The Medical Management Podcast_Being Your Best Self in a Planning Session : Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

The Medical Management Podcast_Being Your Best Self in a Planning Session : this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Jay Holmes:
Welcome to the Medical Management Podcast. A podcast focused on helping you level up your practice. Through interviews with some of the most successful leaders in the industry, we help uncover resources, tools, and ideas to help you level up your practice. Thanks for tuning in and we hope you enjoy today's program.

Jesse Arnoldson:
Hello and welcome to the Medical Management Podcast, I'm your host, Jesse Arnoldson, I'm joined today by our co-host Jay Holmes. Jay, welcome back!

Jay Holmes:
Thanks, man, always fun!

Jesse Arnoldson:
Today we're going to talk a little bit about what it means to take full advantage of the time we take when we step outside our clinics to do some strategic planning. How we can make the best of those short hours that are just so valuable. Jay is going to kind of talk us through what we can do before, during, and after to get the most out of our planning sessions. So, Jay, you know, I'll be honest, sometimes it can be really hard to convince ourselves, convince the physicians we work with to sacrifice probably what would be a day in the clinic making revenue to step outside of their, step outside of the operations and the weeds, get away from it all and put our minds to some of the big picture stuff. I want to kind of have a conversation with you on how we make the most of it. What's probably the most important thing before we ever even get to the planning session day that we should be doing?

Jay Holmes:
Well, first, it's actually having a planning process, right? Like having that foundation is just critical and having faith in it. Having faith that aimlessly wandering around your business is not the ideal situation, and some sort of structure is beneficial. And to me, you've got to start with the confidence. You have to start with that. It's so important, we need it to get to where we need to go. So that's really the intro here of how do you start out this planning process? It isn't, you go, you know, you got to champion that. And just like you said, you know, we have to convince the team that this is worthwhile. We have to convince the team that thinking about the future is going to be more beneficial in the long run than just deferring all those fires that we need to put out.

Jesse Arnoldson:
Absolutely, absolutely. And you know, I've been in sessions before where maybe there isn't the faith. I hadn't thought about that before, but actually having faith in the process, it'll deliver some sort of result worthy of the time spent on it. So yeah. Jay, what would you say to the people, you know, once we have the process figured out of how we want to do it and we have the right kind of positive outlook of it, you know, the faith that it's going to do us some good, what are the things we need to do like maybe a tangible checklist of things we need to do before we get into the planning session?

Jay Holmes:
Well, you know, I'm going to add to the first question real quick, because I think this is important.

Jesse Arnoldson:
Yeah, yeah. Go ahead.

Jay Holmes:
You know, part of the planning process isn't just looking ahead in the next 90 days or six months or a year. I think the really important part of a planning process is looking 3, 5, 10 years down the road and really putting in the energy to synergize around that with your team, right? That really sets the foundation for everything that comes next. And so that's why I'll just have to say, add that to the list of let's just not sit around and think what we're going to do for the next 90 days.

Jesse Arnoldson:
Right.

Jay Holmes:
The planning process starts with long-term. Where do we want to be? And I'm going to tell you that helps so much because through a process of reflection, you really begin to understand and get frustrated by your lack of progress towards that. And I think that's what really instills the if we don't have this, we're doomed. So let's double down. Let's keep pushing because this is the only way we're going to get there because we've been telling ourselves we want to get to a certain place and we're not close. And so that, you know, but you don't know you're not close unless you actually set that, that stake in the ground. So that's where I want to be.

Jesse Arnoldson:
Absolutely.

Jay Holmes:
And so I'd say that's really the preparation, the mindset. Mindset is key. But then moving forward. The biggest challenge I have and I think most of us have is really the, we work into the trees every day and we don't see the forest. And certainly, when you're trying to condense your week, you're doing more and more in a short amount of time, all you're doing is getting more granular. You're going from the trees down to like the shrubs down to like the grain of sand. That's where the level of focus is to get everything done in three days that usually have five days to do, so you're going to have that day and a half for the planning session. So I find one. You have to be very intentional about building up to the planning session and really allowing yourself. It's almost like stretching before you go for a run or exercise, you have to stretch the 30,000-foot level mind. And so, you know, one thing I try to do certainly is set aside time, and I usually do it in the morning, you know, wake up, 5:30 to 7ish, 7:30. No one's up. There's no emails. There's no one to call, really a couple of times before we get to the planning session, just so that I can create the space to just think bigger and not be just consumed with everything. Because once you get in that planning session, it's really important to think big. And if you don't give yourself enough lead time, oftentimes your brain is going to be full of all the little to-dos that you're thinking about. And while those are important, they certainly aren't important when you're trying to prioritize and think big, so create some space and prioritize that.

