Mission, vision, and values in group practice with Dan King

Dan King: [0:00] Hello, Daniel King here with another solo episode of Your Group Practice, and today I'm going to talk about something I've noticed in some of the more interesting practices that I've encountered recently, and that is a willingness to take a stand. Dan King: [0:18] So you've probably heard conversations about the importance of mission, Dan King: [0:24] Vision, values, all that sort of stuff. Dan King: [0:27] And it can seem a little abstract. It can seem like a step that you can skip on the way to building a great business. And that may or may not be true. But what I have noticed in the group practice world Dan King: [0:41] Is that practices. Dan King: [0:43] That can straightforwardly articulate exactly what they stand for, have certain advantages. And especially in the early-ish days of building a practice, I think the advantages are way greater than the disadvantages. So let me give you some examples so that we're all on the same page about what we're talking about. I have encountered Christian practices. I have encountered LGBTQ practices. I have encountered Jewish practices. So these are practices where either there is an identity group that they represent or serve, or there is a broader mission that everyone knows about, all the key stakeholders from the patients, the clinicians, to the support staff, to the owner. And having that broader mission that everyone knows about, it creates a clarity. It creates a sense of this is why we're here. And don't get me wrong, I think in the mental health world, in the therapy world, there's a certain core set of values that pretty much any practice can stand behind and follow. Dan King: [1:51] But. Dan King: [1:53] Over time, with the emergence of so many group practices, I have seen a kind of generic approach to branding in the industry set in, where you'll see practices that say they're going to get patients' clarity. You'll see practices that say they care about their clinicians. And I'm sure that those things are true, Dan King: [2:14] Generally, but there's this generic quality that is set into the branding. Dan King: [2:20] There's so many practices that have the same name, right? How many have you found that are called the clarity? Not to be critical of anyone who has the name of clarity, but there are a lot of practices called clarity, for example. And so there's a way in which you fail to understand your own uniqueness if Dan King: [2:38] You do what everyone else is doing. Dan King: [2:39] And if you talk to people in a way that everyone else Dan King: [2:42] Is talking to them. Dan King: [2:43] And so there's a real opportunity, just like if you're a job seeker and you're trying to stand out from the 300 other people that applied for the same role, there's a real opportunity for a practice to think of itself the same way, to think of itself as unique, Dan King: [2:58] To understand what makes it tick. Dan King: [3:01] And I will tell you at the very beginning of the journey, you want to stand out, you want to attract clinicians in a crowded market where they have so many opportunities and places to work. And one of the things you can do that is really going to speak to them, Dan King: [3:15] Because clinicians tend to be soulful people, is to get crystal clear on what you stand for. Dan King: [3:20] Communicate that in your interview process, your website, and all of your marketing materials. So I think about the practices I've run into that have gotten really clear on why they're doing what they're doing and what exactly they're doing. They have some major, Dan King: [3:39] Major advantages that I want to talk to you about today. Dan King: [3:41] So the three big ones that I found and one disadvantage that I'll talk about at the end, the three big ones are attracting clinicians, number two, attracting patients, number three, reducing founder burnout risk. And if you stay to the end, I'm going to give you one disadvantage that I've seen. I think in most cases, it probably still makes sense, especially in the early days, to stand for something. And we'll talk about the one disadvantage I see at the end and Dan King: [4:12] Some important thoughts on it. Dan King: [4:15] So let's start with attracting clinicians. I did one podcast with Ryan Duckworth, and Ryan runs a Christian practice in Michigan. And it took me a little while to understand some of the ways in which he built the practice and some of the reasons for why this practice is so attractive to clinicians. You know, I'm not Christian, so it took me some empathy to understand exactly what was going on there, what was so powerful about the choice that Ryan made. And he talked about his interview process in which he would very explicitly discuss Dan King: [4:54] What the practice stood for. Dan King: [4:55] With anyone that interviewed there. And there's a level of honesty there that I think is super powerful. You know, you're allowing people to see the truth. And that's a beautiful thing when you can do it when there are risks of. people in some way undermining you, then I think it's a beautiful thing to be transparent. I'm not saying that you should 100% of the time be transparent about everything that happens in your practice, but when you can be transparent without significant risk, I think it's generally good practice. Because authenticity is one of the most powerful forces in the universe. And so for Ryan to be able to say, we are a Christian practice, people are going to feel that. They're going to feel the truth of that. And if they're a clinician who's considering working at the practice, it's so much easier for them to opt in or opt out because they know exactly what they're dealing with. Dan King: [5:49] They know exactly what the score is. Dan King: [5:51] There's no surprises. There's no hemming and hawing. And so I think it's so important to find unique ways to attract clinicians. Dan King: [6:01] The best practices are able to keep them. Dan King: [6:04] As investors, one of the first things we at is Dan King: [6:07] Whether a practice has a success track record. Dan King: [6:10] Of attracting and retaining clinicians. When you know what you stand for, you can attract clinicians more easily, but you can also retain them more naturally because in those moments of challenge and turbulence and in the group practice world, just like in any other business, there's going to be moments of turbulence. You have a why that clinicians can fall back on. You can remind them of why they're there. They're going to be reminded frequently. The clearer your message is, the prouder you