ADA HR FEATURE

Key Things for Practice Owners to Keep in Mind

In running a practice, practice owners must consider more than just the day-to-day operations. Looking at overarching issues such as the culture of the practice, individual management styles, and the practice’s future are also important. Having a good understanding of these can help your practice to be more successful as you develop strategies to deal with issues and move towards where you want the practice to go.

PRACTICE CULTURE

Ensuring the practice has a positive work culture is a key consideration for practice owners. Practices are obligated to provide a safe working environment for all workers; however, many forget that this obligation extends to the psychosocial environment. Workplaces that have issues including toxic working relationships, unreasonable expectations, and the inability to raise grievances can give rise to mental health hazards and claims of bullying and harassment. While having clear policies for raising grievances, codes of conduct and behaviours expectations are the more formal and essential ways of targeting these, incentives can also be key in creating good practice culture. Workplaces that provide additional flexibility to staff, encourage, and foster good relationships through teambuilding exercises, and recognise staff for their achievement will find it easier to retain good staff and talent.

MANAGEMENT STYLE

An essential part of being a practice owner is undertaking management action in the workplace. Regular assessment of management style and its efficacy and perception in the practice is important for practice owners and managers. Whilst you may be the kind of leader who likes to make decisions by themselves, you then may need to consider how you will consider staff input so that it is clear that their concerns are still being heard. When undertaking management action, practice owners may consider whether they prefer to take informal steps to address conduct and performance issues before undertaking a formal process? Crafting clear policies and procedures, as well an environment that is supported by your management style is important in having a successful practice. Importantly, any management action must be reasonable in the circumstances. Workplace bullying occurs when an individual or group behaves unreasonably towards a worker and that behaviour creates a risk to health and safety. Reasonable management action conducted reasonably is not workplace bullying. If a practice owner manages employees in an unreasonable manner, they are at risk of a workplace bullying claim. For example, unreasonable management action may occur in performance or disciplinary processes where no procedural fairness is afforded and where the allegations are baseless. Practices should ensure that they engage in regular training with management staff as to how to appropriately manage employees.

GOALS FOR THE PRACTICE

Another consideration is what the path going ahead for the practice may look like. If you are looking to expand, you may consider whether to provide additional training and development for your employees to provide them with additional skills and the ability to take on further responsibility. It may also be that you are looking to hire new staff. This requires a consideration of your current recruitment strategies and what you are looking for in a candidate. If the practice has identified the need to build a more positive working culture, practice owners can take actions such as creating clearer policies around workplace expectations, conducting surveys, and holding meetings to get staff feedback in order to determine what steps are necessary to make the practice the best place it can be for its workers. For more information on this article please call the ADA HR Advisory Service on 1300 232 462.