Developing Leaders In Order To Grow With Connie Ziccarelli

Developing leaders is necessary to have successful and sustainable growth.  Nathan Shields’  guest today is  Connie Ziccarelli , founder and owner of Guidepost Consultants & Mentoring. Connie and Nathan discuss how team  development is like a plant. Your team requires careful planting, watering, fertilizing, and attention. Connie has spent decades creating the PT teams required to grow multi-clinic companies across multiple states. In this episode, she’ll take us behind th e scenes as to how she accomplished it. Tune in and discover how keeping the team and their progress on your radar is a key component.  

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My guest is Connie Ziccarelli. She is the  F ounder and  O wner of  Guidepost   Consultants & Mentoring . She  is  also  the past  COO and  C o f ounder of  Rehab Management Solutions . She’s got decades of history in the physical therapy space .  Connie, thanks for coming on .  

Thank you.  

I’m excited to bring you on. I saw you through the article that you wrote for  IMPACT Magazine  January 2021 issue .   Y our comments, although a short article about leadership was  powerful  I thought .   T here’s a lot more to it .   T hat’s why I wanted to bring you on.  T hank you for doing that. I appreciate it.  

Thank you for having me.  

Tell us a little bit about you .  W ith your many decades of work in the physical therapy space  especially  helping owners and management teams , t ell us a little bit about you ,  where you came from and what got you to this point.  

I have been working in the physical therapy industry since 1995 . I  started in Southeast Wisconsin and worked with two physical therapist s  who together we grew our network of independent practices to about  twenty- plus locations in Southeast Wisconsin .  H eavily active in the private practice section of the  APTA ,  I  found that physical therapists were coming to us saying,  “H ow do you do this? How do you expand? How do you go multi-site ?   H ow do you build a team? “   We  keep the consistency going  and t hat led us to think about helping physical therapists go into private practice.  T hat is where  Rehab Management Solutions  was born.  

W e help physical therapists go into private practice, retaining the centralized infrastructure in Southeast Wisconsin  but w e were in nine  s tates .   W e were outpatient, independent physical therapy practices and a network. I was responsible for all of the business component of that network and those clinics.  W ith that,  I  found that my passion was helping outpatient physical therapy practice owners recognize the value of their services through very proven operations and systems for billing collections, leadership development  and whatnot.   T hat’s led me to where I am.  

T hanks for being willing to share your experience and advice . Y our article was about having a leadership legacy. What will you be proud of?  Y ou listed four things that can help us leave a legacy based on our leadership.  W hat was cool about your article?  I t wasn’t a lot about  measurable  statistic ,  incorporate this program or protocol .   I t was much   higher level than that .  It was more about coaching and developing your team.  T ell us a little bit about that and where that came from.  

When it comes to leadership, one of the things that I have built my career around is being a servant and a leader that is more interested in building the team than building and working on only themselves. When you take time and you build others, you eventually rise.  H ow do we do that in a way that gets people engaged and excited about not only the practice but wanting to develop themselves ?  I have found that leadership is more of what you give versus more than what you take.  

As p eople are looking to grow  and t hat’s why I’m excited to have you on as you grew so much with  so  many locations .  O ne of the issues that  PT  owners have as they tend to expand and bring on other people  especially  other locations is that’s when any weakness in the boat is going to get magnified .   T hat leak or that hole in the boat is going to grow larger  and y ou start losing some of the  characteristics that made you grow it to begin with.  T hat’s where you were going with the leadership legacy . H ow do you maintain what you started with and maintain that character, the identity, the personality of your company even as you grow in size ?  

F irst and foremost ,  you’ve got to have a set of value goals. What makes you or your practice click ?  W hat are going to be the guideposts that you’re going to rely on when you go multi-site or even if you want to bring on more staff ? W ho are you ? I f you don’t know who you are or who you are as a leader, who you are as your practice, you’re not going to have anybody buy into it.  O ne of the things that   you have to start out with first is you have to have a set of value goals. Who are we ? W hat are we going to believe in? What is our mission? How do you communicate that? Do you communicate that in your words ?   D o you communicate that in your behaviors ? P eople follow what they see, not what they hear. I find that the value goals  have  to be a living and breathing part of the practice so that people are following and feeling it.  

