Ever leave a seminar fired up… only to watch your big ideas die by Monday morning? In this Chiropractic Deep Dive, we break down Dr. Noel Lloyd’s powerful execution framework for turning inspiration into real, sustainable growth. You’ll learn how to bridge the gap between knowing what to do and actually getting it done using simple, proven systems: mission clarity, the Class Project method, shepherding ideas into SOPs, and building accountability that sticks. If your practice is stuck in “seminar high, Monday morning hangover” mode, this episode will show you exactly how to fix it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
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👉 Join us live in Chicago for the Five Star Management 2-Day Event: Too Many New Patients and learn how to drive rapid, sustainable growth: https://myfivestar.com/in-person-seminar/
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Note: This podcast episode was created using AI-generated voices based on the teachings and training of Dr. Noel Lloyd.
Welcome back to the show. I want you to, uh. Picture a scenario that I think every single person listening to this has lived through. Oh yeah. You're at a seminar. Maybe it's Vegas, maybe Orlando. You are sitting in that ballroom. The music is pumping, the speaker is just on fire, and you're scribbling notes like a madman, stars, exclamation points, circling everything.
Everything. You're thinking. This is it. This is the year I double my practice. You are on what we call the seminar high. It's a great feeling. Yeah. I mean, you feel invincible. You feel like you finally have the blueprint. Exactly. But then, um, you fly home, you walk into the office on Monday morning in reality just hits Oh, it hits you like a wet towel.
Yeah. The phone's ringing off the hook. Your front desk ca is out sick. The internet's down. A patient is complaining about a bill. And that notebook. Yeah, that notebook, that notebook full of million dollar ideas gets shoved into a drawer and you don't look at it again until you're packing for the next seminar.
We call that the Monday Morning Hangover. And it is a universal struggle for chiropractors. It's that that massive, frustrating canyon between knowing what to do and actually finding the time and the structure to execute it. And that gap that canyon is exactly what we're gonna bridge today. Welcome to a special edition of the show, the Chiropractic Deep Dive part of the Successful Chiro Podcast family.
It's great to be here. We are tackling, I think, the single biggest bottleneck in practice growth today -Execution. We are, and I should mention right off the bat, this Deep Dive is brought to you by Five Star Management. You know, working with Five Star, we see this pattern all the time. Doctors have the potential, they have the clinical skills, but the systems.
They just aren't sticking. Right. So today we're unpacking a specific solution. We're looking at a recent high level training Zoom call led by I mean the one and only Dr. Noel Lloyd. Mm-hmm. And the entire theme of the call was launch actions. It wasn't about what should I do in 2026, it was about how do I actually get it done without burning out. And,
Dr. Lloyd didn't pull any punches on this call. He identified the cost of that Monday morning hangover. He basically said that having great seminar takeaways that that never turn into action isn't just neutral. It's actually toxic. It is. It creates this like psychological weight. Dr. Lloyd listed the symptoms of this execution failure.
First, the problems in your office don't get fixed, so they just keep annoying you. Second, you start to get discouraged by your own lack of performance, and finally, you hit this wall of cynicism where you ask why even try? Why even try? That is such a dark place for an entrepreneur to be. So the mission of this deep dive is to pull you outta that.
We're gonna break down Dr. Lloyd's methodology for taking a new idea and, I love this word he used shepherding it into a standard operating procedure. Shepherding is the perfect word, and we'll get to why in a minute. But what I found fascinating was that Dr. Lloyd didn't start this training with a calendar or you know, a to-do list.
Right? He started way upstream. He started with the practices mission and vision. Yeah. He asked the participants on the call to bring their seminar prep work, specifically their mission statements. Hmm. Now. Play devil advocate for me here. When I hear mission statement, I sometimes think of corporate fluff.
Sure. A plaque in the lobby that just gathers dust. Why did he start there? And that's the common trap, treating the mission as decoration. But Dr. Lloyd made a critical distinction. It's not about the plaque, it's about engagement. One of the participants on the call made a great point. They said that involving the team and refining the mission makes 'em feel like they're part of it.
