Oh no. Okay, that's what happens when we try to speed up the schedule. We need another chair. Yeah, we need the other chairs. Don't be nervous, it's a nice, friendly room, so. We're literally, we're shooting. All right, do we have everybody? Looks like we got, all right, we're gonna roll. Okay, welcome back to our next panel. I think these are really awesome. Wasn't that last panel fabulous, guys? So, that's what I was thinking. Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? There's one, it's the speaker thing back. Use the other one. I know you can hear me on this one. This one's loud. Yeah. Okay. So, welcome back to our next panel. We're going to talk about leadership and career growth. So, in today's world, effective leadership requires a unique set of skills. I think we can all agree to that. Our discussion will focus on the key skills needed for successful leadership, such as strategic decision making, fostering innovation, and achieving results. We'll also talk about the challenges faced by female leaders. So, today, I'm excited to hear from these four incredible ladies. We've got Samantha Julius, Director of Finance and Business Development at Vero Orthopedics. Nicole Mayo, Practice Administrator at Panhandle Orthopedics. Lindsey Sullivan, Senior Business Development Manager at Bone & Joint Institute of Tennessee. And Shannon Young, Director of Business Services at Blue Grass Orthopedics. Let's give them a warm welcome. All right. This is easy. We're all in a room of friends, but it's also a safe zone. So, feel free to just be very open and honest. What unique challenges have you encountered as a female leader in the orthopedic setting? I got the mic. I guess I'll start. We'll start with you. I think a lot of it, and Rochelle kind of cued in on it a little bit before, but we are in a male-dominated field, especially with our providers. Now, our support staff may be predominantly female in our offices, but in a leadership position, it kind of becomes a little bit of a smaller world. So, I think that for me, personally, it's been the imposter syndrome. I've worked my way up from an ATC on the sidelines all the way into an executive position over the last 17 years. And now where I am, I often, when I'm at the boardroom table, I have the thoughts of, do I belong here? Do I know enough? Yes, I have all the tribal knowledge from the last 17 years, but do I know enough to make the decisions to keep my practice going in the right direction and the strategic mind and whatnot? So, I mean, it's a struggle for me, and then I kind of hit myself, and I'm like, yes, you wouldn't be here if you didn't deserve to be here. And it's kind of the confidence, but it's an internal struggle all the time to be, again, do I belong here, and what have I done to get here? But, again, you just kind of keep pushing through because, yes. For me, I think it is kind of finding my way, but I entered into an organization that was very dictatorship-style leadership for years and years and years. You know, I think orthopedics has always been men. And so I came in to this particular practice and had to fight my way through, you know, and be bold and be courageous enough to be a change maker and stand up in a really toxic environment. And in doing so, I went through a lot of personal struggles, you know, imposter syndrome, wondering if, you know, I was even worthy of being where I was. And then also really trying to blend in and then realizing that's not even who you are. You are not this kind of leader. And having to be bold enough to look the surgeon in the eye and say, we're changing the way that we lead this place and move to a more heart-centered style leadership and just change the culture. And that was very scary because I think we all obviously work for surgeons. When you stand up, I think in that type of environment and stand for something that you believe in, you risk being told no or being told to get out. And I think being willing to just do that was probably the hardest thing I've ever done, but it created the most growth for me and just really created a high level of trust and respect for the team that I now get to lead and work with. For me, I'm kind of going through this right now. We went from a table of directors that were two male and five female. And so as we've had people leave, now I am the only female at the table. And I'm like, okay, we gotta stop. We need to get some more females in here because it is going back to a man's world. And it's frustrating. And that's part of a new boss that I have. It's the direction he wants to go and it's the direction that it's going. And it's a scary world, you know, because if I say something to the doc and my coworker that's a male says the same thing, they're gonna listen to them over me. And so that's something we've always fought, but we worked through it because I had other females to work through it with me. And so now I'm in a different place. So can you elaborate on that a little bit? What are you doing differently right now to kind of combat that? I am trying not to commit political suicide. Basically. I am being very cautious about what I say and when I say it and make sure it's appropriate. And I write the email and I go back and read the email. I know who I am in the organization and I know my work ethic and I have proven myself. And I went to a conference a couple of years ago. Alyssa was there as well. And I always try to bring back something to my docs so they know what I learned when I was gone. And so for this one conference in particular, my doc asked me, well, what'd