Search
Close this search box.
over 200,000 downloads

Episode 191 | EOS and Accountability with Casey Gromer

Casey (1)

WITH Casey Gromer

00:00
00:00
  • Episode 191 | EOS and Accountability with Casey Gromer 00:00

Share

Hey Group Practice listeners! Casey Gromer, the integrator for The Group Practice Exchange, is guest hosting the podcast about the one tool every practice owner needs to take a step back from their business, namely the entrepreneurial Operating System or EOS.

In this episode we cover:

  • EOS – a valuable business tool for group practice owners
  • Six components that make EOS a valuable operations framework and the simplified version
  • Visionary and integrator role in the business
  • Excellent book recommendations for in-depth EOS concept and application
  • Favorite pillar in the framework, accountability, and its elements

Links mentioned in the episode:

This episode is sponsored by TherapyNotes. TherapyNotes is an EHR software that helps behavioral health professionals manage their practice with confidence and efficiency. I use TherapyNotes in my own group practice and love its amazing support team, billing features, and scheduling capabilities. It serves us well as a large group practice owner.

Do you ever wish for a financial therapist who could relieve you from the last few months’ bookkeeping, talk you off the edge when you’re running into issues with Quickbooks, or help you work through a profit plan for growth? GreenOak Accounting does just that! GreenOak Accounting is an accounting firm that specializes in working with group practices. Their value goes WAY beyond bookkeeping; they can help you get on track for financial success. Schedule a free consultation by going to http://greenoakaccounting.com/tgpe

Transcript:

Maureen Werrbach

Hello and welcome to the group practice exchange podcast. I’m Casey Gromer. I am the integrator for The Group Practice Exchange and I am a guest host for the podcast today. So in case we haven’t met before, hello, it’s so nice to meet you! And, if we haven’t met before, and if you have not heard from me, you can go back to episode 173 of the group practice exchange podcast, where Maureen and I are talking all about how we work together.

And in what capacity, Maureen asked me to talk to you today on the podcast about EOS. Many of you are either already implementing EOS in your group practices, or you’ve been curious about it. And even if you haven’t heard about EOS, this is going to be a really valuable episode for you. We’re just going to be covering what the heck is EOS and why it’s a valuable tool for you as a group practice.

And we’re going to touch on one of my favorite pillars of EOS, which is accountability, which is one of the most asked questions that we get in the group practice exchange. So come along for the ride and let’s see if we can introduce you to EOS. First of all, what the heck is E O S? E O S is an acronym it stands for…

Entrepreneurial operating system. The way that EOS works are this is a business operations framework. The way we look at business operations in smaller businesses, as our group practices are that operations really is what sits above the entire business. It’s how your whole business is run. There are six components of EOS that make it so.

A valuable framework. The first component is the vision. And the purpose of the vision is that it aligns your team and creates a focus on the business. The second component is people. The idea is that we need the right people sitting in the right seats in order to accomplish your vision. Data is another component of E O S.

the reason data is so important is this. We measure performance and it’s not only how we measure performance, but it’s also how we predict performance. What direction we’re going to be headed in the future issues is the fourth component of EOS. One of the reasons that issue is a component is because resolving issues is how we remove obstacles and continue to move forward.

So there’s a very specific methodology in EOS about identifying, not just symptoms of things that are happening, but the underlying issues, because you have to solve the underlying issue in order to. Getting rid of the problem process is another component of EOS. I know a lot of you are really working on your systems and processes and EOS focuses on standardizing those processes and documenting those processes.

So your business runs more efficiently. And the final component of EOS is traction. What traction really means is that you’re actually achieving those goals that you’re setting for yourself and your team. Now I’ve been following EOS for several years and I also have my MBA. And one of the reasons I really was attracted to EOS is it’s really simplified.

Um, BA for business owners who maybe are coming into business without a business background. And so it really simplifies it and I’ve actually even simplified. The six components of EOS, a little bit more into vision strategy, plan people, and process. And these are how I am working with the group practice exchange to operate the.