Oh, they aren't just employees taking orders. They're members of a movement. Right. If the team doesn't buy into the why. They'll never execute the how with any real consistency. And we heard some examples of mission statements on this call that were just, well, they were better. They weren't generic. They were specific.
One doctor shared their new mission. We help people heal from the inside out by engaging the body's innate healing potential. It's clear, it's chiropractic centric. I like that. Another one was simply helping people do what they love. Pain-free. I love that second one. It connects the clinical outcome directly to the patient's life.
Doing what you love. That's what patients care about. Exactly. But here's where Dr. Lloyd. Applied a pressure test that I think every chiropractor listening needs to try like immediately. Okay. He called it the t-shirt test. The T-shirt test. I love this. Break it down. So one of the practices shared their mission.
Families in our office are healthier and safer than the families outside of it. Ooh, that gives me chills, healthier, and safer. I mean, that is a bold statement. It's provocative. And Dr. Lloyd asked the doctor, why did you shorten it to that? And the answer was brilliant. We're gonna put it on a T-shirt. That sounds like a marketing gimmick, but Dr.
Lloyd argued it's actually a leadership tool. It's internal marketing. Think about it. If a mission statement is short and punchy enough to fit on a t-shirt, your staff can actually memorize it, right? If they wear it on their chest, they physically embody it. Dr. Lloyd made the point that he could recruit to that mission.
Meaning if you show a potential new hire that sure families in here are safer than families out there, you're going to attract a specific type of person. Exactly. You attract believers, you attract people who want to be part of a crusade, not just someone looking to clock in and out. One of the staff members on the call mention she loves wearing the shirt because it stands for something.
Mm-hmm. It elevates her job from receptionist to guardian of health. But there is a warning here, right? Yeah. You can't just print shirts and expect magic. Right. Dr. Lloyd warned that authenticity is, well, it's non-negotiable if you print that shirt, but you as the doctor, don't live that mission. If you're cutting corners or not focused on the patient, the staff will feel like hypocrites wearing it, and that breeds cynicism faster than anything.
Oh, sure. So step one, get the mission right. Keep it simple. Make it wearable. Now, step two, the strategy. How do we actually implement changes without the team mutiny? Uhhuh, Dr. Lloyd proposed something he calls the class project, and this is the antidote to the overwhelm we talked about. The mistake most doctors make after a seminar is trying to change 10 things at once.
The Class project Method says, pick one, just one, and make it easy, and make it super easy. Dr. Lloyd used a really vivid analogy here involving a child and a bicycle to explain why we usually fail at this. He was a great visual. He said, imagine you're teaching a five-year-old to ride a bike. You do not put them on a massive 26 inch racing bike.
Take them to the top of a steep hill called Devil's Dip, and just shove them down. Good luck kid. Don't hit a tree. Exactly. I mean, that's a recipe for a hospital visit. But Dr. Lloyd pointed out that this is exactly what doctors do to their cas. They come back from a seminar and say, here's a complex new software system.
Here are five new scripts. Figure it out by noon, and the staff crashes and burns at the bottom of devil's dip, right? Instead, you use training wheels, you start on flat ground. You build momentum on small successes, and that leads to the core concept of this training. Shepherding shepherding. I really, really like this image.
It's a mindset shift for the leader. You are responsible for shepherding the new idea. Think of the new idea, whether it's a new script or a new tech tool as a little lamb. Okay? It's vulnerable, it's fragile. Your job isn't just a toss it into the pasture. You have to guide it, protect it, and ensure it makes it all the way to the destination.
And the destination is becoming a standard operating procedure. Yeah. Something we do automatically, precisely. So Dr. Lloyd and the group broke down two specific lambs that they shepherded into action during this call. Let's look at the first one. This was a hard change focused on technology and efficiency.