you bring back? And I had nothing, had nothing at all. And I said, well, I won't be going there anymore because I literally don't have anything to bring back. Except I did have this one word that this guy, he was the ending speaker. And he said, I'm gonna talk to you about a word called we be. Anybody know what that means? Of course, none of us did. And he said, it means we be here before you came and we be here when you leave. And so for the past year and a half, I have stuck on that word. That word has literally carried me through the days that I was ready to just throw in the towel. And because I'm gonna be here. I mean, this, I love my job, I love my providers and I'm gonna fight my way through and try to get some more females. Wonderful. What other approaches have the rest of you? in overcoming, you know, in overcoming the challenges. Yeah, I was going to say being vulnerable enough to see my weaknesses so that you can turn them into strength. One thing that was huge for me was just finding mentorship, finding coaching, somebody that I think aligned with my style, my beliefs, but was willing to still challenge me, show me something new, teach me something new, and just help me to take off the blinders and just shift my perspective some. Because I think we can get very inundated in where we exist, and we cannot see the trees from the forest. And I think, too, for me, I internalize and overanalyze everything. So I'm one that will write the email. And sometimes it's good to go back, like sit on it for a little bit and go back and kind of take the emotion out. But the surgeons don't do that. They speak their mind. The guys don't do that. We do. So I think having the confidence to know that my voice matters and not to overanalyze it and worry about, OK, I need to word it this way so Dr. So-and-so doesn't think this. But then I have to do it this way. And then I have to add it out. And do I add an exclamation mark at the end? Does that make it happy? Like kind of the tone. It's a struggle. And we all know about it. So I think just, again, having the confidence to speak your mind and speak how you want to speak, and then have that respect. So what key elements have contributed to your personal growth as a leader? I'll take this one too. I think being flexible as well and kind of rolling with the punches. And I know that sounds harsh, but kind of roll with it, but not to give up. I actually, while scrolling Instagram in my hotel room last night, I found a quote. And it says, as I look back on my life, I realize that every time I thought I was being rejected from something good, I was actually being redirected to something better. And I was like, whoa, hey, the lights. Hey, this is what we're talking about tomorrow. So I think having also the mindset that if a door closes, there's a window right there. And not kind of having this pre-directed path, like I have to do this. It's figuring out, what do I do with the circumstances that I have, and how do I overcome? One of the things I learned a long time ago now is, and if you don't see that window, make one. Make a window, because there's supposed to be one there. So, my mentor said to me one day, she said, why don't you stop hiding in the hustle? And I was like, and I've lived by that for the last couple of years, and that was the biggest thing I think that you said a key element to my growth, is I stopped hiding in the hustle. I also redefined what success was for me, because I spent most of my adulthood defining my success by what I did, not who I was. So, I think just really trying to create a work-life balance, where I was more than my job. And then take what I could contribute to the organization, to the company, and just, I guess, put them together, you know, and really be able to shine inside and outside of work. And a lot of that came from putting boundaries up at work and saying, no, like somebody said yesterday, like I'm not going to answer my phone at 6 o'clock. No, your complaining session is not an important 7 a.m., you know, phone call. It really required me to put myself first. Was there a specific event that caused you to finally have that realization, or was it just the... Yeah. So, I was already experiencing burnout to some degree, and my dad got killed. And I had to basically just walk away from that space for a minute. And I had to be brave enough to say that, like, you can't... Even though he didn't call me, but I had to be brave enough... I'm sorry, you guys, I'm not trying to cry here. I had to be... Let me be vulnerable. I had to be brave enough to be like, my dad died, I didn't know this was happening, and your organization doesn't mean a shit to me right now. And it redefined how I showed up. It redefined who I was as a woman, who I was as a leader, and it redefined why I do what I do every day. Because when I did get to a place where I could understand the grief, it made me realize that my dad lived his life in, like, joy and beauty every day, and I just had to go and do the same thing. And so, it just made me show up differently. Thank you for sharing and being so vulnerable. I think one thing for me was learning that I am enough. My mentor said to me, quit questioning yourself. Every time you question yourself, you're going to make a mistake. Know who you are, know what you can do, and don't question yourself. Know that you're enough. And somebody had said to me one time about, you know, if I die today, my family is going to cry for years. If I die today, BGO is going to go right on tomorrow. So, you know, it really made me step back and think, you