Motivating your team

Practice managers often feel dissatisfied, overworked and stressed out. They have daily problems to solve, regulations to master, employee concerns to handle, doctors to support and consistently feel like they are putting out fires.

Posted in Employment Practices on Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Recently we’ve seen a lot of questions from practice managers around how to better manage or motivate their teams. They believe improving their teams can ultimately improve their own job satisfaction, the satisfaction of their employees, their providers and ultimately, patients.

How do you motivate staff? How do you handle that person who frequently complains? How should you handle gossip? Consider sharing these tips with your team:   

1. If it’s worth complaining about, it’s worth solving. Don’t be a complainer, be a solver.
2. Respect everyone, on and off your team.
3. Bring a positive attitude to work.
4. Support each other. What can YOU do to help someone else be successful?
5. Gossiping isn’t cool, so don’t do it. If you’re curious about something, ask, don’t speculate.
6. Don’t assume negative intent. Assume positive intent and ask questions if you need clarification.
7. Constantly strive to be better. Even Walter Payton had a coach in his prime.
8. When listening to someone … seek to understand, not to respond.
9. Always do the right thing, because it’s the right thing. Always.
10. Speak up. No one can help/change if they don’t know the problem.
11. Think of feedback as a gift.
12. Try to be empathetic to others.
13. Don’t expect others to solve your problems, what are you doing to solve them?
14. Don’t play the victim. We all have the power to change our situation.
15. Challenge the status quo … just because you’ve always done something doesn’t mean it’s right.
16. When you see a problem, think of a solution first, then approach others.
17. Take feedback … negative and positive … graciously.

Be the leader you want to see in your teammates. Success will follow.