Jesse Arnoldson:
I think that's amazing, because that's the thing, you know, a lot of times when we get into a planning session, it almost feels like we just got together to put together a big to-do list. And that's not it, right? Like, that's not the purpose of it, and that keeps us in the trees, and in fact, it puts us in the roots. It doesn't.

Jay Holmes:
Yeah, absolutely!

Jesse Arnoldson:
I don't think it gets anywhere, near seeing the forest.

Jay Holmes:
And that's OK, though. I mean that is ...

Jesse Arnoldson:
It has its place.

Jay Holmes:
Of it. But then what you have to do with it is say, now that we have all these issues, which five or six are going to have the biggest impact. And that's why you really need to separate yourself to say, OK, well, look, I know that everyone has issues, we're going to bring them together. But then, right, knowing and that's, you know, there is just as much art as there is science is really predicting what levers are you going to move to get you closer based on the ever-changing landscape. A couple of other things I like to do. I read books, articles, or podcasts in preparation. Not necessarily the same ones, but certainly a couple of my go-to. You obviously know The Knowledge Project by Shane Parrish.

Jesse Arnoldson:
Right, yeah.

Jay Holmes:
Listen to Akimbo by Seth Godin. I listen to a couple of others that are more broader and really, what I'm trying to get here is that cross-pollination where I hear something completely left-field from a different industry, from a different, sometimes different planet seems like and that helps me dislodge my day-to-day thinking so that when I can come in, I'm not as stuck in that rut, that mind-rut that we're usually in. So I'll try to do that a couple of times, three or four days before. I listen to a couple thought-provoking, put you out in a different thing, not necessarily related. They certainly don't have to be business-minded things. Just allow yourself, again, we're working on the mental stretching here. Stretch those muscles out a little bit just to create some space for something new. And back to the issues list that you mentioned, I find it very beneficial to review in its entirety the issues that have accumulated, and sometimes you know, the ones that just aren't current, but the ones that you've had in the past. And so there's an, obviously a necessity to have an issues list or keep track of all those issues that come up. But that gets me in the frame, the frame of mind, really the relevance, and then I can kind of start working on that priority and putting all those pieces together and say, hey, you know, there's, seems like we have a big push here, or it seems like, you know, there are similarities and issues and that can sometimes help priority. If we fix this hole, we plug that hole we're going to spend a lot less time bailing out the boat, we can actually sail a little bit.

Jesse Arnoldson:
Yeah.

Jay Holmes:
A book that I'd recommend that has had a huge impact to me is the EMyth, why most small businesses don't work and what to do about it. It's a book by Michael Gerber. And.

Jesse Arnoldson:
Okay.

Jay Holmes:
It's, emphasizes the working in the business versus working on the business. And that's really what we're doing here is we're working on the business. We're saying if we can tweak how we do things or the path that we take to get to where we want to go, if we can become more efficient and more effective, for the same amount of work we do, we're going to get more out of that. And too often we use the same tools and we travel the same path. And because of that, there's a direct correlation between the energy you put in and the output you get. But by working on the business, what you're doing is you're changing that conversion factor. The more work I put in can actually equate to so much more that comes out. But unless we pause and think about processes and systems and ultimately where we're going, we'll never get there. And so that's certainly part of all this too. A book I'd recommend. Another thing is just reflecting we just had an amazing planning session, and for me, there's really, the biggest reflection is why aren't we getting things done? In our planning process we call them rocks. These are the big items that we have to take care of. We use a 90-day term, so we set rocks for the next 90 days to get it done. It helps the procrastinators in us to get things done.

Jesse Arnoldson:
Right, exactly.

Jay Holmes:
But these rocks, right, so, not always, they don't always get done. And so it's important to reflect because this whole system, planning processes, is they're here so that you can actually attain your goal. And we know that you generally not due to a lack of effort. Generally, do.

Jesse Arnoldson:
You never show up and you're like, hey, you know, I just had all the time in the world and wasn't feeling it?

Jay Holmes:
Yeah. You know, just that quarter, I work like 10 days. And.

