If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.
—Benjamin Franklin
Most medical practices manage problems like small wastebasket fires, using only a Band-Aid or a short-term resolution. Thus, the likelihood that the problem will persist is high. Further, staff and doctors are inundated with additional, non-clinical tasks such as documentation and paperwork, leading to a decrease in morale and burnout. When doctors and staff are continuously working in “catch up” mode, it is difficult or nearly impossible to create long-term goals or establish an action plan to achieve them.
It can be challenging to convince physicians to take a “time out” or give up their valuable time off to facilitate strategic retreats, even though many successful businesses have touted the importance of such sessions. This article outlines the benefits of these sessions to reset priorities and create a unified front related to growth, challenges, and opportunities.
Practice Retreat Goals and Objectives
A practice retreat focuses on addressing strategic or long-term issues and creating a roadmap toward future success. The intent is to free your doctors and your administrative and executive staff from their day-to-day tasks and allow them to consider the big picture versus the minutiae and ongoing challenges of daily practice.
The four primary objectives for strategic planning retreats are as follows:
Increase engagement: Invite the practice leaders to contribute their ideas and feel like a part of the solution.
Build camaraderie and teamwork: Make time to build connections and create a more effective team, establishing further opportunities for practice leaders and retention.
Develop a cohesive plan: Create a roadmap for the future, highlighting key opportunities for growth and development of the practice.
Address issues: Discuss ongoing challenges more thoughtfully than is possible at a standard staff or board meeting.
To ensure participants see the benefit of these meetings, it is essential to ask them about their specific goals and expected outcomes for the retreat (possibly through a pre-retreat survey, as discussed in the following section). Ideally, this feedback is received before or at the beginning of the retreat, allowing the session to respond to important issues.
Practice Retreat Preparation
Appropriate planning and preparation will ensure the retreat runs smoothly and yields greater results. Focus on identifying key themes or issues among stakeholders that can be addressed at the retreat and determining potential areas of contention or negativity to allow for an adequate response. We suggest distributing a survey before the retreat, offering an opportunity for attendee feedback, and establishing the foundation for retreat topics.
This survey can be a simple web-based form (many free and user-friendly options are available online) that allows the participants to share their opinions on potential topics while ensuring confidentiality and providing the ability to review data more effectively. A few examples of questions applicable to physician groups include these:
Do you feel the practice is moving in the right direction in this ever-changing healthcare environment?
What are the practice’s three greatest strengths currently? Its three most significant weaknesses?
What two actions should the group take to hold the physicians more accountable?
Communication is a two-way street. What two areas need the most improvement in communication?
Is there any area where you see the shareholders acting more from an individual perspective versus a group mindset?
What three objectives would you like to see accomplished from the upcoming retreat?
This survey also can be used for more administrative functions, such as determining attendance, garnering feedback on menu items or social interactions, or even setting the location and date.
Additionally, we suggest sending a packet to all the participants before the retreat, typically one to two weeks prior. This should include initial goals and objectives of the retreat, specific topics for discussion, and clear expectations of the participants. It also may include any additional details on the retreat facilitator, an explicit agenda, and a summary of the pre-meeting survey results. Finally, the welcome package may also contain any recommended materials to read before the meeting, such as short articles on topics to be discussed during the retreat, intended to help develop a consistent baseline understanding among all attendees. These items will set the tone of the retreat—an interactive, collaborative session with the expectation of physician involvement.
Practice Retreat Facilitation
A strategic planning retreat is different from an office meeting. The latter is used to enhance communication, solve minor problems, and address immediate crises (and usually allows bonding over food provided by a pharmaceutical company). A retreat is focused on generating ideas, setting goals, and cementing relationships.
The retreat should not consist of hours of PowerPoint presentations with talking heads followed by brief discussions. That results in information flowing in just one direction, leading to dissatisfaction with the outcomes and a lack of buy-in from the physicians. Instead, the retreat should work to set a clear vision for the future, supported by specific action items that have been identified and supported by the physicians.
Although retreats often take up most of a day (i.e., six to eight hours), it is important to remember that keeping participants engaged for an extended period is a challenge. Thus, facilitators should incorporate informal breaks throughout the day. Also, avoid using large-group didactic lecturing as the sole method of presentation or engagement. Use small group sessions to delve deeper into specific educational topics or develop singular initiatives. Charge the small group with a task-driven mission focused on outcomes, not just discussion, and give them a time limit to complete their tasks. Ask them to report to the larger group at the end of the break-out session.
The retreat should result in a clear and shared vision for the future, with goals set for the practice over the coming months and years.
Organizations also may find that a role-play exercise is particularly effective during a retreat, truly engaging the audience and establishing a new way to solve problems. Participants often are more eager to challenge themselves in new and innovative manners under this premise than in a simple discussion.
Finally, we recommend that retreats include time for relaxation and socialization. For example, kick off the retreat with a group dinner and encourage participants to engage with peers they don’t interact with as often in the office setting. This will further enhance the teamwork mentality and enable more informal discussions before the retreat itself.
As indicated earlier, the retreat should result in a clear and shared vision for the future, with goals set for the practice over the coming months and years. Goals should be lofty, yet achievable and quantifiable, encouraging physicians and staff to think outside the box and drive real change within the organization. For example, suppose your goal is to improve the practice’s profitability. In that case, the retreat should seek to establish a specific goal (e.g., 30% improvement within two years). Simply stating a goal of improved profitability may not yield significant results, but stating an aggressive and specific goal forces the participants to come up with more creative ideas.
Practice Retreat Deliverables and Takeaways
One of the most significant challenges of a retreat is maintaining the momentum that was built at the retreat. Therefore, before the retreat ends, the following should occur:
Goals should be clearly identified and prioritized. (Suggested topics for the retreat are shown in the sidebar.)
Each goal should be given a deadline and assigned check-in points to ensure that progress is made throughout the year.
Individuals should be assigned to these goals, distributing the responsibility throughout the group versus simply assigning all tasks to the practice administrator.
If the retreat concludes without measurable items and deadlines being formulated, the goals are relegated to a wish list and will most likely not come to fruition.
Following the retreat, draft a written summary to document outcomes and agreements and foster accountability. That synopsis should include an overview of the retreat, a detailed listing of the conclusions and recommendations, and the list of action items as determined during the retreat, including specific timelines and assignments. This may be disseminated to physicians or relevant leadership who did not attend the retreat or are assigned specific responsibilities.
Once the retreat is over, participants should be requested to provide feedback on the retreat’s positive and negative aspects, allowing the organization to determine ways to improve for the following year.
Organizations such as Artisan Venture Tours, Flok, Meetings Today, and Brightspot Incentives & Events specialize in retreats. We also recommend reading The Ultimate Retreat Planning Guide.(1)
Practice retreats help medical groups remain vibrant in today’s changing healthcare industry. Even large organizations’ most traditional, deeply rooted behaviors can be approached innovatively. Sometimes a great strategy needs a bit of creativity, which can be fostered during a strategic retreat.
Bottom Line: Although finding the time to set aside for a retreat can be daunting, with proper planning and execution, the retreat will yield lasting dividends for the practice. There is no better way to put your practice on the road to improvement than to have an annual retreat.
Reference
McClung A. The Ultimate Retreat Planning Guide: A Complete Resource for Anyone Who Wants to Plan Great Retreats & Camps with Practical Step by Step Instructions.
Christian Camp Pro, 2016.
Potential retreat topics include:
Provider recruitment and retention
Growth of the practice
Provider engagement and leadership
Operational and financial efficiency
Alignment opportunities and evaluation of potential strategic partners
Response to new payment models
Clinical quality initiatives