Christie's THOT, by Dr. Ogi Ressel

Wednesday, March 4th 2009

Warm hellos to everyone,

Ok, Ok, ...I've been out of touch for the past week - Linda and I decided
to take a last minute vacation. She made me promise that this was a
vacation - no cell phones!
We ended up at Sandals in the Bahamas. Amazing place! I'm all pampered out!

I mentioned earlier that Chiropractic is not a career. It is a calling.
You do not stop being a Chiropractor at 5:00 pm. I like that.
So...with that in mind, I adjusted a bunch of people at the resort....and
I have some referrals to make to DCs in the US as a result. But we'll talk
about this next week.

This week, I have a special treat for you. My daughter, Christie, is going
to become more involved in helping me with the PEP Program. For those
of you who have not met her, Christie was on staff at our Centre when I
was in practice, and ran the Front Desk.

Her duties, included patient scheduling, financial agreements, reactivation,
handling missed appointments (when we had them), etc. She can handle
600 patient visits/week by herself and I consider her to be the top CA in
Canada.

I am including a THOT she wanted to write.
Please enjoy and take her words to heart:

Warm hellos to everyone!

It has been quite awhile since I had expressed a "THOT" to you, so I figured
there is no better time then the present to fix that!

I wanted to take a moment to address with all the doctors the importance of
your CA's happiness. Since chiropractic assistants can make or break a practice,
how many of you feel that this may be an important issue to address? See...I
knew you'd see it my way!

Having been a CA for many years in my life, and having talked to many CA's
and doctors in North America, I find it distressing that so many staff are unhappy
in their office.
NOT OKAY!
And yet so many wonderful and exciting things happen on a regular basis with
your patients that everyone in the office should be excited and ready to go!

Many doctors don't seem to understand why they can't seem to keep their
staff members and why they can't find someone to work for them that is as
dedicated to chiropractic as they are.

Everyone seems to be really tired of the constant re-hiring process (as I'm s
ure many doctor's wives out there are also!).

So what is it about these people you try and hire?

Many doctors often say: "But...my patients get chiropractic so it just must be
that we aren't explaining things right to our staff...otherwise they would stay
knowing how important chiropractic is...right?"
Or...
"They just aren't as dedicated to our mission...it's hard to find people that are..."
Or...
"Everything in my office works well for me so it must for my staff too, right?"
"Right?!!?"

These are some of the common and terrible excuses doctors tell themselves
when yet another staff member leaves the clinic.

Let me tell all of you doctors a secret: IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU!

Just because things work for you, doesn't mean that same attitude is reflected
in your staff or your patients!

You, as doctors, are there to help your patients. Period. In order to do so,
you must accommodate your staff accordingly since they are the ones that
spend the most time with your patients. End of story.

You guys (and ladies) are at the bottom of the totem pole. A little brash, but true!

I know many of you must be amazed that the boss and mighty doctor would
come last on the priority list. But alas, it's true! So get over it!

Here's why...
As doctors (and smart employers), you need to treat your staff in a very similar
way to your patients. That is...you need to keep them happy and raving about you.

Because guess what?
Just like your patients, if your staff isn't happy, they aren't going to stay there!
What a concept (as my dad says)!

So what are things you can do to ensure your staff's happiness?
Well there are a couple of things....
The first thing you can do is look at your hours. Many doctors use split shifts
at their clinic...usually opening early (usually somewhere around 7) break
at 12....come back at 3pm and then finish the day again around the 7pm mark.
While you may think that this is a convenient and efficient way of running your
clinic (which, I can assure you, isn't) it is very hard on your staff (and contrary to
rumours not helpful to your patients either). It is difficult to rise early in the
morning, finish late at night and still think that you can have quality time for
other things that are important in your life, let alone any errands (although
many rationalize you can complete everything in a couple of hours....again I
assure you, you are wrong).

The second thing you need to look at is the environment. Many patients usually
comment on the positive atmosphere most chiropractic offices have...which is
created by whom? YOUR STAFF!
There's a concept!

Patients always comment on how great everyone's staff is!

So let me ask you this...what do YOU create, as an atmosphere, for your staff?
Are you fun? Are you excited to be helping people and actually show it? Do you
bring out the chiropractic passion in your staff? Do you involve them in the healing
and progress of your patients? Do you excite them about their own care?
(Let me ask you this....are your staff under care with you? Or do they see someone else?)

Do you only point out their faults (which should only be done on personal time or at
a staff meeting...once a week) instead of pointing out their successes? Do you make
them feel special and invaluable to your team?

These are things that need to be felt each and everyday your staff show up in
your office.

The third thing I'd like to address with doctors regarding their staff's happiness
is their wage.
I hate to say this, but MANY OF YOU ARE AWFULLY CHEAP! There! I said it!
It's out in the open!

Trust me, when I say that I am not the only one who feels this way. Many of you
feel that you can give your staff numerous things to do on top of their already full
work load, just because "that is what you pay them for". This can sometimes be a
rational conclusion if you pay them well. If you don't, don't plan on keeping anyone
around! You need to set your staff's wages according to their workload, abilities,
personality, etc., and value, appropriately.
...And make sure you reward them with regular salary increases to show you love
what they're doing! I'm not talking and extra $0.25 an hour....rather an extra
$1.00 an hour!!! At least!

Last, but not least, make sure your staff knows you appreciate them. Not only tell
them regularly, but show it. Find out what your staff find rewarding (not all people
respond to money) and surprise them! Not just yearly, but with little things along
the way. Think of raving fan service, for your staff!
They will love you for it!

These are just some of the FEW things you can do to ensure your staff's happiness.
Remember, the better you treat your CA's, the harder and happier they will work
for you! The best bonus of all!?
You will actually keep them as a part of your staff!! How cool is that?!

In our office, we practiced these rules ourselves. Not only was the morale fantastic,
but the patients were happy, things ran smoothly, and best of all NO STAFF CHANGES!

Until our next chit-chat!!

Christie Ressel

There you go....I told you Christie was awesome! Please take her words to heart
and look after your staff well. They will look after you in return.

For those of you who are attending Module II in Detroit this coming weekend,
you'll meet Christie first-hand. She'll be happy to help you with any questions or
challenges you may be facing.

Warmest wishes,
Dr. Ogi Ressel