I actually have my own podcast called female founders, breaking boundaries. And I kind of break down those five pillars of an entrepreneurial business in episode 30, in case you’re interested in hearing a little bit more about that. One of the other elements of EOS is really powerful. Is the visionary and the integrator role in the business and what this really does.

Many of you refer to yourselves as a CEO or a founder. And what EOS does is say, you know what? The leader of the company and the CEO are really two different people. The leader. So we had a visionary role and an integrator role. And the visionary role is someone who is very prone to ideas and has very big picture thinking.

It’s somebody who is very creative and constantly coming up with new ideas. Whereas the integrator role is someone who is very organized, very task-oriented, very linear thinking, and very analytical. And when you pair those two types of people together, you have a powerhouse leadership team for the business.

One of the questions I want to ask you as you’re listening to this podcast episode is what role are you playing in your group practice? Are you the visionary? Are you the integrator? Are you playing both roles? And is that what you envisioned yourself doing when you started your group practice? What role feels most comfortable to you?

Is it the visionary or is it the integrator? And once you decide that you can look a little bit more into EOS and how you can step more fully into whichever role you resonate with most. Now, if you’re wanting to understand a little bit more in-depth about how EOS works and how you might apply some of these concepts to your group.

There are some excellent books out there as the group practice owner. I would recommend starting with the book Traction by Gino Wickman. That’s G I N O Wickman, W  I C K M A N. Available on Amazon or anywhere you purchase books. Traction is a really good first read. And when you are ready to take that a little step further, rocket fuel is the next book I would recommend, which really talks about the implementation.

Of EOS into the business and specifically more about the role of the visionary and what the visionary is supposed to be doing versus the integrator and what the integrator is supposed to be doing. Now, if you’re looking to get your team on board with the business operating on EOS, I highly recommend the book called what the heck is EOS, and it’s a very simplified version of what’s happening.

So your team members can understand. Why you’re doing the things you’re doing and why you’re changing some of the methods that you’re using in the business helps them get on board with supporting EOS and using EOS in their daily roles. So why is EOS valuable to you? As a group practice owner, I’ve been using EOS with and working with the group practice exchange and other clients running on EOS for a few years now.

And here are the things that are improving in those businesses who are starting to use a system like EOS. Then the first thing is efficiency. Things are operating more efficiently. And when that happens, we obviously know that our revenue goes up and our costs come down. EOS is a fabulous tool for bowling high-performing teams.

And I know this is a big concern for many of you right now, where we’re trying really hard to attract the right people, to put the right people in the right spots. And then we’re not done there because then we actually have to get those people to do the right things, to advance the business. And EOS has an excellent system for helping us do that.

EOS makes sure that the majority of your goals get accomplished and as goals are getting accomplished, the businesses grow and get better, and it also aligns with your purpose. And your vision with the activities that your team is doing day today. And this is something that I think is really hard for a lot of us to do because sometimes our teams and our people don’t quite get what it is in our head.

We have trouble articulating it and then we don’t find the right people and we don’t get them doing the right things. So think about why you started your group practice and what’s most important to you. In running that group practice and EOS is a system that’s going to help you execute on that. EOS is an amazing tool for making sure that your business is profitable and not only profitable, but you have that financial stability month to month, year to year, which I also know is a challenge for a lot of business owners, especially group practice owners.

EOS is the main tool. And one of the major reasons I work with Marine and the group practice exchange is the CEO or the visionary of the business. They need to get out of the day-to-day. You need to get. Of the day-to-day operations of your business when you are embedded in the day-to-day operations of the business, your time is not being focused on the growth and the big picture.

And so things are going to either stay stagnant or they’re going to start falling off because the business isn’t moving forward because there’s nobody sitting. Doing those activities. So EOS is the perfect tool for transitioning you out of a day-to-day role in the business, into that Mo more growth-oriented, visionary thinking role.

You know, one of the last benefits to working with EOS that I’ve been able to see fulfilled. And other people who are using this in their business are that they are more fulfilled. You work less, but you achieve more. So that builds more time in your life for balance, for family, for hobbies, for activities, or for really digging into the business and doing the things that you love.

