A Letter to the Physiotherapy Industry

A Letter to the Physiotherapy Industry

Emotions have been running high this week (mine included) and these are challenging times for everyone.

It's been 1 week since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Here is one part of a letter that I sent to one of our partners in February 2019 in response to a slowly evolving (and often combative) industry. Today, more than ever, there are truths that ring true as I re-read the letter. In light of the pressure, stress, and changes - we need to rise together, forever changing our industry. I'm publishing this part of the letter as food for thought.

Embodia’s overriding objective is excellence, or more precisely, constant improvement, a forward-thinking and constantly improving company in all respects. 

We are on a mission of meaningful work and meaningful partnerships, and I believe the best way to do this is to have great partnerships with great people.

To me, great partnerships come from sharing common values and interests, having similar approaches to pursuing them, and being reasonable with, and having consideration for, each other. At the same time, partners must be willing to hold each other to high standards and work through their disagreements. Having clear processes for resolving disagreements efficiently is essential.

Conflict in the pursuit of excellence is a terrific thing and will only contribute to the growth of something truly amazing.

Criticism (by oneself and by others) is an essential ingredient in the improvement process, yet, if handled incorrectly, can be destructive. It should be handled objectively. 

Teamwork and team spirit are essential, including intolerance of substandard performance.

This is referring to:

  1. One’s recognition of the responsibilities one has to help the team to achieve its common goals and
  2. The willingness to help others (work within a group) toward these common goals.

Our fates are intertwined.

One should know that others can be relied upon to help. As a corollary, substandard performance cannot be tolerated anywhere because it would hurt everyone. 

Teamwork and the genuine interest and mutual respect of each other's teams is critical.

I wish nothing but the best outcomes for the industry and myself and the entire Embodia team hope to support this through our partnership. However, a successful partnership will only come from a collaborative effort, genuine care for each other, and support for each other's work.

I believe it is time to correct this.

Moving forward, for our partnership to truly be a partnership that is grounded in mutual respect, and be successful, I believe we need to be radically truthful and radically transparent with each other.

Understanding what is true is essential for success, and being radically transparent about everything, including mistakes and weaknesses, helps create the understanding that leads to improvements.

First, we create a framework for which we should operate - new rules of engagement. These are the values that we all agree upon and the rules within which we operate. 

Second, and more practically speaking, how we carry these out on a day-to-day basis.

What are your rules of engagement?

Here's Embodia’s culture manual to help provide a better understanding of what we believe in and what we're working towards:

  1. Impact: You accomplish amazing amounts of important work. You demonstrate consistently strong performance so colleagues can rely upon you. You can focus on great results rather than on process. You exhibit bias-to-action and avoid analysis-paralysis
  2. Communication: You listen well, instead of reacting fast, so you can better understand. You are concise and articulate in speech and writing. You treat people with respect independent of their status or disagreement with you. You maintain calm poise in stressful situations.
  3. Curiosity: You learn rapidly and eagerly. You seek to understand our strategy, market, the community of users, instructors and partners. You are broadly knowledgeable about business, technology, and healthcare. You contribute effectively outside of your specialty.
  4. Innovation: You re-conceptualize issues to discover practical solutions to hard problems. You challenge prevailing assumptions when warranted, to suggest better approaches. You create new ideas that prove useful. You keep us nimble by minimizing complexity and finding time to simplify.
  5. Courage: You say what you think even if it is controversial. You make tough decisions without excessive agonizing. You take smart risks. You question actions inconsistent with our values.
  6. Passion: You inspire others with your thirst for excellence. You care intensely about Embodia's success. You celebrate wins. You are tenacious.
  7. Judgment: You make wise decisions (people, technical, business and creative) despite ambiguity. You identify root causes and get beyond treating symptoms. You think strategically and can articulate what you are, and what you are not, trying to do. You smartly separate what must be done well now, and what can be improved later.
  8. Honesty: You are known for candor and directness. you are non-political when you disagree with others. You only say things about fellow colleagues that you would say to their face. You are quick to admit mistakes.
  9. Selflessness: You seek what is best for Embodia, rather than best for yourself. You are ego-less when searching for the best ideas. You make time to help colleagues. You share information openly and proactively.
  10. High performance: It's about effectiveness - not effort - even though effectiveness is harder to assess. We don't measure people by how many evenings or weekends they devote to Embodia. We measure people by how much, how quickly and how well they get work done - especially under deadline.
  11. Freedom & responsibility: The responsible person is: self-motivating, self-aware, self-disciplined, self-improving, act as a leader, doesn't wait to be told what to do, never feels `that's my job', picks up the trash lying on the floor, behaves like an owner. Responsible people thrive on freedom and are worthy of freedom. Our goal is to increase employee freedom as we grow, rather than limit it, to continue to attract and nourish innovative people, so we have a better chance of long-term continued success.
  12. Context, not control: "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the people to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea." Antoine De Saint-Exupery, Author of The Little Prince. We try to set the appropriate context and provide insight and understanding to enable sound decisions, rather than by trying to control people.




Well said and written!

Darryl Yardley

Coach | Educator | Consultant | Researcher | Patient Experience | Clinical Development | Entrepreneur | Physiotherapist

5 年

Thank you for sharing this Maggie Bergeron

Rick Lau

Healthcare Entrepreneur, Built and Exited 127 Clinics

5 年

??????

Dinah Hampson

Founder & CEO Pivot Sport Medicine Physiotherapy Orthopaedics and Pivot Dancer - 5 time RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards Nominee

5 年

My staff will be joining Embodia. Thank you Maggie

Liam McCormick

Founder and CEO at (U)biquity Health Inc.

5 年

Well said Maggie

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