This week, we are going to do a little review as we prepare to move forward into our exclusive Huddle Series that YOU have created starting next week.
I want to go back to the significance behind and the importance of the Morning Huddle and just how to make it as effective as possible.
Obviously, no team goes into the game or next play without a huddle and knowing what is supposed to happen, where everyone is going to be and talking through the desired outcome.
This is the same for you.
Your days move fast, things change, s*** happens and if you don’t have everyone on the same page at the beginning of the day you won’t be able to proactively adjust when various challenges occur.
I always think of the Huddle as an “opportunity” meeting. That is the real key point to everything. Each Clinical Team Member must know every patient coming in for the day and what the opportunity is to help each individual patient get healthy.
That includes: chart reviews, note reviews, family audits and photograph reviews, all with an eye for everything that is possible.
And know this – you are NOT just looking for treatment that is pre-existing. You are also looking for treatment that has yet to be diagnosed or something that was missed or an obvious discussion that can be had with the patient about any other type of procedure, treatment or benefit that could be of help to them.
It is impossible for any one team member to know every patient and remember everything – especially impossible for the Doctor. Simply because no matter what they know at the beginning of the day they are going to get pulled in many different directions and have to think on their feet.
That is why you divide and conquer on this information. Clinical knowing Clinical. Business knowing Business.
And everyone maps out the timing and logistics where same day impressions are possible or openings in hygiene or operative patients who have extra work and there might be time to go ahead and knock out a couple more or even one more tooth while they are in the chair.
And most importantly, the continuation of the new creation of treatment that is necessary to move the patient forward on their pathway to health.
As I have discussed before, this is also about talking through communication strategy. Seeing if updated records need to be taken. Seeing if you need more time with the doctor or no time at all with the doctor.
A great huddle is the key to setting up your day for success on the two most important things that matter – creation and collections.
If you are only paying attention to production or even worried about today’s production you are way behind the eight ball. You want to be mastering the art of creation and collection of new opportunity so that you can build productive schedules into the future.
Diagnosis feeds the future and builds the value of the practice long term. Acceptance builds the schedule and sets you up for success in the coming weeks. Collections pay for today and drive the goals forward for the month. Production is the only thing that already happened and is a historical number with no relevance whatsoever on today or tomorrow or the future.
The only things about production that matters are what have we been paid on already, what do we need to collect on now, and how much production have we put on the schedule for the next day week month.
I suggest, in your huddles, you begin with motivation and inspiration. Something that refocuses everyone on why you are here and what the main point is.
Then you dive into treatment opportunity from each column in the schedule and then the logistics of maximizing every possible opportunity; especially identifying where you will need your treatment coordinator front and center, where there are schedule challenges logistically and then do not miss patients who you need to consider and assess for new and expanded diagnosis.
You are there in the morning to build the day in advance and to be proactive by living through it assuming and expecting it to go exactly as planned. If you can’t do that in a discussion during the huddle, you have no chance of it being reality throughout the day.
When you finish, you should have clear goals about what each team member is going to do to contribute and you should be focused on hitting all goals for the day not just one or two.
Diagnostic goal.
Acceptance goal.
Collection goal.
Production goal.
And as you conclude the day, you can take a look back at what actually happened, what you have to show for it and what the future looks like now that you have used today to build on it.
Then on to preparation for tomorrow. Rinse and repeat into the next morning’s Huddle to live to fight another day and never accepting defeat or letting a day go without a full-on effort to win.
Successful Teams begin every morning ahead of the game and give themselves the advantage by stacking the deck in their favor. There is no success by accident and there is no way to execute with each patient with discipline and consistency if you don’t start your morning with discipline and consistency with your focus on what really matters. The better you want the day to go, the better you will execute, prepare for and make the most of your morning huddle.
Coming up next, you are going to see some incredible and smart questions that I will be answering each week right here in the Monday Morning Huddle.
