PAEDS BIZ ... HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR PRIVATE PRACTICE JUNE 2016
PAEDS BIZ FORUM Be there! p.4
JOB DESCRIPTIONS
How to effectively write and use job descriptions p.5
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT Your people are your greatest resources p.6
AN INTRODUCTION TO
CATHY LOVE Occupational Therapist Coach Speaker Author
For first time readers a quick intro, I am Cathy Love an Occupational Therapist, Coach, Author and Speaker. I am the founding director of Nacre Consulting and I work with parents and disability service providers to achieve brilliant outcomes for children with special needs. I provide a range of services: • Family Service Coaching for parents to help them manage their child’s team and services • Clinical supervision to individuals and allied health professional teams • Service delivery consultation to disability service providers • Private practice coaching to business owners More to be read about all that over on my website www.nacre.com.au Each month I write up news, useful information and pearls of wisdom for those working with children and families in the disability sector. Given that it is a rapidly changing landscape and one that is increasingly privatised there is typically lots of news to be shared.
Welcome. My days are action packed and fabulous. The central heating has ticked on and every time I venture outside I am armed with everything from sunnies to ski gear. Such is Melbourne winter. It’s also EOFY which brings a flurry of meetings with my accountant to review reports, plans, budgets and we even squeeze in a well-deserved lunch. How is your financial wrap up and forward planning going? My head is full of all things Paeds Biz Forum. Oaks on Market in Melbourne’s leafy CBD offers loads of natural light, delicious food and a great vibe. The program is looking fabulous, now it is down to the organisational details and getting those tickets sold. All the good stuff will be covered, digital marketing, workplace safety, customer service, business management, top legal tips. And it will be presented by people who understand small allied health businesses. Come join us for the day, read more then register here. The best part of my work day is the conversations with energetic paeds private practitioners who want to manage their businesses better and lead their teams more skillfully. I love that so many of you are taking up the offer of the complimentary call offered on my website and deciding whether my business coaching services are what you need now. This gives me such a buzz, what is being dreamt up, developed and delivered nation-wide is mind blowing. Such as privilege to be a virtual part of so many businesses. And so my desk overflows at the moment, how about yours? To curb the avalanche I have had a business working bee. A full uninterrupted Saturday of working in two hour blocks to GSD. Get Stuff Done. Filing, archiving, inbox, journaling, month ahead planning, blog writing, tidying the draws, backing up ... all done. It feels incredible. I physically and mentally work best in a minimalist work space. What can you do to enhance your environment and boost your productivity? Wishing you a cosy and coffee fuelled Paeds Biz read and a fabulous June 2016.
Cathy Cathy Love Director of Nacre Consulting
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CONTENTS 02 Introduction Meet Cathy Love 04 Paeds Biz Forum Register today 05 7 Behaviours for High Performance Guest Writers - John Dawson and Carmel McDonald from Dawson McDonald Consulting 06 COVER FEATURE: How to write and use Job Descriptions in your private practice 07 Bookshelf 08 Performance Management Guest Writer - Kerrie Canning from HR Advice Online 10 COVER FEATURE: Why a smile really does say it all Guest Writer - Cate Schreck from Lightbulb Training Solutions 11 The Wrap
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UPCOMING EVENT
A Day of Inspiration, Networking and Business Know-How for Paediatric Private Practice Owners As a Paeds Biz owner, there is constant pressure to manage your business effectively, understand financials, market brilliantly, manage stakeholder relationships and provide exceptional services and outcomes for children and families. Join us for a fast paced day of niche business content, Q&A and powerful entrepreneurial conversation. • Digital marketing • How to write and use a marketing plan • Customer Service excellence. What is it, why you need it and how to get it • Workplace safety and your legal obligations • Managing and growing your business • Top legal tips for managing your private practice You are welcome to join us if you’re in private practice and fully focused on delivering profitable and powerful services to children with special needs and their families
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Details Saturday 25 June 2016 Melbourne CBD 9.00am to 4.30pm Investment Early Bird Registration is $390.00 extended until COB Friday 10th June 2016 Full Registration is $450.00 applies thereafter Delicious morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea is provided.