I love your first sentence under step number one .   D eveloping a leadership legacy is leaders explain why and not the how. It goes back to Simon Sinek’s popular  T ED  Ta l k  about the why .   P eople buy the why ,  not the what .   It’s the s ame thing with your team members . Y our team members aren’t buying into you because you provide great physical therapy .   Y our team members are expect ing  t hat and they’re working hard to provide that great therapy.  T he reason that they’re on your team and they’ve bought into your company is they believe in your why.  

I spent a lot of time with my coaching clients and I’m sure you do the same as well at the very beginning, establishing that why ,  that purpose and also the values.   I nitially , I know  my clients have given me feedback further down the road. I didn’t think those things meant anything. It didn’t feel  like  I was getting any traction going anywhere but as they’re trying to expand and hire more people and looking at the locations ,  that purpose and those values are the bedrock . T hey are the foundation for that future growth.  

That’s a great point . The  why is it . I f you don’t know that yourself, it’s time to step back and reflect on that.  W e hire staff  and t hey come to us because they need a job where they want a paycheck . I f you want to be successful, it’s up to us as owners and leaders to instill in them the why and to communicate that so that it becomes a mission.  It’s not just, “I’m  picking up a paycheck .” I t’s that you’re engaged in the practice and in the direction that you’re leading.  

It’s one thing to hire somebody on to fill a spot .   S omeone might take that spot because they need a job.  I f they’re going to stay and if you’re going to grow  then   higher level  things need to be addressed ,  as in the purpose and the values.  W hen someone is purpose and value aligned, they will then stay in your company , y ou will have less turnover  and t hat’s when you start developing your leadership teams.  

When you take time, and you build others, you eventually rise.
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O ne of the things that I’ve found is that once they become engaged in your mission and they’re living these value goals, all of a  sudden,  they’re contributing ideas . T hey’re contributing activity . T hey’re contributing growing others.  O nce you see that in your practice, you are starting to cook with guests , y ou’re getting  raving fans from your patients because they feel it . Y ou can’t have a raving fan if you don’t have raving employees, if you don’t have raving team members.  I mean r aving in a good way, raving happy, raving joy  and  good  vibration.  Y ou feel that when you walk into a clinic .  I have always found that people see that smile over the phone.  I f they’re not feeling it over the phone, they’re not going to feel it when they walk in.  

Y our step number two is about staying  people- focused. Talk to us a little  about  being  people- focused .   S ometimes as physical therapists, we tend to be pleasers . W e might keep someone on the bus who maybe isn’t  value- aligned but they’re doing the bare minimums. How do you stay  people- focused but then still stay accountable to performance statistics ?  

I’m going through that with a client .  I’m not a physical therapist but I’ve surrounded myself with amazing physical therapy partners for many years. One of the things that I’ve found to be the most endearing quality of a physical therapist is their heart .   They  go into this business because they’re  touchy feely  people.  T hey’re not a surgeon that cuts and leaves. They are hands on in the middle of people’s lives, helping people get to that next level ,  whatever that is.  O n the other side ,  that sometimes is a weakness because you keep people on maybe longer than you should. The expiration date has happened. It’s hard to pull it out of the refrigerator.  C learly ,  that feeling of mentoring and that feeling of working with your team  n eeds to be always fresh.  

I feel that if you don’t know who you are ,  where you want to go and you’re 100% solidified,  “T his is the direction of my practice ,” i t  wi ll be hard to do some weeding .   C learly ,  you got   t o  weed . A  tree blooms better the next spring if you  prune  it in the fall.  I t’s critical  and I say to l ook at your practice every quarter . T ake a look and reflect on how everybody is doing on the staff ,  from your administrator team down to your clinical team, to your support staff, to your cleaning team . I s everybody aligned to the mission ? I f not ,  then  it goes into mentoring.  I f people can’t come around through your  mentoring,  then  maybe it is time  to re- look.  I t’s so hard to find staff .   I t’s hard to get that learning curve. I do believe in mentoring and giving people the opportunity to shine.  T here’s time when it’s time to move on.  

