Stop, Start, and Protect: A Mid-Year Reset for Group Practice Owners

[00:00:05] You're listening to Empowered to Lead, the therapist's practice. I'm Lisa Catallo, therapist, business coach, and your go-to for all things leadership and sustainable practice growth. This is your space for real talk, smart strategies, and grounded support to help you lead with confidence, work with intention, and build a business that actually works for you. Let's dive in.

[00:00:29] Hello, and welcome back to the Empowered to Lead podcast. I am Lisa Catallo, your host here, and I am so glad that you have joined me. Today, we're going to be talking about what to stop, start, and protect this summer as you kind of look at a mid-year reset to what leadership looks like for you.

[00:00:55] This comes from a couple of different thoughts or experiences, angles. I struggle to think of the word to apply to it. There's a few things that have been going on that contribute to me wanting to talk about this today.

[00:01:14] One of them is a memory came up from our Whistler retreat last year in May, and I was reminded of just that connection, that reset, that rest that happened there.

[00:01:29] I find that May feels like a really easy time to get away because you're not dealing with summer schedules and kids and all of that yet, and you've come through the winter, and it feels like it's time for a break. The other part that has come up is our conversation with Katarina last week and talking about burnout.

[00:01:52] And if you are listening to this, you are a leader. You are likely driven, and you find fulfillment in accomplishment and doing things. And so today is a little bit of how do you slow down? How do you be picky about how to protect yourself? The other part is a lot of times when I am working with clinic owners and they look at the summer.

[00:02:20] It can be a little terrifying. Summer in a clinic as a group practice owner sometimes can feel like it's not actually a break because caseloads get lighter.

[00:02:33] So, you know, I think it's not actually a break because of the time when I am working with my partner.

[00:03:01] July and December are the most stressful comments about, hey, what do you do when your team wants to take a certain amount of time off? And how do you navigate that? So it can feel stressful. I don't want today to be about adding stress. I want to encourage you to consider some things that you might want to stop, some things you might want to start, and maybe a couple things that you want to reset.

[00:03:31] As you look at how you would like September and the fall to look. So that doesn't mean, hey, let's push through the summer and get everything done so that the fall feels easier, unless that's actually what would help for you. But really being intentional and using the summer, not so much as an off season, but a little bit of a runway to the fall.

[00:03:56] And how am I going to take care of myself and protect my time and my energy in a way that I haven't so far? Last week, again, like I mentioned, I talked to Katerina McCurdy about burnout. And so today builds on that. But it's not only for those people who are feeling close to the edge of burnout.

[00:04:17] This is for any clinic owner that wants to build a practice that works for you, rather than you spending your lives working for it. And that feels like something that we're talking about all the time. And the reason why this all fits together for me, when I picture going on retreats, there's a quote on my web page. And I'm going to butcher it because I don't have it in front of me.

[00:04:45] But basically, a change in situation, a change in where you are located can equal a change in perspective. And so a retreat might be you getting away for a weekend, maybe a night by yourself. A retreat can be about being with other people. It can be staying local or getting away. I actually have another episode on this.

[00:05:11] And so I'll include that link in the show notes to that episode about retreats and what that looks like. But at the core of it is taking that time to breathe and come back to who am I? What do I want? What do I need? I'm just about as I record this, I'm just about to head up to Sparkling Hills Resort in Vernon with retreat season.

[00:05:35] And we're talking all about strategic planning in that weekend and mixing a time of connection with self and others around there. A time of where am I wanting to go and just getting that different perspective in there. So I hope you hear that as we go through today. So here's a little bit also of a thread that comes through my conversation with Kat last week.

[00:06:02] There's a metaphor that she referred to by Danny Taylor in there that has kind of stuck with me. And he describes addiction as a plant reaching desperately for water in dry soil and burnout similarly as the plant welting because it's been giving and growing without being watered. And for us as clinic owners, that image can land for a lot of us.

[00:06:32] I hear people saying, I don't know if this is worth it. I don't think anybody really recognizes all the work that I put into this. How come they don't understand that I am not making money, money, money off of their services? I am starting to wilt because I've been giving and growing and I am not being watered. And so the practice keeps producing.

