From the President

By Mike Horsfield, PT, MBA

Dear Friends,

Getting the people part of our businesses right makes everything else we do easier and more rewarding.

The words “staff” and “employees” have always made me uncomfortable. These terms don’t do justice to the people we work alongside who help us deliver our mission and vision to our communities. That is why it is essential we manage our staffing ratios and labor expense and lead our team.

The PPS KPI project allows you to benchmark and compare your team’s productivity with other like practices. Our people “expense” makes up 70-80% of our cost and it is essential we keep a close eye on this and manage it effectively. The PPS website has many operational videos and calculators that help you appreciate the financial impact small improvements in productivity will have on your bottom line.

While metrics matter to our businesses, words and meaning matter more to our teams. Staffing ratios and productivity don’t resonate with our PT “Peace Corps gene.” When we frame an increase in visits per day as the desired outcome of a job well done it can change the lens in which our team views this measure. The reward of great work is more work. When we do a great job, our patients show up, they tell other people, and our schedules fill up. Is there a better global outcome measure for our team than having more demand for our services than we can provide? It is how most of us built our companies. It is the way we add more great people to our team and thereby make each of our jobs easier.

In this month’s edition, our talented Impact authors tackle the nuances of getting the right people on your team. We are in the business of taking care of people and that starts with the people we work alongside. Never forget, when we are taking care of people, words matter.

Take care,

The next Board meeting will take place March 9th, 2021 at 3 PM EST.