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| Dear Friend,
The it's not the person you fire who destroys your business; it's the person you don't fire.
That's the subject of this Monday's blog post, Disruptive Physician - You Know Who! (He/She Works for You). You can follow the link to read the post online, or just keep reading for the rest of the story.
I hated taking out the trash.
When I was a kid, my parents' garbage cans were in a little yard next to the garage. Mondays were "trash day" and that meant that on Sunday night, when I was already dreading going back to school the next morning, I also had to dread taking out the trash. I mean it really stunk. Like old fish. And old chicken. And dog stuff, too.
But I had to take it out.
When you think of a medical group failing, you often think that a competitor crushed them. That's sometimes what happened. But often the rot started from within -- a disruptive or megalomaniacal or bad-mouthing group member.
Benjamin Franklin is said to have quipped that house guests and fish smell after three days. Crappy group members stink a lot faster than that.
Sure, it's all PC to "counsel" these guys. To tell them how much you love them if only they will toe the line and be good boys or girls and get along with everyone while singing Kumbaya.
Go ahead, try it once. But after that, realize that these people just can't help themselves. In your group they are a rot that will spread. In some other setting they may be perfectly happy, highly productive good citizens. Do them a favor and get them started on their journey to find their perfect spot: it is somewhere else. Fire them.
The corollary is that you must make certain that your group's contracts, your employment agreement, partnership agreement or other applicable agreements, create the ability to save your group from this rot.
It's Sunday night for your group. Time to take out the trash.
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| | Tuesday - Still in the Eye of the Storm? - Success in Motion
Watch the video here, or just keep reading below for a slightly polished transcript:
It is a rainy, rainy day here, which made me think about one of the first videos we shot, called Eye of the Storm.
We’re not quite in the eye of the storm now, it passed over a little bit ago. The sky was grey, but it was about five or six degrees warmer. It was sort of looking like a nice day.
Well the analogy is to that calm weather that many medical groups or facilities benefit from and enjoy, when everything is going well.
When things are going well, people tend to think that they're always going to go well. In a nutshell, that's the induction problem, the one that’s illustrated by turkeys that think that farmers love them because every day they get all the food and water that they want. Then, what do you know, a few weeks before Thanksgiving, WHACK!!, off come their heads.
The same thing applies to you. Just because things are calm doesn’t mean that you don’t need to strategize for the future.
The simple takeaway for you from this is that when you think everything is going well, take advantage of the time, the fact that you’re not running around like a turkey with its head chopped off, to engage in serious thinking and serious strategizing about where you and your group want to be and about the steps that you’re going to take to get there.
It’s nice in the eye of the storm, but once it passes, the rest of the bad weather follows.
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| | | Business Life in the Time of Coronavirus Mini-Series
The coronavirus crisis caused a short term economic crisis for many medical groups. Our mini-series shows you the way out. Plus, many of the concepts discussed are applicable during both good times and bad.
[If you haven't already seen them, follow this link to watch our entire series.] |
| | How to Deploy the Secret Sauce of Opportunistic Strategy
Webinar On Demand
They say that COVID-19 has changed the world, creating the "new normal." Many of your colleagues and many hospital administrators are running scared.
Others, leaders like you, know that crisis means opportunity.
Let me provide you with the strategic tools and insights that you need in order to seize opportunities, whether they’re in the context of your current business relationships, the expansion of your business activities, or the creation of new ventures.
You will learn:
•Defense as a defective default: It’s necessary, but not sufficient.
•Exploiting weakness: Drop the guilt and identify opportunity.
•Flat line negotiation is fatal: Understand its myths and limitations.
•Negotiation reality: Learn to identify and deploy on multiple planes to affect the outcome.
•Maneuver: Harness the power of maneuver, both in overall strategy and in specific negotiation strategy.
Others see a crisis and freeze in fear. Learn how to see the opportunities and obtain the tools to increase your odds of obtaining them.
