Culture and Values

Before a practice even opens its doors to patients, management and practice leaders are tasked with the challenge of identifying the culture and values of the organization. While these tasks typically happen before a practice is even open, the culture and values maintain their importance every day that the practice is functioning. Culture and values, though they may be explicitly written in a practice document or hung on a wall, are shaped by day-to-day activities of the practice. Keeping them at the forefront of patient and employee interactions must always be made a priority.

Culture is defined as the beliefs and behaviors that determine how a company’s employees and management interact and handle business activities. Although your practice’s culture may have been defined at some point by management, a practice’s culture is more often reflected in its dress code, office setup, hiring decisions, patient interactions, and other aspects of operations. There are many factors that create the overall culture, and it is important to be aware of these things as a practice manager. Believing that the defined culture will create the day-to-day culture is incorrect and may result in the actual practice culture straying from what management actually believes to be acceptable.

Values are said to be the beliefs, philosophies, and principles that drive your business. They ultimately dictate how your practice wants to operate and conduct business. Similar to culture, they are often defined early on in the life of a practice, and while leaders may have a vision for how the practice is to function, values are created and solidified over time. Every member of the organization contributes to the values, and therefore it is important to be sure that prospective employee’s beliefs and ethics align with those of your practice.

Simply said, culture and values are defined by the words “acceptable behavior”. Any behavior that is deemed acceptable in day-to-day practice work creates the culture and solidifies the values of the organization. When practice leaders let unacceptable behavior slide under the radar, it runs counter to the cultural and values goals of the organization and is unfair to employees who do the right thing.