Your Most Important Resource

You say your staff is your most important resource. Do you really mean it? Do you really treat your staff like they are your most important resource? And your physicians as well?

Let’s unpack this topic a bit.

Resource is defined in general as a stock or a supply of money, materials or staff that can be drawn on in order for an organization to function effectively. And as we know, some are renewable and some become depleted over time. Into which category does your staff fall? And how can you ensure that they are renewable?

Priorities to focus on:

• Get the right people.
  You need a solid recruitment process. Make sure your group has a strong mission, vision and values, and that the employees live it every day. Provide clear and accurate job descriptions. Define the traits of the successful candidate before you interview. And make sure there is a good cultural fit.
• Onboarding is critical.
  The onboarding process is an integral component of ensuring a renewable resource. Ensure that the new employee is brought into the culture, has a good understanding of the mission, vision and values of the organization, and how their role fits into the total picture.
• Clarity.
  Be sure about the roles and responsibilities of the new employee. Provide ongoing feedback. Help the employee craft a plan to grow personally and professionally. Provide recognition as appropriate.
• Timeliness of feedback.
  If your timetable calls for an initial review after 90 days, make sure it happens—don’t wait for the employee to come and ask you. If reviews are annual, schedule them and make them happen. If the employee expects a salary review at six months, make it happen. Meet or exceed expectations. Keep your promises.
• Watch your turnover.
  Do you know your turnover rate for the practice? By position? Have you benchmarked it to MGMA DataDive Practice Operations data? If not, I suggest you do that quickly. Why? You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Practice turnover in these days of financial stress, benefit changes and varying philosophies of different age cohort groups can dramatically increase the general stress we experience in healthcare today.
• Exit interviews.
  Make sure to have an independent third party conduct exit interviews for anyone who leaves your practice. Why? So that you can learn what issues might have caused them to leave. Was it the supervisor? Pay levels? Hostile environment? It could be anything. And that’s the point. Isn’t it better to know what it was exactly than wonder what it was?

There’s a lot more that we could address. What kind of environment do the physicians in your practice create? How to they treat your employees? And what about you, the administrator? When you’re having a bad day, do you take it out on your staff—your most valuable resource? Think again if you do. You only have to really upset me once, and I could be out the door.

Take care of your most valuable resource, and they will take care of you, the physicians and the patients. They’ll stay. They’ll be passionate. And they will be a fully renewable resource.

CONTACT US TODAY!

If you are interested in learning more about your most important resources, please contact Ken Hertz at khertz@mgma.com.