This was fascinating because it addresses a problem every single chiropractor deals with. Time management in the adjustment room. Oh yeah. The problem was that doctors and Cas were spending way too much time verbally taking the patient's subjective history, you know? How does it feel today? Is it better or worse than Tuesday?
Where does it hurt? It just seems innocent enough. Yeah. But if you do that 40 times a day, at two minutes a pop. I mean, that's over an hour of wasted time. Exactly. You are hemorrhaging time. So the class project solution was let the patient do the work using technology before they see the doctor. This is where the iPads and kiosks come in.
Right. The workflow they discussed is super streamlined. The patient walks in, they grab a tablet or go to a kiosk. They tap their current symptom levels. That data saves directly to the EHR, the electronic health record, so the doctor sees it before they even walk into the room. They aren't walking in blind, and it changes the patient's perception of the doctor.
Instead of asking basic questions like a clerk, the doctor walks in saying, I see that lower back is 50% better today. They look prepared. They look like an expert. Yes. The participants threw out a few software names that handle this well, Jane, Platinum, Health Core. But honestly, the software isn't the magic bullet.
No, the magic bullet was in the training. 'cause you can't just hand an iPad to Mrs. Jones and hope she figures it out. This was the aha moment for me. The group discussed a concept called day three training. Why day three? Well, day one and two are chaotic. You've got the exam, the report of findings, the first adjustment, the patient is just overwhelmed.
Oh sure. But by day three, the dust has settled. So on day three, the front desk specifically trains the patient on how to use the sign-in station. They walk them through it. One participant even mentioned. They train patients on how to lay face down properly on the table to relax before the doctor comes in.
I love that term they used automating the patient. It sounds a little cold, but it's actually really helpful. You're teaching the patient how to be a good patient. Exactly. If you don't train them, you create a bottleneck at the front desk where the CA has to help them every single time. But if you invest five minutes on day three.
You save hundreds of hours over the lifetime of that patient, you're shepherding them into a habit. That's it. So that's the tech side. Yeah. But the second case study Dr. Lloyd walked through was a soft change. It was about verbiage and psychology, and honestly, this one blew my mind a little bit. I agree.
It was such a small tweak with a huge impact. I agree. This focused on changing specific words used at the front desk to, uh, alter the psychology of payment. Let's break it down. The first shift was changing 'your' to 'the' Yes. The old script. 'Your account has a balance or your payment is due'. The new script, 'the account, or the balance.'
It seems so semantic. I mean, why does that matter? It's all about removing defensiveness. When you say your account, it implies ownership of the debt. It can feel like an accusation. You failed to pay, right? When you say the account, you dissociate the person from the money. You make the balance a neutral object that just needs to be handled.
It deescalates tension immediately. That is subtle but really powerful. And then there was the dollar rule. This is classic behavioral economics. The rule Dr. Lloyd taught is stop using the word dollars when telling someone what they owe. Okay? Don't say that will be $95. Just say that will be 95 today because the word dollars
triggers the pain of paying in the brain. Exactly. It reminds them of the cost. But, and here's the clever twist. You do use the word dollars when talking about savings or discounts. You saved $50 today. Ah, so 95 is just a number, but $50 saved. Is real money in my pocket. Precisely. You highlight the value, you soften the cost.
Now knowing the script is one thing, getting a whole team to actually say it. When the phones are ringing and the pressure is on, that is the shepherding challenge. So how do they implement this? One of the practices shared their playbook. They typed up the new scripts and physically tape them by the phones.
You couldn't miss them. Oh, but they didn't stop there? No, they did role playing. I can hear the listeners groaning right now. Roleplaying, everyone hates it. It feels so awkward. It does, but the participants share it away to make it less painful. They use the positive feedback sandwich. This is so important for culture.
When you're critiquing a staff member's role play the rule is you must give two positives. First, I loved your tone, and you smile the whole time. Then, and only then do you give one thing to improve two positives. One improvement. It keeps the ego intact. It keeps them listening. Dr. Lloyd added a leadership note here that I think ties this whole section together.
