Predictable Success : You’ve grown your business so what’s next?

Char Watson: But once you recognize that you can achieve this stage, this pinnacle stage, it really comes down to innovation and taking risks, and making the whole organization move with you. It’s all about putting your foot on the gas pedal and the whole organization moves.

Dr.Bethany Fishbein: Hi! Welcome back to the Power Hour. I’m Bethany Fishbein, CEO of the Power Practice and host of this Power Hour Optometry podcast. And you’re listening to another Power Hour first. This is the first of a two-part back-to-back episodes. So if you have not yet heard last week’s podcast with Char Watson, you may want to go back and listen and then listen to this one. Although you could probably listen to them out of order. Nothing terrible is gonna happen. But this is part two today. So, I will reintroduce my guest. This is Char Watson and she’s the Founder of the Providers DOO Director of Operation Certification. She’s the host of the CEO Doctor Podcast and she works in practice building and business building in the dental field. And we’ve been talking about some of the similarities and differences in dental and optometry. And Char has defined some stages of business that absolutely apply to our industry as well as to dental and probably any other entrepreneurial, especially an entrepreneurial, professional, business situation. So Char, thank you for coming back and for doing part two.

Char Watson: Oh, you’re so welcome. Thanks so much for having me. 

Dr. Bethany Fishbein: My pleasure. So just to recap a little bit. The main thing we’ve been talking about is just the stages that a business goes through from its inception through its growth and then I guess say we start to talk about, I’m not gonna say death. Well, you’re gonna say death, so I might as well say it, to the downhill stages of a business. So last time, we talked really about the first four stages and if it’s okay, I’m just gonna ask you to summarize a little bit. You said a business starts off in stage one, which you refer to as the Early Struggle. Just real quick for anybody who missed it. Talk about that.

Char Watson: Yeah. So Early Struggle we could identify as a startup basically. Most practices stay here for about 2 to 5 years because we’re highly cash-dependent. So we’re really dependent on those sales. We don’t really have extra that we’re really mining our market. We’re not necessarily having a low-hanging fruit. We’re just trying to get through Early Struggle to really establish ourselves in the next stage which is called Fun. Fun is the first of the two sustainable stages in this whole business lifecycle stages we’re going over. So Fun is very growth-oriented. This is where we’re really mining our market. We’re getting all that low-hanging fruit. We’re very very flexible. We’re very nimble. We can punch above the waistline, right? So we’re answering a lot of the customers’ and patients’ requests like we can do more. But that typically pushes us into Whitewater, which is the third business stage. And this is where complexity has reached its max. We’re no longer able to really serve high quality in the face of complexity because we said yes to too many things in Fun. So it shoves us into this Whitewater stage, where we’re really overwhelmed with all of the things. The Founders really go through their own evolution as well. So this is kind of the stage where you have to decide. Do we want to go back to Fun and simplify and just focus on growth with an expectation on that growth? Or do we want to push through Whitewater? Push through the turbulence and get us into Predictable Success. And Predictable Success is where we can scale so this is the second of the two that is sustainable and you can stay here as long as you want. Can I dive into Predictable Success a little more?

Dr.Bethany Fishbein: In a minute, let’s just go back to Fun for a second. Because I think that that’s something that gets lost sometimes. Especially in this day and age of being able to interact with so many colleagues online, and seeing what people are doing, and everybody’s posting their highlight reels on social media, and it feels like everybody’s growing. And sometimes, we always talk about being specific to somebody’s individual goals, and I see it sometimes where people feel like, “But I should grow.” You know, “I should grow 10% a year.” or “I should go in there.” They’re kind of unknowingly pushing themselves into Whitewater even though they don’t want to be there because they feel like they’re supposed to. So before we get into it, just talk for a minute about what a practice might look like that just decides to stay in Fun.