know, I don't need to work 15 hours a day. It's going to be there, I promise, when I get back tomorrow. But just realizing I am enough and I give 100% all day long, every day, and that's all I can do. How have the stories and experiences of other leaders inspired you? You are giving this, your time today, inspiring the people sitting in this audience, but how have you been inspired yourself? Networking, like everybody said up here at the last session, you know, is very encouraging and inspiring. But I think just really seeing a story, I'm an empathizer, so on my way here yesterday, I drove, and I'll never drive here again, I was like, are you sure that you should do this? Are you capable? Do you know what you're talking about? Like, will it resonate? Like, all these things, and I got here, and I sat in this room, and everybody who stood up here yesterday was talking about the same things that I was going to talk about. And I was like, oh, wait a minute. I am going to be able to do this. And so, again, whether it was Rochelle or Liv or anybody else, like even though I only heard you, well, not you, but you for the first time yesterday, like I already was inspired. You gave me safety. You gave me something that made me realize, like, you can do this, you know. So, I think just being able to realize that you're capable of it and get outside of your box and just do something insanely crazy. My coach tells me all the time, if there's a little bit more excitement than nervousness, you are doing the right thing. Yeah, and for me, I think it was kind of coming to the conferences and being able to see the women in leadership and the confidence that they hold and the power that they just kind of instill in you even when they're up there speaking. And then also just kind of the grace and kindness that they show. And I'll kind of third that I mean, that's what we were like just the networking that everyone's talking about being part of a committee Samantha's the chair of one of the committees I'm on and so it's it's great to connect Virtually, but it's also great to connect in in person And so just being involved whether it's again at the national level whether it's at the the local level state level and there's different types of organizations like the Not only the AOEs but the MGM a's and all the kind of subsidiaries of those so get getting involved with like-minded women and just Believing in each other and kind of as we as we leave here this afternoon Just kind of having the fire that I feel in this room just kind of exuding that out in our practices is so important Again, I'll go back to the conferences It feels good when you come and you ask somebody a question if something that you've been battling and battle and battle trying to figure How to do it and they can answer your question and then somebody that you look at as well I wish I had it together like them But they ask you a question and you're able to answer that answer their question and help them through something that they went through It makes you realize we're definitely not alone You're a little smarter than what you thought you were because you conquered something So I think the conferences and the networking have been amazing for me Awesome. How do you create a compelling vision for your team and organization? I Think for my team one of the things that I Say all the time with my team is we're all on the same boat if one of us sink whether it's a clinical person or you know a front-desk person, then we're all gonna sink and I try to build a family atmosphere So if you work for me, and it doesn't bother you that you have to write off $1,400 for dr O'neill, then you don't need to work for me because that's money You're taking out of his pocket and that's how I want everybody to look at it when you want a bonus If you just wrote off $1,400 you're taking bonus from everybody So I just you know to try to make it the front desk people think the doctors are God Well, no, they're they're working and trying to make money just like you and one of my doctors one day And and I hadn't really thought about it, but he was like Some of my managers make more than me Holy crap they do and so I can't say that to my staff specifically But I want them to understand that the doctors work just as hard as we do Because they want to provide for their families and yeah, they make more money they made a better or a different decision I guess I won't say better to go to school longer and become a physician and they do deserve to make more money Now do they deserve to treat us? Differently no, so we say the same thing to the docs. You know you need to stop by the front desk It makes a big difference But yeah, just trying to get them to understand that while the doctor makes more money than they do They still have to buy food and pay their electric bill and and all the same stuff I Think for for us for our leadership team and and we have a great leadership team in place now from the top and all level of all levels of leadership and One thing that we've all made an agreement to as if you're newer to the leadership team, or if you've been there for a while What happens behind those closed doors is? State it stays there and that's number one But number two when you walk out of that boardroom everyone is rowing in the right direction the same direction It's not well I didn't agree with them and going off in the Like talking behind a wall or we actually kind of talked about that at dinner last night And just how we all have to we all have to row in the same direction and steer the ship because