A  good question that my partner  W ill Humphreys uses quite often in that quarterly assessment could be something  like ,   “W ould you enthusiastically rehire this person if you have the opportunity again ?” T hat could give you a good barometer about where you land .   M aybe a  follow- up question would be ,   “W hat is it that they need in order to do better in your facility?  W ould they be a rising star somewhere else and figure that out quickly ?” I f you have strict values, that makes the decision process a little bit easier. Number one, it’s easier to hire and fire somebody if they don’t go against your values.  N umber two  is  as you’re assessing their progress, which of those values could they better exemplify? Which of those values do they need help with  and w here do they shine?  Y ou can have that  kind of  assessment readily available if your values are established prior to .  

O ne of the other things I take into consideration as well  i s how does the rest of the staff feel about this person ?  Y ou look at professional teams .   T hey’re a mixture of different personalities. I remember Michael Jordan in the day . R emember the  B ulls in the day ?   Y ou had Jordan . Y ou had Rodman . Y ou had  Scottie Pippen .  Would t hey hang out at night and eat dinner together? Probably not  but t hey respected each other on the court and they were  a  winning team. I take the same with my staff or with my team .  I’m going to have a lot of different personalities . E verybody contributes .   D o they get along as a team? Are they winning as a team? If you can’t answer that and they’re not wanting to be a part of a winning team ,  then  you’re right. They probably would shine somewhere else .   I t sure is great when you have that conversation and you see the light bulb go on .   Y ou see self – redirection and they turn around .   Y ou keep moving forward.  

T he third step  is  set the conditions.  A s we’re going over this conversation, it’s not all about the fields and  how  the other team looks  like  so much. There is part of it that   it is  statistic- driven . Y our first sentence was organizational performance increases when clear and precise expectations are given and outlining clear roles.  O ne of our main  phrases  back in the day was production is the basis of  morale.  T hat was a clear condition that was set.  W e had specific statistics and guidelines to follow  and  measure so that we know that the expectation is there and it’s not assumed .   Y ou never want that .   P eople can always feel busy  whether  they’re productive or not.  A  sense of bus y ness shouldn’t be the barometer.  T here should be some clear guidelines and expectations.  

You can be busy going out of business.  B usyness is not the barometer .  I feel that as a leader or a practice owner, that’s some places that not only are you going to have that emotional intelligence . Y ou’re going to have a clear vision of where you want to go. You’re going to have exactly what your practice is going to be.  M ore importantly, what it’s not going to be.  O ne of the other things that you have to consider is you have to have  a  performance matrix.  I f you want to service a community, you’ve got to be for-profit . I t’s not a bad word to make money .   I t’s not a bad word to reinvest it . Y ou have to have  a  performance matrix.  

W hen you clearly define that ,  you set up guideposts along the way to make sure that you’re hitting these things and you’re clearly reporting the good with the not so good with your teammates, with your staff, everybody is going to rally around it.  W hen the scoreboard says,  “W e’re down by  ten.” I t’s halftime .   Y ou rally that team and you come back and win by  fifteen. H ow much greater is the next game going to be?  Y ou’ve got people that don’t want to talk about the hard stuff .   T hey don’t want to talk about when maybe they didn’t hit the  m ark. That to me is when you’ve got to step up .   Y ou had to step up as a leader and say,  “ We missed it. Can you help me understand why we missed it or why you missed it , “  and get  the opportunity  and g ive some suggestions to  redirect?  

One of the best books that I have found in redirect is called  Zap t h e Gaps!   by Ken Blanchard. It’s a great tool when you want to build your team .   I f you don’t mind, I’ll tell you how I use it.  I t’s a great little parable.  Ken Blanchard  makes great books that are fast reads ,   The  One  M i nute Manager Meets the Monkey ,  W h a le  D one ! ,  all these  books. The  Zap  the  G ap s!  helped me and has continued to help me in finding variants.  W hen you incorporate people into this concept, they tend to find their solutions and help fix it.  

Z ap the  G ap s!  is you identify the cause.  Y ou identify the issue . Y ou put solutions in place .   Y ou work on those solutions. You don’t automatically jump to solutions until you find out the causes .   L et’s list all these causes that could be potentials.  Y ou put solutions to those causes and we’re all working together.  E xpectations are very important. Productivity is important. It’s part of the mix . H ow you communicate that and how your team adopts it is where you’re  going to  shine as a leader.  

