5 Key Tasks You Should Stop Doing and Start Delegating
Here’s a simple rule I live by: If it’s not clinical, you shouldn’t be doing it.
Delegating these tasks is critical for therapist business development and making your practice sustainable, scalable and set for long-term success. Let’s dive into the five essential tasks you should be delegating!
1. Maintaining and Updating Your Manuals
One of the most important tasks to delegate is keeping your operations and therapist manuals up-to-date. These documents should cover everything from payment processing and cancellation policies to intake processes and consent forms.
Why is this important?
I’m so glad you asked!
As you transition from solo to group practice, having comprehensive and organized manuals will ensure your team is on the same page. Your admin should be responsible for adding written instructions, and video tutorials for complex tasks (our team absolutely LOVES using Loom for this!).
Once these manuals are built and kept current, your practice will run smoothly, freeing you to focus on therapist business development and leadership!
Here are some examples of what to include:
- How to process payments and handle cancellations
- Dress codes and vacation procedures (for in-person clinics)
- Intake processes and client consent policies
Hot Tip: Make it clear to your admin that maintaining these manuals is their responsibility and have regular check-ins to ensure everything is up-to-date!
2. Managing the Calendar and Performing QA Checks
I’m willing to bet that you didn’t become a therapist to manage calendars. This is why your admin should take charge of your practice’s calendar, performing daily quality assurance checks to make sure everything is running smoothly.
This means keeping an eye on therapist schedules, marking clients as “arrived” and ensuring all payments are processed (again, definitely not things you thought you’d be spending all your time on when you became a therapist).
Why is this important?
Once again, I’m thrilled you asked!
Managing the calendar becomes even more crucial as you transition from solo to group practice. Your focus should be on business growth and leadership, not tracking every detail of scheduling. When your admin is staying on top of this, you can avoid bottlenecks, reduce waitlists and ensure your therapists are working efficiently.
Here are some examples of tasks for your admin:
- Monitoring therapists schedules and availability
- Marking clients as “arrived” in your practice management software
- Ensuring all payments are processed
Hot Tip: I love using Jane for efficient practice management! It has features that are invaluable for scaling your practice and tracking growth. Click here to try it free for a month.
3. Tracking and Reporting Metrics
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it a million more times. As part of therapist business development, you NEED to know your numbers. Your admin should be responsible for pulling and organizing those key metrics (ideally every Monday) so you can monitor the health of your practice.
This is so important because metrics are your roadmap to growth. They show you a clear picture of what’s working and what needs improvement.
Your admin can pull data and deliver a weekly report on metrics like:
- The number of free consults booked and how many converted to paid sessions
- The number of first-time visits (clients who booked therapy without a consult)
- No-show rates (although how nice would it be if those never happened!)
When you track these metrics, you’re going to be able to make informed decisions about marketing and operations in your practice.
For example: Is there a dip in conversions from a consult to a booked appointment? You can quickly address it with your team and provide additional training or make necessary adjustments!
4. Handling Billing and Invoices
While you should have a bookkeeper for more complex financial tasks (like reconciliation), your admin can save you so much time by handling basic billing and invoicing duties.
Here are some examples of basic tasks for your admin:
- Creating and sending invoices (easy but not something that should be taking up YOUR time)
- Paying invoices for services (like website updates or marketing)
- Following up on unpaid bills or expired cards
- Making collection calls for third-party billing or insurance follow ups
My thoughts: I’m going to be honest for a second. Handling these tasks yourself is a waste of your valuable time. Letting your admin take over billing ensures that your financial operations run smoothly and that you can dedicate your energy to business growth!
5. Screening Candidates
While hiring is an important part of your transition from solo to group practice, it doesn’t have to be something that takes up all your time and energy. The interviewing process can take a LONG time, so delegate the initial vetting process to your admin.
For example: Have your admin make the screening calls and ask the candidates key screening questions like:
- Do you live within 30 minutes of the office?
- Are you available for evening and weekend shifts?
I promise, if your admin can eliminate candidates who aren’t a good fit, it will save you many precious hours.
Hot Tip: Create a “Screening Sheet” with your must-have criteria so your admin knows exactly what to look for!
Delegating These Tasks is a Game-Changer for Your Practice
I know it can feel scary letting go of some of these tasks for the first time, but investing in a skilled admin is a total game-changer for your practice. Not only will you have more time to focus on strategic growth, but your admin will also contribute to the overall efficiency and success of your group practice. This allows you to spend more time on leadership and marketing rather than getting bogged down by administrative tasks.
Hot Tip: Want my admin checklist so you know exactly what to delegate to your admin? DM me the word “admin checklist” on Instagram, and I’ll send it to you!
Happy delegating!
Your business bestie,
Nicole
Let’s keep the convo going! Join us over on The Business Savvy Therapist podcast for more insights—tune in here
