The 4 Steps to Planning a Record-Breaking Year

There’s nothing like a built-in deadline to make things happen faster than they might otherwise.  So, I’m coming to you with another actionable Huddle this week to help you make the most of the remaining days of 2021 and more importantly make 2022 your best year yet.

Now, this will come as no surprise to you and I know for a fact that the very best teams reading this are already ahead of what I’m about to challenge you with.  Good for you.

If not – well the good news is you’re just in time for the most important conclusion to your year before it’s too late.

Of course, I’m talking about your goal setting team meeting for 2022.

I prefer to divide the time into four important steps to create the most effective plan for your year.

First, it’s important to take inventory of your progress, achievements, and accomplishments in order to reflect back on how you’ve grown and what you’ve learned in 2021.

You want to build on all of your progress, which requires by being aware of it, as well as using it to guide your decisions going forward.  As an example, you might decide based on recent success that you want to double down on a new procedure, expand your emphasis on doctors’ referrals, or increase your investment in new hires for the next year.

All of these are ways to compartmentalize your focus for 2022.  Of course you will have large broad goals for next year, but you also need specific intentions to continue to grow.

This naturally leads you directly into the second part which would be identifying what didn’t go so well in the past 12 months, opportunities for improvement, and aspects you’d like to change.  You might say based on what we’ve learned we are going to get rid of a procedure altogether, decrease time spent on a certain protocol, or shift away from a high-volume model.

Both your successes and your disappointments this year are indicators of where your focus should be.  Expand your strengths and minimize your weaknesses – both are opportunities to set goals as an individual and practice wide.

The third area of your goal setting meeting is dedicated to coming up with your big overarching objectives for 2022.  Determine what your measurable results will be for the entire year then narrow the focus down into some very specific quarterly benchmarks and progress points that will lead you to the best year of your life.

These goals can include anything you can put a number on from collections to diagnosed treatment, from worked hours to missed phone calls, from accepted treatment for a specific procedure to patient referrals.

You should know from the first two segments what are some areas of focus.  Start there and then work outwards.  You don’t have to make a goal for every quantifiable component of your practice, but you should enough that every team member has several to monitor, impact, and report on the progress.

The fourth part, as you probably just guessed, is putting specific actions to your goals and dialing in a strategic implementation plan complete with “to-do’s” and deadlines.  When you walk back in early January, you should already be hitting the ground running instead of strolling in with the holiday hangovers.

If your goal is to double patient referrals next year, what are the exact steps, who is responsible, and when are they implemented?  If your goal is to have zero unreturned phones call or increasing collections by a million dollars; there should be a list of priorities assigned to each team member who is responsible for its implementation. 

  
Often teams will do a couple of these four planning segments but not all.  Or perhaps the doctor will do it alone but then not convey it to get everyone involved in it.  I want you to do all of the above with each category with every team member.

When you apply all four of these to your practice, you have no option but to win next year.  You’ll be in the best possible position for a positive and profitable start to 2022.

We are another week into the final month of the year.  There’s no time to waste.  Make this a priority now so you can continue your incredible momentum, staying future focused, and plan your record-breaking year.