Jesse Arnoldson:
Yeah.

Jay Holmes:
But you know, no big deal. No, you're always doing stuff, and the frustrating thing is that you're not doing the right stuff. And so you always have to reflect on what truly is your priority. And just because you put stuff down on paper, what are you doing instead of those most important things? And it just helps you realign and understand, was it a capacity issue? You just don't have enough time to do it because of this or the other thing? Or is it really it's just not the priorities. And I think that's kind of what we reflected this last planning session, is that we're not calling out the real priority here. We're pretending that we're all superheroes and we can do those 10 things that we know are the most, the biggest priorities, and these other 10 things that we think we need to do, right? And we know that you just, less is more. And so reflecting on how you got there really helps me then be a lot more laser-focused because I'd rather have two or three most important things for the next 90 days and know that if we get those done right, all of a sudden the machine of this business that we have might get three or four percent more efficient. And what would that look like? We could work less. We could make more. I mean, that's really what we're after here. So you've got to get things right, you know, oftentimes five things are 70 percent done. Don't even compare that one thing that you just knocked out of the park. And that's really what you've got to think through.

Jesse Arnoldson:
Absolutely. Let me think through this, so, I think the main points from what you just said are we have to reflect. That's one of the biggest things, we have to reflect. We have to think about, you know, things on the business not necessarily in, that requires us to probably do a brain dump and get everything from in the business onto a piece of paper so that we can actually think about the big picture, right? We need to kind of trigger our big picture thinking, you know, whether buy books or podcasts. I love all that. I think, you know, in addition, one of the things I do, Jay, or I try to do, I try and think about, OK, you know, my contribution to this planning session is I've got to be present in my best mind and with my decision-making skills on point, like that's where I need to be. So I need to get a good night's sleep. I need to have everything that I need for that planning session set on my backpack the night before, I need to leave like, if it takes me a half an hour to get there, I'm probably going to leave an hour to get there twice as long as I actually need because I want to show up. Not stressed, well-rested. I'm same as you. I start, I try and listen to a few things to get my head moving. I try and show up with my issues list prepared. So it's not, you know, the operational stuff isn't blocking my brain. Very, very similar styles, Jay. But that's the most important thing because each of us, if you think about it, the process only works as good as the participants in it are willing to give effort and be there. And so we have to do our best to show up right. Once we've shown up, I love what you're saying. You know, we've got to be laser-focused on those three to, they say, three to seven issues, but seven even gets a little high for me. I just came out of a planning session where we set eight and it felt like just too many.

Jay Holmes:
Time to learn.

Jesse Arnoldson:
Yeah, yeah.

Jay Holmes:
That in 90 days, you're going to reflect and say, OK, and we've all done it. That's the funny thing.

Jesse Arnoldson:
Yeah, we all do it.

Jay Holmes:
We all, yeah, bite off way more than we can chew, that's for sure.

Jesse Arnoldson:
But that's the whole point. You know, you said that we have a 90-day term. We used to do one-year plans. I think that one of the unintended consequences or results from moving to a 90-day cadence of getting together and planning every 90 days is we have a faster feedback loop and we can learn a lot quicker about, you know, how we plan, how well we do, the decisions we make, how we set goals. We're learning faster, which is extremely beneficial. Jay, are there other things as an individual participant inside the planning session that you can do to be a better participant to give a better version of yourself?

Jay Holmes:
Well, you know, having your brain, your mind at top peak performance, I think that was key and you kind of brought that up. So certainly think through how do you interact? What time of the day are you more active, your brain? What are those things that pull you down? Do you need to eat? Or man, Jesse, could probably eat every half hour and be at peak performance that's just brain fuel. But other people, like, have the dip at certain times. Some people like to walk around, so people need a little exercise and let's not just say some people need to exercise. Everybody does. Some people just don't know they'd need it. And so, you know, some people get energized by socializing. So really, just understand what you need, what don't, you don't need, and then just try to be honest and not feel like you're going to be pulled in, peer-pressure, so that, if you need a 15-minute walk just to clear your mind and take some, internalize some things, maybe support your introverted self, you know, try to put that in the planning agenda because it's really important. So know who you are, know how you get energized and then make sure that the agenda falls. And as a team, you obviously, there's multiple people that make the team really good, so think about that, certainly. You know, there's different aspects of note-taking, I think is important to understand how do you, how do you get the best out of a planning session while you're there? Certainly, there has got to be a dedicated note-taker. There's got to be a place where you can dump ideas and then retrace, retract so that you can continue the momentum but not lose a bunch of time and effort trying to think what you said before. And then, of course, choosing the right facilitator to.

