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Quarterly / Annual Review for your medical practice or clinic

Do you remember the last "great idea" that you tried to implement in your clinic?

How did it turn out? Take a moment to think right now about the last "big improvement" that you thought about but never managed to implement.

What happened there? 

Well, if you're like most clinic owners, this "great idea" slowly suffocated. In-between patients, team motivation issues, technical, legal or other competing priorities in your medical practice and life outside of the clinic, your "great idea" then quietly took a bow and disappeared without anyone noticing, not even you.

If you've done the thought exercise that I mentioned above, you've probably remembered once again that "great idea" you wanted to implement a few months ago. Now you may have decided that it wasn't the right time anyway and that you'll do it sometime soon.

Perhaps this isn't your case; every "great idea" you have is put into place and gets tested and worked in the clinic immediately. However, in our day to day dealing with clinics owners and their teams all over the world - failure to implement good ideas and grow isn't as unusual as you might think.

We have found that the best practice of the "quarterly review" changes this problem forever for the clinics that we work with.

Instead of the "daily whirlwind" of dealing with patients, team & admin issues devouring all the time and energy your team desperately needs to focus on growing your clinic, the quarterly or annual review (when supported by the other 3 accountability cadences that we suggest implementing through the clinic boost method) makes sure that your "great ideas" get implemented fast.

In this chapter, we'll discuss why the most successful clinics have a morning/afternoon off for getting their whole team together every 3 months away from the clinic to reflect on the 3 months past and set goals for the next 3 months to come.

We'll also share with your the exact quarterly review & quarterly agenda taken from clinics of excellence so that you can implement the same in your medical or dental practice.

Ready? Let's dive in.

Why have a quarterly review in your clinic?

Without the quarterly review, you'll continue to stay in chaos with:

• Repeated Mistakes
• Undiscovered team growth
• Stalled growth of your clinic

"We're already too busy!" I hear you say, so why have a meeting that takes half a day!? Yes - why do most successful clinics have a scheduled practice of taking a morning/afternoon off for a meeting with the whole team every 12 weeks and at the and / beginning of the year?

Well, just like you do with your patients, this is a necessary time for a check-up of each system and person in your clinic to see if you are moving towards your ideal state.

It's also a time to set new targets & implement new best practices.

First, here's a summary of how we suggest you should do it, based on the best practices of the clinics that we have worked with, and then we'll break each part down for you in the paragraphs that follow:

The CBM Quarterly review

Who: everybody

Where: Away from the clinic

Duration: 2-3 hours

When: every 3 months

Preparation: Scoreboard, Printed 4 Questions of Accountability, Printed 4 Quarterly Questions

The CBM Quarterly agenda

Part 1

1. What worked?
2. What didn't?
3. What learned?
4. What different?

Part 2

• Setting your WIG (wildly important goal) for the next quarter
• Choosing best practices/systems to help you achieve that goal
• Setting up the Scoreboard
• Creating a Cadence of Accountability

A breakdown of the CBM Quarterly Review

Who: everybody

Why everyone? You may remember that we recommend doing 4 types of marketing (LINK) all the time:

1. reaching out to new patients
2. reaching existing patients
3. reaching to new team members
4. reaching your existing team members

A quarterly meeting is the best way to get your entire team reminded of your vision and the direction you want to go in. They leave the meeting excited and committed to bringing in results in the next 90 days.

Where: Away from the clinic

We strongly recommend holding your quarterly reviews away from the clinic, perhaps in a local restaurant/hotel/attraction, so it has an added incentive for the whole team.

There will always be distractions when you are in the clinic, and your team will not be in the right frame of mind to look at your clinic and processes from above.

Duration: 2-3 hours

A whole morning/afternoon away from the clinic is necessary to do this right. The first part focuses on reflecting and discussing if you achieved your goals in the previous quarter. We'll discuss our framework for that in the next section; however, it's hard and may stir up some feelings. That's why we recommend doing the 4QA (the 4 questions of accountability) section first, then taking a break for a team-building exercise. 

When: every 3 months

It's a fact that we see in clinics around the world and also in our own lives that we lose track and focus roughly every 90 days.

In a study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, Lally and her research team discovered that a habit is formed on average in 66 days. That's why we believe a review of the new best practices you put in place is essential to do every 90 days.

Preparation: Scoreboard, Printed Quarterly One-pager

Along with the Clinic Boost Scoreboard you use to track your clinic's growth and health, you'll need a quarterly one-pager (which you can download right here). Everyone should have a printed copy, so you are sure everyone understands in their own words what you are committing to as a team. Do not have someone taking notes for the whole team. Everyone's phone should be off, and you need their full attention.

A breakdown of the CBM Quarterly Agenda

Part 1

As with each one of our 4 cadences (daily, weekly, monthly), you should follow the same formula in the quarterly review:

1. Ask what worked?

We are purposely starting the meeting on time and with some positive reflection on the team's successes over the past 90 days. You can use the Clinic Boost Scoreboard data and any remarkable stories from your team and your patients.

It's also a great time to the winning team members' efforts and perhaps give out symbols or gifts of recognition.

2. Ask what didn't?

Now we are getting into the more touchy subject of looking at "what didn't work out". Just keep it to the facts, don't let anyone go into details of why you or anyone in the clinic didn't achieve their targets. Just be sure to state the facts as they are. You'll cover "target failures" in the next section.

Usually, there are just 2 reasons why best practices have not been implemented or improved. 

