Running a busy chiropractic clinic means your team is constantly faced with tough, unpredictable situations—from late patients to ethical dilemmas and even emergencies. The difference between chaos and calm often comes down to one thing: proactive training. In this episode of The Successful Chiro, powered by Five Star Management and created with AI-generated voices, we unpack Dr. Noel Lloyd’s game-changing concept of “What Do You Do?” Drills. These super-fast friction reducers give your team the confidence, clarity, and consistency to handle challenges the right way—every time—without relying on guesswork. By the end, you’ll see how intentional drills can create a low-stress, high-flow environment where your team confidently handles challenges and you, as the clinic director, get to hear: “Yes, that’s exactly how you wanted it handled.”
Discover how to:
If you’ve ever wished your team could “just read your mind” when faced with tough decisions, this episode is for you. Dr. Noel Lloyd’s “What Do You Do?” Drills are designed to reduce stress, eliminate guesswork, and create a proactive, confident team that operates in alignment with your clinic’s mission, vision, and culture.
We explore:
Book a Free Call: Want help implementing What Do You Do? Drills in your practice? Book a free call with Dr. George Birnbach here: https://myfivestar.com/work-with-us/
Register for Orlando: Join us November 15–16 at the Hyatt Regency Orlando for two incredible live events:
New Patient Edge — proven systems to fill your schedule fast
Win Win Associates — hire, launch, and retain profitable associates who love working with you
Register now here: https://myfivestar.com/live-event-november-2025/
Subscribe: Don’t miss an episode—subscribe to The Chiropractic Deep Dive on your favorite podcast platform for weekly strategies to grow your clinic with less stress and more success.
⚡ This podcast was created using AI-generated voices.
Welcome to the Chiropractic Deep Dive, brought to you by five Star Management. You know, if you're a clinic director, you've probably felt this. You're, uh, juggling patients. The front desk is buzzing and then some tricky situation comes up. Mm-hmm. And later you find out, okay, it was handled, but maybe not quite how you'd have done it yourself.
Right. That little sinking feeling, that an unpleasant surprise that just adds stress for you, for the team, for everybody. Exactly. It's this like universal thing in practices, isn't it? This feeling of, gosh, I wish my team could just read my mind sometimes. Totally. But you know, they can't. And when they're faced with tough choices, without really clear guidance, well they guess, and sometimes the guess isn't quite right, which leads to stress for them, wondering if they did the right thing and frustration for the clinic director thinking what went wrong this time?
Yeah. It's a cycle. And that's why today, uh, speaking as your guides here from five star management mm-hmm. We are really excited to dive into something crucial. Absolutely. We're talking about transforming those moments. Those wish you could read my mind moments into really seamless proactive responses from your team.
We're gonna unpack some fantastic insights from a, uh. Really powerful zoom call led by the brilliant Dr. Noel Lloyd. That's right. All focused on something he calls, what do you do drills. And our mission today really is to equip you, the listener with the know-how to build that low stress, high flow environment we all want in our practices.
Imagine your team just knowing how you'd handle things, acting proactively. Imagine hearing. Yep. That's exactly how I wanted it handled. You are amazing. Like multiple times a day. That's the goal. That's the power we're talking about unlocking with these drills. So let's just dig into that core problem a little more.
It's not that team members aren't trying, right? No, not at all. It's that. When faced with a tricky choice, maybe an unexpected situation, they often pick an option that, well, isn't the ideal one for your specific practice. Exactly. It boils down to a lack of really clear, proactive guidance that's tailored, tailored to your mission, your vision, your way of doing things, and the symptoms of that friction.
They're pretty obvious when you look for them. Yeah. Those unpleasant surprises. We mentioned mistakes happen. Situations get handled kind of awkwardly. And the team feels it too, that stress of, am I doing this right? Almost like, you know, flipping a coin at the front desk sometimes. Definitely. And for the clinic director, it's that recurring frustration, looking back, analyzing what went wrong instead of focusing forward.
It just drains energy. So the proactive goal here, what we're aiming for with these drills is getting your team to a place where they genuinely know your mind on these specific challenges. So they handle things according to your specifications, always serving the practice's mission, the vision, the goals, the standard of care.
It's about empowering them really. So they embody your leadership day in, day out. And that leads us right into Dr. No Lloyd's solution. These, what do you do? Drills. He calls them super fast. Friction reducers. I love that term. It's great, isn't it? They're designed specifically to teach the team how to respond proactively, confidently.
