What Championship Basketball Can Teach Every PT Practice Owner

And he had to do it fast. All right, folks. Does this sound familiar to you? If you're a growing physical therapy practice, you are hiring new therapists, new front desk staff, new techs, people from different clinics, different training backgrounds, different philosophies, the challenge is the same. So, how do you get them aligned? Because you got to get them working in the same direction and you have to do that quickly. Well, let me tell you how Coach May did that. He did it by establishing a clear culture from day one.

And it wasn't they weren't just signs on the walls. This was something that came from him, from his heart, and from his gut. And he called it a covenant. Your primary allegiance is to your brothers in the locker room, not to your old school, not to your ego. It's the team. And he used he literally did one on-one film sessions with his players. How many coaches do that? He would text players 7se secondond video clips just to reinforce all of the culture lessons in what he described and what the players described it as.

It's a collaborative environment. All right. What are the lessons for your business here? On boarding, look, it's not just paperwork. It is a culture installation. You have to have a very clear mission and you have to communicate it relentlessly. Make new hires feel a part of the team, not like recent visitors. And folks, the faster you're able to integrate you win. And just remember, culture is built by managing and discussing behaviors. The kind of behaviors that will encapsulate your culture and what you want it to be.

Know what you want to be. You will never make it that way. So make a list of those behaviors that encapsulate the culture that you want and talk about them on a very routine basis. Now going back to Michigan, one of the most underrating things about this Michigan basketball team adjust on the fly in games where their defense was lacking. They would simply outscore you. They averaged in the tournament over 90 points a game. First champion to do that. Guess what? UNLV all the way back in 1990.

I remember that team and I'm sure some of you out there who are basketball fans remember that team as well. But on the other side of it, when the shots weren't falling on offense, they would lock you down offensively. Adai Amara, he was the Big 10 defensive player of the year. No, he blocked three shots a game. And if you know basketball, that's a lot of block shots. Guy's 7 foot2. He should be able to block some shots, right? So, in your physical therapy business, look, some months your marketing is literally on fire and patients are just pouring.

Great. Capitalize on it. But other months referrals may be down. Your digital ads may be underperforming. There may be some payer cuts in reimbursement. That is when your operational defense has to kick in. Tighten up your scheduling. Reduce cancellations. Increase plan of care completion rates. Talk to your staff. And you know, you saw Dusty May talking to his team when that UConn team was walking them down, but work to just strengthen at the times when you're not getting so many referrals. Those are great times to strengthen your internal referral process.

Growthoriented practices do not rely on one strength. They are adaptable. And when one area sags, another area picks up the slack. And that is the kind of resilience. And I know that's a word that we hear over and over again in sports, but that is the resil that resilience is what separates businesses that simply survive from clinics and businesses that thrive. So back to Michigan, they went 37 and3 in the season. And if you do remember, one of those losses was in the Big 10 championship game against Purdue.

But they set a program record with 29 regular season wins. They went undefeated on the road in Big 10 play during the season. This is the first team to do that since Indiana in 1976. And as we all know, Indiana was always known in those years as the basketball team. But here's the thing, it wasn't always pretty. They had games where they were down with just minutes to go. Games where the momentum shifted back and forth. They had games where lesser teams would have crumbled when they had the pressure that they had going through this season.

But they always seemed to find a way. And then I can re I can remember watching this in the championship game against UConn. They ended up winning 69 to 63. That's a far cry from 90 points, right? It wasn't a blowout. They kept the lead through most of the game. It was just a grind. But UConn never gave up. And the announcers never stopped saying this is the kind of game that UConn usually will win. They've kept it close. And I think with about a minute and a half to go, they brought it within four.

So it got close. Michigan focused in. They made 25 of 28 free throws when it mattered the most. So what's the lesson here? Stop waiting for everything to be perfect before you grow. Before you hire that new therapist, before you open that next clinic. You don't need the perfect EMR to grow, the perfect staff to grow, the perfect marketing plan. You need a team that grinds, a team that finds solutions, and a team that makes clutch plays when it counts the most. Folks, execution beats perfection every single time.