He said, you own the stadium and the team, but you must also be the cheerleader. Meaning you can't just be the referee blowing the whistle when they mess up. Right. New habits are fragile. If the staff feels judged every time they slip up and say, your account, they'll stop trying. If they feel supported, they'll self-correct.
Okay, so let's recap where we are. We have a mission that fits on a t-shirt. We have a strategy of picking one small class project. Yeah. We have tactics like D three training and the dollar rule, but here is the big one. Mm-hmm. How do we make it stick? Mm. How do we stop these new protocols from falling into disrepair
three weeks later? This is the accountability piece. The launch is fun. The orbit is hard work. Dr. Lloyd and the group discussed robust systems for this, and it all boils down to keeping score. They talked about scorecards, right? Yes. Every CA should have a scorecard with KPIs, key performance indicators, and KPAs key performance activities.
They need to know if they're winning or losing the game. And you need a rhythm for checking the score. Exactly. There are weekly meetings for what Dr. Lloyd called recurrence training. Just checking in on that new idea to make sure it's still alive. And then there are quarterly formal reviews. One great tip from the call was to have the staff fill out a self-evaluation form first before the owner gives their review.
That is smart. It exposes the gap. If the employee thinks there are a 10 outta 10 on phone scripts and you think there're a four. You need to know that immediately. And finally, Dr. Lloyd wrapped up the session with a concept that I think is the secret sauce for any busy doctor. The co-pilot. The co-pilot.
Tell us about that. He said every doctor needs a co-pilot or a project manager, someone to take the notes, organize the scripts, and help fly the plane. Because the doctor is busy flying. We're adjusting patients, checking x-rays, doing reports. We can't always be the one remembering to print the new scripts.
Exactly. Whether it's your office manager or a lead ca, you need that person who says, doc, I got this. I'll make sure it happens. If execution is entirely on the doctor's shoulders. The bottleneck will always be the doctor. That is the truth. It's about building a team, skilled in ideas to action. That was the goal Dr.
Lloyd said at the beginning, and by the end of the analysis, you could really see the blueprint. It moves you from that temporary seminar high to actual sustainable growth. It prevents that burnout. So let's bring this home for you listening right now. Knowledge without execution is just frustration. This Zoom call we dissected showed us that you don't need to change everything overnight.
You need a mission that rallies the team. You need to pick one small training wheel project. You need to shepherd it. Yeah. You need to audit it and don't forget to be the cheerleader. Absolutely. Now, if you are listening to this and thinking, okay, I get the theory, but I need help building this structure in my actual office.
I need a co-pilot. Well, we have the ultimate resource for you. We do. If you wanna create this kind of accountability and success in your practice, you need to speak to the experts. You can book a free call with Dr. George Birnbach. Mm-hmm. He is a master at installing these systems into practices just like yours.
We've put the link to book that free call with Dr. Birnbach right in the show notes. Seriously click it. It's a conversation that could change your trajectory for 2026. If you're more of a hands-on, get me in the room kind of learner, there's a massive opportunity coming up that you cannot miss. Yes, you can attend the Five Star Management Live two day event in Chicago, Illinois.
It's called Too Many New Patients. And as the title suggests, the entire focus is on solving the problem of getting a high volume of patients into your practice fast. If you feel like your marketing has stalled or your new patient numbers are flat, this is the event to jumpstart the engine. The link for the too many new patients event in Chicago is also right there in the show notes.
Check it out, get your tickets. And one last thing. If you enjoyed this deep dive into the practical nuts and bolts side of chiropractic success, make sure you hit that subscribe button. We have plenty more insights coming your way to help you win. That's right. We're here to help you turn those ideas into action.
Yeah. Thanks for joining us on this chiropractic deep dive. Go find your class project for the week. Shepherd that lamb, and we'll see you in the next one. Take care.