are of who you are, the more they'll be reminded and the easier it will be to retain clinicians. And there's going to be all kinds of challenges in the future that make it harder for practices to retain clinicians. We can get into that in another episode. But attracting and retaining clinicians, Dan King: [6:57] Absolutely core to what you do. Dan King: [7:00] It may be the most important thing other than the quality of therapy you provide. So attracting clinicians is easily, easily in the top five of most important things you need to do as a practice owner. And you're going to have a huge leg up if you're clear on what Dan King: [7:14] You stand for. Dan King: [7:16] Next, let's talk about patients because therapy is a special thing. We wouldn't be here if we didn't believe that. Part of what makes it special is that human connection between patient and clinician, that therapeutic relationship. And that therapeutic relationship is influenced by the set and setting, Dan King: [7:37] Right? Dan King: [7:37] People in the psychedelic world talk about the importance Dan King: [7:40] Of set and setting, and it really matters in therapy as well. Dan King: [7:43] People need to feel safe. They need to feel open. They need to feel cared for. And if I come to the table with Dan King: [7:51] A particular set of views. Dan King: [7:53] A particular sense of the world, a particular worldview, I want to know that there's at least going to be respect for my uniqueness from my clinician. I don't need them to agree with absolutely everything I think, but I need to have a feeling that I can belong here. If I'm going to open up and be vulnerable enough to get the good outcomes from therapy Dan King: [8:14] That I'm seeking. Dan King: [8:15] And so that sentence setting is going to be so deeply influenced by what the practice stands for. We're, especially in the self-pay world, there's a lot of competition for patients. You've got to get good at marketing, a little less so in the in-network world where we generally are. But, you know, I look at a lot of self-pay practices and I can tell you that arms race to attract patients, you want a leg up. And it's all well and good to have marketing skills to know how to build good online and offline marketing. But you have such an advantage, even if you're not an experienced marketer, if you have clear positioning. And again, if authenticity is one of the most powerful forces in the universe, it's not just powerful for attracting clinicians, it's powerful for attracting patients. Clinicians and patients are both human beings, and they can both feel the power of authenticity. And so you're going to have a much Dan King: [9:10] Easier time attracting patients if you know what you stand for. Dan King: [9:14] Third, reducing burnout risk. This is such an issue with group practices. Of the more than 80 group practice owners I have met, I can't tell you how many are feeling a sense of burnout. And burnout is complex. I don't want to oversimplify it. And there are many factors at work, but there's that old great Nietzsche line, he who has a why can bear any how. You know, Viktor Frankl is another famous thinker Dan King: [9:40] Who talked a lot about. Dan King: [9:41] The importance of meaning. When you know what you stand for, you define that, you're shaping your sense of meaning when Dan King: [9:48] It comes to your work, when it comes to your group practice. Dan King: [9:51] And so I know reflecting on my own journey with burnout in the past, a big part of it has come in those scenarios where I'm not really sure what I'm doing or what I stand for. And so, you know, I still sometimes deal with burnout today, even though I do work that I'm super aligned with. Dan King: [10:11] And boy, do I recover faster. Dan King: [10:14] It feels like burnout for me today is more purely physiological than it is existential. and so the risk of both burning out and the severity of that burnout when you do burnout I think you can significantly mitigate those risks if you know what you stand for other people are going to have a much easier time supporting you through burnout if they're bonded to you by something deeper than just a paycheck you're able to really build a community and communities help Dan King: [10:48] Reduce burnout risk. Dan King: [10:49] Believe you me So those are, I think, three big reasons to get clear on what you stand for. I want to also, I always like to play devil's advocate and challenge my own thinking. So I'm going to share one kind of counterpoint, which is, if you very clearly define what you stand for as Dan King: [11:09] A group practice. Dan King: [11:09] Are you alienating folks? And is there a risk that it becomes much harder to stay consistent as you grow, much harder to remain on message as you grow? Because aren't there, once you reach a certain size, don't you want more clinicians and more patients? And if you're speaking to one identity group, or you're speaking to just one set of somewhat polarizing values, are you limiting Dan King: [11:35] The growth of your practice? Dan King: [11:36] And I think that that's a fair counter argument that's worth dwelling on here. I think there's ways in which meaning can evolve. And so I think my strongest initial response Dan King: [11:49] To that perspective is. Dan King: [11:50] What you stand for can shift over time. and by clearly understanding that and communicating that you're continually giving people an opportunity to opt Dan King: [12:00] In and opt out. Dan King: [12:01] You're continually giving people an opportunity to choose your group practice again and that's not a bad thing as much as we can easily be insecure about retention you're giving people a gift by giving them a job that Dan King: [12:16] They feel aligned with. Dan King: [12:16] And if they no longer feel aligned sometimes the best thing is for them to go elsewhere to free up your energy and free up the practice's energy such that it can be renewed and bring in new people that feel more of a sense Dan King: [12:29] Of alignment with what you're doing. Dan King: [12:31] So the meaning that you're creating, the mission that you stand for, that can evolve. It's not a reason not to define a mission. Knowing that it's going to shift because Dan King: [12:43] All creativity is. Dan King: [12:45] Flow, that's okay. It's not a problem. It's not a reason not to define it. It's a reason to do the hard work again and again. I hope you enjoy. Be so, so well. And as always, you can reach out to me at dan at firesidestrategic.com if any of this resonates and you want to chat. Have a wonderful day. Dan King: [13:05] Take care. Bye.