Thinking Like a Business Owner

Understanding the Practice Owner Mindset

Thinking like a business owner means building an optometry practice that can serve patients well without needing the owner to control every small decision. A useful guide is the 80% Rule: if a trained team member can complete a task safely and correctly at about 80% of the owner's personal standard, the owner should delegate the task and coach the person over time.

This does not mean accepting poor patient care, incorrect prescriptions, billing errors, or unsafe clinical work. The owner keeps responsibility for clinical standards, legal duties, finances, and patient safety. The rule applies to repeatable work such as confirming appointments, preparing exam rooms, ordering contact lenses, handling routine insurance questions, or following up with patients who need glasses.

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Why the 80% Rule?

Perfectionism can keep an optometry practice small. When the doctor-owner reviews every recall message, checks every frame order, approves every staff schedule, and answers every routine question, the team learns to wait instead of think. Patients wait longer, staff lose confidence, and the owner has less time for patient care, business planning, or personal recovery.

For example, an owner may rewrite every patient recall email because the optician's wording is not exactly the owner's style. If the message is accurate, warm, and follows the practice template, it is good enough to send. The owner can review a sample each week rather than approve every message. That time can be used to improve dry-eye services, train the optical team, or meet with a referral partner.

The 80% Rule creates room for learning. A team member may start at 80%, receive clear feedback, and reach a higher standard without the owner taking the work back. The goal is dependable performance, not identical performance.

The Importance of Delegation

Delegation in an optometry practice is more than handing someone a task. It means giving the person a clear result, the right tools, and enough authority to complete the work. A technician who is responsible for pretesting should know the testing sequence, equipment cleaning steps, documentation rules, and when to alert the doctor. An optician responsible for eyewear follow-up should know which remake or delivery issues they may solve without asking the owner.

Good delegation also develops future leaders. A lead technician can own the daily room-readiness check. A practice manager can manage staff coverage within approved limits. A senior optician can resolve routine frame or lens concerns using a written service policy. These assignments reduce interruptions and help the team take pride in the patient experience.

The Role of Trust in Leadership

Trust is built through clear standards and consistent follow-up. It is not blind permission. Team members need to know what they may decide, what must be escalated, and how their work will be reviewed.

For example, the owner might allow the practice manager to adjust technician coverage for a sick call, as long as patient safety and labor rules are protected. The manager may also authorize a small patient-service credit, such as up to $50, for a delayed order without calling the doctor. The policy should state when the issue must be reported.

When staff know the boundaries, they are more likely to act quickly and honestly. When every decision is criticized after the fact, they hide problems or wait for permission. A trusting practice uses mistakes as coaching opportunities while still holding people accountable for repeated carelessness.

Implementing the 80% Rule

1. Identify Tasks to Delegate: List recurring owner interruptions, such as approving routine recalls, checking supply orders, answering basic insurance questions, or reviewing every optical remake. Separate tasks that require the doctor from tasks that can follow a written process.
2. Empower Your Team: Create a one-page standard operating procedure, provide templates, and define decision limits. Give the responsible employee access to the scheduling system, inventory tools, or patient communication platform needed to do the job.
3. Monitor and Adjust: Review results weekly for the first month. Check measures such as recall completion, optical remake rates, room turnover, patient complaints, and documentation accuracy. Give specific feedback, update the procedure, and only take the task back if patient safety or compliance is at risk.

For example, an owner can assign contact-lens follow-up to a trained technician. The technician uses a call script, records the patient's response in the practice management system, and escalates pain, redness, or vision changes to the doctor immediately. The owner reviews a weekly report instead of listening to every call.

Conclusion

A strong optometry practice owner protects clinical quality while refusing to be the answer to every routine question. The 80% Rule helps the team learn, makes decisions faster, and gives the owner time to improve the practice. Delegate repeatable work, define the limits, review the results, and coach without taking control back. That is how an owner builds a practice that is valuable, steady, and able to operate well when the doctor is not standing at the front desk.