if you start to Go here and go there. You're gonna get holes in your ship and you're gonna sink and To look into the future and be able to have the strategy and to know what that plan is over the next three six nine months But also looking in the today, it's it's just kind of having having that team approach But again, once it once you leave that boardroom Everyone's on the same page Regardless, you're you're a team you make a decision as a team And I think it's also giving them the safe space and empowering empowering them to be able For me, I try to tie my why to the organization's mission, because then I feel like I'm making it personal for me. And so then I ask that my staff do the same, like, why do you work here? Why do you do what you do? And get them to align with the mission a little bit as well. Because I think that when you can tie something personal to anything, you get a different level of commitment. You get a different level of them showing up. And I think that they are bought in, right? There's some form of investment for them where they now see their place in this organization. They're more than just the front desk. They're more than just an MA. They're more than just the rad tech. They are a part of why this company is succeeding. And I have been able to just create incredible, I say I, I don't mean it like that, but I have been able to create and foster incredible results by sometimes you do have to force them. But they will most of the time end up thanking you later because they do feel like they belong. And they're not just, as my surgeon says, sometimes a peon. So following on that, what strategies, or do you have something else? I just wanted to add one thing that we start on our orientation day, I mean, we do a hospital orientation and then the next day we do our, we call it around the world tour. But one thing that I touch upon when we see the new hires and they, I mean, we're about 250 strong, so not a huge organization, but not small either, is that we are a 250 piece puzzle and there are 250 individual pieces and no two are the same. And I can't do my job without all of the other pieces. All of the other pieces can't do their job without me. And it's not just me. It's kind of the, the employees and the team members. So from day one, we're showing them that they matter. And having that, having that buy-in is, again, there's 250 pieces. And if you don't have one, then you have an incomplete puzzle. I love that. I hope we're capturing some of these nuggets that can be, like, used later, sound bites that are fabulous. So with all of that, what strategies do you use to effectively communicate and rally the support of your teams? Because obviously talking to them is great, but what other tools have you found that really work? Meetings? I know we've talked about a couple of different things already today. So we have a really robust onboarding process. So not only, like I said, the hospital orientation, our orientation. So everyone kind of, every new team member touches another, every other department within. And a lot of times it's just meeting with the director or manager, but you get to kind of see what everyone else does and how everyone is intertwined. But also we keep employees engaged. We do have an employee engagement and activities committee. And I mean, sometimes that's, hey, it's National Queso Day, which was, like, last month. We put together a pretty good spread. But it's... Food always works. Food always works. And we'll always get engagement. But we've also started quarterly, we call it BJIT Bashes, or Bone and Joint Institute of Tennessee. So BJIT is our kind of, I guess, acronym there. And so BJIT Bashes. And it doesn't have to be anything crazy expensive. Now, sometimes the doctors have said, yes, let's do something, and they've all pitched in and we've gone to a minor league baseball game. But other times when we don't necessarily have funding, we have had a chili cookoff in our parking lot. And the leadership team made a pot of chili a piece. And I think the clinic bought tortilla chips, bowls, and spoons. But we were able to have everyone in the parking lot, or whether it's in the building, kind of depending on the weather. We've gone to a local winery. And although we can't buy the alcohol, we can provide, like, the charcuterie boards and whatnot. So it doesn't have to be crazy expensive. I mean, a few hundred bucks here or there. But it brings the team together outside of work hours. And that has really... That's been great, because we're over six locations. So the satellites don't always get kind of at the main clinic, and they feel left out. And that's a way to kind of bring everyone in. Now, does everyone participate? And then they still complain, like, you don't include us. We tried. We tried our best. But that's really been a way that we've noticed buy-in, and you get to see people outside of their scrubs and outside of, like, the physicians with their coats and everything. So you get to kind of personalize it a little bit more. So, meetings, I hold a meeting every six months, and we talk about different skills, communication, time management, you know, different things like that, but it really allows them to express the most impactful one was actually a couple weeks ago, and a lot of people learned a lot about each other, because everybody works differently, and so it was very educational for each of them to understand, like, oh, you work so differently than me, your time management is different than me, that's huge, again, I also think, like, the outside of work stuff, but