And the reasons that you got into the business in the first place. So you get more joy out of running your business. Now I want to talk about one component of EOS. It’s the reason that the majority of people start using EOS. The majority of questions that we get about running a group practice. And that is accountability.

This is a really tough one for a lot of us as we build a company. We hire the people. We put the people into practice. And then we ask ourselves, is this working, are these people doing what they’re supposed to be doing? Why is my business not getting better? How come I’m hiring the people and my workload hasn’t decreased.

These are all kinds of questions that come to us and accountability is the answer to all of those. So how do we hold people accountable? To their particular role in the business and to do what needs to be done to advance the group practice forward. So accountability starts with expectations. First of all, in EOS, they have what’s called the accountability chart and the focus of the accountability chart is not the people on the team and putting the people on the team in certain places.

In fact, when we’re working on accountability charts, we actually remove the. Altogether. We’re not talking about people right now. So accountability is about what are the major functions that are required to keep your group practice functioning day today. And when you think of those major functions, then you have to ask yourself, what is the purpose of this particular function?

Why is it necessary? And if that function is successful, what should the outcome that? And then finally accountability is about in order for this function to be successful. What are the activities or the responsibilities that have to have? So that we know we’re going to achieve the outcome we want to achieve.

So that’s the accountability chart. And once you understand that you can start to put people’s names into those functions. Now, the three main functions of the business I found, and I’ve worked with all different kinds of businesses, but even in group practices, the main functions of the business are operations, finance, and.

And no matter what role you have in your business, they fall somewhere into operations, finance, and marketing. Now you may expand your functions a little bit to where you have the clinical practice or you have a different segment of a function, and that’s totally fine. But the purpose of those functions is still very similar.

So operations, for example, anything, any role, or any function that falls under operations is going to have the purpose of increasing efficiency, keeping costs contained customer satisfaction. And those types of things. So that’s really helpful to understand that because as you’re thinking about what are the functions that fall under operations, and what’s the purpose of those, it helps you really nail down the responsibilities of that role in terms of how they contribute to efficiency, cost containment, and customer satisfaction.

One other thing I just quickly want to point out about accountability. And this is interesting because it’s a new way of looking at this, but when you’re assigning accountability and you’re looking at all the functions in your business, only one person can be accountable for a specific role or a specific function, and the outcome of that role and that function.

Now that doesn’t mean that that’s the only person that’s doing those activities, or who’s working on that. It just means at the end of the day, if something does not go right or something’s off track or something goes really well, who is that person that we’re holding accountable to say, why didn’t these things happen?

If you have too many people accountable for the same thing, you just come into a situation where you have finger-pointing, or I thought you were doing it. I thought you were doing it. And so that’s why we really focused. The one person is accountable, even if they’re leading other people or holding other people accountable to responsibilities within that function.

The other piece that’s really helpful for accountability is an EOS tool called the scorecard. And the scorecard is really the data component. Think about the purpose of the functions that we talked about. For example, operations, we said are efficient cost-containing. And customer or client satisfaction and your case, and the scorecard are how do you measure whether that purpose is being achieved?

So you look at what the people are doing in those functions. If you have a practice manager, for example, they might fall under the operations segment. And what does that practice manager do to contain costs and create efficiency? And contribute to client satisfaction what are those activities?

Okay. And if those activities are successful, how do we measure that? So that’s what the scorecards doing. The scorecard is really going to be a predictor of the direction that you are headed. And so instead of waiting and looking at measurements that say the activity has already happened, and this was the result are trying to measure as much as possible.

I know if we do these activities, we are going to achieve this result. So that is another accountability tool. Because when you measure these things, you again are holding one person accountable. And that one person is showing up every week or every month and saying, this was my measurements. And you can at the moment in real-time, ask them, why is this off track or, Hey, we’re really on track or we’re above and beyond.

So we’re headed in the right direction. And that’s what keeps the business from getting off track team meetings are the final element of accountability. Many of you have told me that you don’t know what to do when you’re in team meetings or your team meetings are very unproductive or they turn into a complaining session or a giant status update.

