What Would Laura Do First

I have been an office manager during the good times and the bad times, and I can tell you that we always come out of it. I know that this bad time or dip is not like any other, but you will come out of it.

Your perception and approach during this time will impact the remainder of the year.

You could decide to sit back, be frustrated, complain about how bad it is and then when it is over, you are no better but have more wrinkles. You can also take this time as a forced vacation at home and still come out of it with nothing to show. Or, you could decide that this is not a crisis as much as an opportunity for you, your team, and your business. This is the time we have all been complaining that we don’t have enough of – why don’t you make the most out of it?

Start today and make the most of this time you have been given. Use this list as a guide. You don’t have to do them all but pick things you think will help you and get them going now. We have no idea how long this will last but if you don’t start now, you will regret the time you wasted doing nothing.

• Pull out the to-do list and prioritize each item on the list. If you don’t have a list – use this one as your starting point and add to it.
• Set up consistent communication with your team. Check in with them regularly, one on one. If you are still paying them, schedule a meeting and/or training with them each week. Get everyone set up on Zoom or any remote meeting platform so they can log in from home to discuss things you have to work on or to do group training.
• Decide what you want your team to discuss, learn, or work on during these meetings. There are plenty of things that the team could improve upon. Our team members are home and will want some adult interaction and let’s take advantage of that opportunity to relate and collaborate.
  Give your team the opportunity to grow and learn while they have the time and are not busy taking care of patients. This is a perfect time to get training set up for them to train from home. Have them focus on their particular position or assign training like a book club and then come together to discuss the training as a team.
• Work on your office – there is plenty to do. Most of the time, we are so busy that we don’t give our office the TLC it needs. Develop a list of things that need to be cleaned, fixed, updated, or just organized and start on those projects. Some of your team members may really welcome the opportunity to come into the office and work on these things without having kids around or the news reminding them of what is going on every minute of the day.
• Work on yourself. What a great time to sign up for some non-clinical training for you. There are awesome leadership, business, communication and other courses that can help you grow as a leader for your team. The same is true for your team. This is a chance for them to take a few classes in areas they need to improve upon personally or to cross-train so when they come back together, they are a better version of themselves and able to jump in more places to help.
• Review your policies with a fresh eye and update each of them. There are many out dated policies and processes in the offices. You have the time to update them or develop new policies focusing on things that need to be addressed and film videos to train the team on the details of how things should be done. These activities pay off in the long run especially for new hire training and job changes.

Did this list get you thinking about your own? I am sure this has created some ideas for you that you can start to do right away.

Need help prioritizing what to do?

Register here for our LIVE Webinar coming up on Wednesday, March 25th at 10:00 am (pst) / 1 pm (cst) where Laura will be outlining ALL the projects and things your team can be working on during this downtime.

You can make an impact during this shut down or slow down and come out better than when it started.

If you need more ideas, or help with this, we have a detailed list things you can work on and training content available – we can help at Front Office Rocks.