As great physical therapists begin to picture their future, it often leads to owning their own physical therapy practice.
After coaching hundreds of PT owners who are starting up their clinic or looking to expand their practice, we’ve found that what is learned in PT school doesn’t often translate into business management. Basically, great clinicians don’t always equal great CEOs.
And while MEG serves as a solution for outsourced billing, credentialing and compliance, we’ve had to share this hard truth with owners: You can’t outsource leadership.
Luckily, leadership can be learned.
MEG Academy is filled with Physical Therapy programs and certifications to strengthen and transform owners into leaders who create top-performing practices and people. From personnel to operations to structure to environment, our virtual training modules give you the techniques and the coaching necessary to bring your practice into the top 10%.
But, alongside what you SHOULD do as a leader, there’s also what you should NOT do as a leader. For this, we look at a list created by Bedros Keuilian, a wildly successful entrepreneur in the fitness industry and founder of the Fit Body Boot Camp franchise. We’ve taken his seven traits and spun it to relate to physical therapists.
Also, it should be noted, we address the negatives first because most owners start with a few of these weak spots, but with the right training, they can right the ship!
The 7 Leadership Traits to Avoid as a Physical Therapy Owner
- Poor Communication – If you can’t share your vision or your feedback with the team, they may never know what type of practice you’re trying to create or what outcomes you hope to achieve. Poor communication leads to turnover, low morale and poor culture.
- Lack of Action and Follow-Through – Communication without action won’t get the job done. The leader is expected to lead – that means calling the shots, making decisions and expecting results. Leaders who fail to act will often fail entirely.
- Disconnection – By not engaging with your teams, partners, patients and community, you run the risk of eroding their respect and trust. To build a better culture and patient experience, stay close to your people and earn their confidence so that they will follow you.
- Weak Character or Integrity – Similar to disconnection, being untrustworthy due to weak character or integrity is a sure fire way to reduce any credibility you may have and make it impossible to like you. People follow people they like.
- A Negative Perception of Others – If you’re finding fault with everything and everyone, it doesn’t take long to find the common factor: you. Do the work on yourself first and become the disciplined leader that your practice needs and then create the positive scene you envision.
- Lack of Vision – If your idea of a private practice is the same as every other one you’ve worked at or been in, then you’re setting yourself up to fail. Successful owners find ways to differentiate themselves and their clinic – they are always seeking new ways to improve. Be proactive rather than reactive to your business.
- Poor Personal Discipline and Structure – We believe that structure is a key aspect of success. If your day and your role lacks structure and discipline, you are choosing what’s easy now only to find out what’s hard later. Put the hard work in now to untangle any chaos or disorganization and structure your priorities and operations so you can reap the benefits early.
Take the next step in leadership today!
We have a variety of training programs available, but consider the CEO & Executive Training Program as a good launch into the life you’ve always dreamed as a PT owner.
You can take advantage of our new pricing and packages by speaking with our team today.