Char Watson: Yeah. Last time we were talking about location-wise and when we typically see Fun, Whitewater, and Predictable Success, but it doesn’t necessarily come down to how many practices you have. Fun is when you’re really starting to take kind of that 50/50 step in and out of being the full-time clinician. So Fun is when you, most of the time they’re still full-time clinicians, but they don’t want to do all the things and be all the things. Fun is when we kind of talked about the Founders being in that reluctant manager. And so they really focus more on bringing in their number two, so they don’t have to be that reluctant manager. They don’t have to be pulled down into the weeds on a daily basis. So Fun can be really exceptional. You really can’t stay here as long as you want. But you have to have that Operator. You have to have your number two. Otherwise, it will push you down into the Early Struggle or it can push you up into Whitewater as you mentioned quite quickly. It can almost accelerate it. If you don’t have a good Operator in place that can really bring in the balances, that can really say, “No, not yet. Let’s not build more sandboxes.”, “No, let’s focus on what we’re already working on. Right?” and really kind of bring that realistic view. Because Operators as we are and I mean we all have dark sides to us, but the Operators as we stand, we are very much of those shortcut kind of people, “Go, execute, and get the things done.” That has a dark side to it. And so the positive part with Fun with that Operator is that they’re really realistic, “Can they execute on this big vision that you have?” or “This additional service you want to provide?” They’re gonna bring that reality to you like, “I can’t do that. We can’t do that.” But that’s when you have to bring in that different leadership style in Whitewater if you want to get through it. So Fun can stay as exciting and as simple as you want it to be. It just. It will turn its head as soon as you start saying yes too many times, your bandwidth is getting capped, right, you’ve got too much complexity. So if you’re gonna stay in Fun, you have to be super intentional about it. You really do. You have to be more willing to stay simple.

Dr.Bethany Fishbein: Yeah. And so saying no to some of those things that would require a lot of extra work. My clients have heard me talk about the book, The Pumpkin Plan. And kind of Pumpkin Planning your business and choosing your big pumpkins, the customers that you want to serve. And I think the idea of bringing in that person to take on some of the things that you don’t want to do. So if you want to be a clinician and that’s your happy spot, letting somebody else take care of the other aspects so that you can do that, and just stay put, and grow but as you said, grow intentionally. Okay, so you can hang out there. But it sounds like it’s kind of hanging out at the edge of the waterfall with the Whitewater down beneath like something can happen. You have to be intentional not to fall over the natural evolution of a business. Is that off you go, right?

