Too many chiropractors leave seminars fired up with great ideas—only to watch those ideas gather dust in a binder. In this episode of The Successful Chiro, we unpack Dr. Noel Lloyd’s proven Ideas to Action Framework—a four-step system for turning brilliant takeaways into real, lasting business systems. You’ll hear practical, real-world examples from clinics that implemented quick wins (like caller ID branding) to high-impact procedural changes (like Day 3 Meetings and deactivation text protocols). We also explore how accountability loops, staff ownership, and structured meetings transform ideas into sustainable growth.
What you’ll learn in this episode:
Implementation isn’t about more ideas—it’s about building systems, accountability, and team ownership so those ideas stick.
This episode was created using AI-generated voices, allowing us to bring you actionable content faster while maintaining clarity and engagement.
Next steps for you:
👉 Schedule a free call with Dr. George Birnbach and the Five Star Management team: https://myfivestar.com/work-with-us/
👉 Register now for our live Orlando event (Nov. 15–16, 2025): https://myfivestar.com/live-event-november-2025/
👉 Subscribe to The Successful Chiro for more strategies that turn great ideas into practice growth.
Welcome to the Chiropractic Deep Dive. We're here to bring you those, uh, high leverage moves, the practical levers you really need to drive growth, freedom, and well success in your practice. And just so you know, this Deep Dive is brought to you by Five Star Management. We're a chiropractic consulting company, and we're really focused on turning great ideas into lasting business systems.
Yeah. And today we're zeroing in on a challenge that, let's be honest, every single doctor faces mm-hmm. Uh, frankly, any professional who goes to seminars. Deals with this. It's that terrible feeling, right? The professional guilt, the practice stagnation that comes from having that, you know, brilliant binder full of notes that just, yeah, sits on the shelf.
Well, yeah, that's the real pain point, isn't it? Just the sheer waste time, money, energy, yeah, potential. You go to these great sessions, get all fired up, but those incredible takeaways, they just never quite become successful at growth causing actions. Tuesday morning hits and poof. Derailed. Yeah, exactly. So our mission today is really to solve that implementation gap.
We're diving deep into the ideas to action framework. This came out of a recent session led by Dr. Noel Lloyd, and it's not just theory, it's a very user-friendly system. The goal is getting your team, your trained team to comfortably take an idea straight into action. And there was a specific goal for the people in that session, wasn't there?
It was pretty intense. Oh, it was? The benchmark was to implement one brand new retention takeaway. Hmm. Get it into daily use within seven days. Seven. And not just use it, but convert it into a fully documented standard operating procedure. An SOP, that's real implementation success. Okay. Wow. Seven days to an SOP.
That's fast. So how do you get that kind of velocity? Dr. Lloyd laid out a framework. Yep. A concise four step thought frame. Think of it as the map to keep that momentum going to avoid the Tuesday morning derailment. Alright, let's unpack that because we're gonna need it to look at the examples today. What are the four steps?
Okay, step one, pick one easy project. Super foundational. Don't try to, you know, change the entire world on Monday morning. Makes sense. Start small. Step two, workshop the idea. Get the team involved. Talk it through, role play it. Build that consensus. Okay, step three, shepherd the idea. Mm. And this is crucial.
Dr. Lloyd talks about guiding the little lamb, the new idea past all the wolves that are waiting to derail it. The wolves, like daily busyness, staff maybe forgetting the doctor, getting distracted. Exactly. All that stuff. The inertia of just running the practice day to day, those are the wolves. And then step four builds right on that shepherding start, demo, audit the process, frequently check it's actually happening and develop.
Copilots. Mm-hmm. People who really understand the system and can run it without you constantly looking over their shoulder. Okay. Framework established, pick easy, workshop it, shepherd it past the wolves. Then demo, audit, and build copilots. Now let's see it in action. You mentioned participants applied this immediately.
Let's start with that quick win example. Something technical. Yeah, this was great. Perfectly illustrates. Step one, pick easy. It came from a participant focused on lead follow up. Something most practices kind of overlook caller ID branding. Caller id. You mean like what shows up when the clinic calls someone ?
Precisely. The technical nugget was getting the system set up, so when the clinic calls out, the caller ID actually displays the clinic name like Catalyst Chiropractic instead of just any town USA or the absolute killer, potential spam. Ugh, exactly. Potential spam. Yeah. Nobody answers that. I don't answer that.