O ne thing that comes to mind is so many clinic owners can focus on total visits . T hey might see their total visit numbers go down ,  so now t here’s a gap . T here’s an expectation  and w e’re hitting below that  so t here’s this gap . I t needs to be properly diagnosed.  W hat are the problems? A lot of owners might default to,  “W e need more new patients , “   when t hat might not be the case at all. You might have plenty new patients but our patients  are  falling off after three visits on a regular basis thus not completing their full plan of care.  I s the arrival rate poor? Are your patients only coming in  0  to  1  time a week versus  2  to  3  times a week? Are you measuring some of these things?  I  love that you brought that. That was   one thing that came to mind.  T here’s an easy default to,  “ I need more new patients. “   W e need more new patients when there’s so much more of the work that can be done underneath.   

In fact, I have a  Zap the Gaps!   worksheet on my website . I f anybody wants to go on, they can download it , play  with it , u se it or get  Ken  Blanchard’s book.   

You  have to share your website. Where do we get  the  Zap the Gaps!  worksheet?  

G uidepost C on s ultants.com .  I t’s a free download to o. G ive it a try and see if it helps.  O ne of the places that physical therapist owners look is that clinical production side or the clinical matrix.  It’s o ne of the places that I strongly encourage people to look and put goals in places on the administrative side . Y our nonphysical therapy team is as important  in  revenue producing as well as your clinical team. I find that having those conversations and those benchmarks in place for both side s  of the practice, the clinical side and the nonclinical side, cements the team and brings it together.   

A lot of practice I go into there’s this divide.  T he PTs  are  over here  and  the administrators are over here . W hat I  like  to do is build that bridge and say that if we don’t have both clicking at the highest level, this practice won’t be at its highest level . I t’s  like  having your offense and defense in sync.  Y ou could have a great defense but you don’t have a quarterback making points .  I believe in investing in the clinical benchmarks as well as the administrative benchmarks.   

T he clinical benchmarks are going to be easier for owners to come up with.  T hey’re pretty obvious .   W hat are some examples of administrative benchmarks that PT owners need to be aware of?  T hey might feel a little uncomfortable to weight into that space because they don’t know as much.  W hat are some benchmarks they can use to hold their administrative team accountable?   

S ome easy ones right off the bat  are  collections at the front desk.  What  is your collection rate at the front desk? How are we holding them accountable for that? What are those   matri ces ?  A nother one is days outstanding. What’s the turnaround time to get paid ? Y ou see the visit . Y ou get the bill back as a paid reimbursed service. What’s that timeline ?  Can we shrink that  or  turnaround of money?  W hat is our documentation timeline? How long does it take for a documented visit to get turned into a claim and build out ? Y ou’ve got denial rates. What is your denial rate?  H ow fast are you turning around those explanation s  of benefit? If you get them on Monday, do they sit for 60 days?   

These kinds of things are great.  Plus,  it gives you an opportunity to evaluate that team member that does those skills.  S ome people say,  “H ow do I find  an  administrator? How do  I know  if they’re doing well? ” I f you’re not putting goals out there and benchmarks, you don’t know.  T hose are some things that I encourage practice owners to invest in ,  t o look at and to be very critical . I f you can measure it, you can put a goal to it.  I f you’re out there measuring things with your practice, you can set goals up for that teammate  w ho’s responsible for it .    

I might be getting ahead of myself  but  I want to talk about  how  do owners do this ,  especially  those that might be treating a lot . W here do they find the time?  H ow do I find the time to do all this stuff?  I  think i t’s essential for them to recognize that  a s the owners and as leaders, it’s their responsibility to take the time and set the time aside rather than treat that patient to do these things for the behalf of the business.   

They  can’t make somebody do something  and t hey don’t have to . Y ou can continue to treat and you can continue to have a practice but maybe that practice won’t grow as fast or as well as maybe you want .   I f you want growth, you’ve got to invest in planting .   Y ou’ve got to invest in watering.  Y ou’ve got to water your staff.  It’s like  any garden .   Y ou got to put fertilizer on there.  S ometimes  that  feedback   maybe isn’t what they want to hear but you got   t o  do the hard stuff . Y ou do have to carve out time .   I f you want to  grow and you want to have a staff, it’s going to take time.  I t has to be your time as the practice owner.  T hat’s one thing you can’t delegate  out .   

