The Enormous Role Your Culture Will Play In The War For Talent
If you want to get the best possible deal, you need to make sure that your culture is dynamic and robust enough to attract and retain staff. Tune in for this episode to hear some of the best ways to ensure you are not left behind in this war for talent.
Full transcript
Generated from the episode audio and lightly edited for readability.
Hello, Paul Martin here and welcome to another episode of the Martin Rehab M&A advisory and Paul Martin's guide to finishing well. Today we are going to explore the importance of a clear vision, mission and values as well as how to measure these specific and to measure specific staff behaviors. All right. So, you know, lots of companies on the wall and on their website, their mission, their vision, their values, but we got to relate it to behaviors. So, we're going to talk about the significance of building a culture of change and how to encourage your professionals to embrace their roles as both clinical and business team members.
And lastly, we're going to touch on how fostering a thriving culture is absolutely critical for preparing your business for sale and attracting investors. You say, "Wait a minute. So, my rank and file staff, you know, physical therapists, our techs, other professionals within the organization, investors are going to be focusing on that for our value." They absolutely are because we are in a war for talent. So again, as a RIA business owner, you're well aware of the challenges that you have right now of attracting and retaining top talent.
It's an ever evolving landscape and it's crucial to stay ahead in this war for talent. And this is where having a very dynamic culture comes in. I love the term dynamic culture because a dynamic culture is one that is constantly moving. It's not dead. It's not sitting stagnant. It's constantly moving. And I will tell you that a strong culture will absolutely take away some of your challenges on attracting the best staff, retaining them, and ensuring that your business will thrive. All right. So, let's talk about MVV, mission, vision, and values.
You hear about this a lot, and I think it's important. So, a key aspect of creating this dynamic culture that we're describing is to have a clear vision, a clear mission, and clear values. What's your vision? Your vision is your long-term goal, the driving force behind your organization's growth. Where are you going with this business? Everybody needs to know that your mission is the purpose of your business, why you exist, and what you strive to achieve every single day. And your values, these are the principles that guide your organization's behavior and decision- making, and they need to come from your heart.
So as a rehabilitation owner, you must ensure that your team fully understands and embraces these three elements. This will get and create a sense of unity and give your staff a sense of purpose knowing that they are working towards a common goal. But it does not end there. And I think I don't want to say mistake because anybody that's out there that is creating mission, vision, and values, that's never a mistake, but what I want to talk about now is behavior. And I want to emphasize the importance of training your staff to exhibit the behaviors that align with your mission, vision, and values.
This is imperative for the long-term success and maintenance of a great culture within your business. When your employees truly understand and consistently demonstrate behaviors, that's when they become true ambassadors of your organization's culture. And so this not only strengthens the cohesion and commitment among your team members, but it also has a positive impact on what? The most important thing within your business, the patient experience. A positive patient experience will lead to increased satisfaction. It's going to lead to loyalty for your patients, word of mouth referrals, and all of those things that contribute to the sustained success and growth of your business.
Investing in staff culture behavior training is not only an investment in your employees professional development, but also it's a vital step in making sure that the long-term success of your organization's culture and overall performance is solid. Now, another key that we find is again this is a big part of preparing your company for an eventual transition for yourself to a larger partner. Let's talk about building a culture of change. A crucial aspect of the culture that acquirers are seeking is a culture that is built for change.
We don't ever tell companies that when they get acquired by another company that there's not going to be any changes. We're in an everchanging industry and fostering kind of an agile and adaptive environment is absolutely essential for being successful in this market. Let me give you some tips on how you can build a culture of change. First, encourage open communication and feedback among your team. Promote collaboration, team rack, teamwork across departments. We've done things called the front back workg groupoup meeting. That's the folks out in the front who are doing the coding etc.
Actually get together with the folks in the back who are actually dropping the bills and, you know, collecting the dollars. Invest in training and development opportunities for your staff both within rehabilitation as well as just leadership and other types of training. You got to regularly re reassess and adjust your business strategies and goals and get your staff on board with that and recognize and reward your employees who embrace change. We had a company that we worked with and they had the change award and this was for the employee that made the most changes throughout a year.
It was actually a front desk person who had gone to three different clinics in a year. She got a change award. That's for sure. All right. Now, another key that we talk about in terms of building a culture of change as well as a culture that is imperative to a transition. It's very important that your professionals, let's call this the dual role of your professionals. It's important that your professionals, obviously your physical therapists and your physical therapy assistants understand that they are not, and you've heard me say this before, they are not only a part of a clinical team, but they are also a part of a business team.
And this dual role means that they must be skilled in patient care. And we're going to talk a lot about patient care within your business, right? But they also have to be skilled on the operations side of the business. And so train and educate your professionals on what outstanding performance looks like. I guarantee you as an owner have outstanding operations performance. And if you don't, we need to get you there. And then measure that performance against agreed upon targets. This is going to empower them to make informed decisions that positively impact both patient outcomes because we're not dropping clinical but we're combining clinical and operations which is going to give the best patient outcomes as well as the overall success of your business.
All right, let's focus now on talking about how culture has become a huge part of preparing your business for a sale. Again, a dynamic culture is not only crucial for business day-to-day success, but it's also important for your long-term vision. Investors and potential buyers are increasingly looking more and more for companies with solid and aligned staff with a very well-defined culture. By nurturing a thriving culture and building a culture of change, you're enhancing the value of your business and making it more attractive to investors and creating an environment that's just more fun to work in day in day out.
You may get to a point where you have built such a dynamic staff and a dynamic culture that you don't feel the need to sell your business and that's a great place to be when you don't have to sell your business for any specific reason but it becomes a matter of a choice. So again, it is essential to invest in your staff and culture as it will pay big dividends when it comes to buying attracting the best buyers down the line. You know, in conclusion today, I don't talk a lot about culture, but I'm going to tell you today that creating a dynamic culture is essential for any physical therapy business looking to stay ahead in what we are describing the war for talent.
And by focusing on a very clear vision, miss vision, mission, and values and measuring staff behaviors that elicit these values you're going to have on your floor. Once you've named the behaviors, we got the vision, we got the mission, we got the values, what are specific behaviors, you're going to have folks on the floor that are going to correct others because their behaviors are not in line with that. And you won't have to do all of that because you actually list those behaviors that elicit your vision, mission, and values.
And by doing all this, you can create a thriving environment that not only attracts top talent, but it retains them. Building a culture of change, encouraging your professionals to embrace those dual roles as a clinical member and a business member will further strengthen your organization. You know, I want to thank you for joining us today. And if you have any questions about how investing in your culture will make you more attractive to investors and buyers, click below. Let's talk. Thanks and have a great day.
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