"I don't have the time" - don't drop the baton

During a client call yesterday, I was reminded of the Harry Beckwith quotation:

“there is no performance without accountability and no accountability without measurement.”

It seems that some team members are dropping the baton when it comes to measurement - that important KPIs and metrics are being missed:

• How many new patient enquiries this week?

• What percentage converted to a TCO assessment?

• What percentage converted to a clinical consult?

• What percentage converted to treatment?

• What was the average new treatment plan value?

• Where do most of our new patients hear about us?

The reason given for missing these important metrics is.......

"I don't have the time."

That's always a moment to remind ourselves that time management is an artificial construct - there's no such thing.

The cliche is that we all have 24 hours a day and it's what we do with them that matters.

To put it another way - there is only priority management.

I haven't got the time to ride my bike for an hour after I've written this post - but I make it a priority.

You may well not feel as if you have the time to measure, with Covid-compliance and patient demand causing unprecedented pressure - but you must make measurement a priority, otherwise you will ultimately lose the plot.

When patient demand declines (as it inevitably must) you will not know what to do.

It is the responsibility of every owner and manager to ensure that measurement (of everything - not just the examples given above) remains a priority - the accountability comes through the daily huddle, weekly reflection and monthly management meetings.