No more guessing. And how do you know if it's working? Well, the measure of success is pretty straightforward, right? Your team doesn't just know the answer, the what to do. They can explain the why behind it, the what, the how, and even the what if. What if something changes. That's comprehensive. Dr. Lloyd outlined a structure for getting these drills going in a workshop format.
It sounds simple, but it seems really effective. It is first step, just a short training bit, making sure everyone gets the why, what, how, what if? The basics. Then you work together, identify those common, maybe critical, challenging situations that actually pop up in your practice. Makes sense. You focus on the real stuff.
Exactly. And then you develop the optimal responses. The ideal, what do you do for each of those scenarios, tailored to your clinic. So the goal from that session, Dr. Lloyd led wasn't necessarily to have a perfect list overnight. No, not at all. The goal was to just start the process. Yeah. To begin building that list, aiming for say, 25 to 35 drills eventually.
These get integrated into your regular team training, right? It's ongoing. Precisely. It's not a one-off. It's about continuous learning, refinement, making these responses, totally second nature for the team. Now, before we get into specific examples, which I know everyone's keen to hear, Dr. Lloyd really hammered home something foundational.
Yes. This is crucial. Every single decision. Every response to a challenge has to be grounded in your practice's, core principles, your mission, your vision, your goals, your culture. Those aren't just posters on the wall. Absolutely not. They're the filter for every action, and he made a great point. Being specific about tackling these challenges is actually the best way to teach general problem solving skills within that framework.
So let's talk about mission first. Do you have a written practice mission? Is it clear? Does it actually motivate your team? Dr. Lloyd shared a great example from Sound Chiropractic Centers to reach and improve the lives of the sick and suffering in downtown Seattle with life-giving chiropractic care delivered with care and precision.
Very specific. Yeah. Compare that to something maybe a bit more general like a participant shared change lives through chiropractic. Still powerful. Absolutely for sure. But that specificity in the first one, you can see how it guides day-to-day actions another participant shared. Bring glory to God. By utilizing the talents that he has given us.
Show his love by treating all of our patients with the utmost care and provide friendly, excellent, and efficient service. Again, guiding principles. Then there's vision. What does it actually look like when that mission is happening? You should be able to picture it, right? Sound chiropractic's vision was bustling, happy, upbeat with energy, patience, moving.
Having had an uplifting chiropractic experience, you could see that, feel that totally. Another participant's vision to be a beacon of hope and healing for central Florida. More expansive, but still a clear guiding image. And clinic goals. These often get down to numbers, don't they? Yeah. Specifics, measurable things like seeing, uh, 12, 16, maybe 20 patients an hour, or hitting 120 visits in a day, or maybe it's service goals, knowing patients by name,
getting them to a room in three to five minutes, delivering a great adjustment in that same timeframe. We heard participant goals like 500 patient visits a week with X number of staff, or aiming for a 90% cap. For associates that's hitting 90% of their productivity target. These numbers define tangible success.
And finally, clinic culture. The, uh, sometimes unspoken rules, how things really work around here. Yeah, the vibe examples Dr. Lloyd mentioned, leave our problems outside. Don't bring personal drama to work good one or put the patient's needs first, you know? And don't ignore someone waiting while you finish a personal chat.
Practice present time consciousness. Be fully there with the patient or support our patients and each other. Pitching in when someone's swamped. A participant mention always thinking ahead or anticipating as part of their culture. Driven by things like a morning huddle. So the key point tying this all together, right, is that your responses to challenges.
The what you do. Mm-hmm. Should serve the mission, the vision, the goals, and the culture, and serve the patient, the doctors, the whole team. And the aim is to handle things swiftly, skillfully, at the right time. Hmm. Empowering the team to solve problems without always needing the clinic director, but also knowing exactly when they absolutely should bring the doctor in.
It's a balance. Exactly. Okay. So Dr. Lloyd mapped out some common categories where these drills are just vital. Yeah. Areas prone to friction like, Ethics. What do you do if you suspect a teammate is say, stealing, cleaning supplies. It happens. Wow, okay. Or team culture issues. Yeah, gossip. Passive aggressive behavior or someone just stirring the pot.
Mm-hmm. Big ones. And patient care. Of course. What if a patient says, doc, I don't get why I'm still coming here. Or I just don't feel like I'm getting better. Oof. Tough conversations. Need a plan for those definitely. And compliance stuff. A patient wanting to change their treatment schedule against your clinical recommendations.
