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Today, I am excited to have a long time friend and colleague on the blog to discuss some his thoughts about managing a PT practice. Please welcome Jordan Mellinger to the blog today! I think you will find his perspective encouraging and impactful as he shares some of his success and difficulties since jumping into management. Enjoy!

What is the name of and where is the clinic that you work at and manage?

I work at and manage the Ortho Sport PT clinic down in Albany, GA.
 
How many people do you manage? 

I oversee 5 other employees.
 
What are some of the unique challenges that you've had to work through in your role as clinic manager?
 
I have been in management for a few years now and have experienced many successes and challenges. For me, one of the biggest challenges early on was trying to develop rapport within the clinic both with the therapists I managed as well as upper management and physician relationships. I learned coming into an established practice and wanting to make adjustments takes time. I needed to build trust and develop a plan for what changes I thought should take place. I found that some of the things I was passionate about or felt would be best did not fully line up with other therapists or upper management, so navigating those waters at times was difficult. One of the other challenges that comes to mind was learning how to be a manager of a group while still being a busy clinician with a full caseload. As a clinician, I was able to come in and focus my care and thought process almost solely on the patients I was treating each day. As a manager, I needed to learn how to keep that same focus of patient care at the forefront while also multi-tasking the needs of the other staff, dealing with clinic issues that arise during the day, and keeping upper management up to speed on how the PT department was performing. This proved challenging early on because I was not able to shift focus quickly from one area to another. Multi-tasking and being able to make progress on different fronts during the day was crucial for me to start to improve in order to be effective as a manager while still being effective as a clinician with patients.  
 
How has your Christian faith helped you work through those challenges?
 
My Christian faith has absolutely helped me work through these challenges. Some of the things that quickly come to mind are learning humility and putting that into practice during the day with my interactions with my staff and upper management. My first response can often be defensive when something I've done or decided is criticized. I have needed to be reminded again and again to be a good listener and take criticism with humility. I have also seen a tremendous benefit of the truth from Proverbs 15 in controlling my words and tongue to ensure I am building others up and being gentle with my responses. Finally, and most importantly, my faith has continued to help me realize that I can not be an effective manager without relying on the Lord to continue to renew me each day.  My purpose, my worth, and my focus must remain on Him in order for me to continue to grow and develop as a manager in order to have a positive impact on those around me.  
 
How do you create a culture of faith within a diverse workforce and patient population?
 
The biggest attitude I have tried to focus on to create a culture of faith is making sure everyone who comes into our clinic, whether it is staff or patients, knows they are valued and that we care about them. I think in today’s culture being genuine, showing love, and going the extra mile is noticed. Often, the attitude we display towards others will lead our patients to make comments about how the environment in our clinic is different in compared to other clinics. With that difference comes the opportunity to speak as to why that difference is evident. Then, that can open up the door to discuss faith. 
 
What are a few key scriptures you rely on and attitudes you display to create that culture?

Qualities of an overseer: Titus 1:7-8 - Qualities of an overseer 
Humility: Philippians 2:3-4
Controlling the Tongue: Proverbs 15:1 
Work Ethic: Colossians 3:23

I hope you find these verses helpful to you and your management practices and I hope you are encouraged by some of my testimony in moving into a managerial role.

Jordan

Welcome to our new subscribers!! And if you haven't joined the conversation on Facebook, then find us @ptsonmission to continue to receive updates, encouragement, and information. Finally, tell a friend if you are benefiting from this site.

A new year dawns. Most, if not all of us, are downright ready to be rid of 2020. We look expectantly for this new year to be better than this last and we might begin to think about and make plans for the coming year ahead. You may think that planning, setting new goals, and thinking about the year ahead is futile given what we experienced this past year in which plans were dashed and goals went unmet. Or you may just be sick of making goals because that is something we do everyday for our patients. I understand that sentiment well and commiserate with you! But the goals we write are all for other people and not your personal life.

Yet, I believe there is still value in setting some goals for the upcoming year. So, I want to encourage you to set some goals for the 2021 year in four different categories. These are categories that I’ve been thinking about and categories in which I will set some goals. This way, we can encourage each other.

A Spiritual Goal. Most of us will likely create and write down some spiritual goals. It could be praying more consistently, reading through the Bible in a year, doing a specific in-depth study, or memorizing a certain number of passages. You would do well to do this! Your personal faith walk will benefit greatly. But, I would encourage you to also make an evangelism goal for all of your time in the clinic with patients. Maybe it’s a goal to pray with four patients over the course of the year (1 patient every quarter.) Or Maybe it’s a goal to share the gospel with 1-2 patients as the Lord leads over the course of the year. If it’s your first time setting a goal like this, start small like the examples. If this is a practice you regularly incorporate then add to it and let’s see what God does was with these goals.

A Reading Goal. I didn’t alway used to read a bunch but many years ago I was challenged with a book reading plan and I decided to set a goal of 6 books per year or about 1 book for every 2 months. I found this goal to be very attainable. And the cool thing with this goal is it can be any kind of book! I personally enjoy biographies, christian discipleship books, histories, and leadership books. But there are also good books about physical therapy that give us good food for thought to enhance our practice. If you need a good starting point, I would encourage you to pick up a copy of “Rehab The World.” It’s a short, easy to read book that will not only help you in your daily practice but also get you to think about your work place as a mission field. Point being, there is so much to learn and we need to recapture the love of learning through books.

A Professional Goal. Not only would be this a good idea for your career advancement but also for general knowledge of our field and healthcare business writ large. Maybe you could find a PT management course or an introductory to healthcare business class. Maybe you could work out an apprenticeship with management in your facility. But as our field continues to expand and develop it is important to make sure we understand all of the back end work, if you will, of clinic operations, insurance, management, and leadership in the variety of fields in which you work.

An Education Goal. This will be easy because we are always needing CEU’s to maintain our licenses. But try to find a course/class that will really impact your practice and make you a better clinician no matter the field of PT in which you work. We always want to be practicing at the highest level for our patients sake.

As you think about the year ahead and goal setting, always make sure that your goals are attainable and tailored to you, your clinic setting, and your interests. Happy goal setting!

Jason