Leadership and physio clinics: it's only one hat in your closet.

I’ve written about giving feedback to physiotherapists this week.

It was one of my longest pieces (10 min read!) yet barely touched the surface of this topic.

An area which is perilous and nuanced at best.

Fraught with uncertainty, anxiety and legal ramifications.

The stakes can be very high at times.

And I think that's why a lot of people are fearful.

In fact, we have a generation that has arrived who are very quick to call foul on feedback.

They've not had to deal with it before.

But it doesn't mean you're wrong.

As a leader, your role is to balance what you say, and what your people need.

As an owner, your role is actually quite different.

Leadership and physio clinics

We hear a lot about great leaders.

Every airport is stacked with books about these topics.

Having great cultures, being great story tellers.

Always being there for your people.

• Good to Great.
• Leaders Eat Last.
• Dare to Lead.

These are some of the early books I read in my journey.

But where they don't go, is telling you much about actually owning an enterprise.

And the many lessons you ought to take stock of from those who have gone before.

For starters, the only people who understand ownership are those who have sat in your shoes.

And many people’s interpretations of such are taken from their own, perhaps distorted, views.

Even in this country, I dare say we have some pretty obscure views on ownership.

What ‘it’ is, who ‘it’ belongs to.

If you’re not following what I’m saying, wait until January 26th and you might see something.

Can you really 'own' an organisation?

On paper, yes.

But in practice, I beg to differ.

It’s no different to stating that you own the land you live on.

You can’t own dirt.

It’s not yours, it belongs to the earth.

But you may lay a claim to it... have custody so to speak.

In many ways we are, right now, the custodians of the organisations we lead.

Or those we have bought into as partners.

I find this lens a better one to view ownership through.

Mostly because it is semi-detached.

Detached from you, the individual, the ego.

A place where your purpose can be sought, without having it so heavily intertwined within your organisation.

(Another great place for this is within my Facebook group, Purpose Driven Practices)

You see, when it comes to the end of the game, you discover a lot about who ‘you’ really think you are.

And what belongs to you, and what you might have more trouble than you thought giving away.

I think it’s quite an unhealthy place to be in business.

One I was definitely in at one stage or another.

Burnt out business owners

I dare say my ownership went to another level in 2021, when I took on ownership of all of the world's problems as well.

There are times we really do need to fight, and these ego attached ideals can come in very useful.

Especially in fight-flight times.

But after they subside, we are left a little more depleted.

And your ego may either have got further inflated - never a good thing.

Or it’s feeling a bit bruised and battered - also, not a good thing.

I think unfortunately, some people blend their ego into a mix of all three.

The self, the leader and the owner.

This is where the most conflict occurs.

You see, there are times when the duties of the self do conflict with those of the leader/owner.

Most commonly when you need a break, or you are burning out.

Burnt out people make extremely poor owners and even worse leaders.

There are times when a leaders duties (if one is to take full responsibility for one’s team) will conflict with an owners role.

And these are the grey areas that are often misunderstood.

As a leader, a lot of people are quite happy to fly by the seat of their pants.

But as an owner, you get left with all the dirty jobs.

When things don’t go to plan.

When you need to make a decision to protect you business, that conflicts with perhaps a moral decision about what might be best for a team member.

I’m talking about letting mediocre staff go.

It’s about making tough calls sometimes.

And many refuse to do this.

For one reason or another, they are happier to hang on to poor performers, even toxic team members.

To the detriment of their own health (self), their teams’ (leader) and their organisation (owner).

Leadership is to keep going

It’s a funny old place to be, chasing physio success.

Whilst struggling under the weight of all the hats.

It’s not enviable in any ways.

In fact, many people have been thinking about giving away equity this year.

It's no surprise.

Ownership is difficult.

Owning all the problems.

And if you’re not losing sleep over it some nights, well…

You’re probably not really doing it right.

Shane Guna is the Founder of Gun Physio Academy.

He writes about leadership, personal development and commercial skills for physiotherapists.

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