LEADERSHIP - Goal-setting vs Goal-achieving

Everyone wants a successful practice.  Some will be able to achieve it, some will not.

We are told the best way to achieve something is to set a goal. But Successful and unsuccessful people share the same goals. So, the goal can’t be what differentiates the winners from the losers.

What differentiates the winners (Goal Achievers) from the losers (Goal Non-achievers) is that the winners have an effective way of reaching the goal.  Losers do not.

Goal Achievers have discovered the “means” to the “end”.  They’ve engaged in “system-thinking” not “problem-solving”.  They’ve identified all the contributing factors that lead to success (the "lead measures") and then focused all their efforts on executing the systems & processes necessary to reach the objective (the "lag measure")

Let me give you an example.

There’s one desirable goal that doctors, staff, patients and parents can all agree on - getting every patient IN AND OUT of the office on time.  Let’s call that goal “On-time Appointments”.

So, if everyone wants it, why do so few offices consistently achieve it?

Well, Goal Non-achievers see it as a problem to be solved.  They try to fix it by working on an easy recognizable contributing factor like “slow” assistants or the scheduling template. But success eludes them because they’ve only addressed part of the issue and not the whole.

Goal Achievers, on the other hand, know the “problem” is not the problem; it’s a symptom of a bigger issue.  It’s the natural consequence of poorly designed or executed systems.  So, they set out to identify ALL the contributing factors, not just the obvious ones.  (See image) Then they design each system and execute the training necessary to achieve the objective.  With patience and perseverance, they relentlessly pursue correction of each contributing factor until the ultimate goal is achieved.

Remember, our “system” is the habitual way we do things in our office, whether it was well conceived or haphazardly developed. And all of the habits and decisions in our practice have brought us to this place!  Change our habits, change our decisions, get a different result.

It’s easy to think that we need to eliminate our problems, but problems are only symptoms of a faulty system, lousy habits or poor execution. What we really need to change are the systems that cause those problems, developing protocols that guarantee a great result every time, going from simply goal-setting to goal-achieving.

If we don’t, our practice will resemble the arcade game “whack a mole”. You hit one down only to have another pop up somewhere else, as we endlessly pursue a game that we can never win.