How do you handle that firmly, but respectfully, these are all real things that can derail a practice, if not handled well. Absolutely. The strength of these drills is tackling these specific, sometimes awkward situations head on proactively. So let's get into some real world examples from Dr. Lloyd's session.
This is where it gets really practical. Okay. First one. Scenario: three new patients arrive pretty much simultaneously. One's 30 minutes late, one's right on time, one's 30 minutes early. Chaos, potential. What do you do? Okay, participant shared his clinic's way. They rescheduled the late one for the next available slot.
Get the on-time person started right away and the early bird acknowledge them. Hey, thanks for being early. Make them comfy, water, bathroom maybe puzzles, and let them know you'll get them started at their actual appointment time. Clearly based on their clinic culture of respecting the schedule, right? But then,
another participant, had a different approach. Mm. Equally valid for her clinic. She'd try not to reschedule the late patient, if at all possible. Fearful. They might just not come back. Ah, okay. Retention focus. Exactly. Yeah. So she'd triaged the three use cross-trained team members. Huge advantage to help with paperwork, maybe start a consult and definitely address the elephant in the room.
With the early patient, right. Her team actually preps for this kind of thing in their morning meetings. Wow. So two different clinics, two different right answers based on their priorities. And that was Dr. Lloyd's main point here. There's no single universal answer. You have to define your clinic's specifications, your blueprint based on your values.
That makes so much sense. Your clinic, your rules, your what do you do. Okay. Let's shift gears. A tougher one. You suspect a coworker is stealing petty cash? What's the drill? A Participant, jumped in . Her procedure immediately bring any suspicions with evidence if possible to the clinic director.
Okay. Direct report? Yes. And if it's confirmed, she's actually been trained and authorized by the doctors to handle the termination directly in such ethical breaches. She learned by watching them and being coached. That's a high level of trust and training. It is, but it raised a critical point. Dr. Lloyd shared from his own experience.
Oh yeah. What was that? He had an associate who knew a team member was basically stealing time, napping for hours during shifts, but didn't report it. Why they didn't want to get her in trouble. Oh boy. That's not good. Not good at all. It blew up eventually. Of course, the lesson, you need a crystal clear policy.
If you see something significant like that and you know the clinic director doesn't know, you report it immediately. It protects the practice, the team, everyone. And written documentation for termination is key too, right? Even if specific people are trained to do it, absolutely critical. Reduces risk, ensures consistency.
Okay, these are intense, but necessary. Another really sensitive one. A patient or even a coworker makes a sexual advance. What's the protocol there? A Participant, shared a personal experience. A patient got creepy during a report of findings. That's the meeting where you discuss their condition and plan.
Awkward and scary. How was it handled? Their integrator, like a lead team member took charge. They made sure she wasn't ever scheduled alone or put in a vulnerable position with that patient again. Mm-hmm. Sort of hiding her as she put it, which really helped her feel safe. That's good. Tactical support.
What about policy? Participant described their clear policy, for a patient. Doctor handles it directly first time. A firm warning. Second time you're fired as a patient, done clear boundary. And for staff, they have a written policy for staff on staff issues too. Dr. Lloyd's stance was even more direct.
How so? He basically said, CAS are instructed. Remove yourself immediately. Get out of the situation. Make sure phones are covered, but get safe. Anyone making that kind of advance, they're in the wrong office. Fired. No tolerance. Zero tolerance. He even shared a story of immediately terminating a team member himself after confirming reports.
It's non-negotiable. Safety first. Ethics first. Absolutely. Okay. Let's move to something maybe more common day to day. A patient calls with a request, but the team member who usually handles that type of thing isn't in. What do you do? Just say. They're not here. Hopefully not. Someone shared their scripted approach, which is great.
It goes something like, hi Joe, this is Peggy. Yeah, unfortunately Mandy's out today, but let me check your account. I can see the notes here. Ah. Internal notes are key, crucial. Their policy is everyone puts notes in, so Peggy could say, okay, I see Mandy was working on this, and her last note says X, Y, Z. If you need more than that, I can definitely take a message and have her call you back tomorrow.
That's so much better. It provides immediate help, shows your organized and reduces that friction instantly. Way better than a dead end. Totally. It's about seamless support. Okay, emergency scenario. Rare hopefully, but you need a plan. Patient slips and falls in the bathroom. Needs help. What's the drill?
