The FOE Meeting
By Paul Martin, PT, MPT, CBI, M&AMI
Strategic Planning is vital to the success of any rehabilitation company. However, in our experience the biggest challenge is not “creating” the plan, it is “staying” with the plan. I would like to share a strategy that will help keep you on track in the execution of your plan.
Dennis Bush, our senior vice president of consulting services, has developed a discipline with many of our clients called a Finance/Operations and Executive (FOE) meeting, in which senior leaders of the company such as the chief executive, chief financial, and chief operating officers participate. These meetings are held quarterly and should be scheduled when all of the previous quarter financial and operations data is ready to review (middle to end of April, July, October, and January). The agenda should include a review of financial and operations data, staff performance, clinical performance, service performance, and any upcoming projects and deadlines. A review of the progress against the strategic plan should be performed at this meeting as well.
What makes this meeting different, is tied up in the meaning of foe. A foe is a personal enemy or opponent or one who is opposed to an idea or cause. The general theme of these meetings is that the executives need to become adversaries to the organization, diving into performance that is less than what was expected, in order to ascertain how and what they need to do to correct this performance in the next quarter. This is the time and place to create “dynamic tension” in your organization. We typically recommend the participation of someone from the outside who can challenge the group in these meetings—as this is a great way to buffer some of the exchange between the senior leaders and maintain order.
We are not advocating fighting among senior executives. The goal of each FOE Meeting is to create enough tension around the status quo that the “FOE” group moves toward open thinking, brainstorming, idea generation, and ultimately, problem solving and decision making. All with the intent to move forward with positive actions!
Get the 2015 Strategic Plan completed, and then schedule your FOEs!
Paul Martin, PT, MPT, CBI, M&AMI president of Martin Healthcare Advisors, is a nationally recognized expert on health care business development and succession planning. As a consultant, mentor, and speaker, Paul assists business owners with building value in their companies. He has authored The Ultimate Success Guide, numerous industry articles, and weekly Friday Morning Moments. He can be reached at pmartin@martinhealthcareadvisors.com.