Business Coaching for Healthcare Professionals
Business Coaching for Healthcare Professionals
Unleashing your Potential and Achieving Growth
Business Coaching for Healthcare Professionals
By Eric Kaplan, DC, FIAMA
Once upon a time, most people became successful doctors by developing expertise in a technical, functional, or professional domain. Doing your job well meant having the right answers. If you could prove yourself that way, you’d rise up the ladder and eventually move your practice to the next level. It sounds simple, but it’s not.
Hopefully, you will learn from this article the answers to the following two questions:
Do I need a coach?
What does a good coach provide?
I love The American Chiropractor magazine. Over the years, I’ve seen many advertisements for coaches, but there’s never been an article about what the coach does and provides and what you should look for in a coach. The chiropractic profession has always been filled with coaches, but what does it take to succeed in practice?
The answer is very simple:
Get new patients.
Get new patients to follow your program.
Get new patients to pay.
One of the first things we teach at our Boot Camp is the three Cs:
The capture
The conversion
The close
We believe a good coach in today’s world is no longer philosophy-based but science-based. We want to teach our doctors to be the best at nonsurgical spinal decompression (NSDD) and chiropractic. We want our doctors to be better doctors, not salespeople. We want our doctors to specialize in the treatment of a subluxation, bulge, herniated disc, and neuropathy. In essence, we want doctors to study; a good coach should make the doctor a better doctor, not a salesperson. We want to discuss why some coaches and doctors succeed and why others fail. We believe the answer is simple — one size does not fit all.
As a doctor and entrepreneur, you must know what is needed to get done, or do you? Command and discipline are the name of the game, and your goal is to direct and heal patients who understand how your practice works to aid them in getting well. This is not magic; it’s commitment to your practice and patients. This leads to referrals and is how you reproduce success.
The world is changing. Chiropractic was once an insurance-driven model, but as insurance payments decreased, so did many practices while others thrived. A good coach understands constant, rapid, and disruptive change is now the norm, and what succeeded in the past is no longer a guide to what will succeed in the future. Apple phones are now on version 14, but many doctors are still on Chiropractic 1? Times change, and good coaches will not just recycle the past but bring their doctors into the future.
This may seem hard for today’s chiropractor to understand. I came to Florida with literally $500, which I got by overdrafting my checking account. I needed a job. I went to offices daily, but no one wanted to hire me. I had two choices : go home with my tail between my legs and live with my brother, or open my own practice. So I went to the bank and convinced them to loan me $12,500, which my brother had to cosign. Then the adventure began.
Finding an office was the easiest step, but growing it was not as simple. I soon found an office and got them to give me three months of free rent. Then I had to buy equipment and get patients. There was no Facebook, Google AdWords, SEO, or YouTube. I didn’t have the expertise or the money to do television commercials. So what did I do?
Day after day, night after night, I went out and met the community. I handed out 20 to 50 business cards a day. I went from business to business, from gym to gym, from attorney to attorney. I never met anybody without handing out my card and offering my services. I went to every office, mall, and office building in North Palm Beach, Florida. Eventually, it led to dinner talks and screenings. You cannot be a good coach unless you understand what it is to be a player. I did two dinner talks a week and screenings every weekend.
I must also reiterate that I did this with no staff. I answered the phones. I put patients on the table. I gave them whatever therapy was needed. Then I went to the front desk to book their next appointment and collected money. When appropriate, I filled out the insurance forms. Nobody ever said it is easy. I usually worked until midnight every night doing paperwork until I could afford to hire my first employee.
I needed success in the same way that I needed air. I needed success to survive; failure was never a choice. Within six months, I was up to 100 patients a day, eventually averaging over 200 patients a day and opening six clinics before I went on to become the president chief operating officer of a public company that owned and operated Nutrisystem. I am telling you that the sky is not the limit; the sky is only as far as the eye can see. As Walt Disney said, “Your imagination creates your reality.” What do you want, and what price are you willing to pay? My father always said there are two ways to learn — by experience or someone else’s experience.
What Are a Coach’s Responsibilities?
The responsibilities of a coach typically shift depending on the needs of the practice or the individual. However, there are a few fundamental responsibilities that almost every coach is expected to follow.
To open communications with the individual so that they may speak freely and explore different possibilities. Dr. Bard and I are always available for telephone calls and emails.
To encourage new and innovative processes built around the individual’s strengths and weaknesses.
To listen to the individual and help find solutions to their problems.
To offer regular feedback and criticism when appropriate.
Coaches are responsible for helping plan, organize, and deliver an appropriate range of marketing activities and programs for individual clinics.
Typical responsibilities include:
Teaching relevant skills, tactics, and techniques.
Mentoring and enhancing performance by providing education, encouragement, and constructive feedback.
Identifying strengths and weaknesses.
Advising about health and lifestyle issues.
Developing training programs.
Undertaking administrative tasks.
Assisting with practice promotion/development.
What Is a Coach’s Role?
