00:00:04:09 – 00:00:55:18
Jay Shorr
Welcome to Shorr Solutions: The Podcast. I’m your host, Jay Shorr. I’m the CEO and founder of Shorr Solutions, a national and award-winning consulting firm, assisting aesthetic and surgical practices with their operational, administrative and financial success. I have an amazing team of practice management experts and clients across the U.S. and as an industry expert with firsthand experience owning a multi-million-dollar cosmetic dermatology and plastic surgery practice. Listen in as I lend you my expertise and best tips to successfully manage and grow your aesthetic practice. I will also be bringing in guests along the way, so get ready to be equipped to operate your aesthetic practice strategically and profitably.
Welcome to Shorr Solutions: The Podcast.
00:00:55:20 – 00:01:50:09
Hello and welcome to another episode of Shorr Solutions: The Podcast. And I’m your host, Jay Shorr. Today we’re going to be speaking about the top ten tips to becoming a better leader in your practice.
Doesn’t everybody want to be a good leader, a better leader or the best leader? And a leader is not a boss, although they can be. A leader is somebody that is your top level coach. A leader is somebody that is able to rally the troops and not be afraid to be on the front line with the troops. To show your staff that you too can do everything required to help them exceed their goals.
00:01:50:11 – 00:02:52:06
Tip number one we have to ask not only new hires, but all hires. And the reason we ask new hires is because hopefully, and I mean hopefully we already know what our existing hires, our existing staff members have as their goals.
Help your staff accomplish their goals and ask them how to help you accomplish yours. Because a happy employee is going to stay with you a lot longer. It is not. And I repeat, it is not always about money. Money talks. Nobody walks. But that’s not true today because money talks and a lot of people will walk if they don’t feel that they’re meeting their goals, that they don’t feel that there is a future in this for them. If they don’t feel they’re an important member of the team, if they don’t feel that they have an opportunity for advancement, all makes a lot of sense.
00:02:52:08 – 00:04:23:01
Tip number two, we have to know each team members comfort with technology, and we have to staff and hire our team accordingly. Now when I came up through the ranks, we didn’t have technology. I wish we did. I may have been 20 times more successful than we already are today. But not every team member has the same comfort level.
Example did you ever speak with somebody and you asked them, do you know Excel? And they say, oh, I know Excel. And then when the rubber meets the road, what they really meant is I know how to enter data into a cell in Excel. Not that they really knew Excel versus the technology expert. And what happens is they’re able to create spreadsheets. They’re able to create algorithms. They’re able to create dashboards for other people to analyze. So there’s a difference in understanding the analytics of the dashboard in technology. But do you know how to navigate throughout the technology whether it’s in word whether it’s in PowerPoint, whether it’s an Excel, whether it’s in Canva, whether it’s an EMR. And I’m not going to go to the numerous amount of EMRs.
How is their comfort level in technology? Because many times you cannot teach an old dog new tricks.
00:04:23:03 – 00:06:38:21
Tip number three you have to clarify your expectations right from the beginning. Don’t expect somebody to understand what you believe the expectations are without clarifying them.
Do you have an open door policy? Is your staff afraid to come to you if there’s an existing problem? Are you always on the defense or are you always the I’m right and you’re not because I am the quote unquote boss. Then if you are, you’re not a leader because you have to make each and every person comfortable with your level. How do you give feedback? Do you solicit feedback from the other side, or are you just giving a one sided feedback? If it’s a one sided feedback, that’s not feedback. That’s a lecture. All right. Do you always call other staff members by their name or is it doctor? What are key communication policies? We did an episode a while back called “You got a minute?” The answer is no. I don’t have a minute. I don’t got a minute, as the title said. And the reason is because we are so busy. Do we have a communication policy? Yes. Try to have an open door policy. But your communication policy must be clear, concise and consistent. Do you have a cell phone policy?
In my former practice, and I will make a disclaimer when I mention my former practice. I am not a physician, but I was in a former practice and as a partner in that former practice, we had a cell phone policy. Staff members were not allowed to carry their cell phones with them during the day. That was because there were a whole lot of annoying, rude ringtones and text messages, and it doesn’t look professional as a leader when you’re walking down the hall and you’re on your phone or mobile device, it makes it look like you really don’t care what’s going on during that moment, that whatever is more pressing on your mobile device is more important. That’s not a great sign.
00:06:38:23 – 00:08:00:10
Tip number four identify the issues in your practice. You have to determine why did previous employees leave. And we have to determine how can we solve those issues to avoid making the same mistake again.
Now just yesterday I had a call from a client and she told me that somebody resigned. They haven’t been there that long, but they gave them a two week notice. And I asked why. Well, she sent me a copy of the resignation letter. And the resignation letter was a very political, and I don’t mean Republican, Democrat, Democrat or Republican type of political. It was very it’s been a pleasure to work here. And thank you for all that you’ve taught me, which I knew was nonsense, because if that was the case, they probably wouldn’t leave. There were underlying conditions. And what I asked is, tell me a little bit more about this employee. My determination was if it’s not a key employee, let the person go immediately. You’re in a right to work state. Move their passwords, remove their email, get their scrubs, get any personal possessions from the business, get their keys and bid them a farewell. You’re not going to be able to live with any type of negativism within the next couple of weeks. To show an example to your staff.
