Written by Reed Tinsley, CPA | June 2, 2005 Why Medical Practices Should Embrace Jack Welch's Philosophy on Employee Management The Austin American Statesman recently ran an article about Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE. In the article, he was asked about GE's approach to managing people, which focuses on rewarding stars - the top 20% or so - and easing out the bottom 10%, the low performers: "It's differentiation, and I believe in it to my toes. It's somewhat controversial at times." said Mr. Welch. Mr. Welch advises to take the top 20% as your most important people and "kiss them, hug them, and reward them." For the middle 70%, show them what they are good at and where they can improve and try to move them up. For the bottom 10%, bring them in and tell them they ought to find work elsewhere. My question is: Why don't physicians and their management team follow the same philosophy as Jack Welch? Medical practices I must admit do a terribly job at human resources, whether it be hiring, training, mentoring, terminating, etc. Seems like everybody is just too busy. I also do not understand why most medical practices tolerate mediocrity within its employee group. In the Medical Group Management's annual Best Performing Medical Practices survey each year, it is no surprise that the best performing practices have one thing in common - They do the best at hiring and managing employees. They do the best job at keeping employees happy and wanting to come to work. They do the best job at retaining employees. From a business standpoint, it is the employees who will make or break a medical practice, not necessarily the clinical activities of the physicians. A medical practice can have the the most busiest physicians on the planet but without a strong employee group it, it will never be as financially successful as it can be. Think about all this seriously..............and start identifying and replacing the low performers now. { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Article", "mainEntityOfPage": { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://www.rtacpa.com/human-resource-idea-for-physician-practices/" }, "headline": "Human Resource Idea for Physician Practices", "description": "If you would like to learn more about Human Resource Idea for Physician Practices please contact us today at 2813795988.", "image": "", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Reed Tinsley", "url": "https://www.rtacpa.com/author/reed/" }, "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "REED TINSLEY, CPA", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://www.rtacpa.com/wp-content/themes/reed-tinsley/assets/media/Reed-Logo.svg" } }, "datePublished": "2005-06-02", "dateModified": "2024-08-07" } About the AuthorReed Tinsley CPAThis article is written by Reed Tinsley, a Houston, TX-based CPA with over 30 years of experience advising physicians and medical practices across Texas and the United States. Reed holds certifications as a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA), Certified Healthcare Business Consultant (CHBC), and Certified Financial Planner (CFP), specializing exclusively in the healthcare sector. He is a published author, nationally recognized speaker, and trusted advisor to physicians on accounting & tax, practice management, and financial planning. Schedule a Free Consultation. .author-info h3 { font-weight: 700; color: var(--dark-blue); margin: 0; } .author-info { display: flex; flex-direction: column; gap: var(--mp-s); margin: var(--mp-m) 0; border: 1px solid var(--dark-blue); padding: var(--mp-m); line-height: 1.8; background: #F1F2F2; } .author-info--title { display: flex; gap: var(--mp-s); } .author-info--photo { border-radius: 500px; width: 100px; } .author-info a { color: var(--dark-blue); } .author-info a:hover { color: var(--blue); } Have questions? I’m here to help. 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