The price to attend is $479. The cost of not attending is astronomical. |
| | | Wednesday - Do They Have the Power to Say Yes? - Medical Group Minute
Watch the video here, or just keep reading below for a slightly polished transcript:
Want to make a deal?
Sure you do. Perhaps it’s the renewal of an exclusive contract. Perhaps it’s an extension of your office lease. Perhaps it’s a rate increase in a payor agreement.
So you call the hospital COO or the building property manager or the payor's representative and begin to negotiate the deal.
But do those people have the power to say “yes” or can they simply say “no.” Are they just the gatekeeper, no different from the car salesman who needs the sales manager’s approval to actually do the deal? Even when they mouth "yes," it means, at best, "maybe."
If you negotiate with a gatekeeper, you lose leverage — you unmask deal points and give concessions — in exchange for nothing of substance, a “maybe,” or a “we’ll see,” or a “I have to check with so-and-so,” none of which is an agreement to terms.
Make certain that you are negotiating with someone who has the power to say “yes” and not just “no.”
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| | | Listen to the podcast here, or just keep reading for the transcript.
Be honest: Do you own your practice or does it own you?
If your practice owns you, what you have is a job. You might as well go work for someone else. Less headache. Isn't that the whole point of physician management companies and hospital employment?
But if you want to become successful, and there is no need to apologize for that fact -- I laud it -- then you need an entirely different mindset and an entirely different business structure.
And, if you have partners who don't agree, they're simply holding you back and it's time to reorganize.
Thanks to government intervention in what used to be a marketplace and is now a system, physicians are quickly coming to what I've referred to as the Great Junction™ – one route leading to commoditized medicine and the other to personalized, unique care. You could look at this junction another way, and that's the divergence between employee and virtual employee physicians and true entrepreneurs.
If you own your practice now but find comfort in the employee track, then there are certainly burgeoning opportunities for the sale of your practice.
And, if you want to build something, this is also the time to do it.
The problem is, you have to decide or understand that the default route is the employee track.
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| | | Calibrate Your Compass
Read our exclusive RedPaper to guide you through this evolving situation.
The coronavirus crisis caused a short-term economic crisis for many medical groups. Our RedPaper shows you the way out. Plus, many of the concepts discussed are applicable during both good times and bad.
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| | Help Us Help You With Helpful Content
What tailored content would you most like to see during this
time? How can we focus on solutions to your most pressing strategic concerns?
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| | | | We all hear, and most of us say, that the pace of change in healthcare is quickening. That means that the pace of required decision-making is increasing, too. Unless, that is, you want to take the “default” route. That’s the one is which you let someone else make the decisions that impact you; you’re just along for the ride. Of course, playing a bit part in scripting your own future isn’t the smart route to stardom. But despite your own best intentions, perhaps it’s your medical group’s governance structure that’s holding you back.
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| In fact, it’s very likely that the problem is systemic. The Medical Group Governance Matrix introduces a simple four-quadrant diagnostic tool to help you find out. It then shows you how to use that tool to build your better, more profitable future. Get your free copy Free.
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| | | | Whenever you're ready, here are 4 ways I can help you and your business:
1. Download a copy of The Success Prescription. My book, The Success Prescription provides you with a framework for thinking about your success. Download a copy of The Success Prescription here.
2. Be a guest on “Wisdom. Applied. Podcast.” Although most of my podcasts involve me addressing an important point for your success, I’m always looking for guests who’d like to be interviewed about their personal and professional achievements and the lessons learned. Email me if you’re interested in participating.
3. Book me to speak to your group or organization. I’ve spoken at dozens of medical group, healthcare organization, university-sponsored, and private events on many topics such as The Impending Death of Hospitals, the strategic use of OIG Advisory Opinions, medical group governance, and succeeding at negotiations. For more information about a custom presentation for you, drop us a line.
4. If You’re Not Yet a Client, Engage Me to Represent You. If you’re interested in increasing your profit and managing your risk of loss, email me to connect directly. |
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