REGISTER ONLINE TODAY
GUEST WRITERS - JOHN DAWSON & CARMEL MCDONALD
7 BEHAVIOURS FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE Owning and operating a small business is a tough gig - everyone (clients, staff and suppliers) wants a piece of you. Everyone expects you to operate to a higher standard than they expect from high brand organisations, where occasional lapses are viewed as the norm. You also have to be both a leader and manager and these are two different functions. You need to lead the people and manage the processes. Here are some tips that might help you do this. You provide leadership by showing your team that you live the Values you set for your business (e.g. Integrity, Respect, Collaboration) and by providing a compelling Vision of what you want your business to be. You manage the processes by establishing effective systems, setting clear goals and holding your people accountable for achieving these. Leaders who have lasting success in achieving high performance tend to share these seven behaviours:
Sell your Vision and set clear goals that get results.
Create stories about what the future can be like and how we can make it happen for ourselves.
Provide the support and development people need to perform well.
Ask what your people need from you as leader to help them perform and then deliver it.
Be self-aware, authentic, lead by example and live the values you expect others to exhibit.
The way you treat your people is the way they’ll treat your clients.
Take the blame for mistakes and share the credit for achievement. Treat mistakes as learning, not blaming, opportunities.
Individually these behaviours are not difficult. The challenge is to act on all of them consistently every day. When you do you will see your team moving to higher performance.
Trust and respect your people.
Show trust and respect in the way you treat them. If you can’t trust them why are they still here?
Recognise and reward people’s efforts with incentives.
It’s not all about money; a handwritten note of appreciation does wonders.
Give regular performance.
feedback
to
improve
Always connect feedback with how the action or inaction impacted business goals – i.e. play the ball not the person.
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John Dawson & Carmel McDonald are the co-owners of Dawson McDonald Consulting. They’ve helped hundreds of organisations and their people improve performance, to increase business results and customer loyalty. They can be reached at info@dawsonmcdonald.com.au Their 2015 book – “BUILD Your Business: From Ordinary to Extraordinary, 5 Steps To High Performance” is available here.
HOW TO WRITE AND USE JOB DESCRIPTIONS
IN YOUR PRIVATE PRACTICE
Job descriptions (sometimes called position descriptions) and affectionately known as JD’s are a must have for all private practice owners who employ or contract clinical and admin staff. In its most basic format a JD is a written statement that outlines why the job exists, who the job holder reports to, what the job holder does and how they will do it. Simple. Yet during my private practice coaching conversations I often hear that they are missing (alarmingly) from the paperwork. Yes I understand that there’s lots to do when you’re in private practice but JD’s are critical for lots of reasons. The process of writing up a JD helps get you as the business owner, clear on the exact tasks your clinical and admin staff (contractors included) need to do. Don’t forget your admin team, they are usually the glue that holds the business together. Get started by hunting up some examples of therapist, admin, book keeper JD’s, this will give you a structured template from which you can customise. Then analyse every single task that you want the person to do, all the relationships they will have and the systems they will need to follow. Keep the data job specific. Categorise and prioritise, the document is taking shape. You may like to include KPI’s or other measurables that will assist in positive performance management. Task analysis on steroids. You can do it. A well written JD brings you the private practice owner and your staff clarity. This serves to reduce role ambiguity, minimise stress and serves to get your team humming along nicely. JD’s should be part of your business plan and your operational manual. Like everything else they need to be reviewed and updated regularly. I suggest that you review the JD’s about once a year, preferably during your team meeting in order to capture any recent changes in roles and practices. I guarantee it will generate interesting and usually positive discussion. A succinct job description, paired with a clear person specification will help you recruit the best people.
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It will provide the foundation of your advert and will be issued to all serious applicants. The JD will provide the basis of most of the interview questions you ask. Hmm I should write about interview questions sometime soon. PS. Be concerned if you aren’t hearing interviewee questions based on the JD you have provided them prior. In addition the job description provides the foundation for your performance management policy and procedures. The JD is a great document to check-in on during clinical supervision and performance reviews. Should disciplinary action be needed or disputes arise it will be one of the first documents referred to and discussed. It will highlight areas of professional strength and weakness and appropriate plans can be put in place. It will also help identify issues associated with the team members straying (by agreement or otherwise) from their jobs core tasks. If a staff member is keen to progress then the JD for the next grade can be used as a guide of “where we need to be” and professional development bridges implemented. There may be great value working all this through with your private practice coach, a sounding board can be really helpful. The JD also provides the basis for measuring job performance and pay review. Pay scales and grading need to be clearly identified through all job description documents. It will be necessary to identify the State/ Federal Employment Award or Contractor arrangement by which they will be engaged. No grey areas here, it is vital to get clear and confident on these issues. If you are unsure check in with your legal advisor and accountant. To bring it all down to one sentence, a JD will help you get the right person, doing the right thing in the right way at the right time. Ultimately this eases your management demands, supports your staff and serves your clients brilliantly. What will be your next step?