Char Watson: Yeah, you really do. You have to be able to say no and have to be willing to have an expectation on your growth. That’s going to keep you in Fun. If not, then you have a lot of times, organizations kind of like fall face first in the Whitewater because of that. It’s just like all of a sudden it hits them. They’re like, “Holy moly! I don’t have bandwidth anymore.”, “There’s too much complexity.”, “What am I doing with all these humans?” or “Oh yeah, systems and processes too, right?” So you really do have to be intentional if you want to stay in Fun. So after you move through Whitewater, that’s when you can get to Predictable Success. In Whitewater, you’re really establishing the systems and processes for the Executive team. Fun, you’re focusing on minimal systems and processes focused at the team level. Whitewater, we have to move it up and really focus in at the Executive level. That’s going to get us to Predictable Success. Once you overcome the turbulence, you can really learn that difference between the growth and the scaling. You really learn that going through Whitewater and once you’ve made it to Predictable Success, it’s like you come up for air and you found your own island sort of thing. You’re like, “Oh wow! Look what we found!” You really value everything that you went through and everything that you’ve built. It really comes down to when you’re growing, you have to build the capacity to serve those clients. When you get to scale though, you have to be able to serve high quality in the face of complexity. And so you actually start to build out your bandwidth. And if that really does take a whole new set of tools for you to stay in Predictable Success. Again, it really does come down to that intention. We’ll talk about the declining stages and what happens. But once you recognize that you can achieve this stage, this pinnacle stage, it really comes down to innovation, and taking risks, and making the whole organization move with you. It’s all about putting your foot on the gas pedal and the whole organization moves. But it does take 4 different leadership styles to really stay in Predictable Success. So we talked in Fun, you have to have your Operator, you’re number 2. In Whitewater, you need to have a Processor. So they’re very system-oriented, very detail-oriented, and very process-oriented. I have them focus more on like the business development side of things because they really do thrive in those granular details. But then when you get to Predictable Success, you introduce the fourth leadership style which is your Synergist. And your Synergist is you know high EQ. They love culture. They love humans. They love understanding the strengths of those humans and their contributions. They can really get down to that one-to-one level. Where the Operator is just out to execute and the Processor is stuck in that and buried underneath all the details. The Synergist just like brings back the human capital and that recognition of who we have here and who’s around us. So to stay here and Predictable Success, you really do have to embrace all 4 of those leadership styles. And you have to change the way you work. So we call working in cycles. In Fun, it’s taking the Visionary’s ideas, and the Operator goes, plans, executes monitors, and controls it. In Whitewater, it has to shift. We have to bring in that Processor. That Processor actually will go through the Visionary’s ideas, articulating where we’re going down to the Processor to do the planning and down to the Operator to execute. And so you have to remember that. That is not going to be the same kind of working cycle as you were in those previous earlier stages and if you try to execute that way, it’ll keep falling on itself. So you have to change how you’re working in those cycles. So for example, when I’m in these emerging groups where we’re at like the two to three locations, it’s about really defining what is our chain of communication and how does that look? So that when we come up with these strategic imperatives and the Processor comes up with the plan then the Operator is going to have to execute. The Operator still has to be down in and out with those practices on a day-to-day basis to get that feedback and to understand if this is going to be able to be systematized. And then rely on their Practice Managers to systematize what’s being done. If not, it’ll get cycled back up to the Processor to redefine what we’re doing because it can’t be systemized down here. And then the Processor will send it back to the Operator and back down to the practices. So you really do start to form these working cycles rather than just like, “Here’s my idea. Everyone go and do it.” as we did in those earlier stages because we could. It was super flexible. 

Dr. Bethany Fishbein: So I have a couple of questions. Are these your words? Or is this from a book somewhere? If somebody wants to learn about this, is there a resource here? 

Char Watson: No, this is it. Yeah. This is like taking like my mentors over the years, and my experience over the years, and pushing it into basically a structure. 

Dr. Bethany Fishbein: Gotcha. You know as you’re saying this,  I’m thinking about how this applies to eye care practices and that’s one of the things that I’ve just enjoyed about our conversations. So at that stage where you start to need to build out those different leadership styles, are most owners and Operators able to find that within their existing team? Is it something that can be trained? Or do you feel like, at that point, people are bringing somebody in with a different level of experience than maybe anybody on their team ever had?

Char Watson: That is a super good question. So honestly, I think it’s really imperative to look within. I think there’s a lot of pros looking within your team to see who you have. So most of the time, the Operator is there. Most of the time, you do have a Processor there. The Synergist though that one sometimes is there and sometimes isn’t. And that can be a little bit tricky too. Because if the cultures have any kind of hindrance towards innovation, towards culture, towards their language, towards their behaviors, they’ve got themselves to Predictable Success but the culture doesn’t really feel defined, or the values don’t feel really defined, or we don’t have that person that has that high emotional intelligence then yes, typically the Synergist has to come from outside of the organization. But I’ve been in a handful of organizations where the Synergist was there. They were just underneath a role or department that nobody could see that this was their ability. And it was about uncovering them, and having these conversations, and seeing what they’re actually doing, what their goals actually were. And then the next step, obviously doing strength assessments to determine like, “Is this really our person?” But yeah, I mean, they can all of these leaderships can be within your organization. It is just uncovering them from the roles in which they lie. 

Dr. Bethany Fishbein: And establishing what the role is that you’re looking for them to move into. Because something like a Synergist and I actually work with a practice that has this person. They call it their Culture Counselor. And so it’s a different word for it. And they kind of evolved it and realized like, “We got to a point where we need somebody to make sure everybody is taken care of and plan the events and acknowledge the birthdays and the work anniversaries.” And it keeps everybody pulled together and it’s a thing. So even just defining those roles, lets you be able to see who might who you might have that could jump into them.