[00:07:00] You keep getting clients come in. The team keeps being led. The clients are being held and done and well. And somewhere in there, you as the owner are quietly wilting. And Kat also said something in her first episode of Advantage in her podcast that I want you to hear. She said that more than half of the conversations she has with people about work-related stress don't actually end up being about work.

[00:07:30] Work has a way of reactivating things that are already there. And if you have been a group practice owner for any length of time, you know that being a business owner brings up your stuff. So this means that the work of building a sustainable practice isn't only about systems and revenue.

[00:07:50] Although those are really crucial, there's also about whether that clinic is being run by a leader who is connected to herself or to himself. Finding that connection and taking care of you looks different for everybody. So for some people, that is the finances and that feels like that's enough.

[00:08:13] For others, it's the freedom to connect with family or to go and exercise during the day or to get away. Whatever that is. It's not always about money or having all the structure there. So what do you want to look out for? As we think about what you want to stop, start and protect. Like, how do you know that that's something that you need right now?

[00:08:41] So here's some things you might look for. There's a low grade, a low level of dread on Sunday evenings. Maybe even on Saturday because you're sitting there working and everybody else is off in your mind. It can look like irritability with some of your team members who used to feel easy to lead.

[00:09:05] And so little things that they ask for or need, it just feel like, oh, one more thing. And it didn't used to feel like that. Maybe there's also a sense that you're managing your practice rather than leading it. You're working in the business more than you're working on it.

[00:09:24] And so there begins to be this creeping sense that you're surviving the week rather than actually building anything and seeing the fruits of your labors. And this isn't about failure. This is about paying attention to those signals. So as we enter the summer, why now? Why are we talking about this now?

[00:09:50] It's almost another element that I've had in my mind is I've talked about here and also in the blogs about different seasons of our leadership. And so talked about in the wintertime, like we can feel kind of dry and needing replenishment or needing to hibernate spring. If you're in springtime, you're like ready to bud. You've got all the energy.

[00:10:16] Summer can kind of feel like it's a bit of a slower pace. Things are keeping on going. And there's a chance of resting in a way that doesn't feel like, oh, I need to rest or I need to hibernate and hide. It's how do I slow things down? And that slower pace creates space for you to notice what you have been running.

[00:10:44] Sometimes that space can be uncomfortable and it's super useful. And secondly, fall is when a lot of us try to scale, launch, hire, bring on more clients, refine systems. It's almost like a reset in a lot of ways. That's the new year for a lot of us and how we want to be doing business.

[00:11:10] And you can't do that ramp up and build a strong fall if you have an empty tank. So the question for you for your summer might not be how much can you get done? It's what version of your fall season are you building toward? And what shape do you need to be in in order to lead it? So let's take a second. Picture your fall.

[00:11:39] So September, October, November. Not just the goals, but the daily texture. If you looked into October and you saw something that felt sustainable, your week feels like, ah, this is awesome. This is I'm in my groove. I'm, you know, really playing into my strengths. My energy is being used appropriately.

[00:12:04] Who's doing what on your team, in your family, at your house? And what is no longer on your plate? If you looked at October, and this is a great week. It feels like I could do this forever. There's things that are no longer on your plate. And then also, what have you finally protected? Where are some boundaries that you have implemented in order to protect you?

[00:12:30] So a few weeks ago, I walked you through the drains and fills audit. If you haven't done that yet, again, you can take a listen to a former episode. That drains and fills audit is where you list the roles, the functions, and the tasks in your clinic, in your practice, and mark each of one of them as whether it's a draining you, if it's filling you, or maybe it serves the purpose of both.

[00:13:00] And that gives you an honest picture of where your time is going, what it's costing you, what it's giving you. And so if you've missed that episode, go back to it and download the worksheet from there. Again, I'll put a link in the show notes so that you know which episode that is. And that audit is a lot of the foundation for what we're doing today. So as you identify what is draining and filling you,

[00:13:29] now today, stop, start, and protect is your next move. And it takes awareness from that audit or just sitting down and noticing what the last couple of weeks have been, or if you have been pushing through and kind of dragging yourself, what have the last two or three months looked like for you? And as we go through these questions today, we're going to work through one question at a time, which would make sense.