T hat feedback is essential. That’s your fourth step in articles .   F eedback is key. The watering  like you’re  talking about  g iving feedback on a routine basis .  I used to think of them as flybys .  Just g o by the front desk and say,  “H ow are things going? What can I do to help? Is there anything else you need ?”   and  then  move on.  T here are times it’s necessary to have more in-depth conversations but having touch points on a routine basis is essential.  

I call them touch points.  I f you let your annual review  system  be the only time you give feedback, you’re missing out   on  a  lot of growth .  I find reasons to comment to people or staff. I find excuses to go out of my way and give compliments .  I have benchmarks where I can use redirects as a way of getting people to turn around or getting someone to identify something.  A nnual reviews are not going to get you where you want to go.  I t’s those touch points .  It’s using your ability  as  a physical therapist to engage with your patients and finding reasons.   

A s a physical therapist, you’re going to have this plan of care.  Y ou’re going to ask these questions that make sure the patient is doing their home exercise program. You’re going to be asking questions on how they’re doing in their plan of care. It is no different with your staff. You have a staff that needs you and need your questions  just  as much as your patients do  and  a nytime that you have a reason to reach out . R ecognition and reward  don’t  have to break the bank. There are many ways that you can recognize and reward your staff without spending a dime  A  handwritten note, a thank you note left on somebody’s desk.  S tudies have shown  it’s  far better than a verbal compliment .  I’ve been known to send a note home to my employee’s family, thanking them for the extra effort that someone has put in through the month.  T hose kinds of things are where you’re going to grow as a leader because you’re growing others.  

Leadership is more of what you give than what you take.
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I f you don’t have the brain space, the bandwidth to think about them , i f you’re constantly into whether it’s paying the bills  or  treating the patients  or  you name it . If  your head’s full of other things  then  it’s hard to consider those people on your team and what they need.   

S ome of the hardest clinics I’ve walked into is when they have a swoop down and poop on your head approach to redirection  where  there’s only feedback when things go wrong . I f you focus on the right and do feedback on all the positive things that are happening, all of a  sudden,  the negative stuff start going away.  Ken  Blanchard has a great book on that ,  Whale  Done!:  The Power of Positive Relationships .  S ome of those principles alone has been amazing in my growth and in getting a staff excited about doing the right thing.   

T hat goes so far because many times ,  as we set the conditions, which was your step number three and set the expectations, many teams can come back .  I’ve heard it before. They’ll say,  “Y ou’re all about the numbers. “   D o you think that’s their way of saying,  “A re you caring about me as an individual at all ?   I s this all about you and your company? “  I’m getting that feeling as we’re going into this conversation that if you’re not backing up those expectations care  about  them as a person .   T hat comes in the form of compliments, recognitions ,  rewards but also assessing when talking to them about what their individual goals might be ,  how you can help them pursue their professional  and  physical goals . W hen you come at them with statistics, they’re  going to  be  like ,  “W hat do you care?  I t’s all about the numbers to you. “    

I t’s a balance and it’s a dance.  Y ou’ve got to have performance and you’ve got to have  a  matrix that let your business stay in business . Y ou’re in business to stay in business.  H ow do we marry that up ,  gently walk around and use our emotional intelligence while we’re using our business acumen ? I t’s marrying that up  t hat is   the art . T he science  i s we’ve got to have numbers but yet we got to have a staff . T he art  is  how do we make it all integrate?  

W hat does that do for people, for owners who want to then make this a multi – clinic practice?  H ow does this benefit those who are looking ,   “ I want  2 ,  3 ,  4  clinics  eventually .   I  might want to go to a different state. I want to grow this large. I want to blow this up ? ”  W hat does this all do for them? Why do they have to go through this process?  

