“I can’t do this all by myself!” A colleague blurted out as we discussed some necessary changes in her practice. She was right!

As a practice management consultant, I often find myself reminding practice owners that they have a team. While this is usually not breaking news, the hesitation to fully leverage staff often stems from a lack of trust that teams can handle the practice’s workload effectively. Micromanagement is often the result. 

But empowerment is not about giving up control. It’s about equipping your team to perform their job well with less supervision. 

Some considerations:

• Get the right people in the right seats. Put people in roles that leverage their strengths and natural talents.
• Invest in your staff. Continuously developing your staff’s knowledge and competencies will save you more time than it costs you.
• Manage the outcome, not the process. Set clear goals, but let your staff have a strong voice in how to accomplish them.

Efficiency is defined as the ability to achieve an end goal with minimal waste, effort, or energy. Micromanagement, defined as “control every detail,” guarantees the opposite.

Steve Vargo, OD serves as Optometric Practice Management Consultant for IDOC. A published author and speaker with more than 15 years’ clinical experience, he is now a full-time consultant advising ODs in all areas of practice management and optometric office operations. For questions or comments about this article, please contact svargo@idoc.net. For more services, visit idoc.net.

We'll be back next week with Part 3.