[00:13:58] But I really want you to take some time to breathe in between each of the questions. So pause the playback and either as you're walking, really slow down and listen to what comes up for you. If you are driving, you know, pause it until you can stop and write a reflection. If you're sitting on your couch, grab your journal. And here we go. So here are some questions to reflect on.

[00:14:28] First question is, what do you need to stop? What am I still doing in my business that no longer fits who I am becoming as a leader? You are not the same leader that you were when you first started this group practice. You have grown, you have had different experiences, some of them awesome, some of them so hard.

[00:14:51] Your practice looks different than it did a year ago, which means you as a leader are changing. So what are you still doing that you used to do that actually isn't fitting anymore for who you have become, are becoming and want to be as a leader? This isn't just about what's hard. It's also about what's misaligned.

[00:15:16] So some of the tasks that you used to do that felt like only you could do them or it was important that you do them. Now you've outgrown them. You actually don't serve that task as best as someone else on your team does. Others, they drain you because they belong to someone else on your team and you haven't actually handed them over. You know that you shouldn't have your nose in intake anymore.

[00:15:45] And yet every day you're going and you're checking that inbox to see what's come in. How did your admin handle it? And what would you have done differently? So when you look back at that audit, the drains column of your audit is the starting point. The harder question is what are you actually willing to stop and not just complain about it? So come back to that question. What do you need to stop?

[00:16:13] What are you still doing in your practice that no longer fits you and who you are as a leader today and who you want to be in the fall? The second question is what do you want to start? So I mean, what is that one thing that if you built it over the summer, it would make your fall noticeably more sustainable?

[00:16:42] So if you look at October and that week feels so awesome and a sweet spot, what are some of the things that you can start doing over the summer that help build into that? And I'm not saying let's do 10 different things. I'm saying one thing. So this might be fine tuning your hiring process. It might be how do you want to look at your numbers and what are you looking at?

[00:17:11] It might be systematizing your intake system. It might be a leadership practice. So what is something that helps you step into that leadership role better? And another thing might be just like spending some time on a Friday or on a Monday and looking at the past week and who were you as a leader? What helped you show up? What sat really well and what needed to change?

[00:17:39] And just doing that reflection could be part of your sustainability. Because the bar for this is not sustainability. Sorry, the bar for this is sustainability. It's not ambition. It's not let's how are we going to build a bigger fall? I want you to build a fall that is sustainable, that you can actually live inside,

[00:18:06] that feels like it really just helps you lead well. So I'm going to reword that question. What is one thing that if I built it this summer, it would make my fall look noticeably more sustainable? And I'd argue that goes into more than just the fall. I'm slowing things down. I'm putting pauses between here because if you're like me,

[00:18:34] when you're listening to a podcast, you're getting things done. You're feeling productive. And it is hard to actually slow down and think those things through. So let's take a second again. The first question is, what do I want to stop? What am I still doing in my practice that no longer fits who I am becoming as a leader? Second question is, what's one thing that if I built it this summer,

[00:19:01] it would make my fall look noticeably more sustainable? And that third question that I want you to consider, what are you going to protect? So what is there in your life, inside the practice and outside of it, that you need, need, I'm actually going to use that word, you need to actively protect over the next four months. So June, July, August, September,

[00:19:31] that you, so that you arrive at the fall hole. So one of the things that I did today was I asked Alison Maritas to hold me accountable, that I need to find ways to have fun, to create opportunities where fun isn't sitting on Canva and creating something fun for the business. I need to get out there and have some fun.

[00:19:59] For me, that's something that I really need to protect over the next few months, because I want to arrive at the fall hole and ready and energized and in such a good spot to manage all the stuff that comes up in the fall. And this is a question that a lot of us as clinic owners will skip, because protection feels like I need to keep people out.

[00:20:27] Or sometimes that can even feel active when we talk about protection. So protection isn't always the same as rest. So protection, I'm picturing like if you, this metaphor that I use with my clinical clients is, if you have worked really hard to build a house, you want to put a fence around it to protect it. Doesn't mean it has to be a great big huge brick wall,

[00:20:55] but it needs to mark that this is what I am protecting. This is why I'm saying yes and no to different things in my life, because this house, the values I have in it, the people in it, who I am is worth protecting. So this is that conscious decision to put a fence around something. What is that thing that you need to do to protect you? It might be your Friday afternoons.

