If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time. Zig Ziglar
Picture this. You’ve put together a promising growth plan, and the execution falls short. Disappointing volume numbers. Revenue that didn’t materialize. Schedules that aren’t filling despite successfully recruiting a new physician. The outcome is far from what everyone envisioned.
Pause and ask yourself: Were these outcomes truly unexpected? Could they have been identified earlier? These are real scenarios — shared with me over the past several months. And they all point to the same underlying challenge: the gap between strategic planning and the daily work of execution.
Effective execution requires three things working together: clear communication, a well-constructed plan, and consistent monitoring of outcomes. When any one of those is missing, even well-intentioned efforts drift off course.
First — Define Your Target
Strategic planning begins with clarity about what you are actually trying to achieve. The target takes different forms: a revenue milestone, a new provider, expanded services, increased surgical volume. What matters is that everyone involved understands the target the same way. Not just that it was announced. That it was understood.
Second — Build Your Plan
Once the target is clear, the budget and corresponding metrics become your execution guide. This isn’t a document you create once and file away. It’s a living reference — outlining actions, expected outcomes, and monthly projections across volume, revenue, and expense. Plans evolve. The discipline is in building one that can absorb change without losing direction.
Third — Know Your Metrics
Establishing a monitoring process is as critical as building the plan. Each metric tells part of the story. Understanding how they connect, how a scheduling variance affects revenue, how a volume shortfall compounds over months. This is what allows you to respond effectively rather than reactively. The goal isn’t a complicated dashboard. It’s a clear one that everyone can read and act on.
And Finally — Communicate, Collaborate, Adapt
Peter Drucker said it plainly: if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. But measurement without conversation is just data. The monthly report-out session, where owners, managers, and key stakeholders review results, discuss variances, and agree on next steps, is where execution either holds or quietly begins to unravel.
In my experience, this step is the most consistently skipped. And it is the one that matters most.
Plan these sessions in advance. Protect the time. Present data in a consistent format. Focus the discussion on variances and what’s driving them. Document the next steps, who owns them, and what success looks like. That discipline repeated monthly is what keeps a plan alive.
A few questions worth sitting with:
Do you have a current budget tied to your growth plan? Have you established key metrics to monitor monthly? Are you holding regular report-out sessions?
It’s never too late to start.
If any of these resonates or you’d like to think through how it applies to your practice, I’d welcome a conversation.
Connie StClair | Operations Readiness Partner conniestclair.com
Updated January 2026
Connie StClair | Operations Readiness 
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