I started way back in the day at McDonald’s. I was the hostess at McDonald’s when McDonald’s had a hostess . T his was a long time ago .   O ne of the things that always impressed me with the McDonald’s organization is that you could get a  B ig Mac in any state and it was the same. I take that as how do we go to multi-site ,  multi – location and still have our  “ B ig Mac “  the same?  I t comes with setting the values. It comes with clearly explaining what expectations are , what  your company is and what your company isn’t .  D eveloping a small band of leaders that will go out and follow that process ,  proven ops and systems.  Y ou’ve got to take copays in the same way at one location as you do in the other location, down to your treatment facility, your treatment area . Is  it set up the same  so the p h ysical therapist and the staff can feel  like  they can interchange with offices if they need to do  coverage?  

H ow does that feel?  O ne of the best ways to predict your future is to create it in your first location .   G et your team to rally around that .   S tart with your second location and make sure that  it  is feeling the same way before you even stepped into  3rd  or  4th .  I f you want to go big, you’ve got to have your  o ps and systems in place. You’ve got to have your team in place. You’ve got to have a clear vision .   M ore importantly, as the leader or as the owner, you’ve got to be able to recognize and talk back to your team clearly and precisely the way they have to go.  

S ome of the dirty work that was always hard for me is to look inside .   W hat do I want? What is the purpose?  L et’s clearly define the values . T hat takes a little bit of work.  I t’s easy to fl y by the seat of our pants ,  get things done and see the bank account do  o kay.  I t’s harder to sit back and take the time to think about what I  do  want, what  my career vision is  and what  my values are .   T hat can be dirty work.  What’s e ven worse for me is writing down those ops  and  procedures ,  grinding that stuff out.  O nce you can dial it down that allows for  an  opportunity for growth.   

Y ou surround yourself with people  that are  as good or if not better than you . If  you surround yourself with those kinds of people and have that philosophy, you’re going to rise to the top. One of the things that I have found is good leadership books .   S o me books that will give you that next leg up .   S urrounding yourself with individuals  like  the private practice section has been phenomenal for me  because i t has surrounded me with people that are  2  or  3  steps ahead of me. I’ve got to mentor  2  or  3  people that are  2  or  3  steps behind me. What are the other things that I have found to be very helpful in growing a business ?  

L ooking at who you are as a leader and as an owner is journaling .   S tart a business journal . Y ou hear everything around you . “ I journal this or I journal that .”   T hat’s more on a personal level .   If  you start writing down areas that you want to work on and areas that have been a success , t he more you write that down, the more you’ll come back to it and stick to it. I have found that journaling has helped me in my career more than anything else , surrounding  myself with the right people and journaling.   

I love your recommendation also about finding the right people . T hose people who have bought into your why are the same people that you’ll say,  “Y ou tend to do your position very well. Could you start writing down your successful actions and what you do on a daily basis? “   A ll of a sudden ,  that takes the onus off of the owner to start developing job descriptions ,  policy and procedures .   T he team starts working with you and you ‘re  leading at that point.   

T hat would be a great quarterly exercise and a great way to have a way to evaluate .   They’re  writing their  top review or performance review.   Y ou sign off on it that this is the way you want to go.  Y ou’ve got to clearly know the way you want to go before you can sign up on somebody else’s  definition of it.   

Y ou don’t want someone who’s barely making it and barely surviving in your clinic to be that person that writes that up. You want someone who is performing incredibly well .   T heir numbers are great and they have a great rapport with everybody before they start writing up something  like  that.  W hat are some of the books that you might recommend?   

I do follow  Ken  Blanchard quite a bit, as you can see.  T hey’re short, fast reads.  O ne of the other ones that was very instrumental  on  getting us to a multi-site ,  multi – location was the book  N u t s ! ,  how Southwest  A irlines was developed .   That  book helped set the stage on creating raving fans. How do you want to get people to buy into your name, buy into your business?  T hat was a very good book.   

The  E-Myth   R evisited ,   Good  t o Great   or  T r a ction  by Gino Wickman . All  of those are great.   

The Untethere d  Soul . I know   that i t’ s not a business book per se but that is a great book on self-development ,  getting a clear mind of who you are and who you could be as a leader.  It’s a  great book.   