Char Watson: Yes. Yes and I love how you said that too. Because that’s a Synergist really is that glue and really does like bring back the human capital side to it. We’re getting down to those. That personal one-to-one that mean so much to the team members. I love how you worded that. 

Dr. Bethany Fishbein: Yeah and it happens, you know? This is something that as you said, “I am aware this happens in practices.” That they hit a stage of growth where they kind of lose touch, you know? Sometimes in the beginning of an Early Struggle, it’s the practice owner who’s checking in on everybody, making sure their kids are okay, and asks “What did you have for dinner?” And as they get pulled away to different responsibilities, practices feel that they’ve lost that connection. They’ve lost that culture. Another thing that I’m super aware of even in my own practice is that COVID really affected that important piece of practice growth. Because all of a sudden, we were encouraging everybody to not be glued together. Only two people can be in the lunch room at the same time. We actually took away chairs. We’re not going to do any out-of-office events. You’re not going to be able to see people’s faces. We’re not having staff meetings and so it’s an area now that I feel like we’re just coming out of to acknowledge again that we need that. People miss it. So if you’re hanging out in Predictable Success, so it’s now you can do those growth things that you wanted to do that would have pushed you from Fun to Whitewater. Right? And probably some do them all along. That’s how they have gotten there, to begin with. But now when the next one comes along, it’s easier to say yes, because you’ve got the scaffold underneath. 

Char Watson: Yep, 100%. And I feel like in stage two, the Founder, to be honest, I feel like that at this stage they really embrace the Chief Executive role. And that’s not to disregard everything that the Founder has done to that point. But in Predictable Success, it just seems really obvious that they are the Chief Executive. Like they get really clear on who they are, and what they love doing, and where they want to take this organization. And I think it’s because they’re just not bogged down by all of the everything else that they were doing through those other previous business stages. Like they really do just step into this role. And it’s like, uncovered like a butterfly effect kind of thing. You know? They just come out at a completely different level and you can see it so. It’s so obvious when they get to Predictable Success and they start to make people decisions instead of policy decisions. You know? Like, there’s so much evolution that happens with the Founder at this stage. It’s amazing, honestly. 

Dr. Bethany Fishbein: How does the Founder do that? Like, is it something that will happen organically? I mean, I feel like a lot of people reach out to us when they’re in that Whitewater stage and it’s like, “I know that I want to be somewhere different.” And we do a lot of coaching to help them understand and embrace that role. Like, how do they work on themselves? If they’re listening to this and they think, “You know what? I know I need to do this.” or “Oh, that sounds lovely! I want to be the butterfly but right now I’m the caterpillar.” Where do they go? 

Char Watson: Honestly, you nailed it. They need a coach and mentor that’s on the outside. I think sometimes it’s too hard to see the reflection in the mirror. When you have too much going on, you can’t see the landscape because there’s too many fires in front of you or too many focuses in front of you. And in Predictable Success, you’re building this executive team. So it can be really easy to pull you back in where you feel like you have to be leading the whole way and be the captain on the field. You tend to pull yourself back in where you don’t need to be. I think the best solution to that is having a coach or having a mentor that’s actually at your level that can actually walk you through that and help you from sliding back into those effects. Because essentially, the Visionary has so much pull on the organization that the more that they slide down, then you see the organization’s sliding down until it moves down in the business stages. So I think the most important note right there is just to find that mentor and that coach and be willing to be mentored and coached into this stage. 

Dr.Bethany Fishbein: Yeah, that’s a biggie. So it’s funny as you’re describing this Fun and then Whitewater, I’m kind of imagining like the waterfall and the Whitewater on the other side. But then in my visual, once you got past that you’re in this smooth lake. But you’re not, right? Because something can happen and suck you back into the waterfall. Yeah, okay. I get it. So at Predictable Success, is the goal to stay there? Like you just want to stay there and eventually maybe sell the practice like exit at that point?

