Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
Does your veterinary practice employ linchpins or factory workers? I recently read Seth Godin’s latest book, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? It is a wonderful book not only for practice owners and managers, but also for the entire team to read and discuss.
Godin does a good job of explaining the history behind the workforce of the twentieth century and how our nation came to be a culture of “factory workers”. The new millennium has brought a need for fewer factory workers and more linchpins in your organization.
So what’s the difference between a factory worker and a linchpin? As I traveled to the AAHA Long Beach Conference today, I witnessed a dazzling example of the factory worker mindset at Delta, while waiting for my flight connection in Salt Lake City. There was a big, beautiful computer monitor letting everyone know that upgrades to first class were still available on our flight for only $75.00. I watched a few passengers go up to the counter and some upgraded, while a few others were turned away. There was still a seat available, but they were turned away? Why?
I decided to investigate further by going up myself and asking about the upgrade. The client service agent looked at my ticket and said, “Sorry, but I can’t upgrade a T ticket. I’d love to take your money, but I can’t.” What?! On this flight, there were two types of seats: first class and coach. When the plane took off, there was still at least one remaining first class seat that several people had offered $75 for, but the “factory worker” refused, based on the letter of the alphabet that was stamped on the tickets. What would a Linchpin have done? A linchpin would have recognized the fact that $75 is $75 and if the seat stays empty, that’s money the company is losing directly from the bottom line. A Linchpin would have done the upgrade regardless of the “rules”, filling all the first class seats before take-off, making an additional $75 of profit for Delta.
What’s the big deal? It’s just $75…right? The big deal is that this is one flight at one terminal on a single day….amplify that by all the flights going in and out of all terminals, every day and that is a huge loss over a few short days or weeks.
What do I want on my veterinary team? Linchpins! I want people who will consider the rules and policies we have in place, but then think on their feet when the rules don’t coincide with the practice’s best interest. I want Linchpins who will recognize areas where we can improve and will speak up and have discussions with the owner or manager. I want Linchpins who will use their brains to first serve the client in the best interests of the patient (and practice), and ask forgiveness later if they overstepped any “rules” that didn’t make sense at the time.
Who’s in your practice?…linchpins or factory workers?
March 25th, 2010 at 9:24 am
Great article Brenda…
I tried a similar approach when I was managing our veterinary employees. I tried to explain that there were “red” rules adn “blue” rules. Red rules were never broken (spaying a dog without anesthetic would be an example). Blue laws, however, could be “bent” if the outcome served the patient and the client (whether to charge an after hours fee or not).