Wednesday, June 8th, 2011
If you could work really, really hard at something you absolutely LOVE for 20 or 25 years, then could put people in place to keep things growing and prospering without you there, would you do it? I think it’s something we all work towards, but very few people achieve early enough in their lives to truly start a second chapter and enjoy it to its fullest. Today, my boss made that leap all the way to the west coast of the country. He moved to California, leaving me and my right-hand Medical Director, along with an aspiring group of leaders at the helm of his 30-year-old veterinary practice. I believe he has taken “long distance management” to a completely different level.
Many practices have tried long distance management, ours included….but long distance ownership? How is that going to work? It’s actually sheer genius on the part of our practice owner. For the past eight years he has been working hard at mentoring strong leaders, myself included; and guiding his Associates towards becoming confident, top-notch veterinarians. Three years ago, he pulled himself completely off the schedule and purposely started traveling. Each trip was a little longer, until he was living on the west coast about half the year.
He did several things that are key to this whole “experiment” working:
- Multiple checks and balances in all areas of the business! This protects him, it protects the business, and it protects myself and the employees of the practice.
- He groomed a leader (that would be me), for several years to take the helm and keep moving forward. Many of his friends and colleagues have said, “you’re just lucky”…but, there’s only a certain amount of luck involved in the development of this Owner-Manager team. We found the right mix or balance of talent, and he used that as a foundation to mentor me to continue as a strong leader in his absence.
- He did trial runs to see how it would work. Over the past three years, he has traveled and lived on the west coast for longer and longer periods of time, gradually turning more and more duties over to me. This gave us the time we needed to see how things would work, and tweak the things that didn’t, until they did!
- We developed communication tools that worked for both of us. I create monthly and quarterly reports for him, that keep him tuned in to the pulse of the practices. In turn, he checks in with me almost daily (during the week) to see if I need anything or just to tell me what the weather’s like on the beach….not sure I like those weather forecasts when Indiana is getting pounded by ice & snow in the middle of February!
This notion of long distance ownership is really just a grand experiment at this point in time. He will always maintain a home base here in Indianapolis, but the question remains to be seen how much time he’ll actually “live” here. I’ll be sure to keep you updated, as we go along…in the meantime, I have a a couple of practices to run!
Tags: alternative management strategy, checks and balances, experiment, long distance, ownership
June 8th, 2011 at 3:11 pm
You have an enviable relationship but I realize the depth of strategic planning, trust, and hardwork.
June 9th, 2011 at 3:15 pm
Brenda, you always seem to have your finger on the pulse of new & innovative trend setting. Good Luck to all!
June 17th, 2011 at 6:20 pm
Dr. B knows a good thing when he sees it. The hard work that you both have put into growing to this point will pay off.