Char Watson: No, so typically the Visionary isn’t exiting at Predictable Success. It’s the next stage that we really start to see them looking for the exit sign. But in Predictable Success, typically because the balance is there, there’s a healthy tension between those systems,  processes, innovation, and creativity. It feels like the pinnacle stage. So I don’t typically see Founders active at Predictable Success looking to exit. But in the next stage, we start to see them searching for that exit sign in the back of the organization.

Dr.Bethany Fishbein: Alright, so talk about the next stage. What’s after Predictable Success?

Char Watson: So after Predictable Success is what we deem as the Treadmill. So the biggest problem here that may not be so obvious is that the organization is over-processed. So when you’re in that Whitewater, you have to embrace those systems and processes at the top. Predictable Success, you have to keep that tension of those systems and processes while you know still keeping an innovative and creative mind. Treadmill, you start to lose that innovation and that creativity, and you just keep working your systems, and you keep working your processes. So this is where it really kind of comes down to that adaptive leadership. Whereas we’ve already built these systems and processes. If an issue or problem comes up, we’re going to throw a technical solution at it which is your systems and processes. So then those systems and processes may get tweaked. We may build another one. We may change something. But overall, there’s a huge reliance on those systems and processes. So much so, that we’re not really seeing the Visionary risk-taking there. We start to see that going away. And so it’s not having that creativity. It’s where the forms kind of edge out the function. It’s where your checklists become more important than delivering, right? And you are so system and process-oriented. The whole focus is overprocessed, to be honest.

Dr.Bethany Fishbein: And how do you think people get in there from Predictable Success? Is it like, “This is working. I don’t want to change it.”? Is it, “I’m getting older. I’m tired.”? Or is it like fear creeps in a little like, “Alright, I took my risks.”? Like how do you get there?

Char Watson: I love that you asked that question. I think that there’s kind of multiple answers to this. The biggest one as I said, the Visionary really does lead the organization. They’re the gravitational pull on the whole organization. So if the Visionary is starting to step out, or the Visionary is starting to look for that exit sign, or the Visionary is kind of getting sabotaged by these systems and processes because the executive team already knows “what to do” and they’re getting shoved aside, that starts to push you into that Treadmill. The other point of that is two is that if you have the same team for as long as you’ve been here to get to this Treadmill, and they just have a long tenure, again, they just really start to lose that creativity, that excitement, and that engagement. Because we already know how to do it. We got a system or process that you can throw at this problem or this issue. And so instead of facing the actual problems, what happens is the frontline, the focus tends to go there more. Where the frontline is answering more of their problems than the executive team is. If we’re looking at this in a hierarchical point of view, those frontlines are your Implementers. So those are your assistants. Those are your front office personnel. Whatever you guys call your different roles and your build. That’s your frontline. That’s your first response to these problems and issues and there’s a huge reliance on them resolving those problems and issues. So the executive team just really kind of starts to push too much down and they’re not in there. Like the Operator isn’t in there enough to see what’s actually happening on a daily basis. The Processor isn’t in there to see, “Oh, I don’t think that this product is serving our clients anymore.” or “What is the market asking for?”, “Are we actually serving that?”, “Are we just responding?”, or “Are we just removing that creativity altogether?” So the Treadmill, you can get out of this stage but you have to focus on growth. I mean, I’m sorry, recovery imperatives. Where in Whitewater, we are focusing on growth imperatives and recovery, we’re focusing on getting out of this effect. So you know, it really comes down to the hiring. Who do we have? Are we looking for that innovative person? Are we looking for someone that’s going to kind of cause some trouble and shake things up per se to wake people out of their systems and processes that’s been bogging them down? Are we doing performance assessments? You know? Are we helping to coach and mentor our team and help them get to that success? Are we deploying the ask for innovation and creativity? And if we’re not, then you’re going to stay on that Treadmill and it will push you down to the next declining stage. 