BOOKSHELF “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff...and it’s all small stuff” Author: Richard Carlson This incredible pocket book was first printed in 1997. Finally I have read it and loved it. It is a book that shows you how to keep from letting the little things drive you crazy. It is written with thoughtful and insightful language and structured in tiny readable chapters. A pick up and put down book for busy people who want quick powerful suggestions that seep into life changing actions. I have been diving in and out of this book for weeks now, it has rocketed to one of my all-time favourites.
“Source Kids Magazine” Editor: Emma Price So many professionals and parents are yet to discover this Australian treasure. It is a magazine written for special needs children’s parents and service providers. It profiles equipment, diagnostic groups, upcoming events, resources, service providers and loads more. Source Kids is available in a real printed magazine format and an online version. It’s a brilliant read and a subscription must for service providers. Stay tuned they have massive plans for 2017.
“The Tao of Coaching” Author: Max Landsberg Max Landsberg is an internationally recognised authority on executive coaching and professional development. His books on coaching, leadership and motivation have been international best sellers during his thirty years of experience. This 1996 coaching classic has been completely updated in 2015 including the addition of two new chapters. This is a fabulous book for those who wish to boost their effectiveness at work (and everywhere else) by inspiring and developing those around them. Coaching concepts, styles and techniques are outlined and illustrated beautifully. A new favourite.
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GUEST WRITER - KERRIE CANNING
FROM THE BLOG DESK AT HR ADVICE ONLINE
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
When most people hear “performance management”, the typical reaction is someone is not performing. It is equally as important to reward high achievers and recognise when your people go above and beyond as it is to address an employee who is not performing. Performance management done well clearly demonstrates a link between what an individual does on a daily basis and the objectives of the business. The goals of performance management include: •Alignment of employees to the goals and values of your business, allowing employees to understand how their actions and achievements link with the business goals and objectives •Increase communication and relationships between people and their Manager regarding their performance, their development needs and their achievements •Providing a more objective and consistent process for decisions about reward and career opportunities •Provide people with a picture of their short term achievements as well as a frame of reference for their long term objectives •Recognition of high performance and high potential employees •Measuring progress being made towards business objectives •Evaluating performance, identifying improvement and defining new objectives •Correcting behaviour of under- performing employees
Common Performance Mistakes
•Only evaluating performance once a year – it then becomes a big task •Surprising the employee with what the managers writes or feedback that is given – it’s important to provide feedback as it occurs – both positive and constructive •Not encouraging involvement during the appraisal process from the employee - the manager does all the
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talking and doesn’t seek input from the employee •Not documenting performance during the year and then trying to remember it all at once •Writing conclusions rather than reporting specific examples – it’s crucial to be specific with examples rather than making general statements •Evaluating from personal factors and biases rather than on performance •Inconsistencies – actual performance factor rating vs achievements and/or written comments – it’s important to ensure that if you use a rating scale they are clearly defined – what does “meets expectations” really mean? •Allowing ineffective behaviour to continue and then deciding to take action – sending mixed messages that it was OK up until now, but now it’s not and here’s a warning
Why do you need to manage performance?
In the best-selling book Drive by Daniel Pink, he has identified 3 things that motivate and drive people – Mastery, Sense of Purpose and Autonomy. An effective performance management process provides these 3 things: 1. The opportunity for employees to do what they do well – Mastery – by being able to measure and track goals and objectives 2. Sense of Purpose – aligning individual goals and objectives enables employees to make a contribution to the business 3. Ability to get on and perform their role in their way – by being clear about the outcomes and expectations, employees can use their own unique skills and abilities to achieve them - Autonomy
For the business:
Your people are your greatest resources and performance management is how you manage them and each other’s expectations. The benefits of getting
performance management right include: •Increased productivity – when people know what’s expected of them then can get on and do their job instead of having to check in before they do things, they know what they can and can’t do. They understand their levels of authority and accountability. •Alignment of goals to overall business objectives – knowing how what they do on a daily basis contributes to what the business does allows people to see that they are make a contribution and has purpose.