Jesse Arnoldson:
Absolutely.

Jay Holmes:
Pull you along because I mean, rabbit holes are fun and all, but they're only fun for the first five minutes. Don't be fooled. A planning session has a deliverable, and that's a plan. And so when you leave that planning session, you've got to have a plan, period. It's not well, then next week will fill this in or the next week. Sure, there's times where we leave a plan to say, you know what? Our rocks are just not quite right. We all understand, we get the gist of it. But we want to make it a smarter rock. Sure, go for it. But there's no we'll do it next week or the next week. You've got to get it done. So having that facilitator is really important as well.

Jesse Arnoldson:
I love it. That's been a big discussion point between our group, you know, because we, our main facilitator retired. And to be honest, I don't want either of any of us to be the full-time facilitator in that because it's too hard for us to give our very best as a participant and a facilitator at the same time. So we, we're figuring that out. But yeah, definitely not putting too much of another responsibility on one of the participants, whether that's no taking or facilitating. If you don't have a designated person for that, breaking it up amongst the group can help, for sure. What do you think about, what happens after, you know, we leave the planning session, what are some of the most important things that each of us have to do as individuals to, I guess, either support or make the most out of that plan, that deliverable as you called it?

Jay Holmes:
Yeah. And this is just learning from reflection here because we have, in our pursuit to be perfect, we've fallen short and some of the themes here are elevating the rocks that you have or that you can help influence to the most important things in the day, okay, of the week. And that's really challenging to do and to help with that. I, for a while now, will have start my day by looking at our V/TO, which are vision/traction organizer. The V/TO is in the EOS world, the planning, the operating system that we use goes through our values, it goes through our vision, mission, 10-year target, 3-year picture, gives us a perspective on where we want to go. And so I force myself to start every day looking at that so that I can be very clear about what I use my time for. And if I'm getting pulled in and why I've done that is because I am susceptible to flashy and shiny things. And so they pull me along, I get distracted, looks good, hours go by and ultimately I've spent a bunch of time that isn't really in line with what we should be doing. And so that's a tool or more of a process that I've started to build up because I think it's important. So you have to take the effort and the work that you put out in that planning session. You've got to put it in front your face on a daily basis. OK, then what you have to do in that is all to help remind you why these rocks that you've set are so important. Then you have to set aside time and actually follow through with dedicated time to get the stuff done every single week, every single day. And it's not important that you check boxes off. It's important that you spent two hours this week moving something forward, and it's critical that that process starts the week after your planning session because everything doesn't go as planned and things come up and things drag you down.So it's foolish to think that, oh, I'll get that time. I just need to get this done, and I'll get that time next week. That's limited.

Jesse Arnoldson:
Fool's errand!

Jay Holmes:
Yeah, yeah. So you have to start just sprinting right after that planning session.

Jesse Arnoldson:
Right.

Jay Holmes:
And maybe once in your life, you'll get it done a month before. But I tell you what, we've been trying it for a while. It hasn't happened to me.

Jesse Arnoldson:
No.

Jay Holmes:
So that being said, get on it right away, have rough drafts. It's OK to redo it and revise it. This isn't, whenever it is, right? You think through, having multiple drafts is always, you're always going have a better outcome. Than you just whipping something together and say, oh, here it is. I got it done so.

Jesse Arnoldson:
Absolutely.

Jay Holmes:
It's really about just as soon as possible. The next day, the next week gets started.

Jesse Arnoldson:
Yeah. Amen. You just get where it goes so fast. It just and you're going to be back in the trees. And if you don't have that as a priority, if you don't have that right in front of you, you're going to get lost in the operations again. And 90 days or 6 months later, whatever your next planning session, you're going to be having to explain why, why it didn't get done on time. Well, because I started two weeks ago, you know, kind of thing.

Jay Holmes:
Right! And there's always excuses, right?

Jesse Arnoldson:
Yeah.

