The Culture Difference
Everyone would probably agree that the success of every medical aesthetics practice is dependent upon people. People make the difference and are solely responsible for the direction of the practice. Decisions about key business strategies, such as product and service offerings, resource allocation, hiring, training and development, marketing, and patient experience are made by people in key positions. As such, the people making the decisions and doing the work are the drivers behind a high performing practice.
Culture is probably the most influential factor when it comes to achieving high-performance. Most practice owners know this. However, many struggle to develop a high-performance culture for many reasons. Some simply do not have the time necessary to nurture a high-performance culture. For others, there may not be a strong appreciation for culture. Others may lack an understanding of what culture is, why it is important, how to develop and nurture it, and how it impacts results.
Subsequently, many practice owners and managers just let culture happen on its own. As such, the culture that rises to the top tends to be driven by the strongest personalities within the practice. When culture is left to chance, it can easily shift in one direction or the other based on the attitude of the day. An unstable culture can lead to inconsistency in behaviors, which creates inconsistent results. This type of culture leads to patient and employee dissatisfaction, low morale, employee turnover, poor product quality, inefficiencies, and discontent.
Connecting Culture and Performance
Culture within an organization is many things. It is how people within an organization behave, interact, and embrace the values of the organization. How people embrace and adhere to organizational norms contributes to the social system and psychological environment within which they work.
Organizational culture includes the following:
Expectations - How people interact and treat each other. How work is to be done. How people communicate with one another. How and what information is shared. How people are developed and evaluated. How people are held accountable.
Past Experiences - Those things that are not said but done. What people have seen and felt is their reality and shape what they expect will happen in the future.
Organizational Philosophy - Directs people in their quest to understand the “why” and “how” so that improvement and growth can be achieved.
Organizational Values - Values encompass it all and drives purpose, sets expectations, and formalizes the experience. Values include those things that are based on shared beliefs, shared norms, shared attitudes, and written and unwritten rules that have been developed over time. Values are demonstrated by the way business is conducted, how people are treated, and how the practice interacts with the greater community. The extent to which authority is given with responsibility, so that the best decisions can be made, and new ideas developed, is a critical part of value validity. A values driven decision making process and how power and information flow through its hierarchy support the extent at which values will be taken seriously. It will also determine the level at which people commit to the fulfillment of strategic initiatives.
Organizational culture is unique to every organization. Contrary to popular belief, culture is one of the hardest things to change. Hence the reason why leaders need to focus on its development and continually work at making it what they truly hope it to be. Leaving it to chance will lead to a culture that is much different than the one that is desired. Unfortunately, many times the realization that the organization's culture has gone off the rails happens after it is too late. Efforts to restructure culture take years and cost more than the time it would have taken to keep it headed in the right direction from the start.
Keep Your Eyes and Ears Open
Keep your eye on the little things and ears tuned to the “water cooler” talk. If inconsistent behaviors are allowed and inconsistent accountability for organizational values is permitted, the culture will become inconsistent and lead to confusion about values, beliefs, and expectations. This could lead to bad experiences and a chameleon type operating personality. Customers, employees, business partners and the world in general want to know who they are dealing with and what they can expect each time they interact with the practice. Consistency leads to trust, confidence in the relationship, and a clear understanding of what one can expect.
Remember, every organization has different values, different beliefs, and ultimately a different culture. It's the owner’s responsibility to define the culture that works for their practice, nurture it along, consistently communicate expectations, and hold everyone accountable for making that culture reality.
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