one thing that I did recently, so the surgeon that I work with, he is in, like, his last eight-ish years, and for the last 20 years, he's had three locations as a solo practitioner amongst a 300-mile radius, and every week, he hit all three locations in a surgery day. He decided he was ready to slow down, thank God, and so we spent a year prepping to close two of our three locations, and when we decided to do it, I went to the staff, and I said, this is what's happening, this is why, and I let them know from the very beginning, and made them all, made them, asked them all to be a part of the change, asked them to give me, you know, help me figure out how do we take three locations and make it one, you know? I retained every single employee out of the three locations except for one, because I literally just couldn't. I sent people remotely, but just being completely transparent and honest about, like, where the practice is going, why it was doing what it's doing, and making them a part of the solution, I mean, honestly, they told me more what to do in this transition than I think I knew what to do, and it just created an insane amount of investment, I mean, and sometimes, like, who, I don't know who said it on the panel here earlier, it was like, you should be able to leave and this place still runs. I'm so thankful for that, because I can leave and the place still runs, and there's sometimes I'm like, oh, man, do they even need me? You know, but they're so bought in, and I just chose, I don't share, like, intense details of our financials, but they understand, you know, the good and the bad, the success of the practice and where we're struggling, and it just helps them to understand why we're making the decisions that we're making, because when people understand why, there's so much more collaboration that can happen. I think we're kind of struggling with this right now. We, as I said, over the past probably year and a half, we've gone through a lot of turnover, and so we're working with a whole new group of people trying to get everybody to feel included, and, you know, we do the employee engagement type things, but one of the things we just recently did is, you know, I have a whole group of people that work at home, and so the management team, we did an anonymous survey. It was truly anonymous. If I would've known it truly would've been anonymous, I probably would've been a little more honest, but it was truly anonymous, and we brought that information back to the doctors in the partner meeting. Well, two of the people had left, so I was the only manager left in there that when the doctors were saying, well, why would they say that, finally I just had to speak up, and when I tell you that I, like, I couldn't get the words out. I was so nervous, my, I just, I don't know, I couldn't get it out. My voice would not speak, and so I was trying really hard. It was a whisper, but I, you know, I just told them, and so they said, okay, let's get the at-home people. Let's bring them into a partner meeting, and so this past partner meeting, we brought, we set a record this month or last month on collections, so we brought it. We started with the billing team, and we brought them in. We spent 10 minutes. Each team member was on Zoom and was able to introduce their self. The docs told them, thank you, you've done a great job. We appreciate you, and that went a long way, but now it's just trying to figure out how to do it for the other 300 employees, because that's all they want. They want interaction with the doctor. They don't care about me or the CEO or the COO. They want the doctors to engage with them, and so that's, we're just still trying to figure that part out for us. What essential skills are needed for leading in today's connected, virtual, agile, very socially conscious environment? What was the second one yesterday, the go-getter and the empathetic one? That's who I am, and I think that's what we need. One of my supervisors that works for me, she's a go-getter, and she has no time for people with kids or being sick or any of the things. You just need to be at work. It doesn't matter. You need to be at work. Then you have me, who's saying, but wait, they have a child. The kids, they're on up everywhere. I think you have to be able to roll with the punches. You have to figure out how to manage all the different people and meet them where they are and pull out what you can, because everybody has something they can give. You just got to figure out how to get it from them, so it's time, patience, and empathy. I'll second that, and just know that your employees are people first. I'm not defined by my role. Now, is it a big part of me? Absolutely. Absolutely. But I'm a mom, and I'm a wife, and I'm a sister, and a friend. Bringing that in and having that as part of your mission, your vision, and your values of your organization. Part of ours are treat your patients and your staff as family, and that has really been emulated now. Have there been times within the 43 years that we've been in existence that we've probably veered from that? Absolutely. But I think recently, and over the last six years, we're under a new hospital affiliation, and so that was really a great time to hit the reset button. As an organization, as successful as we are, we've dealt with a death of a surgeon. We've dealt with, we've had active staff pass away, but we've also celebrated, and we've had weddings, and we've had babies, and we've had people get promoted within the organization, and although that's part of work, it's still part of their life. To