Dr.Bethany Fishbein: Gotcha. One thing I see too is sometimes when we meet offices that I think are in this stage, they started their practices with big lofty goals and kind of kept updating them and then hit their goals and then didn’t update. So they’re like, “Yeah, this is it.” And so we find that surrounding them with offices that are bigger, different, or more successful or doing different things provide some of that inspiration. And having them rework a three-year vision like, “Okay, you’ve reached your vision from three years ago. That’s now. What’s next?” So they’re asking those questions. So the goal with Treadmill is not to continue to progress through the cycles, it’s to go backward and get back to Predictable Success, right? Where you can hang?

Char Watson: Yep, exactly. And again, it comes down to the Founder. And I know there’s like so much weight on you amazing humans that are building these practices but it does come back down to the Founder. Because at this point the Founder’s evolution has hit the true ownership stage and they really are like, “Okay. Well, I see freedom on the other side of this door. I’m not really caring to be a part of this anymore.” You know? And so for them, really the focus needs to be on getting inspired again. And just like you said, you know, shuffle up the feathers a little bit, move them around with different practices, and get introduced to different ways of doing things. Like, get them inspired again that there’s that fire again. 

 Char Watson: Yep, 100%. Yeah, I think the Visionary has to keep scratching that edge until they fully exit. But if you’re going to be present, no matter what the degree is, then you have to be present. Again, it goes back to that being intentional, and then that will help you get back to that Predictable Success.

Dr.Bethany Fishbein: Gotcha. So what if you don’t do it? What if you just ride the Treadmill? What comes next? 

Char Watson: If you ride the Treadmill, you fall into what’s called the Big Rut. Basically, this is where this is the second to the last stage. This is before the death basically of the organization. This is what we deem as too big to fail. So you can consider like big corporate names that you recognize like Walmart and Target. Not to say that maybe they are here or they aren’t here but those big organizations that have a recognizable brand. They have authority within the market. They don’t have to introduce themselves. Everybody knows who they are. Typically they are just riding the momentum of yesterday’s work. They aren’t creative. They aren’t even asking the Visionary to be there. At most of this time, the Visionary is pushed out if they haven’t already exited themselves. It’s kind of like they have this war chest of balance sheets and these recognizable brands because they don’t have to try anymore. And they’re not looking at the market to see what the customers are asking for. And they’re not talking with the frontline and being involved in those weeds and getting that customer perspective. They’ve fallen so far with that Treadmill that they’re just down on a steep slope. It may not happen quickly because they can ride that momentum for years. But typically when they hit that Big Rut stage, it can be really difficult for them to come out off. It can be really difficult for them to even take that step back into the Treadmill to go back to Predictable Success. Typically, when you hit the Big Rut, we’re just on our way out. It’s just a matter of time.

Dr.Bethany Fishbein: And you said in your industry, you’re dealing with a lot of the same things that we are. Where private equity companies are coming in and looking for practices. If you had to say, where do you think the practices are? What stage do you think practices are in where they’re most susceptible to say yes to that?

Char Watson: That’s a really great question. And I think that there again, it kind of comes down to variables. I think that a lot of Founders and a lot of organizations spend too much time in Whitewater, and the turbulence gets them, and they think that they get burned the heck out. So I think that that would be one of those stages that really tends to be susceptible to these acquisition companies. But Treadmill, if not Big Rut, would be the second that they they don’t care anymore. Treadmill, the Visionary I mean sometimes is there. But like I said, they’re typically looking for their exit sign. Big Rut, they’re already out. So usually between Treadmill and Big Rut, we’ll see the Founders are like, “Here you go. You can have it. I’m done. I’m tired. I’m just ready to have freedom.”

Dr.Bethany Fishbein: It’s interesting that you say that. And one thing that I’m aware of is that you mentioned, Big Rut you’re too big to fail. And sometimes one of the other things that happen at that stage is that you’re too big to sell. Right? We talk with some of our larger clients about the curse of success. Where at the point you’re a multi-million dollar multi-location office, it’s hard for an associate to come in and say, “Oh yeah. Okay. I can take that on.” Right? And so then they don’t. But what’s funny is that very often in that situation, the owner is thinking about selling this and we ask like, “What are you going to do after?” And they say, “Oh, I want to open a practice.” And what they describe is going back to Fun.