00:08:00:12 – 00:08:49:23
Number five know what your team values. It’s not always what you value, it’s what your team values as they want to be treated with respect. They want work life balance. They want to know that they don’t have to work 24/7. They want to know that they are a part of the team.
Treat them with fair benefits. Fair benefits is good paid time off, whether it’s sick or vacation, whether it’s health insurance, whether is retirement program, whether it is any type of an award, a healthy living gym, memberships, all these types of things. Subscriptions. Know what your team values.
00:08:50:01 – 00:09:52:14
Tip number six treat your team like they have other options and you want them to stay with you.
Here’s a graphic. Ladies and gentlemen, I quit in the soft. I quit it. The soft resignation that has gone and played. According to a 2024 Monster Online survey, 96% of people in the workplace are hunting for a new job this year. Isn’t that pretty scary?
I’m very proud to say that my team has been with me five six years. All right, as we started to add, I’ve only had one person leave and we continue to add more people onto our team. Why? Because I give them everything to know what I value and what they value with respect. Our team works together with respect. We have a great work life balance. They all have fair benefits so we treat them like they have other options.
00:09:52:16 – 00:11:20:17
Yes. We’re going to take a quick break and a slight intermission.
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00:11:20:19 – 00:14:00:06
Tip number seven. Very and probably one of the most important. Learn how to handle conflict in your practice amongst other team members. I don’t like drama and my team doesn’t like drama. So guess what? We don’t have drama because each one of us police ourselves and police the others. If we feel that there’s something up, if there’s something wrong, we speak to that person. Because each person on your team is equally as important. From your director of first impressions to your doctor.
Remember, the hierarchy is not important because in my former practice, I compensated the director of first impressions at the front desk equal to that of a medical assistant. I don’t want to hear that one has more qualifications than another because it’s really not true. Without that director of First Impressions, we don’t have patients to treat all the way up through the doctor.
So create an open and honest line of communication. Remember whether it is text, whether it’s phone, whether it’s email, whether it’s face to face. I love face to face. It’s more dynamic. It’s more trustworthy. It’s more believable. Listen to both sides of the story, but keep the conversation from turning into an I said he said she said no pointing of the fingers allowed because there are three sides to the story. So I like to listen to both sides. And then I come up with my conclusion based on the facts that are given to me.
You’ve heard me say many, many times, like Sergeant Joe Friday from Dragnet. Just the facts, ma’am. Just the facts. Although I respect your opinion, I want the facts. And then we can make a collective decision together. And always remember to keep the conversation on track. And don’t revert back to things that haven’t been resolved, because that’s not going to get you anywhere. Don’t say, well, do you remember three months ago, six months ago last year, when you did forget about it, the old forget about it? Don’t worry about what happened. We can only worry about what is to come. And one of the most important parts of this is you’re going to have to determine where did the drama stem from? If it’s an external condition, we have to remove that immediately. If it’s an internal condition, we either have to resolve it or eliminate it.
00:14:00:08 – 00:14:50:10
Tip number eight create respect. And you as a provider, as a leader, has to serve as a role model. Show people. Don’t just tell your staff what you expect from them. Show them.
Don’t be afraid to pick up pieces of paper that fell on the floor. Don’t be afraid to make sure that the area is clean. Don’t be afraid to do something that you ask your staff to do. I’m not asking you or sharing with you to be that clerical person, however. Don’t be afraid to show them that you know how to do it and you will do it. When the need arises and you can jump in as a team member because your team members should respect you and you should respect them.
00:14:50:12 – 00:16:39:19
Tip number nine embrace your staff’s strengths.
Every one of my team members has a specific strength. My Director of Operations, she has an incredible strength in keeping things on track to make sure that things get done timely. That make sure that projects get done and even keeps me on track. I love it, I’ve never had it so good. My clients, success managers, they all work together for the governance of the practice, and they’ll help each other out with a client.
Same thing that would be with patients. They’ll never hear. That’s not my job. If you’re busy and you need another team member to help you, it should be done that way. All right, now, social media. Who is comfortable? If you have people that are comfortable with your social media strengths. Perfect.
On my team. I’ve got a marketing professional and we just hired another advertising and marketing professional to our team came to me. She was my intern for several months. If you’ve heard our stories, every one of my team members going even getting into the executive team have started out as interns. It’s a beautiful way to run your business and be a leader. Be creative. I have specialists that are HR focused. I have specialists that are now finance focused. They all work and I’ll wrap it up because it is the creativity of all of our team members.
Remember the old expression, the sum of the parts equal the whole and embrace those skills that each one of your team members bring to the table.
00:16:39:23 – 00:17:40:23
Tip number ten remove that negativity from your office. Stop with the yelling. Yelling is not allowed. Eye rolling. Do not eyeroll. Even judges don’t like eye rolling. Don’t be late. If we have meetings. Don’t be late. Don’t be late to the patient appointments. Don’t be late to our appointments. And I, as a leader, will not be late. And don’t talk back to each other. So no yelling, no eye rolling, no being late and tardy. And don’t talk back to each other. Remember, we each and I mean each deserve identical respect at all levels of the spectrum.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for sharing this time with me to discuss the top ten tips to becoming a better leader in your practice.
Good luck and God bless.
00:17:41:00 – 00:19:14:00
So that wraps up today’s episode of Shorr Solutions: The podcast.
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