Culture is Caring

Workplace culture does not come form an HR manual.

Workplace culture does not come from a fancy coffee machine in the breakroom.

Workplace culture does not come from unlimited PTO.

Culture is built when leadership takes the time to learn about their employees, celebrate their accomplishments and is genuine in their actions. To get to the point, culture is caring. As a practice owner building this culture takes time and energy, these micro conversations with employees that, over time, can give you insight into an employee and what drives them. Sure there is a financial component involved in building culture but the majority of culture comes from taking the time and genuinely getting to know your staff. Do you know the name of your front desk staff’s spouse? Do you know the name of your medical assistants dog? They may seem like minor details but knowing these small details and asking about them shows that you are engaged with your employees and you care.

Be consistent with your actions and write down some situations where you want to celebrate people and events that help build your practice culture. Some situations to celebrate that can aid in growing this culture are:

-Wedding showers

-Baby showers

-Goodie basket if someone gets a new dog or cat

-Celebrating graduations of your staff

-Celebrating length of employment of staff

-If there is a death in the family, send flowers or write a personal note

It may seem like a lot to keep up with especially while starting a practice and seeing patients. However, great leaders can strike the balance of work and making sure their employees feel valued, listened to and cared for. By taking the time, and some money, to build this culture you can retain staff, reduce the cost of high turnover, deliver great patient care by having consistent staff and earn a great reputation in the community.