Mastering Difficult Conversations With Team Members In Your Clinic

Let’s be honest—having difficult conversations is one of the hardest parts of owning a business. We as Physiotherapists are natural helpers and many of us are people pleasers. We would rather run a mile than have an awkward or difficult conversation. 

I’ve been there. 

I’ve fired nine people over 15 years in my Physiotherapy business, and the first four? I vomited before each one. That’s how nervous I was.

For a long time, I dreaded performance management conversations. I’d stress about them for days. 

However if you have a toxic person that is destroying your culture or you have someone that is sending all your new patients to the clinic down the road you need to act quickly. 

But here’s the one of the most important things you need to know as a business owner: the number of difficult conversations you’re willing to have directly impacts how successful your business becomes. 

I’ll repeat this again because it is so important 

the number of difficult conversations you’re willing to have directly impacts how successful your business becomes. 

The more difficult conversations you’re willing to have. The more your business will grow. 

The fewer tough conversations you have, the weaker your team culture is and the more empty your clinic diary becomes. 

The more you shy away from tough conversations, the more problems stack up. And when you let one person’s underperformance or bad behavior slide, it can create a ripple effect that impacts your entire team. 

That’s why learning how to handle these conversations with confidence and clarity is essential to your success as a leader.

What works?

Over the years, I’ve tried all kinds of methods to make difficult conversations easier. I’ve even searched you tube and found very little. It wasn’t until I studied to become a coach that I really got this …

With the combination of all 3 of the below, you are coming at the problem without emotion, objectively and with the goal of a win win situation for you and the person who is under performing. 

Here are the three most effective strategies I’ve found:

1. Living By Clearly Defined Values

It all starts with your clinic’s values. When your team is crystal clear on the values you expect them (and yourself) to live by, everything becomes more objective. There’s no room for gray areas or personal interpretations. If someone is acting out of alignment with the clinic’s values, it’s not a personal attack to bring it up—it’s a matter of fact.

For example, if one of your values is family—treating teammates and patients with kindness and respect—it’s easy to address any behavior that doesn’t align with that.

So define your values clearly and live by them. We have a whole module of how to do this well in our 7 figure Physio program. You can send me a message anytime to ask for more info.  

2. Having a Key Performance Indicator Scoreboard that rocks 

Next, you need to rely weekly on your KPI scoreboard to monitor performance. Weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual  updates give you an objective view of trends. If someone’s numbers are dropping, it’s not a subjective conversation about whether they’re trying hard enough—it’s based on measurable data. You are also able to see these trends rapidly before they greatly affect your Physical Therapy business. 

When you combine values and KPI tracking, it makes the conversation less about personal feelings and more about facts.

3. Using Assertive Communication with the PAA Scale Tool

Finally, it comes down to how you deliver the conversation. This is where the PAA scale comes in, and trust me, this framework has been a game-changer for me. It’s helped me navigate those tough conversations with way less anxiety. It removes reactivity using assertive language and seeks a win win situation by being curious. 

Do you instinctively know you need to talk to a team member and you’re putting it off? 

Download our free worksheet which breaks down the PAA scale tool for you so you nail that conversation.

Just click below so I can send it to you 

Download PAA scale worksheet HERE 

Cheers,

Nick

This is how you can work with me

- Join our 7 Figure Physio community where our goal is to take 100 clinic owners to a 7 figure annual revenue. Simply click contact with the subject “lets go” and i’ll send you the details 

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- Pick up one of my trainings