What Don't You Like About Our Office?

O.K. that may not be the best way to put it, but the principle needs to be explored.  We seem to always want testimonials from our practice members. But have you ever done a focus group and asked your people what they think can be improved in your office.  You may be surprised.  Of course, most people will say everything is fine and perhaps some of them are being honest.  There are the oblivious people who think everything is right in the world, at least, their world.  Before you begin to ask for responses, let your practice members know why you are asking.  You want, or should want to remove as many obstacles to people coming to your office as possible and make it a pleasant and enjoyable experience for them.  You want them to help you make any improvements that you can in your office.  This is something that you should do often in your office, probably every few years since your practice is probably growing and turning over as people move away or leave, perhaps for some of the very reasons that you will find out if you ask.

I remember when we did this in our office about six years ago, one of the comments we got was that a few practice members thought that the parking area was a little dark.  Living in the neighborhood (my home is directly behind the office), I never thought about it not being safe.   Some of the practice members come from the city or other areas that are not exactly the safest places after dark so they are not accustomed to dark areas, especially with trees and shrubs surrounding those areas.  Compared to center city Philadelphia, my office is like a walk in the woods.  The lighting that we had around the office, in my mind, was more for decorative purposes than safety.  I looked at the office from the practice member’s view and made some changes.  We had some spotlights added and the electric company also added another light above the parking lot.  I pay a few dollars a month and never have to worry about burned-out bulbs or turning the light off and on. They take care of it.  It’s worth the minimal cost to have the assurance that the parking lot is well-lit.  This caused me to begin to try to look at my office more from a practice member’s perspective.

 I have to warn you that the results of your survey/focus group, or whatever you want to call it, may be hard to take.  If the practice members are honest, and you hope that they will be, you may hear some things you don’t want to hear.  But we are in a service profession and the better we can serve, the more successful we will be.  So be prepared for some good, constructive criticism.

 You may also get some suggestions that simply cannot be accepted.  Hey, I’m sure some of your practice members might like you to have office hours between midnight and 4 in the morning!  Don’t think you have to accommodate everyone on every suggestion.  But if enough people think you need to make some changes and it is within your power to do it, consider the suggestion.  It may be difficult to get people to open up to you at the beginning, but I have found that if you seem to be sincerely interested in constructive criticism and you can get one or two people to get the ball rolling, it could be a productive time.  You don’t have to worry about it being a gripe session.  Don’t try this with staff members…you will get a totally different response.  If you do have a group session, don’t allow it to go on too long or it will degenerate or go the other way and become an “isn’t this a wonderful place” session.  People may feel obligated to balance out the criticism with praise.  That’s o.k., but remember you are not there to be told how wonderful you and your office are.  You want to make it a better, smoother-running practice.  Maintain control over the meeting but at the same time allow the practice members to have their say.  I would love to hear from you as to how it works for you.