really celebrate that, and just have those little meaningful moments. as an individual and not trying to apply any sort of Well, I agree with all of you. I think, too, it's being able to be resilient, because I feel like right now nothing stays the same for very long. And people struggle with change. And the industry is changing so much, and some may call it innovative and some may call it not. But the reality of it is is that it's changing. And if you can't be resilient and be able to adapt to it, how are you going to expect that your staff is going to do that? You know what I mean? So I think it's so important for us to be that example. But then, again, like you said, I think we have to then consider I'm an empathizer, too. Like, there is so much change. Things aren't the same. What you decide now might not be the same in two years. How is this affecting people? Because people get comfortable in their roles. They get comfortable in the way that they show up. And when we ask them to do and be something different, we have to be willing to listen to them, understand, and then try to make decisions with unfortunately some people will say I don't. There are feelings involved. Because if someone doesn't feel like they're considered, you will not get their best out of them. So how do you balance, though, the strategy side of the business for yourself, that innovation, and then achieving outstanding results, how do you balance all of that with everything that you guys just spoke about? You know, all of the challenges of working with staff that are, you know, with things that are constantly changing, especially in this post-COVID environment that we're all in. I think having the right people in the right seats. Because as we talked yesterday, we're all there's the four different kind of types of people. And I'm a go getter. But I've got empathizers here. And what are you? I'm an outliner. Outliner. Okay. So we've got three of the four up here. But I think we all bring something different to the table as leaders. And having the empathizers but also having the go getters and making sure that you have the right people in the right seats slash positions, because we all bring something different to the table, I think that is so important to meet all the needs of your organization. I think it's I don't remember which one said it, but when you go into the boardroom as a group of directors, as a team, realizing we are all on the same team. And if the clinical team succeeds, then my team has succeeded. If the billing team succeeds, the front desk succeeded. Everybody has a part in making that happen. So it's like when we set the record and the docs were applied in the RCM team, I was like, wait a minute. Remember, it's the front desk and the pre-starters and all the people had a part in this. And so just if your directors are all on the same team and have the same vision, it goes so much more smoothly. some good insight to be able to say, okay, well, that's how that. Yeah, I think it's just communication. And then, again, I think just allowing your team to learn one another and understand how you work, because we all work very differently. And I think that, just by default, creates balance. We've talked about mentorship quite a bit throughout the last two days. In the context of female leadership in an orthopedic practice, how do you approach mentorship? And what strategies do you use to cultivate leadership within your team? I think that somebody said in the last panel or somebody asked like how do you promote education? Yeah, I actually don't I mean obviously like there's basic education But I'm not gonna ask you to be better if you don't have a desire to be better. So I pay attention To the people that are stepping up I pay attention to the characteristics, you know the person that like Andrea said yesterday like Pick up the piece of trash when nobody's looking that doesn't leave the mask lying around, you know That is willing to step up and you know, the janitor's out. I'll go clean the bathroom you know, I pay attention to the people who are willing to do the most Unwilling tasks because those are the people that are gonna go above and beyond. I Know that that sounds kind of harsh like I don't promote education Obviously, I want everybody to better themselves, but I'm not here to make you be better I am here to if you want to be better Never want to lead by example, maybe I will inspire you to be better and one day you will be like, hey I want to learn. Hey, I want to grow but I'm looking for the people that are already ready because some people aren't ready Some people aren't willing some people are happy where they are So to me, it's not about who has the degree who has more experience It for me is who you are as a person and your characteristics because you can teach anyone a skill You cannot teach somebody how to be a big a leader Honestly, like I think leaders are born It is just something that is inside of you and you help draw that out of people I don't think you need to have a true like on paper mentor I think that there's ways that even within a leadership team You can be a mentor whether you're an upper-level leader like mid-level or just kind of starting out I think that there are skills that we all bring to the table that we can all mentor and skills that I have that my CEO May need mentored on and but also I take a lot from him So it's kind of and it's a two-way street. We can all learn from each other and I think I think a lot of times Mentorship is meant to be this like, oh my goodness I don't I don't have a mentor