Episode 241 | What Does It Mean to Be a Visionary Group Practice Owner?

Maureen Werrbach (00:00:02) – Welcome to The Group Practice Exchange Podcast, where we talk about all things related to group practice ownership. I’m your host, Maureen Werrbach. 

 

This episode is sponsored by Therapy Notes. Therapy notes is my favorite EHR, and it’s one that I’ve been using in my own group practice since 2014. They’ve got everything you need to be successful in your group practice, and they’re constantly making updates and have live support. If you want two free months of therapy notes, go to therapynotes.com/r/thegrouppracticeexchange. 

 

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Hey everyone. Today I wanted to talk about a project that I started back in quarter one of 2024, which is creating a quarterly physical, print and digital magazine for group practice owners called The Visionary. And today, I just wanted to talk a little bit about my process and what it was like creating the first issue.

 

Maureen Werrbach (00:01:29) – And then I actually want to talk about one of the articles that I wrote inside the first issue, just to give you a glimpse into what the visionary is about and what future issues of the visionary will be about. So I kind of came up with this idea because I had been missing the creative part. That is really important to me. I’m kind of a creative type. I’d like to build things and make things, and a lot of what consulting is doesn’t feel creative in the way that fills my soul. And so I was thinking last year, how can I create something that I get to do regularly that allows me to tap into that creative space and creating a magazine where I get to bring people in who are experts in some capacity on mental health, on business, and being a visionary so that we can share collectively our thoughts about where we are in the landscape of business ownership and kind of just the future of where we see our industry going, how that would be really impactful and helpful to all group practice owners, but also sort of feeds that creative side for me.

 

Maureen Werrbach (00:02:44) – And so it’s been a wild ride in trying to figure out how to create a magazine, how to communicate with different people and ensure that articles are written in a way that are engaging and in alignment with what I see this magazine being. And yeah, that first issue came out in January, and we talked in this issue about what it means to be a visionary. We had people who wrote an article on what it was like to sell their group practice, and what that feels like as a business owner. We talked about expansion, decision fatigue, and how the act of expanding our good practices or our businesses can give us fatigue. We talked about the future of mental health care practices from like AI and big tech to just the future of where industry is going and what kind of antidotes there are for us not closing our doors. In light of all of this, we also talked about purposeful and profitable therapy, building a healthy group practice culture and what that means, how being neurodivergent can be an advantage in entrepreneurship, and just the growing pains of being a conscious group practice owner from an anti oppressive stance.

 

Maureen Werrbach (00:03:56) – So that issue had a ton of articles in there that we’re really exciting and fun to read. And I know we got a ton of great feedback, and I just want to share a little bit about my specific article that I wrote, which was what is a visionary, the enigmatic role of group practice owners that they strive to become. We talk a lot about being a visionary, and a lot of people struggle with really understanding what it means to be a visionary. What does that look like? What’s the definition of it? And so I dive into it in this article talking about how being a visionary isn’t a new concept. It’s definitely something that we’re seeing people talk about more recently as they’re getting burnt out, feeling like they’re dipping their hands in too many pots or wearing too many hats in the business, and really seeing that essentially the idea of creating a business is stepping into the visionary role. But oftentimes we start to create the business, and then we get stuck in the deep waters of it right the day to day, putting out the fires of every day in a business.

 

Maureen Werrbach (00:04:57) – And we really don’t step back into that visionary role that we initially were in. And so in this article, I talk about kind of the core pieces of it. So the visionary role in an organization is usually associated with the leader or the founder of an organization, although that’s not always the case. Sometimes there is a founder who doesn’t have that visionary creative sense and is the person who likes to be more that integrator role, which is the person who is kind of the glue that holds the organization together, all the different departments, making sure that there’s not siloing of departments. The visionary is usually the person that’s able to see, like the bigger picture. They’re able to articulate a compelling vision for the future, and they’re the ones that are responsible for setting that overall direction and strategy for the organization, and making sure that they can inspire other people to share in that vision. They’re usually strategic thinkers who are able to identify opportunities for growth and are very innovative. Visionary business owners are passionate about their business, and they’re really.

 

Maureen Werrbach (00:06:02) – Being able to inspire and motivate their teams to achieve their goals because of that alignment. Being a visionary business owner means more than just having a good idea. It means the ability to be able to see long term and come up with ideas that are going to be good for the business in the long term. And so what that means is being able to think outside the box, identify new and innovative ideas or ways to grow your business. And I think about like how change happens constantly in just the world in general, but also in entrepreneurship, and that the way that we stay ahead of industry changes that can really impact our businesses is to be able to forecast spending time seeing what trends are shifting in our business, setup, structure and management, employment needs that changes, market changes and community needs. There’s so much that can evolve and change throughout the course of a year, let alone throughout the course of a handful. So I truly believe that when leaders in an organization are able to step out of the day to day functioning of the business and step into the visionary role, that that’s truly where the magic happens.

 

Maureen Werrbach (00:07:11) – One, because that’s the area of strength that we have. But two, it allows us to step back enough to allow other people in our business to step up and have autonomy, have ownership, and also play a role in leading the direction of the business. So when I think of what a visionary does, there are several responsibilities. I think of that visionaries hold. One is that they set the strategic direction of the business. That includes obviously developing a vision for the future of the company. It involves identifying key goals and objectives and creating a plan to actually achieve those goals. The second thing is that it’s really important that they engage in thought leadership. So the idea of thought leadership is it’s this process of positioning yourself or your organization if you want to kind of be the face of the organization and not just yourself as an expert in the field that your business is in. So it involves sharing your knowledge and your insights in a way that’s valuable to others, and it establishes you as a trusted source of information.

 

Maureen Werrbach (00:08:13) – I think this is a great way to propel your business forward. Another thing that visionaries do is they create new stream of income. They come up with ideas for generating new streams of income. They’re constantly looking for ways to grow their business, and it may involve developing new products or services, or expanding physical locations, or diversifying client facing services. The list goes on. Another responsibility is that they partner and build relationships with other businesses. By building those strong partnerships with other businesses that are in alignment with yours. Visionaries can then gain access to the resources and the expertise and the markets that they need to achieve their goals. There’s this natural referral source that’s able to be built by creating these really meaningful relationships. They also set the practice culture. The visionary role understands that a positive company culture is essential to morale and productivity. And so what’s important is that they create a workplace where employees are feeling valued and respective, and that they encourage collaboration and innovation. So in turn, you then build a company of values aligned employees, but it also lets your leadership team know how you want the business to be run and what you want it to look like.

 

Maureen Werrbach (00:09:30) – They also do research and development, which is one of my favorite things. So the purpose of research and development for small business owners is to help them to create new products and services based off of consumer needs and what our industry or the community is telling us that they need to improve existing products and services, and finding new ways to operate our businesses more efficiently. Research and development can also help small business owners stay ahead of the game, so they can meet the changing needs of our customers and our community at large. They also keep a pulse on the industry. So by staying informed about all the latest trends and developments and disruptions in our industry like big tech and insurance companies these days, visionaries are able to identify opportunities so that they can pivot so they can grow and innovate. Despite those changes that are happening, they’re able to anticipate and respond to challenges before it becomes too serious for the business. So essentially, visionaries are really important for the future of mental health care. We are the driving change for innovation, and we play an important role in the direction of our field.

 

Maureen Werrbach (00:10:42) – So I hope that gives you a good explanation of what I feel like a visionary is in our industry, and how you can begin to sort of look at what role you play in your group practice and how you can harness a little bit more of that visionary piece. Thanks for listening. Give us five stars on whatever podcast streaming service you use and I’ll see you next week.