Ten years ago, if a counselor wanted to talk with me, he or she could holler my name from their office, and I’d pop my head in. Today, they’d need to send me an email or schedule a call (and I might then refer them to their direct supervisor). These changes are pretty much inevitable as your counseling practice grows: New policies and procedures are often needed to ensure clients continue to receive quality care. Here are some examples of what changes might occur:
- You switch from paper notes to electronic health records.
- You develop a policy around dress code or team member conduct on social.
- You realize you need to update the way you respond to subpoenas.
Every one of these changes directly affects counselors working in a practice. So, if you’re a manager introducing new procedures like these, it’s a delicate endeavor to be sure. If you don’t handle it well, get ready for some pushback. A criticism I’ve received once or twice (at least) over the years is: “This feels really corporate! I chose to work here because it didn’t seem corporate.” So, then how do you create necessary process updates without being accused of “going corporate” or of losing that human touch? Here are 3 ideas:
1. Involve team members in the decision-making process.
Many of us want to feel like we’re part of something bigger than ourselves. But if we don’t have a vote or say on how that something changes or evolves, we stop feeling like we’re truly involved and like we really matter. The “something bigger” begins to feel uncomfortable, imposing, and foreign (and corporate). Counselors care deeply about clients and are motivated to optimize care. Hence, when presented with the operational challenges you see as a manager, they’re likely to come to the same or better solutions as to how processes can be updated to protect quality. While it might take longer to involve others, it’s often worth it to involve others.
2. Communicate why a change is good for clients or for counselors.
Focus on “why.” Explain how a new process will better serve the practice’s mission of helping its clients. If your team sees that the change is a good one for clients, they will be quick to rally behind it. Similarly, they’ll rally behind changes that are good for them! Most of the changes you implement should benefit the counselors. Your team members have a choice about where and how to build their careers, and it’s your job to make sure that working at your practice, together as a team, is the best choice for them. Continually striving to make your practice a better place to work is the best way I know to make that happen.
3. Simplify, simplify, simplify.
A practice without processes is chaos, but a practice with too many processes is crushing. As you implement new (necessary) procedures for your practice, try to find places you can simplify. The Canadian government has a policy like this: for every new federal regulation that’s approved, two must be cut. * This discipline has helped to slowly peel away the mounds of red tape that seem to inevitably junk up governments and businesses alike.
Moral of the story: If someone says you’re “going corporate,” it’s not a compliment. It’s a warning that you’re headed in a direction that’s lost touch with what matters and what the people at your practice care about. Follow the above tips to create policies and procedures at your practice that will keep your people happy (people that won’t accuse you of “going corporate”).