W e followed one similar to that called  L eadershi p  and S elf- D eception .   I t was  business- minded but   you could read it as an individual who didn’t own a business and still gain a lot from it.  W hat I tell my clients is , “ Y our leadership development program consists of the same things that you did to develop yourself as a leader. “   T he books that you think are essential in  your  growth  are  the same books that you would expect your leadership team to start developing.  I f you’re going  to  coach or mentor yourself as an owner ,  then  your team should have a coach, a mentor .   T hat could be you . T hat could be someone else that you trust . Y our leadership development program is essentially the same things that you did and others have done to progress as leaders.   

I do  mentoring  myself .  I  like  taking people on and sharing the books that helped me get to where I am, see if they resonate with them .   D oing that, you find out what makes people tick. They may find one book over another book . I t’s better . Y ou have a path of what makes them tick .   O ne of the best things that has happened to me  and  I’ve turn moved it on is if I find a book that has helped me, I get one for my  mentor ee .   I write  a personal note in there .   S end it off and leave it with them.  I f you have a book that has been super impactful for you ,  bu y it  for your team .   P ut a handwritten note inside, hoping that this is great for you . D ate it . L eave it for them. They’re going to read it a lot faster than if you tell them to go out and get the book .   G ive it as a personal gift .   T hat  is  what I’ve found encourages people to get into reading.   

That happened to me  in 2020 with a  friend of mine, Mark Moore.  H e was a fellow PT school  g raduate of mine . He  sent me  Who Not H o w   by Dan Sullivan. I was  like ,  “I f you love it enough to buy it for me  then  I’ll read it .” I  read it.  I t changed my perspective entirely.  I  have shared it with I don’t know how  many people,  5 , 10 people saying ,   “T his is life-changing .   Y ou got   t o  check it out. “  I’ve been through that same exercise .  I can attest to it. It’s great.  I s there anything else you’d  like  to share? We covered a lot of stuff in your article and then some . A ny other  thought s  of wisdom as it pertains  to developing leaders and how that correlates with growth and expansion ?    

If you don't know your 'why,' then it's time to step back and reflect on it.
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I t’s going to go back to knowing your own heart and knowing where you as a business owner and a clinical leader want your business to go .   If  you clearly understand it in yourself .  I find journaling helps sort some things out.  Y ou can tell that to your team .   S tart with one person that you would  like  to invest in that you think has those seeds that you see in yourself . T hat could take your team to the next level .   S tart some one-on-one mentoring.  T here are people out there that are writing books . For  myself, I’m doing mentoring that offer support and help in that area.  D on’t forget your administrative team . T hey’re very much an  integral  part of the practice .   W orking with them ,  setting goals for them and investing in them along with your clinical staff is going to go so far.   

I f that front desk person is happy , it  changes the entire attitude of the clinic .    

T he people that are working with your patients to pay off a bill, they better be happy ,  engaged people or you’re not going to get a return  patient .   

I t’s interesting that as we talk about this with our teams, how much of that flows over to patients  w hen you start developing that culture .   W hat we’re talking about is developing a culture over time that none of the employees will buy into .   T o the point where ours have said in the past,  “I know  I could make more money elsewhere but I wanted  people to give  the rest of my life, if I can .” You  have those people that have bought into the culture .   T hat carries over to patient care .   T he patients recognize that .   T hey want to be a part of that as well.  T hey start inherently buying into your why ,  not so much of your what .   T hey could possibly get better physical therapy elsewhere but they’ve bought into you and your culture that you’ve developed at your company.   

I’m going to take that one step further. It goes into the referral sources. It goes into your payer contract reps. It goes into the authorization teams that give you your visits , your  utilization companies. It permeates everywhere.  G oing back to our example ,  that maybe productivity was down and you need new patients, you may not have a new patient problem. You may have a culture problem.  I t permeates everywhere.  Y ou want to have that engaged and excited staff from the person who cleans ,  to the person that takes money ,  to the lead therapist that is so booked ,  to you as the  PT  owner.  

T hank you so much for taking your time and sharing your wisdom .   I f people wanted to get in touch with you, Connie, how would they do that?   

M y website is  G uidepost C onsultants.com .   Y ou can email me  at  Connie @ GuidepostConsultants .com .   

T hank you for your time. I appreciate it.   

Thank you.  

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The post Developing Leaders In Order To Grow With Connie Ziccarelli appeared first on Physical Therapy Owners Club.