time to make sure you still believe in the vision and if you've tweaked it to really be in integrity with it? Do you have a written version that you love every single word of, and is everybody in the organization on board with that? 

If you walk down the hall and just grabbed a random person and said tell me about the vision of this organization three years from now what you know, and then you ask them to sort of recite it back to you. What are the odds they can do that. That's a. That's a lot of stuff, right? It's a lot of stuff to wrangle down. It's not that complex to describe to you. Is it Like you're thinking? This is, this is very reasonable, and if you've got it, great. But if you don't have it, that's one of the six components. Now, right people, right seats. Have you figured out? Do you know what the culture looks like? Right seats Do you know exactly what jobs you need? Do you have everybody who fits your core values in a seat you need, where their talents are put to use and they're absolutely operating? 10 out of 10? Great. If you don't, that might be normal and you probably start. We only two components in now. We still got a lot to do. The system, the idea of the system, is exactly this. We need to have a way to handle this where we don't have to invent this, follow the biggest bang for the buck to get the stuff done. 

Onto component three. Do you have a handful of numbers that predict success every week? Are we measuring every single week what enough is? Because there are differences what enough is between the process side? We can compare. We can improve that. The measurement in the data side is usually more around prediction and making sure we are in control and they're close cousins. Do we have the right measurables? Do we have everybody in the organization crystal clear on what their numbers are? Can they quantify their performance to know that they're doing enough? Highest level of quality? You have to have that component. 

Fourth component issue solving. Everybody's got something to complain about. Everybody's got something to dream about. How are you choosing which ones to put your energy into? You can't tackle them all. Everybody's got 24 hours in the day and you're going to have to choose. 

Well, the essence of this is prioritization. Do you have a way? Have you taught your entire organization, especially the leaders? Do they know how to prioritize well, solve the most important issues and really solve them Really, solve them in alignment with your core values and your vision? So you're actually rowing in that right direction. Process have you taken the time? Now, if you're in a highly regulated industry and you've got compliance I know what you're thinking we got a process falling out of our ears. Really, how much of it is followed? How much of it is intentionally cultivated by your leadership team to drive efficiency, drive the outcomes you want. And I promise you you cannot do that with random amounts of process. It comes from the core. You've got to choose your core processes and get them exactly aligned with your culture, your values, your vision and measure to them. 

Again, this stuff is not super hard to think of, it's not complex, but it's starting to add up right. It's really adding up. How do we track this and how do we do this and how do we have enough time? And have we put this into our priorities? Which kind of follows that final component, that traction. Are we setting great objectives every single quarter and are we executing every single week to moving forward and taking action and adapting and course correcting along the way and making sure that when a quarter and two quarters and three quarters and a year is gone, we will have intentionally gotten what we intended to? Or were we subject to the tyranny of the urgent and we just got what we got? That's what the essence of that action component is Getting what you want intentionally, setting your attention, saying no to other things and making sure that progress you make is the progress you chose. 

Hope that was helpful. Please reach out with feedback. Hope that makes sense the power of a system, if nothing else should remind you to be humbled of the complexity of this powerful organization. And again, you have a lot of value to offer. You have an amazing vision and I want you to make it real. I want you to have people that help you do that and you can do it. You can lead the organization, and it's very, very difficult to do it without a system. I urge you to adopt a system. If you're stuck, please reach out. Practicefreedomcom slash schedule. Please share this with your friends. Give us the feedback. We have a lot of passion as a community. Please don't stay stuck. We'll see you next time on Practice Freedom with me, mark Henderson.

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