Someone laid out their procedure. Step one. Know where the bathroom key is. Have it accessible. Nearest team member jumps in immediately. Triages are, are they hurt? Why do they fall? Dizziness, maybe offer help. Get them comfy safe. Then alert the next available DC. Pronto, quick, calm, structured response and a clinic director
added a great point. The value of having other sets of eyes and trained help right there, he'd seen serious falls. Someone hitting their head on the sidewalk outside needing an ambulance, someone fainting out of a chair. Wow. His point was that immediate trained response is so much better than finding out later.
It underlines why training for these rare but serious events, even things like where the A ED is and how to use it. It's just vital. Protects everyone makes total sense. Oh, okay. Staffing, logistics. Team member wakes up sick at 3:00 AM can't come in. What happens? the head ca explain their system.
Mm. If it's her sick, she calls the doctor, immediately. No texting. Direct call. Okay. If it's another ca who's sick, they call the head ca immediately. Again, call Don't text she then figures out the staffing. Sees if she needs to call someone else in and it's all written down in their employee handbook.
Clear chain of command. Clear protocol, exactly. Advantages. Smooth staffing. Patient care doesn't skip a beat, and the doctors aren't scrambling or worrying first thing in the morning. Reduces chaos. Even for something seemingly simple like calling in sick, having that clear, what do you do prevents a domino effect.
Absolutely. Now let's combine challenges. One team member is already on plan PTO. Then another one calls in sick unexpectedly. Now you're really short staffed. What's the plan? Participant, tackled this one too. Her approach, prioritize internal coverage first. Try really hard not to bug the person on PTO, especially if they're like out of state on vacation.
Respect the time off. Yeah. She said she would come in herself if it was her day off before calling someone on PTO. That reflects their clinic culture. Support the doctors. Don't let the team fail, cover for each other. That's a strong culture. It is. Yeah. She also mentioned being thoughtful about who she calls for coverage if needed.
Yeah. But maybe don't call the person having a birthday camping trip, but maybe call the person who lives nearby and just has a regular day off planned. It's nuanced. It's balancing the clinic's needs with respecting the team's lives, all guided by that culture. Okay, so we've covered a lot of ground, lots of scenarios, bringing it all together.
What are the big takeaways for a clinic director listening to this? Well, I think the biggest one, something good participants said that really stuck out to the power of proactive training. The advantage is not having to wait for the, what do you do to happen before you've gone over the, what do you do?
Yeah. Being prepared before the crisis hits, that's huge. And documentation is absolutely key. Mm-hmm. Having these drills written down, accessible, maybe a shared Google doc or something ensures everyone's on the same page. Consistency. And tying it all back to your unique clinic culture, your values, your mission, that helps everyone, especially new hires, respond thoughtfully instead of just reacting or panicking.
Mm-hmm. And formalizing procedures for the critical stuff. Where's the bathroom key? What's the exact SOP for termination? Having that formalized reduces stress and just leads to better outcomes when things get tough. So the ultimate goal here, the big prize from implementing this kind of process, it's creating that environment where you genuinely get to say to your team often, yes, that's exactly how I wanted that handled.
You guys are amazing. That's the dream, right? A low stress, high volume practice where everyone knows their role, feels confident and contributes to this high performing team. Exactly. It's not about magic or mind reading, it's about intentional, proactive training. So the path there isn't wishing your team could read your mind.
It's training them to embody your mind, your practice's values through these drills. Yeah, continuous discussion, documentation, role playing. That's the foundation. Well said. So maybe the question for you listening is, what's the first situation you're gonna tackle? What's the first, what do you do? Drill.
You'll create to start building that amazing team. And if you wanna dive even deeper, really accelerate transforming your practice, definitely book a free call with Dr. George Birnbach. The link is right there in the show notes for this deep dive. Great opportunity and hey, don't miss our big live event coming up in Orlando, Florida.
It's November 15th and 16th. That's right. Two amazing events happening at the same time. We've got new Patient Edge laser focused on getting more new patients in the door fast, and we have the Win Win Associates event. This is all about our proven system for finding, training and keeping great associates leading to more growth,
more freedom and more success for everyone. You definitely wanna be, their registration links for both events are in the show notes as well. It's gonna be incredible. Absolutely. And for more invaluable tips and insights, just like these week after week, make sure you subscribe to the chiropractic deep dive wherever you get your podcasts.
We're here to help you get the absolute most out of your practice.