Right. So think about it. New lead missed appointment. Are they gonna pick up for potential stamp or for Catalyst Chiropractic? This is the kicker. He said the hardest part wasn't the tech, it was just scheduling the time to do it. Finding those 15 minutes to actually sit down and deal with the phone system settings.
Ah, there's the first wolf inertia. Just finding the space in the day. That's it. But because it was presented as you know, low friction, high impact, yeah. Guess what happened? Others jumped on and immediately. Several other participants right there on the call committed to assigning the caller ID change to someone in their clinic.
Boom idea, straight to action, perfect implementation velocity example. Okay, so that's a neat tech fix. Quick, easy win. But what about the bigger stuff, the core procedures, the things that really impact retention and patient experience? Like how do you stop those great day one notes from just fading away, right?
Let's move to a deeper procedural change implemented by another participant. This tackles patient expectations head on the day three meeting. Day three meeting. Okay. What's that about? It's fantastic. It's about proactively managing patient expectations after the initial day. Two one, day two. Excitement is maybe worn off a bit.
The idea is a special, pretty brief meeting on their third visit just to go over core clinic policies. Okay, so how did they roll this out? Back to the framework, step two. Workshop. The idea, the doctor introduced it in a staff meeting. They didn't just talk about it though. They actually roleplayed the new procedure right then and there.
Role-playing. That seems key for staff buy-in and actually doing it correctly under pressure. Absolutely. It's the bridge from paper to performance. If the team hasn't practiced the script, how confident will they be when a real patient is sitting there? Huh, not very. Makes sense. So what's in this day three sheet or script?
What policies are they covering? It's strategic. First, it reinforces the psychology, right? It states clearly that momentum is the goal of healing, helps justify sticking to the care plan. Okay. Reinforcing the why exactly. But then comes the crucial procedural bit. A policy clause stating very clearly if you have a new condition, a new injury, a new accident that requires a separate scheduled appointment.
Ah, protecting the adjustment visit so the doctor doesn't get ambushed with a whole new exam mid adjustment. Precisely protects the doctor's focus, keeps the schedule flowing. Huge time and energy saver. Okay, I can see doctors loving that part, but you know, new procedures. And sometimes the team sees it as just more work.
How did the team react? According to the participant? They love the sheet. They saw the value, and they assigned a specific ca, a clinical assistant to handle this meeting on day three before the doctor even sees the patient giving ownership. Yeah, gives the CA ownership ensures consistency, but we both know the potential pitfall here.
Oh yeah. Three weeks later, the ca gets swamped, skips a few, then it just. Disappears, but wolf of busyness strengths again. Exactly. So how did this doc handle step three? Shepherding the idea. What was the accountability? This is where the system gets legs. The doctor committed personally to reviewing and counting the day three sheets every single week as part of their normal new patient paperwork audit.
Wait, the doctor is counting them, not just asking the ca if they did them? Yes. The doctor physically looks for that sheep for every new patient hitting day three that week. Why is that distinction important? Because the team needs to see the leader values the system through action, not just words. When the doc carves out time every week to personally check for that piece of paper, it sends a huge signal.
This is not optional. This matters. If the sheet isn't there, the doc knows instantly the process failed. That audit is the shepherd guarding the little lamb idea from the wolves. Wow. Okay. That's powerful. Implementation isn't just the idea, it's the accountability loop. You build around the idea, which leads us right into structured teams.
You need that structure for sustained implementation. Right. Especially step four, developing those copilots. It's exactly right. We heard from a really effective ca leader. She basically functioned as a project manager in her clinic. And her big point was if doctors want staff to take ownership to become co-pilots, the doctors have to really listen, listen to the gaps the staff are seeing on the front lines.
Makes sense. And she described a specific meeting structure. They used a two-tiered system. Yeah. Really smart. Tier one. The CA team meets every Monday. Crucially without the doctors there. Okay. Why no doctors psychological safety. It's their space to talk freely, go over internal training, refreshers, personal goals, and importantly stuff they can decide and start immediately without needing doctor approval.
Little procedural tweets brush up low stakes, right? A safe space to hash things out and make quick fixes. Then tier two, tier two is the full team meeting. Wednesday with the doctors, that's where they tackle the bigger stuff, office-wide goals, implementing procedures that do need the doctor sign off or involve changes to clinical flow.