Char Watson: Yeah and that’s exactly right because they have a lot of that reflection time. And I think it’s so interesting because when you’re talking to practitioners in Fun, it’s exciting. They love it. It’s like, you know the breathless sprint sort of thing. And at that time too, they’re also building those myths and legends that are going to be talked about during the rest of the stages after Fun. That Fun stage is reflected on so much because it is fun. It’s an exciting time. It’s flexible. The practitioners are fully engaged. They’re excited about what they’re doing and so is the team. And so it builds those myths and legends per se following that next business stage.

Dr.Bethany Fishbein: So I think that having a really solid vision of Predictable Success, like what’s on the other side of Whitewater is important. Because really at Treadmill or Big Rut, that’s where somebody should be looking back fondly. But maybe it’s because it’s too close to that edge that you can always slip back or maybe it’s because it’s what got you there. But you’re right. Fun is the stage you look back on and the stories that you tell in the practice and the things that you think about of, “Remember when we were able to do all this?”, “When we had one doctor with two exam rooms.”, and “We could do these silly adventures because we had enough staff to take everybody to Disney.” And now we can’t do all those things. 

Char Watson: Yeah.

Dr. Bethany Fishbein: So I mean, there’s a bunch of takehomes in here. One is that it’s okay to stay in Fun, right? You don’t have to grow for the sake of growth. You can’t live in Whitewater. You got to get out of it in one direction or the other. And then if you don’t do anything in that Big Rut, so if you don’t, you haven’t sold, you don’t have someone to take over and just the owner is kind of getting disengaged and letting the team run and I mean, you said it doesn’t have to be fast it can be slow. But what happens?

Char Watson: If nothing changes like what I said, if it’s bigger, it’s really hard to go backward and go back to that Treadmill. So typically, they just slide into irrelevancy and the organizations may get sold, may get scrapped, or it may just shut down altogether. And then that’s the Death Rattle. It’s your final stage. And you can’t come back from that. It’s going to be starting a whole new practice or starting a whole new business. If you reach that stage.

Dr.Bethany Fishbein: Where do you find practices that you would really consider at risk? Like where you say, “You can’t stay here. You have to do something or something bad’s gonna happen.”

Char Watson: I’m typically not in the declining stages. I’m in the earlier stages. So I’m typically coming in at the Fun stage or the Whitewater stage. And so the Whitewater stage because that’s the stage I’m working on the most, it’s easy for me to identify what’s missing, which we don’t have any systems and processes at the executive level. We’re entirely reliant on just the systems or processes of a team but we’re not functioning here at the top. We don’t have those clear roles. You don’t have the right leadership styles. And we’re still just relying on the Visionary too much or we just have the Operator here and we actually need to have that third leadership style. So I don’t really work too much on that declining stage. I’ve been introduced to it with one client and I was like, “I’m not the person for this. I actually need to pass you on because I don’t really focus on this recovery stage. I’m focusing more on the growth stages.”

Dr.Bethany Fishbein: Very cool. This is super interesting and super relevant and just a different set of words and a different context to think about what we’re going through. And this is one of the reasons that I love talking to people from outside the industry. It’s just a different perspective than we’ve heard before. On really the exact same thing or pretty close to it that we’re already going through. So Char thank you so much for doing this with me, for teaching me, and for sharing your experience and your knowledge with my listeners. Thank you.

Char Watson: You’re so welcome. Thank you so much for having me. 

Dr. Bethany Fishbein: My absolute pleasure. And Char, if people want to at least hear more from you or hear more about you or see what you’re doing, where do they look for you?

Char Watson: They can visit me online at www.theprovidersdoo.com. Or of course, visit the podcast if you want just the CEO Doctor podcast.

Dr.Bethany Fishbein: Perfect. Thank you so so much. 

Char Watson: You’re so welcome. 

Dr. Bethany Fishbein: Everybody out there. Thank you for listening and if we can help you navigate these stages of your business or any other, you can find us online at www.powerpractice.com.