And that is not the purpose of a team meeting. Team meetings are a gathering of the team to keep everybody on the same page and moving in the same direction. They are also intended to remove any obstacles that are keeping you from being successful. So when you’re holding a team meeting, you’re going to be using your scorecard, and you’re going to be referring back to your goals during every team.

So it’s a methodology for holding those people accountable to their roles and their contributions to the company. And also in that team meeting, as you’re resolving issues, you’re removing things that might keep people from doing their job. And so that keeps things. Forward rather than getting stalled out.

Now I love EOS. I think it’s an amazing tool. I think every one of your group practices would operate amazingly on EOS if it’s for you. However, I do have some other thoughts and ideas on EOS were some of the things I say, I don’t drink the Kool-Aid. And in case you’re interested in hearing a little bit more about EOS and how it functions and what it might mean for your business.

You are welcome to check out the female founders, breaking boundaries podcast, episode 45. Why I don’t drink the EOS. We can continue the discussion over there. So wrapping up today, again, just want to invite you, and encourage you to check out EOS. Their website is at EOS, worldwide.com. The books, traction, rocket fuel, and what the heck are EOS are very cost-effective ways for you to learn more about the system and how it.

Another way that you can get support on EOS is if you are not already a member of the exchange, come join us over there because a lot of the tools and resources that are used in EOS, we are implementing and teaching on over in the exchange. And you can also jump into a coaching session with Marine. She has a couple of openings every month on her calendar, where you can work through one of the components of EOS.

If you’re wanting to implement them in your business. And as always our Facebook group, the group practice exchange is always open for discussion. So post your questions there, and we will do our best to answer them and guide you as best as we can. Thanks for listening to the group practice exchange podcast.

Like what you heard, give us five stars on whatever platform you’re listening from. Need extras. Join the exchange, a membership community just for group practice owners with monthly office hours, live webinars, and a library of training. Ready for you to dive into visit www dot members dot the group.

Practice exchange.com forward-slash exchange. See you next week.

Thanks For Listening

Thanks for listening to the group practice exchange podcast. Like what you heard? Give us five stars on whatever platform you’re listening from. Need extra suppor? Join The Exchange, a membership community just for group practice owners with monthly office hours, live webinars, and a library of trainings ready for you to dive into visit www dot members dot the group practice exchange dot com forward slash exchange. See you next week.

Resources

Here are the resources and guides we recommend based on this episode

* I am an affiliate for some of the businesses I recommend. These are companies that I use in my own group practice, and make recommendations based off of my experience with them. When you use some of these companies through my links, I receive compensation, which helps me continue to offer great free information on my podcast, blog, Facebook group, and website.

Related Episodes

48 MIN

Episode 21 | Marketing Your Group Practice

45 MIN

Episode 17 | How Big Is Too Big?

14 MIN

Episode 78: Shifts that Happen As You Scale Above 20 Clinicians

35 MINS

Episode 148 | Mindset Shifts Around Busyness with Rebecca Burton

34 MIN

Episode 92 | On Relationships as a Group Practice Owner with Amber Hawley

31 MINS

Episode 139 | Making Hard Decisions with Stephanie Rosado

Meet your host

Maureen

Maureen Werrbach is a psychotherapist, group practice owner and group practice coach. Learn more about her coaching services here:

About

The show

The podcast is structured so that you get practice building tips in small doses, where an episode can be listened to (and a group practice building lesson can be learned) in a single car ride.

Episodes are structured into categories: coaching sessions where I coach a group practice owner on a specific topic, tips of the day by yours truly, real talk where you get to be a fly on the wall while an established group practice owner and I talk about the highs and lows of ownership, and trainings done by experts in the field.

Don’t miss an episode! Download The Group Practice Exchange Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher or Google Play and don’t forget to subscribe and rate TGPE

* The content of this post is intended to serve as general advice and information. It is not to be taken as legal advice and may not account for all rules and regulations in every jurisdiction. For legal advice, please contact an attorney.

Subscribe To The Podcast

On your favorite player