Jay Holmes:
Like, and I think this is the beauty of the planning process. Just take a step back here is that we all go into it with the faith that this is necessary. And again, it's not by lack of intention, it's just by lack of prioritization of where your energy is going. And so when we reflect and we say we only got 40 percent of our rocks done, it isn't a big just depression, you know, a depressed planning session like, oh, we suck, we're horrible. No, it's we just tried that, we learn from it, and we always want to do better. So let's not point fingers and say you suck or I suck. What did we learn? How can we get more real with the situation we live in that we work in and then change so that we can actually get stuff done, right? And that's what, this last planning session we significantly reduced our rocks, we were laser-focused on what the most important thing is. And then now, one thing to add, but it's about the rock, is you have to say, no, you absolutely have to say no. If you're not making progress on the rock or two that you have, then that next thing that comes up that's not a rock, it's not mission-critical, you have to say no. And I tell you what, that's the hardest thing to do.

Jesse Arnoldson:
Absolutely. So coming out, getting started right away, using it to say no to bright, shiny objects. I'm going to add a third one of no matter what, it's time to support it because your chance to make an impact on the decisions was in the planning session. And that's the time to argue like, hell, you know, inside the planning session. But outside of it, that's gospel doctrine right there. Whether I disagreed with it inside the planning session or not, it's time to support it and get it, get it done, right?

Jay Holmes:
Yeah. And let's go back to the middle question, which was, you know, what are you going to do to bring your best self and get the most out of the actual planning session, because you brought something up that really hit a nerve, is that you have to be willing to be uncomfortable when you go into a planning session, which I think goes a long way with trust in your team. You have to be open and honest. You all have to have the understanding that you are there to make the company better and ultimately reach their goals, its goal. And so being able to tell somebody they're out of their mind or there's no way it's going to work or tell me more, tell me more. I still don't get it. You have to be willing to be uncomfortable, not for the sake of me feeling better about myself, but just because the passion you have for the success of your organization. Is more than my personal feelings in the moment.

Jesse Arnoldson:
Right.

Jay Holmes:
Like you said, once that planning session is over, we've all put it out there, we've all made the decision and now we're aligned. You have to stay aligned. You push forward and there's know there's magic in that.

Jesse Arnoldson:
Jay, Beautiful. I love it. Let's end it there. I think this has been so helpful. You know, we really do have a responsibility to our organizations to be our best self, the best participant we possibly can. And that that requires a lot, before, during, and after these planning sessions, because this is the time we have to really move forward on those visions that we have. So thank you for everything you shared. Appreciate it, Jay.

Jay Holmes:
Hey, glad to share. And again, this is the most important time you can spend because it makes everything easier down the road. You got, you got to hold on to that.

Jesse Arnoldson:
Absolutely. And to our guests, thanks again for tuning in. We hope this was beneficial. And then your next planning session is the best it possibly can be. We'll see you next week.

Jay Holmes:
Thanks for tuning in to the Medical Management Podcast. We hope you enjoyed today's featured guest. For the show notes, transcripts, resources, and everything else MedMan does to help you level up be sure to visit us at MedMan.com

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Episode Summary

 

How can we be the most effective and successful in our out-of-clinic planning sessions?

 

This week’s topic and hosts, Jesse and Jay, are ready to give you the best advice ever! Jay starts saying that the best planning sessions have planning processes in place. Setting aside time to plan your sessions is extremely important to not dwell on the long list of to-dos. Reflection is also a great space to let things digest. Knowing yourself is truly important to always be on top of your game for the meetings. These sessions need the team’s complete openness and vulnerability, and once ended, everyone must stay aligned.

 

Get to your planning sessions with these incredible pieces of advice!!

 

Key Take-Aways

    • Before any planning session, there needs to be a planning process.

 

    • Having confidence in the planning sessions is needed in the team.

 

    • Teams must be convinced that planning sessions are worth their time.

 

    • Mid-term planning is more successful than putting fires on the way every day.

 

    • Create some space for you to plan the planning session.

 

    • Preparation can include listening to podcasts, reading books about your industry or related topics, or going out for a walk to clear your mind.

 

    • Keeping track of the issues in your meetings gives you a perspective of how things are going.

 

    • Planning sessions must have a designated note-taker.

 

    • The more rough drafts you can have, the better outcome will be.

 

    • Vulnerability and openness are necessary for planning sessions.

 

Resources

 

    • Listen to the Knowledge Project Podcast here

 

    • Listen to Akimbo Podcast here

 

    • Find everything about the EMyth here

 

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