If your practice is busy and growing, it is a good reflection of your team. It shows that you are working together as a team towards achieving something great and meaningful.

On the other hand, if your practice is not busy and growing, this usually means that your team is not functioning well. This may be the result of miscommunication or lack of motivation or focus, maybe even the absence of activities usually done in a team, such as team meetings, training, etc.

There are many ways to grow your practice and most of the time, the simplest are overlooked. Your practice should be built on integrity, honesty and great service to those that need you.

You will usually find that the key to practice success depends on whether or not you have motivated staff. Ask yourself first, what is your motive for what you do? After you have your answer, you need to involve your team. Once a mutual motive or vision has been established, you put that into a simple statement to represent your clinic vision which everyone should then follow.

Your Practice Vision

The vision should not be too complicated because everyone has to believe completely in what you want to accomplish with your vision. As an example, you could all agree on the fact that “We have but one goal and that is to provide the best service that we can to our patients.”

If you then encounter issues with managing your staff, simply remind yourself and your team of the reason why you are in practice. Use your vision statement to kick off your team meetings. Everyone on your team should be able to relate to the practice vision. It becomes part of their job and their position description.

Your Practice Mission

Now you need to create a mission, which simply consists of the practice rules that everyone involved has to abide by. An example of the mission is a short sentence that explains how you will get the result from the vision. For example “We will achieve our goal by giving our patients educational tools and better health from the healthcare they receive in our practice.”

The Purpose of Your Practice

Finally, the purpose is the intention behind every role in the practice. When these three pieces are put together, the components should all complement each other and bring clarity to the practice.

You now have a practice vision, mission and purpose but instead of neatly filing them away, make them visible for everyone to see. What better way to express your beliefs? You can print them on posters for your reception and treatment rooms, but you can also use them on all promotional material produced for your practice. This sends a clear message to potential new patients who can clearly see what they can expect from you and your team. Not only is this a great message to your patients. Furthermore, it sends an important message to any team member who may go against your practice vision, mission and purpose, giving you a way to discipline inconsistency and lack of performance. Having your team goal oriented will help you get the things done that are either neglected or on hold. A higher level of self-esteem gives your team an advantage, because they have something to believe in.

Once your vision, mission and purpose is in place it should be utilised as an integral part and of your practice. So take the time to determine and own your reason-why. It will mean everything to you, your team, and those that make your practice what it is….your patients.