Orthotown April 2021 - 70

PAY
People have a right to expect fair pay for a
decent day's work. You can't be a cheapskate
and attract and keep the caliber of talent
you need to deliver a great patient experience
and grow your practice. But across-the-board
raises above inflation that aren't tied to
business growth and job performance are
unwarranted and a bad business decision.
Instead, manage your biggest line item in
ways that create wins that are good for the
business and beneficial to your employees.
Your team members inherently want to
perform well and contribute to the success
of the practice. And even if pay isn't their
No. 1 want, everybody likes making more
money. Give your people the opportunity to
earn more by offering meaningful incentives
based on the things they can control and
that motivate them to partner with you in
achieving your goals.

Great practices create a culture that
continually connects pay with performance
against goals. Incentives inspire people to go
above and beyond everyday performance,
which is why the sales profession has always
been so heavily commission-based. That
approach supercharges the business by
continually moving performance goals
up, which increases people's pay through
incentives and bonuses.
Stick with individual incentives, though,
because teamwide programs don't foster the
results-based culture you want to create. They
can cause hard feelings among team members,
which just causes you more headaches in
the long run. The occasional team " game, "
such as a new-patient generation contest,
can work well-see sample idea below-but
don't make team incentives an ongoing
compensation plan.

TEAM CONTEST EXAMPLE
Increase new patients
Current average number of patients per month: 50
New goal number: 60
Run a 1-month challenge: Pay everyone on the team $100 if they achieve the additional 10 new
patients next month.
The incentive is aligned with the result; it immediately changes the focus of the team to
new-patient generation. You'll take in more than you give out, so it's a win-win!

Of course, the structure of your incentives needs to be such that they pay for
themselves: Overhead is covered, the practice
makes some money, then they make their
incentive. Simply put, an employee doesn't
make money unless you make money. Then,
be happy about what you pay out! If you pay
your incentives begrudgingly, you send the
message that you don't really want to pay
your people more, no matter what they do
for you. And if you don't offer incentives at
all, you send the message that their pay will
be the same no matter how much they do or
don't do for you, which creates a culture in
which doing only the minimum is acceptable.
If you've had bad experiences in the past
or think incentives don't work, you just didn't
structure or execute them properly. Or you
have too many low performers who balk at
having to prove their worth, expecting to
get paid anyway. When the effort is put in
to get them done right, an incentive-based
culture brings out the best in people, and gives
strong performers the opportunity to earn
more than ever before-all while boosting
your bottom line. This is something that
we regularly work with our coaching-level
clients to make sure is correct. When done
correctly, it can turn one of your largest
expenses into a huge growth driver for the
practice.

RECOGNITION
Meaningful recognition goes way beyond
a pat on the back. In fact, ineffective recognition can backfire-telling someone every
day they're doing a great job but paying
them poorly makes for hollow praise and
can make them feel taken advantage of.
Create a culture of sincere appreciation
and recognition by showing your people
you truly value them as individuals and for
the contributions they make every day. Let
them know that you know how much better
your life and your practice are because of
them. Even small gestures have big impact
when they are heartfelt.

Examples:
Reward individual team members
with incentive pay and bonuses as a
tangible form of recognition for a job
well done or goals achieved.
Replace noncontributing members as
a form of recognition to the others.
Demonstrate you recognize and
appreciate the difference and know
that bringing in better team members
will strengthen the morale and
performance of the collective team
and enable them to maximize earning
opportunities as a higher-performing
team.

*
*

Host memorable appreciation parties
and events.
Give cards and handwritten notes to
say thank you, offer encouragement,
and let them know you care about
them and their lives.
Create external recognition
opportunities by being involved in
your community; give your business a
purpose that your people want to get
behind and become involved in.

APRIL 2021 // orthotown.com

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3/24/21 9:13 AM

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Orthotown April 2021

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