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OPHTHALMOLOGY BUSINESS
October 2018
partner. If you detect an overall
dissatisfaction among your peers
about the lack of educational op-
portunities within the practice, offer
to head a new task force that will
develop ideas to solve this problem.
It is generally encouraged in well-
run practices to follow the chain of
command to problem solve. But the
best practices also encourage contin-
ued, up-the-ladder follow-up if the
problem remains unsolved.
5. A safe environment. To feel
comfortable offering your opinion
or new ideas, the environment
will have to feel "safe." In prac-
tices where there is a feeling that
"No one makes suggestions here,"
a likely contributing factor is a
history of leadership not respect-
ing new ideas or setting the scene
where suggestions are accepted but
not implemented. Micromanaged
and over-controlled environments
can lead to employees feeling
disheartened about the prospect of
their ideas being heard or seriously
considered. If you are in a leadership
position and your practice feels stale
or slow in adopting new sugges-
tions, evaluate the environment and
practice culture for openness and
process improvement.
One way to determine how
employees feel is to perform an
anonymous employee opinion and
general morale survey. Such surveys
help assess employee perceptions
and provide you with an objective
basis for prioritizing and addressing
their concerns. And don't just let
such surveys languish after they
are completed. Acting vigorously
to improve practice problems is the
institutional equivalent of a little
girl stepping on a cat's tail. EW
Ms. Wohl is president of
C. Wohl & Associates Inc.,
a practice management
consulting firm. She earned
her Masters of Health
Services Administration
degree at George
Washington University and has more than 30
years of hospital and physician practice man-
agement experience. She can be contacted at
czwohl@gmail.com or 609-410-2932.
Mr. Pinto is president of
J. Pinto & Associates Inc.,
an ophthalmic practice
management consulting
firm in San Diego. His
latest ASCRS•ASOA
books, Simple: The Inner
Game of Ophthalmic Practice Success and the
Fifth Edition of John Pinto's Little Green Book of
Ophthalmology, are now available at www.asoa.
org. He can be contacted at pintoinc@aol.com or
619-223-2233.
About the authors
