It’s Monday again, and you wake up realizing there are at least ten things to do in the office today. Petitions, client meetings, trips to the bank and the post office, answer the phone messages that came in over the weekend . . . the list goes on and on, and you’re not even in the office yet.
Of course, once 9am hits the world explodes. The phones start ringing, staff members filter in with a variety of problems, and by lunch you feel as if you’ve been sitting at your desk for a month without a bathroom break.
You’re always putting out fires, but that’s the rule when you run your own firm, right? Wrong. You see, the fires erupt only when you’re not in control of your surroundings. Sure, there will always be unexpected issues that arise. But when you’re in control, you can handle the issues as they come up because you’ve got a plan in place for dealing with these sorts of things.
Control is attained only by having a plan, and a system for dealing with every facet of your practice. How a client file flows through the office, where things get put, how phones get answered. I’m not talking about some amorphous theory of picking up the phone when it rings, I”m talking about scripting out the entire dance. Yes, the entire dance.
I call it a dance because, well, it is one. For a business to operate properly, all players must move in perfect harmony at all times. Fred and Ginger were never caught on film stepping on toes, were they? So, too, must your business glide effortless from place to place on the dance floor.
We’ll chat more about this dance of organization, but for now spend a week tracking where the fires erupt. We’ll work on those spots first, then work to the less mission-critical aspects of the business.
