This article was originally published in a sponsored newsletter.
The Art of Pruning
In my April 2021 "Tip of the Week," I drew from the process of preparing a spring garden and discussed the importance of weeding, planting, watering and nurturing as it relates to practice management. These steps help to lay a solid foundation for a practice’s initial growth. Three years later, it is time to introduce pruning, another crucial gardening technique, when our practices reach growth plateaus or revenue stalls. Like a gardener prunes dead, damaged or diseased parts of a rosebush to help it grow denser and larger blooms, practice owners must evaluate, cut and re-invest in new areas to reinvigorate growth.
Pruning isn't just about removing the unnecessary; it's about strategically shaping the practice to prepare it for future growth. You might reevaluate the vision care plans you offer, cut office hours on certain days and extend on others or streamline staff roles to eliminate redundancies and open new positions where they’re needed. It’s a process that should be approached with care—too much or too infrequent pruning can lead to shock, both in a garden and in a business.
A Lesson from Elon Musk
A recent example of strategic pruning in a different industry is Tesla's decision to lay off more than 10% of its workforce. Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, explained that the company's massive growth unintentionally created too many redundant positions. It was time to cut the workforce to make room for investment in other areas. This decision underscores an important principle: The resources you needed to get where you are aren’t always what you need going forward.
Factors for Professional Environments
However, it's essential to differentiate between strategic pruning and indiscriminate cutting, especially when it involves your team. In small professional environments, stability is key. If you must reduce staff, do so with consideration for each individual's role and performance. If exams are temporarily down, avoid cutting hours or varying weekly schedules to prevent destabilizing your team’s professional and personal lives. It's easy in the short term to think reducing hours and costs is effective for the bottom line, but such instability rarely proves beneficial in the long run. If performance issues necessitate staff changes, address them directly rather than making broad cuts to achieve temporary solutions.
Implementing Strategic Pruning in Your Practice
To effectively begin pruning, consider the following steps:
Consistent Review: Just as gardens are tended seasonally, review your practice’s performance and strategies quarterly with a focus on what needs pruning and what should be nurtured. Use your practice analytics software to identify these areas.
Engage Your Team: When considering changes, especially those affecting staffing or operations, involve your team. This inclusion can ease transitions and foster a culture of respect and cooperation. Even better, be aware of what your team complains about the most. Pruning those areas can go a long way toward increasing morale.
Focused Cuts: Identify areas where your practice may be overextended and streamline them to lead to more focused and efficient operations. For example, cut your lowest-performing frame brands, re-evaluate marketing that is no longer producing, change systems to reduce follow-up contact lens exams or consolidate vendors.
Monitor and Adjust: Pruning and then ignoring results is a recipe for disaster. After making changes, use analytics and surveys to monitor the impacts on your practice and patient satisfaction.
By adopting a philosophy of strategic pruning, practice owners can take a step back and evaluate, and then move forward to the next phase of business growth. This approach, while sometimes challenging, is essential for cultivating a resilient and prosperous practice.