Broadly speaking, a coach is defined as a person involved in the direction, instruction, or training of a team or individuals. Here are a couple of hallmarks of a coach:
We work to offer customized learning experiences tailored toward the needs of the individual they’re working with. This is what Dr. Bard and I try to do, realizing that no two clinics are the same. It is not in your best interest to follow another doctor’s model because that model might not be right for you. It is important to figure out what works for you. It is not recommended to ask another doctor for advice. You must remember that a doctor is also a client, so if you want actual advice from the sauce, go to the sauce. Dr. Bard and I are always available for you.
We often work one-on-one or in small groups like Boot Camp as opposed to teaching a large group of people in a seminar.
We usually work side by side with individuals to offer practical advice on the day-to-day practice problems.
We are considered guides to rise from one level of competency to another, instead of offering instruction or teaching.
The role of a coach is often confused with that of a teacher or mentor. It’s important to distinguish the three so that it’s clear how coaching can be used in a workplace.
Teaching is used to educate an individual on key concepts and points of a successful practice. This instruction is usually conducted in a small environment like Boot Camp, and doctors must visualize key concepts and learn from provided examples.
Mentoring often involves guidance as opposed to education. It typically involves emotional support to assist individuals in finding their place in an industry or workplace. It is not as focused on practical skills.
Coaching occurs in the real world within the workplace. Everything taught has practical applications, and it’s usually carried out on the job, meaning doctors learn as they work. The coach’s role is to facilitate learning, offer advice, and analyze the individual to identify weaknesses and strengths. This is not always an easy job because people do not like criticism, but there are no trophies for losing in life. Dr. Bard and I have collectively coached over 500 clinics, and we both agree that no two are the same, but we know that there were some unique qualities that each doctor must maintain to develop the practice of their dreams.
The best business coaches combine real-world business experience with coaching skills, like active listening and the ability to ask powerful questions. A business coach can be a catalyst for creating and achieving action plans. They can also help with dedication, drive, accountability, real results, and business success.
What Is Business Coaching?
Business coaching is a process in which a professional coach guides a businessperson in the pursuit of their work goals. A business coach might help their client build leadership skills, create business strategies, or improve their mindset. It all depends on what the person hiring the coach wants out of the relationship. Most importantly, business coaching is about growth.
What Does a Business Coach Do?
Working with a coach can be similar to taking on a business partner or building a trusting relationship. So that you can fully understand what working with a business coach might entail, let’s answer the question: What exactly does a business coach do?
1. Charts a path for your professional growth.
A good business coach helps clients uncover the gap between where they are today and where they want to be. With the help of their coach, the entrepreneur or corporate leader can also create a solid, strategic business plan that drives company growth. Sometimes having an outsider’s perspective is just what a leader needs to unlock new personal and company potential. There is a reason that we coach some of the largest practices about decompression, neuropathy, and knees in the United States.
2. Helps you discover and clarify your core values and vision.
New doctors often struggle with defining their values and mapping them against a clear vision for their practice. An experienced business coach can help walk a doctor through the process of aligning personal and practice values. From there, the client can develop the strong vision, executive presence, and rock-solid confidence needed to lead their team to success.
3. Provides customized coaching and expertise.
Business coaches solve that problem in three ways. First, great leadership coaches have high levels of expertise in specific industries and disciplines.
Second, they often have real-world experience as an entrepreneur and business leader. Both Dr. Bard’s resume and mine speak louder than words; we know that we are probably the most experienced in the coaching industry, and we love sharing it with our clients in over 43 states.
Third, coaches can combine these important elements with coaching certifications. Our doctors are the most certified. We want you to be a better doctor, not a salesperson.
As a result, we offer tailored advice and actionable plans. All this customization acts as an accelerant for the business owner and their staff. It ultimately results in exponential personal and practice growth.
4. Allows a safe space for vulnerability and growth.
The relationship between a doctor and coach is a safe and sacred space. Once trust is built, coaching doctors can feel free to share their deepest doubts without fear of ridicule or humiliation.
With the support of a practice coach, the unfettered doctor can explore novel ideas for growth or try on ways to become a better leader. Not only does this build a leader’s confidence, but it also can directly impact rates of growth, practice culture, and company vision.
5. Acts as an accountability partner and motivator.
A business coach can give corporate executives and business owners a high level of accountability. With more accountability, clients and teams are more likely to act on big ideas and what scares them. Coaches can be trusted confidantes for facilitating corporate growth and personal development.
Dr. Eric Kaplan and Dr. Perry Bard, are business partners of over 32 years. They have developed Disc Centers of America & Concierge Coaches, now in the eleventh year, as well as the first and largest National Certification Program for
Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression. Currently, they have over 150 clinics using their Disc Centers of America brand and lead ongoing success training events throughout the year. For more information on coaching, spinal decompression, or seminars, visit www.thechiroevent.com or www.decompressioncertified.org, or call the Chiropractic Q&A Hotline at 888-990-9660.
Dr. Jason Kaplan is a graduate of Parker University. Along with his wife Dr. Stephanie Kaplan, they practice in Wellington Florida. Jason is an Instructor for Disc Centers of America, one of the Nation’s largest collection of doctors specializing in Disc Injuries. He has been recognized and honored by the International Disc Education Association and serves on the Medical Advisory Board for Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression. He teaches technique at the National Certification Program at Life University and is considered a Master on Non Surgical Spinal Decompression. www.wellingtondisccenter.com.