1. You set too many goals (best practice: the following quarterly goals need to be less, and perhaps smaller and more realistic)
2. Someone didn't do what they said they would (best practice: solve accountability problem, replace or coach)

3. Ask what did you learn?

This question is where you hand over the discussion to the responsible team members to talk about what they learned regardless of whether their target was or wasn't achieved. You need to listen very carefully so that you can close Part 1 of the quarterly review with what you'll do differently.

4. Ask what you will do differently?

You take control of the conversation back by asking your team members what they think could be done differently to get an even better result over the past 90 days. You'll then summarize what you learned from them and take responsibility for anything you should've done differently as a leader. Doing this will help build empathy and trust in you as a leader as you move into the next part of the meeting.

You can download a free copy of our 4QA (these 4 questions of accountability) here.

Optional Team-Building Break

This team-building portion could be as simple as having dinner together before the more exciting part comes, which will involve setting goals and targets for the next quarter.

Quarterly Annual Review Part 2

Unlike our weekly and monthly reviews, in a Quarterly/annual review, you will add the 4 disciplines of execution (based on the 4DX framework by the Franklin Covey company). This is so that you leave the session with: 

1. Intense clarity about your Wildly Important Goals (WIGs) for the next quarter.
2. The systems needed to implement/improve to help you reach your WIGs. 

Here's a summary of the 4DX method:

1. Set your WIG(s) (wildly important goal(s) for the next quarter

"Research has shown that only 3/10 clinic teams know their owners most important goals - either there are no goals, or they have too many goals."

There will always be more good ideas than you and your team can make happen. So the skill here is to focus on less to accomplish more.

You need to find the one WIG for the next quarter that, if you improve it, everything else improves too.

Find the number that raises ALL other numbers, that should be your WIG.

The one number that points the way to growth and helps you have increased clarity in every decision.

So start by selecting 1 wildly important goal, or WIG, instead of trying to work on a dozen goals all at once.

Rule 1: No team focuses on more than 1-2 WIGs at the same time.

Rule 2: The systems/tactics you choose to implement/improve must win the war (your data will show where you can achieve the most straightforward progress towards your WIG(s).

Rule 3: Leaders should veto but not dictate which WIG(s) / Systems to focus on.

Rule 4: All WIGs & system improvements must have a finish line in the form of "from X to Y by (date)"

WIG Example 1:

"I want to increase weekly booked high-value treatments by 35% before the 1st of April"

WIG Example 2:

"I want to increase weekly patient referrals by 20% by the 1st of April"

A word of warning, do not set goals just to set goals and have an excellent quarterly review with your clinic team. Also, don't set PIGs (probably important goals) as we all know things we should do but are not motivated enough to do them.

The WIG should be a joint commitment of the whole team that's intensely motivating for everyone. This collective commitment ensures that you have the highest probability of it happening and creates a team culture that goes from good to great each quarter.

2. Choosing best practices/systems to help you achieve that goal

"There is a giant difference between knowing a thing and knowing the data behind that thing."

While a lag measure tells you if you've achieved the goal, a lead measure tells you if you are likely to achieve the goal.

WIG Example 1:

• "I want to increase weekly booked high-value treatments by 35% before the 1st of April"

Systems to reach WIG:

• Track new patient numbers daily (week 1)
• Scripted message response used by all admin (week 3)
• Discovery call script used by all admin (week 5)
• Consultation session checklist used by all team members (week 7)
• Obstacle overcome training done with all team members (week 9)

WIG Example 2:

"I want to increase weekly patient referrals by 20% by the 1st of April"

Systems to reach WIG:

• Track referral numbers daily (week 1)
• Train team on PTR (post-treatment review) (week 3)
• Create referral incentive (week 5)
• Create gift bags (week 7)
• Have someone follow-up with patients 2 weeks after (week 9)

Note #1: Collaborate:

• ask your team what they would measure and implement to get them involved.

Note #2: Delegate:

• Implement 2-3 new/improved systems per quarter 
• Assign 1 person responsible for each system
• Identify who needs help with each system

"Once a team is clear about its systems and how to measure their success, their view of the goal changes." 

All the best practices and systems you need to achieve your goals are constantly collected and improved in the clinic boost library. To get access, schedule a call with us here.

3: Keep a compelling scoreboard

Clinic teams play differently when they keep score, and the right scoreboards motivate the players to win.

• Use our scoreboard or share with us your own
• Each WIG should be measurable
• Report and show weekly to the team
• Set fun incentives

"simple scales - fancy fails."

"Great teams know at every moment whether or not they are winning. They must know; otherwise, they don't know what they have to do to win the game." 

4. Accountability

A core part of the Clinic Boost Method - each clinic team engages in a simple weekly process that highlights successes, analyzes failures, and course-corrects as necessary, creating the ultimate clinic performance management system.

• Weekly 30min catch-up (same time & day each week)
• structured by data:
  • What worked?
  • What didn't?
  • What learned?
• What different?
• A daily report of data (same time each day)
• Weekly 1:1s (what constraints? need support?)

"Where you do find clinic teams who are passionately committed to their work? You find them working for clinic owners who are passionately committed to them." 

Conclusion

By now, you should have everything in place to ensure that your communication cycle with your team is good enough to boost your clinic.

We've covered the daily, weekly and monthly reviews so far, and the quarterly review is the 4th part of your accountability cadence as a CRO (if you don't know what that is, read here)

Free Quarterly Agenda Downloads:

• How to organise it (Quarterly Review Agenda)
• What to ask (4 Quarterly Questions)
• How to set goals (4 Questions of Accountability)

You can download all the resources for free here.

If you need help with implementation, you can schedule a free diagnostics call with us here.