I literally wear a wristband and it says consistency over perfection. All right, so let's talk about the coach Dusty May. This man was a student manager for Bob Bobby Knight at Indiana. Coach Bob Knight at Indiana. He did Coach Knight's yard work. He got him coffee. He would get him a donut. Whatever Coach Knight asked. What did he learn? Well, he said the greatest lesson that coach Knight taught him was this, that the will to prepare is much more important than the will to win. This is also a quote turned around a little bit from Vince Lombardi, the old Green Bay Packers coach.

And as a high school wrestling coach, it was painted on the wall in our wrestling room. It said the will to prepare to win is not nearly as important as the I'm sorry, the will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win. I think you get the idea. Coach May took that very old school preparation and he paired it with new school approach that players truly felt you cannot coach and you cannot manage young people today the way in my practice back in the early 90s the way we managed young people then you have to bring it up a level and you have to understand what They want players described Dusty May as a cool uncle, someone who believes in you deeply, but is absolutely going to hold you accountable.

He scouts opponents personally. He even sat courtside at UConn's semifinal game and it was only hours before his own game. That folks is preparation. That is coaching. So let's go back to the lesson for business owners. You have to believe in your team. They need to actually feel it. But belief without accountability is just what we would call cheerleading. The best leaders, just like the best coaches, they blend trust with super high expectations. They set the bar high and then give your people the tools and support to clear that bar, then hold them to it.

Now, this is the part that really literally gives me chills. Yakel Lendborg was Big 10 player of the year. He was absolutely Michigan's best player. And in the final four semi-final game against Arizona, he sprained his MCL and he rolled his ankle. He said he felt awful and super weak at halftime of the title game. But two things happened. First, Lindborg said after he got, "I'm playing Monday night regardless." and he ended up gutting out 36 minutes which was more than any of his teammates and he dropped 13 points on a bad very good on defense.

Secondly, the rest of the team rallied. Elliot Cado went off for 19 points and he ended up becoming the most outstanding player in the championship game. Morz Johnson was incredible. Posted a double. He is a lethal weapon and he has those second effort putins over and over. Will Shedder said it best. That dude brought us so far this year. They weren't going to let him down. And the lesson here is this. In your business, your top performer is going to have a bad week. He or she is going to take a vacation or a leave.

And if your business falls apart when one person is out, you don't have a business. You have a dependency. So you want to really try to build that depth. A lot of cross trainining. Create a culture where people step up when someone else is struggling. And that is what a championship roster does. And that's what you want to have. All right. So here is the last thing and maybe the most important doesn't just win in basketball. They were in the Frozen Four in hockey. They have won national championships in 12 different sports.

They have 50 titles. Football won the national championship in 2024. This is an institution that has built a culture of winning. Culture that transcends any single team or sport. When athletes, and I know this, I'm just right for my own son. When athletes step on campus, they believe instantly that they can win. That belief isn't some rahrah poster on the wall. It is baked into the DNA of that institution. It is in the facilities. It's in the coaching. It's in the alumni. It's in the expectations from everybody on that campus every single day.

The environment reinforces it for your practice and for your business. What is your belief system in your clinics? So, we had that Michigan basketball team, but that came from an institution. What is the belief system of your institution? So when a new therapist or a new patient walks through the door, do they feel that this is a place where great things are going to happen? Look, culture is the invisible infrastructure of a great organization. I love that. I'm going to say it again. Culture is the invisible infrastructure of a great organization.

You can't buy it, but you can build it. It's one decision, one conversation, one patient encounter at a time. So, let's bring it home. Michigan's championship run gave us six big lessons. Number one, integrate new people fast. Culture becomes blue. Number two, be adaptable. When one thing fails, lean on the other. Number three, find ways to win. Execution and consistency will beat perfection. Number four, lead with belief and accountability. Sometimes tough love just simply works. Number build depth. The team is bigger than the one star.

And finally, number six, create a culture of belief. It is the foundation for everything in your business. So if Dusty May can take five guys from five different programs and turn them into national champions in one season, imagine what you can do with your team this year. The blueprint is right there. Go Wolverines and go build something great. I'm Paul Martin. Thanks so much for watching. I'm going to see you on the next episode. And if you'd like to talk about anything that we discussed today, just click below and let's talk. Thanks for joining in and I look forward to seeing you next time.