Quick Tips from Sarah
Hopefully as we forge on after two years of pandemic stress, you are starting to feel more comfortable going to public places – and especially going to meetings that require travel! I know I have missed the on-site meeting scene as well as my “travel buddies” that I’m used to seeing on the road.
Speaking of travel buddies – do you have one?! If you haven’t noticed, you will rarely see me without my other half – Ann. And while we are besties for the resties, the bonus is that we make an awesome meeting duo given our complementary skillsets. Plus, it gives us a break from the day-to-day where we can brainstorm new ideas without being bogged down with general work duties.
Meetings for DPMs can get extremely grueling; sitting in a lecture hall for eight hours – it’s a lot. However, grueling circumstances are always more enjoyable when you’ve got good company around. So find yourself a meeting buddy!
You maybe already have someone in mind, but you may want to mix it up too depending on the meeting and your goals. Here are some suggestions to get you thinking about who you can start to take over the world with:
Previous classmates or residents. Nostalgia tends to give us warm and fuzzies; plus it can be refreshing to see old friends. You may discover that the two of you have taken on different specialties (i.e. wound care vs. surgery), which will allow you to share recent experiences and find inspiration to take something back to your practice that wasn’t even in the lectures.
Your Medical Assistant(s) and/or Practice Manager. This probably isn’t anything you’ve never thought of before, but it may get overlooked given busy schedules and the risk of having too many people out of the office. Having a member of your own team at a meeting allows you to bounce ideas off of one another in real-time. This is valuable time spent because each of you will have a shared vision of practice improvement going into the meeting.
Your Protege. What’s nobler than helping a promising physician become a rock star physician? Taking in lectures and education alongside someone who may see the world in a different way given a potential age difference could open your eyes to some new ideas you wouldn’t have otherwise considered. Plus, if this person is going to be a member of your team, traveling from meeting to meeting is a great way to discover if your partnership is going to blossom or if it needs to be cut off at the knees. There’s usually no better way to realize if you mesh with someone like a road trip!
These are just some sample ideas, so start thinking about whom you might want to jive with. Sometimes, you may want to go it alone, but don’t underestimate the power of two.