[00:21:25] So, so many of us say, oh, Friday's an admin day. I only work until noon. And then you notice, actually, I worked until noon at the office, and then I went home and nobody was home. Or, you know, it's just one more thing. And then I'm on my laptop for another few hours, not actually resting or doing what I said that afternoon was for. Or maybe you have said, I'm only going to see clients one or two days a week.

[00:21:55] And now somebody needs a Thursday or somebody says, hey, I can't make it that day. Can I come another time? And you are no longer protecting that clinical day. Maybe it's a morning walk, getting outside, your family dinners, time with your children or your grandchildren. And if you don't name it, your summer will fly by and actually erode that protection.

[00:22:25] And so I'm going to invite you to consider what do you want to protect? So I'm going to read that question again. What in my life, inside the practice and outside of it, do I need to actively protect over the next three to four months so that I arrive at the fall whole and ready and feeling sustainable?

[00:22:54] I want you to go through those questions and pick one answer to each question and then write it down somewhere. I know what it's like to listen to a podcast and go, yeah, I'm going to write it down when I get home. Or, oh, I thought about it. I'll remember it. Really, pull out your phone and write it down. Put, grab a pen and a paper and write it somewhere on a sticky note so that you can put it where you'll see it.

[00:23:24] If you don't see it, you're not going to stick to it. So grab that paper and I'll read the questions for you again and find one answer for each of them. What do we need to stop? What am I still doing in my practice that no longer fits who I am becoming as a leader? What do I need to start? What is one thing that if I built it over this summer, it would make my fall feel so much more sustainable?

[00:23:54] What do I need to protect? What is there in my life, both in the business and outside of it, that I need to protect, actively protect over the next few months? Three sentences. That's enough. Or three bullet points. Doesn't have to be extravagant. And remember, if you are drained and resenting everybody around you and you're feeling exhausted,

[00:24:22] you don't have a place where you can show up properly and eventually you're not going to have a business. Because if you are so drained and can't provide what you need, you're going to say, screw it all. I'm out of here. And you're going to check out either literally and stop your business or step away in a way that other people leave your business.

[00:24:50] I want you to build a sustainable practice that isn't always the one that's running the hardest or doing the most things. It is designed to work for you rather than the other way around. You're creating something that you are working on rather than in.

[00:25:11] So summer, it can be the season where a lot of us waste time by either coasting through it or panicking through it. I want you to use it deliberately. If you want company in this work, there's two different ways that I can support you that you might want to consider. So if numbers is one of the things that just feels like it drains you or you avoid or you hide from,

[00:25:40] I've started the numbers room. There's going to be another cohort that will be launching in September. And we're asking a lot of these questions. It's not just about finances. It's about how do you show up as a leader? How do you create a structure to help you build a sustainable business? The other thing that I would consider, I invite you to consider is I am running a retreat in October and we will be in Ontario.

[00:26:09] And the whole theme around that is boundaries as a group practice owner. How do you protect yourself? How do you set up a business that works for you rather than the other way around? So really building on what we've talked about today. There's so many things that I could talk about in ways that I would love to support you to make sure that you have a sustainable fall and a sustainable business. I would love to hear from you if you have more questions. Let's leave it there.

[00:26:39] Next week, I'm going to talk about what it looks like to lead when you don't have it all figured out. Because I think a lot of this, the stop, start and protect work only happens when we honestly let ourselves sit in. What do I not know? Or what am I hiding from myself in there? So I hope you join me next week.

[00:27:03] And if you don't do anything else, I hope you walk away and answer those three questions and really build on the opportunity of creating a sustainable business, a sustainable leadership model for you as you go into the fall. I hope you have a great day. Thanks for hanging out with me on Empowered to Lead, the therapist's practice.

[00:27:32] I hope you're walking away with something that you can put into action. Because leadership isn't about doing more. It's about leading with purpose. If you're ready for deeper support, I'd love to see you inside the Group Practice Connection, my monthly membership where Canadian therapists like you get coaching, community, and the tools to build a business that actually supports your life. You can check it out at grouppractisenetwork.ca. The link's in the show notes. And hey, don't forget to hit follow so you don't miss what's coming next.

[00:28:01] We're building something great here, and I'm so glad you're a part of it.