need help with client's office manager

[Dave11:11]

Hey everyone,

I have a pediatrician as a coaching client to do some marketing and customer service coaching based on Michael's idea that marketing excellence has more to do with excellence than marketing.  The Pediatrician is on board, however he has a billing/office manager who thinks what I am offering to do is a waste of time and money. 

The pediatrician's story is he is so busy working in his business that he cannot stop to work in his business.  The pediatrician is convinced that he cannot do anything with out his office managers permission to do so.  We signed a contract 2 weeks ago and basically all interaction with the office manager is based on him talking down to me and throwing up road blocks to ensure failure when I ask for data I need to see who we have on staff and what the practice is doing currently.

The Pediatrician doesnt currently have the courage to simple tell his employee to get me what I need, as he is afraid of making him mad and having him quit and then who would collect the money for the practice? 

Any suggestions on dealing with this situation?

[C]

Hi Dave

After thinking about your dilemma for a couple of hours, I don't so much have a solution as a few more questions which might help. I was also hoping to quote one of Michael's Tips of the Day from a few weeks ago but unfortunately I didn't save it.

Anyway it said something like this "Every communication is either an act of love or a cry for help" and it something I've been thinking (and arguing with Michael in my head) about for some time.

Two possible things occurred to me about this office manager in relation to what you are trying to achieve. One could be that he genuinely cares for the paediatrician and the business and feels that you are taking money unneccessarily. The rest of that Tip of the Day would really have helped in that situation as the one of the ideas was that people reject you because they don't have enough information to make an informed choice - perhaps one of the other wiser forum members could help with this.

The other idea I had was that the office manager was scared that you were basically there to do some sort of audit and that his failings would be exposed and therefore the paediatrician would have grounds to fire him.

I can see that your intentions are genuinely to help the paediatrician give a better service probably therefore increasing patient numbers/satisfaction resulting in guaranteed work for all staff involved but can they see that? I suspect that the office manager's feelings are probably not as clear cut as either of the above scenarios but try to imagine how you would feel if someone came in and did what you felt was part of your job.

With all the best wishes in the world in resolving this.

C  xx

[aniinl]

Hi Dave,

From what I'm reading in your post, it sounds to me like the pediatrician brought you in too early.

What exactly is the objective of your intervention there? You've said "some marketing and customer service coaching" - what exactly is wrong with their marketing and customer service right now? Does both fall under the office manager's responsibility or which part is he involved in?

My guess is that the office manager is probably running the whole business while the pediatrician is doing only the "small part" of being a pediatrician... Marketing and customer service is not what a pediatrician is normally specialized in. So if he thinks something's wrong with that, he should first take this up with his office manager, who's responsible for it (I guess) and ask him for suggestions on how to improve it. If the office manager is overwhelmed or has no ideas how to improve the situation, then they can both agree on bringing a consultant/coach in for help. Judging from the resistance of the office manager, it sounds like the pediatrician skipped this step. It also sounds like he is a bit scared of the office manager and I'm wondering what exactly was his objective to bring you in?

I might be totally wrong, in case there is information missing, but I think the key is to put the office manager in charge. I mean, make him feel like he is in charge. That's what he's used to! I would guess he has much more knowledge about the business than the pediatrician, since running it is his job. Make him feel he is the key person, rather than a data-delivery-person. Show genuine interest in his opinion and make him feel important. Compliment him on his cost-consciousness and comittment to running the practice efficiently. Ask him for the reasons why he thinks your intervention is not necessary. Ask him what he thinks is really needed instead. Listen to him and acknowledge that he must know best (no matter if you really believe that or not ). Tell him that you understand now how he must feel about the pediatrician (and maybe yourself) undermining his authority, blah blah blah... Say whatever it takes to get him to like you and to make both of you stand on the same side. Try to really understand his position to be able to see things from his point of view. What if he's right?
 
Maybe all the pediatrician and his office manager really need is relationship and communication coaching

Good luck! Keep us posted!

Anja

[Michael Neill]

Hey, Dave -

Would love an update if you've got one for us!

love,
michael