For your employees:
They are clear about what’s expected of them. They know and are able to measure whether they are doing a good job and are focused on the right things. For a large number of employees, they are unsure what’s expected of them, they turn up and think they’re doing a good job but they may not be focussed on what you think is important. By having clear goals and objectives, it’s very clear whether they are or are not meeting the expectations of the position. If you don’t have a clear performance management process in place it will reduce the productivity of your employees and the business because: •Employees may be “busy” but not focussed on the important activities •Other employees will mimic bad behaviour. If they see that the poor behaviour is not being addressed, they too will follow suit. •Leaders will lose credibility when bad behaviour is not dealt with. For any further information Contact Us: 1300 720 004 advice@hradviceonline.com.au www.hradviceonline.com.au
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About Kerrie Canning As an experienced Human Resources and Organisational Development professional, Kerrie brings over 20 years experience working both within organisations and as an external consultant on cultural change, leadership development, recruitment and selection and coaching. Kerrie sees HR Advice Online as an accessible way for small and medium business to gain the type of advice normally reserved for large corporates, which makes it an incredibly powerful tool for business growth and success.
GUEST WRITER - CATE SCHRECK
WHY A SMILE REALLY DOES SAY IT ALL How many times a week do you find yourself writing up case notes, completing forms and data entry, prioritising other people’s needs or simply working to meet deadlines and just when you are on a roll of getting things done, the phone rings.
smiling releases endorphins, which are natural pain relievers, along with serotonin, which is also associated with feel good properties. When we smile, our brain thinks we must be happy, so we get a little release of the good stuff and bingo, you feel better and sound better.
Did you know; when we have to stop what we are doing to take a phone call, that little voice in our head that says “Argh, go away I’m too busy” can be communicated to the caller? It sure can.
It can take as little as 6 seconds for a fake smile to feel real.
Think about a time you called a business and simply by the way the person answered the phone, you decided if you liked them, trusted them and wanted to do business with them.
Telephone Commutation Truths
•85% of the message you give others about how you feel and what your attitude is, comes from your Tone of Voice •15% comes from your words •It’s not what you say, but how you say it that will determine if your customers like and trust you
Do yourself and your customers a favour and smile when you are on the telephone. Research has shown that
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One more reason to smile on the phone; you never know if the person on the other end is ringing to complain. If they hear a voice that is anything other than calm, professional and focused on their needs, game on! It’s easier to complain to someone who answers the phone with a negative tone.
Smiles are also contagious - spread some today.
CONTACT : 0422 476 070 www.lightbulbtraining.com.au
Next month’s edition will include: Billable Hours Profitability Celebrating Success and using a Success Board Implement your Business Plan Thank you to the three June Paeds Biz contributors Kerrie Canning, Cate Schreck and John Dawson for your words of wisdom. You are all amazingly generous business people who’s work I greatly admire. As always a global sized thank you to Emma my Virtual Assistant who has done a terrific job with the design and distribution of Paeds Biz. My business plan for the next financial year is being finalised with aims and actions being reverse engineered into twelve monthly chapters. Looking good. I am excited. Bring it on…. with eyes closed and white knuckles. The podcasting project is inching forward. The concept is hatched, initial guests lined up, behind the scenes stuff falling in to place and I continue to wrangle the hardware and software. Huge Fun. Thank you to the enthusiasts who continue to motive me. Get your ears ready, it will be coming to earbuds near you soon.
As many of you know I am the founding director of Nacre Consulting. A cool business with an unusual name. Nacre is the natural process of a little seed, held in an oyster shell whist it grows, layer by layer, into a brilliant unique pearl. This process takes time, special conditions and forces of nature. And so it is true for ourselves and for the children and families we serve. More about my clinical supervision, parent coaching, teaching and private practicing coaching services on my (soon to be facelifted) website: www.nacre.com.au
The July Paeds Biz has a financial year focus and will tackle profitability, billable hours and how to implement your business plan. We will also take stock and reflect on your business successes, which we are often just too busy to do. Sydney beckons. I am working from Sydney for five days during June. This gives me the chance to meet face to face with my Sydney clients, chat with new ones, meet with my awesome VA and roll up my sleeves for the Fragile X Association of Australia of which I am a board member. Oh and there will be a fair share of fun and food as well. Have a great month everybody, snuggle down, think big and bring positive change to your client’s lives. FOLLOW NACRE CONSULTING ON SOCIAL MEDIA
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If you are curious about my specialist private practice coaching services you are most welcome to get in touch, find out more and experience a 30 minute complimentary session: cathy@nacre.com.au