like who do what who do I call but I've got my army and I've got my board of directors That I could call one of my best friends Who's an insurance agent if I'm dealing with something at work and she knows nothing about orthopedics nothing And I don't know anything about insurance. So we're good. But it's you can say hey, how would you handle this or hey? How can I do this? So I think that just kind of keeping the open mind about What mentorship is and what it can be? Is is important to remember. I Love mentoring there's nothing better to me than watching somebody that Like I have a certain person in mind that she she was a single mom struggled her whole life I've known her for many many years And she was a manager at Liquor Barn And she was not getting to see her kid I mean working all these hours and so I hired her as a front desk person When I tell you that girl can kill it. I mean right now she she's moved on She's doing billing for physical therapy and right now for me She is working two days a week at the front desk and then working Saturdays and Sundays to do her charges I mean she just has absolutely killed it and there's nothing better than that To watch him go from you know, just fighting like she didn't have a car She lived in a very bad area of town now her and her son are in an apartment She's got a car and she was like, you know, I can put snacks up for him. So That's that's just so encouraging. So when I'm looking at for front desk people I'm at the restaurant giving out my card. I Am you know the daycare giving out my card? Yes, ma'am Just if you have customer service we can teach you the rest of it and like she said if you're a leader Most the time you just know like they can be at my front desk for one week and I can know Okay, that one's gonna be huge. The problem with that is then I always have turnover at the front desk All right, we have a few minutes to take some questions because I'm sure there are some out there with everything we've talked about so far This might be off topic by a little bit, but I do have a question. How of larger practices, we're a practice of 28 providers right now and 560 some employees. How often are you getting your staff together for staff meetings? Because my docs don't want to close clinic and I am constantly up the uphill battle of having people come in for a 7 a.m. meeting or stay late and nobody wants to do that because everybody does have a life outside of work and I want to respect that as well, but how often are you guys getting your teams together for staff meetings? So we do twice a year. We do what's called interdepartmental meetings. So we close clinic from like 11 o'clock last patient and we start back up at 115. And that's where each department, so clinical, nonclinical, radiology and rehab are our kind of four big departments. So they meet. Then twice a year we have an all staff meeting. So everyone that's on our main campus and then our other five locations can either come because clinics are closed or they can Zoom in. And then front desk and call center meets, what, Hannah wants a quarter? And then what do you do for clinical? Yeah, so many, many huddles that will get kind of the clinical team together. But as an organization, twice a year. And then those departmental meetings. had to block a couple of patients off to make sure that they were done in time to be able to participate, but never did we block clinic out and have a full staff meeting. And I will add, on those meetings where we closed clinics, it wasn't the same day every time. So it didn't hit this, it didn't affect, hopefully, the same physician's clinic. They may be in surgery. We typically would do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and that would space it out. So really only twice a year, hopefully, we would be blocking their actual clinic, the other two days they're in the OR. Well I'm a single physician, so it's always been a smaller practice, even though we, but when we had three locations, we staffed, because again, he needed a lot of help. You know, like, no, I'm almost embarrassed to say 31 people for one doctor, but anyways. So I know it's extra, but I, he did, I, we did a, I did a staff meeting every six weeks, which is what I still do, and he just didn't get a choice. Like I closed them. Like I'm sorry. Like it literally is the lifeline of the practice. So, it's easier for me and my team than it is for the clinic, but I ask my supervisors to meet with their team monthly, even if it's just for 30 minutes, just to get a feel for what's going on. I will normally, if we've got a lot of changes going on, I try to jump on those calls for 10 minutes or so, just if somebody has something they want to ask me. We did do a town hall last year. It was the first one since I've been here, and the staff didn't do anything but complain about it for the next three months. They felt like it was dumb, nobody, you know, they got to ask questions, and the questions were supposed to be answered. Well, a lot of the questions were questions you couldn't answer in front of 300 staff members, and so they felt like their questions didn't get answered. It was a waste of time. They took time from their family, so I just, I don't know how you could do it. They do try to do huddles. The clinic team, they try to do huddles, and my, our CEO wants us to meet with every staff member every month, and I just don't, there's no way. I just can't do it. I just don't do it. And then there's.

leadership

career growth

female leaders

orthopedics

imposter syndrome

networking

mentorship

team culture