In this episode of the Practice of Therapy Podcast Gordon chats with Laura Poynter who is the HR Director at Mindsight Behavioral Group about creating a workplace culture that has the best work environment possible. Laura and Gordon talk about finding the right people for your organization and then what it takes to create a culture that is warm, nurturing and helps people find success in what they do as clinicians. They also talk about marketing your practice to help maintain the growth and making sure clients are placed with the best clinician for them.

Mindsight Behavioral Group is a large group practice located in Eastern Kentucky, with 6 locations and over 80 therapist. It was started and is owned by Kasey Compton, LPC who is also a private practice consultant. Check out episodes, #47, #49 & #50 for more with Kasey.

Meet Laura Poynter

Laura S. Poynter, BSBA, HRM serves as the Director of Human Resources at Mindsight Behavioral Group. In this role, Laura has the responsibility for the onboarding of new employees, employee benefits, talent management, employee relations, recruiting and retaining employees. She specializes in employee motivation and team management. Laura also provides HR Consulting services for KC Consulting.

Prior to joining Mindsight Behavioral Group and KC Consulting, Laura spent 26 years as the Training and Development Coordinator at Kentucky's largest IDD facility where she was responsible for ensuring the training and compliance of over 1300 employees.

Laura graduated from Campbellsville University with a degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resource Management.

Ideal Team Player

One of the inspirations for Mindsight and the culture they have created comes from the book The Ideal Team Player by Patrick Lencioni. Laura talks about how that book inspired them to hire people that are humble, hungry and smart. And for them, the most important characteristic is "hungry".

They spend a lot of time with people on the front end to make sure they fit with the culture they have created and live into the company mission, "Mindsight, where people feel cared for". It is a fairly intensive interview process and they outline for people the importance of the culture at Mindsight. They make sure too, that the people they hire are a good fit for the personalities that are already there. The expectations of the staff are very clear and they absolutely keep and maintain a "drama free" workplace.

Culture is Everything

The key to having a workplace culture that people look forward to coming to every day is making sure there is a lot of fun. It is a "fun-oriented" culture. Laura talks about how the people working at MIndsight are very involved in the community and marketing their own individual practices.

Giving people a purpose beyond their job

Much of the reason that Mindsight has the culture that they do is people feel that they have a purpose beyond their job. As was mentioned, they are very involved in the community and do a lot to help people outside the therapy room.

Helping people be part of the solution

The culture lends itself to helping people build on their strengths and be part of the solutions they are trying to find. For example, one clinician was trying to figure out how to optimize her schedule to see more clients. The intake coordinator and she sat down to look at how this could be done in a very collaborative way.

The other thing that Laura emphasized was that the culture of Mindsight encourages people to be creative and innovative. One problem the staff conquered was the problem of no-shows. They created a Client Care Coordinator position that put emphasis on giving potential clients a warm and welcoming experience from the very beginning. The person in that position is Brittany, but everyone refers to her as "Bubbly Brittany".

This person's job is to not only make the practice welcoming and warm, but make sure clients are getting in with the best clinician for them, based on the issues they are having the personality of the therapist.

Logistics of scaling

Laura and Gordon switch gears and talk about the logistics of scaling. One of the most important parts of this is making sure you have the systems and processes in place to scale. For example, having a marketing plan that will increase referrals and support added staff.

They also talk about the importance of community involvement and how this has very much been a key ingredient for Mindsight's success. They have a network of referral sources that absolutely keeps a steady stream of referrals coming in for their counselors.

Culture is also important in scaling in that they have a high retention rate for their staff. People come and they stay which makes it all more appealing to potential clients. And the reason for this is that clients are placed with therapists that are a good fit for them. Which, in turn, makes it possible for clinicians to work with their ideal clients.

Another component of scaling that Laura mentions is providing services in the community that are needed. Maybe identifying an underserved area and then finding the right people to fill those niches. Then marketing to those niches.

Conclusion

Laura ends by talking again about creating the kind of practice you want to have. Each person is unique, but by having a vision of the kind of place and culture you want to have is key. Finding the right people that are a good fit for the culture you have created will bring success.

Resources Mentioned

Being transparent… Some of the links here are affiliate links, which simply means that we receive a commission, at no extra cost for you, if you use these links to purchase. Thanks for using the links!

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Mindsight Behavioral Group: https://www.mindsightbehavioral.com/ Laura's HR Consulting- https://www.consultwithkc.com Email Laura: [email protected] Other Resources and Show Sponsors: Money Matters in Private Practice TherapyNotes– Use the coupon code "Gordon" and get 2 months free BrighterVision Practice Solutions Meet Gordon Brewer, MEd, LMFT

Gordon is the person behind The Practice of Therapy Podcast & Blog.He is also President and Founder of Kingsport Counseling Associates, PLLC. He is a therapist, consultant, business mentor, trainer and writer. PLEASE Subscribe to The Practice of Therapy Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher and Google Play. Follow us on Twitter @therapistlearn and Pinterest "Like" us on Facebook.