Practice Success and The Physician’s Role: It’s About Leadership Not Management

I have successfully lead individual medical spas and cosmetic practices with teams of 10 to large multi-site organizations with 37 locations and teams of 1,000.  To be a great leader is very different than being a great manager.  Both are needed within a medical spa or cosmetic practice.   In benchmarking best practices I find that the successful locations have a Medical Director (typically the physician/owner) who embraces their role as the leader of their business.  They drive their business culture and team to success.  In addition, they typically have a great Practice Manager that takes on the day-to-day responsibility running the practice.

The following identifies the difference between managing and leading.

What defines a manager:

• Makes things happen
• Implements policy
• Responsible for the team’s actions
• Insures accountability

What defines a leader

• Influences the team with respected authority
• Provides guidance
• Shows people what it should look
• Inspires the team to want to achieve

Attributes of a Manager vs Leader

Day-to-Day Operations
Manager: Administers
Leader: Develops

Problem Solving
Manager: Focuses on systems & structures
Leader: Focuses on people

Team Management
Manager: Relies on control
Leader: Inspires trust

Planning
Manager: Short range view
Leader: Long range perspective

Strategy
Manage: Asks how & when
Leader: Asks what & why

Business Boosting
Manager: Eye to the bottom line
Leader: Eye on the horizon

Research & Development
Manager: Imitates success stories
Leader: Creates success stories