If we take this truism into the details of the practice then we need to ask ourselves the obvious questions: “What are we certain of ?”and “What and where are we fooling ourselves through inconsistencies and incongruencies? “  One question that I ask the attendees at my program is , “What is your product”.  Now of all the things that a business has to have nailed is the product along with the pricing and the delivery methods.  You wouldn’t believe what I hear.  I get health, vitality, change and wellness as answers.  This then narrows down to adjustments or care.  Generally the room goes very quiet as it becomes apparent that there is no consensus and the answers are asked rather than emphatically given.  The answer, as I see it, is none of the above.  With certainty, I can tell you that the product that a chiropractor sells is not an elusive or subjective  outcome.  Nor is it the adjustment alone.  It is the care plan.  This is the way health care and healing practices work. They create an avenue and a forum to develop a time-based relationship into which the doctor can add their extreme skills of  examining, analyzing adjusting, communicating, coaching, mentoring and being. 

Imagine how powerful and productive your practices could be if there was certainty in the communication of the care plan with every patient.  Imagine if every patient knew where they were going at all times in their care and were aware of their responsibilities.  The CA’s could be trained to be Care Plan specialists, dedicated to assisting the patient adhere to their plan rather than focusing on assisting the doctor.  Powerful practices run this way and the team gets paid at the level of the certainty that they project.

A case study in certainty can be found around the corner in any orthodontists office. These professionals are the very best at focusing on the outcomes  and having care plans that accomplish this.  Along the way they are certain that these results are going to be achieved and they get paid handsomely for this certainty. In fact, the client isn’t even told how often they need to be scheduled.  The intent is the successful outcome and the making of a new “smile”.  Damn, these guys are good!

Lets all take the next step in certainty development when it comes to the care plans.  Structure the care plan from exam to exam at the very least with goals that go as far as you are certain of the outcome you can achieve.  How cool would it be if the certainty of the outcome was based on the certainty of the value of clearing the scans. Imagine that the true goal was to observe neural clearing regardless how the patient felt and that the care plan reflected your expertise, like the orthodontist, on the momentum of the change.  Imagine that you could equate, without a doubt, that wellness was being acheived as the scans reflected the healing state and improved in their pattern. 

A solution to a lack of certainty is to dissect the care plan that you would love to deliver.  Write it out, step by step and fall in love with every bit of it.  Imagine and envision the scans and the healing  as the patient moves from a Release state to the Rebuilding phase.  How long and how frequent will you need to see the patient?  What are the outcomes you expect?  How will you communicate this each step of the way?  What media will you use?  What is the fee structure and the payment model?  How will you measure the success?  How does a patient grow into wellness?  How can they be trained?  Will they refer families and friends?  What do you do in the process?  Your staff’s role and duties?…These are the questions that develop certainty and I am certain that if you focus on removing the inconsistencies in your intent, actions and delivery, you will be repaid handsomely in so many ways.

The theme that I presented was based upon the principle of moving your life experiences and, of course, the practices we are in each day from good to great.  Hold up your right hand.  Now, hold down fingers 2 and 3 with your thumb.  This leaves the pinky and the index acting like goal posts.  Well, imagine that the pinky represents Good and the index finger represents Great.

Good and Great are separated by a space or gap. Let’s face it, we may not have the lives or the practices that we dream of but we are all, minimally, starting out at “Good”. (We are skilled doctors and we live in one of the wealthiest nations on earth!)  What separates us from feeling and being great is the gap.  Guess what the gap is filled with.  The answer is: your behavior!

To alter our behaviours and to close the space between good and great we need to review our perspective.  At TS we spent a lot of time reflecting on our roles as chiropractors, what a subluxation really meant to us and of course the famous, “What IS a chiropractor?” query.  The bottom line is that to grow from Good to GREAT, we need to clarify our perspectives, be brutally honest about our behaviours and see that our actions are congruent.  This is seen by the outside world as certainty and certainty is what we get paid for.  Simple, isn’t it!  Well on paper it looks easy but in reality it’s a commitment that takes training, coaching and reflection.

Here are some necessary first steps to get the practice moving from Good to Great:

1. Ask and answer the questions:  Where will my practice be in 5 years time?
2. Am I telling a story of “feeling or healing “with the practice members?
3. Am I committed to care plans with a minimum of three scans to review patterns?
4. Do my care plans reflect my passion for chiropractic and healing?

Although there are hundreds of other questions to ask and answer, the most exciting transition, coming back from TS is CLARITY.  There wasn’t one DC in the room that didn’t experience the desire to transform their practice.  With clarity comes congruence and commitment.  This is why coaching and training are the vehicles to get you moving from Good to Great.

DocFletch is the world leader in scan communication, training and practice integration.  Dr. Fletcher coaches some of the planet’s most exciting practices, moving them from good to great.  Write me at info{at}docfletch{dot}com   to receive a complimentary GAP practice survey or call me at 905.831.9696 to book some chat time to review your coaching needs. Or do both!  Just ask for my assistant Linda; she’s amazing!