But how do they make sure the good ideas from the Monday CA only meeting, don't just get lost before Wednesday? Ah, the accountability loop again, this CA leader meets with her doctor every single Monday. Not for long, scheduled five to 15 minutes max. The agenda is tight. Report on what the CA's discussed. Get the doctor's quick feedback or approval if needed, and plan any next steps for the Wednesday meeting.
It connects the frontline insights directly to leadership strategy. That's how she became a true copilot. That structure sounds solid. And you had mentioned this team identified a specific problem, the ghosting issue. Yeah. A huge frustrating gap. Yeah. Patients who just stop coming, no call, no show, nothing.
They just vanish. Ghosting. They had systems for calls, missed appointment slips, but no final step. Staff felt like they were endlessly chasing ghosts, wasting energy. I hear that one a lot. So what was their solution? The team came up with a deactivation text protocol. Okay. How does that flow? It builds on their existing process.
Patient misses, appointments, goes through the normal, say five day call system, pissed appointment slip, goes to the doctor. Doctor tries a personal reach out. But if the doctor still gets no response. The slip then goes to the CA leader and she sends the final deactivation text. What does the text say? You don't wanna slam the door shut entirely.
Exactly. The scripting is key. It politely informs the patient that due to non-attendance, their active patient file is being deactivated. But, and this is crucial, it clarifies the door is left cracked. They're welcome back anytime. Just need to call to reactivate. It gives closure, stops the chasing, saves staff time and emotional drain, but keeps the relationship positive.
And the CA leader who suggested it. She took ownership. Yep. She became the project manager for implementing it. Step four. Again, developing copilot. She even created a little project sheet for accountability. The doctor approved it instantly. Why? Because it perfectly filled a painful, obvious gap the team themselves identified.
That's a great example of the whole process working. Identify gap workshop solution. Assign ownership. Implement and we heard a similar related process from another clinic dealing with MIA patients, maybe slightly different workflow. Oh yeah. How do they handle it? They use a therapy assistant every week.
The TA prints a list of all patients who missed appointments and haven't rescheduled. That list goes to the doctors. The doctors review it, and here's the interesting part. They add handwritten notes for each patient. Specific actions. Handwritten, like what kind of actions? Simple direct instructions, like call patient in two weeks or send reactivation letter, or sometimes just do not pursue. That
handwritten note. Communicates importance, removes all ambiguity for the staff about what to do next and ensures every single missing patient gets a final conscious decision from leadership. Closes the loop cleanly. Okay. Wow. So whether it's caller id, the day three meeting the deactivation text or this MIA list, it really does all circle back to that initial framework, doesn't it?
It really does. If you pull it all together. The big takeaway for everyone listening is this. The gap isn't usually the idea. We get lots of great ideas. The gap between that great idea and actual sustained success. Well, it's filled by getting team consensus, by actually role-playing the procedure. By building in those accountability loops, project sheets, the doctor, counting the forms, whatever works, and carving out that structured time for debriefing and planning implementation isn't magic.
It's a process, a protected audited process. Absolutely. And we really want you listening to take these insights and put them into action like today. Stop letting those notes just sit there. So if we're feeling that pain, if you wanna apply these principles and see some immediate improvement in your practice, your first step is simple.
Book a free call with Dr. George Birnbach. He and the whole five star team specialize in exactly this, turning these concepts into real world practice growth and smoother operations. The link is right there in the show notes. Click it, and we're actually taking this whole ideas to action concept live.
We'd love for you to join us in Sunny Orlando, Florida. November 15th and 16th, we're running a really dynamic two track event. Track One is the new patient edge, all about high velocity strategies to get more new patients fast. Track two is our Win-Win Associates event that's focused on our specialized system for building practices with associates that drives more growth, more freedom, and ultimately more success for everyone involved.
It's a powerful model. Again, the link to register for that live two day event in Orlando, it's right there in the show notes. Definitely check those links out, and of course, if this deep dive was helpful, please hit that subscribe button for the chiropractic deep dive. We'll keep bringing you more high leverage tips and actionable items just like these.
Thanks so much for tuning in, diving into implementation strategy with us. We'll catch you on the next deep dive.