A sustainable practice is a practice that has a long-term growth plan for its team.
Practices, which adopt a huge vision, which includes a hairy audacious ‘why’, create an environment for growth on all levels. With an expansive attitude the practice supports the individual growth of practice members and the practice team alike.
There are upsides and downsides to this phenomenon. The upside is that people are constantly challenged to be their best and produce their best work. In an environment of absolute standards people discover much about themselves that may have been hidden in an environment of mediocrity. This then creates the downside for a sustainable practice and that is that people (both practice members and team) will tend to move on having discovered that they can aspire to far greater heights.
Practice members may realise that their higher good is in new relationships, locations or professions. Team members may grow to embrace their calling to be a chiropractor or similarly oriented professional.
The key point to be aware of in this area is that you must have a forward thinking strategy and plan of development for each team member (and practice member although this will be discussed at another time).
Spend significant time working a plan of development for each team member so that they reach the limits of their comfort zone (and just a little bit further) at all times. Make sure that the plan considers the development the strengths and manage for the weaknesses of every team member.
Have regular reassessments with your team and have the difficult discussions about where to from here. Above all, in order to avoid any challenges to sustainability be constantly tracking on potential new team members who can step up when the next opportunity arises.
