The morning huddle.
At worst – there is no morning huddle:
- we all start at different times
- we cannot get everybody to arrive at the same time
- if a patient wants to be seen at 07:30 in the morning – we come in – so we cannot attend a morning huddle
- we have specialists arriving on different days and so they will not attend a morning huddle
- many of our team are part-time
- we run two separate shifts
Then there is the morning huddle that everyone attends – because they have to – but which has the team spirit of the post-iceberg Titanic:
- team members staring at the floor
- associates arriving late
- people fiddling with iPhones
- monotone dialogue from those who do speak
- a focus on operational matters – is everything working and is all the lab work here?
At best – the morning huddle is the most important part of the day and
IS FOCUSED ON HUMAN INTEREST MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES
- new patient consults
- end of treatment conversations (see Part 9)
- VIP patients
- nervous patients
- troublesome patients
- news about patients and patients in the news
I mentioned in Part 9 the common problem is that everyone in the practice:
- thinks that it is great to get reviews, testimonials and recommendations
- thinks that it is somebody else’s job to do that
and so patients escape the building after positive emotional experiences, without being asked any of the questions in the End of Treatment Conversation – simply because everyone expects someone else to do it.
So at a morning huddle, accountability is agreed and the important work of Human Interest Marketing gets done.
When I get the list of excuses with which I began, all I can really do is explain that the practice is consequently doomed to throw money at interrupting strangers – and explain that the practices who have successful morning huddles simply understand the priority.
Q1 – if you don’t have morning huddles – why not?
Q2 – if your morning huddles have become a daily motivational funeral – what are you going to do about it?
