Dean DePice, DC, has been a professional chiropractor since 1987 and co-founded TLC Coaching in 2001 with his wife, Jen DePice, DC. Dr. DePice works with a team of advisers and doctors to assess and optimize several aspects of chiropractic practices, including team-building and business models.
Dr. DePice’s positions as a chiropractor and coach have given him valuable insights into relationships with patients and care providers alike. Here are a few tips on practice management and the skills necessary to be a well-rounded communicator of chiropractic and the benefits it offers.
What skills does a prospective chiropractor need in order to be a good communicator?
DR. DEPICE: Skills must be defined separately from the required character traits. Skills will never be carried out if the character traits of the individual do not put the needs of others above the needs of themselves. Active listening is a skill that requires the character trait of valuing others. If we work on a skill such as active listening without developing that character trait, we will never be successful sustainably at active listening. Character traits are more than skills and are critical to being a good communicator.
What do chiropractors need to know on Day 1 of having a practice?
DR. DEPICE: What chiropractors need to know is important, and what they need to do is even more relevant. They need to know their 12-week template of accountable, specific actions addressing promotions and marketing first and foremost. After that, they need to develop patient care protocols. and then third, everything else.
What do chiropractors need to know on Day 2?
DR. DEPICE: Every day, chiropractors must know that when there is no one on the table to adjust, they are responsible to train with the team, be visibly present for the team and interact on raising skill sets with the team for three to seven minutes. The chiropractor must then leave the building and ensure they are connecting with the community. This must be done rigorously in every day of practice.
What do you wish you knew when you were starting out?
DR. DEPICE: Celebrate our humility. Be disciplined enough to listen to our coaches constantly and do what they tell us to do. The only other thing I wish I knew earlier was how to be a doctor practicing the seven levels of the associate-driven practice within three years of having opened my doors. If I had had greater competency at hiring, training and developing associates earlier on, my life would have been more fluid. Building an associate-driven practice early on means less likelihood for exhaustion or burnout later on, and that’s valuable to learn.
