Speech Pathology Students & Graduates

Employed speech pathologists: timeless tips to manage oneself at work

10 September 2024 By David Kinnane Leave a Comment

Strengths: Concentrate here. Seek and use feedback. Build skills and knowledge to bolster existing strengths.
Weaknesses: Don’t waste energy, resources, and time trying to be good at everything.
Respect: Say please and thank you. Know your clients’ names and ask after their families and interests.
Learning: Do you prefer reading or listening? Do you express yourself better by talking or by writing?
Team player? Do you work well with teams, or alone?
Decisions: Do you prefer decision-making or advising?
Environment: Are you best under pressure surrounded by uncertainty, or in a highly structured, predictable environment?
Personal values: Must be close enough to your employer’s values to coexist.
Contribution: Where and how do you want to make a meaningful difference within the next 18 months?
Communication: As speech pathologists, take responsibility for communicating with others.
Act now: Strengths + self-knowledge + optimal work environment for you + meaningful contribution = career excellence.

Key source: Drucker, P.F. (1999). Managing Oneself. Harvard Business Review, reprinted, January 2005.

For information on supervision, check out our book “How to supervise speech pathologists properly in private practice“.

“Do you have any questions for me?” 10 questions you can ask speech pathology employers in job interviews

19 August 2024 By David Kinnane Leave a Comment

10 questions you can ask speech pathology employers in job interviews

Can you tell me more about the team I will be working with?
What would a typical day for me in this role look like?
How will I be supervised, and who will I work with most closely?
What is your performance review process like?
What goals and metrics will my performance be measured against?
What are the current goals that [the organisation] is focused on, and how does the team work to support hitting those goals?
What are [the organisation]’s plans for growth and development?
How do you typically onboard and train employees?
Is there anything I should read before starting that would help me to get up to speed?
What’s your favourite part of working here?

Source: Gallo, A. (2022). 38 Smart Questions to Ask in a Job Interview, Harvard Business Review, May, 2022.

10 practical productivity tips for speech pathologists in private practice – “Be productive, not busy”

3 February 2023 By David Kinnane Leave a Comment

Respect your own time so others will, too.

1. Use ‘timeboxing’/time-blocking.

Schedule each part of your day. Be specific about each activity in each time block, including breaks (e.g. “Session planning”; “Emails”; “Call X”; “Coffee break” etc.).

Stick to your plan for both work AND rest.

2. Do one thing at a time. (Multi-tasking is a myth.)

The more you task-switch, the more time you lose to re-orient yourself. Resist the urge to check your email constantly!

3. Batch similar tasks together.

Minimise multi-tasking.

4. Build in ‘buffer’ time for unexpected things.

Build in extra time for urgent or tricky things within or between each time slot.

5. Say ‘no’ more often (even if it feels awkward at first).

Tim Harford: Every time we say “yes” to a request, we are also saying “no” to anything else we might accomplish with the time.

6. Remove distractions.

Tell co-workers when you cannot be disturbed. Share your timetable with the team. They’ll see when you’re busy. Keep your phone out of easy reach.

7. Examine barriers to productivity.

We all get distracted. Note down distractions and brainstorm how to minimise them.

8. Try not to claw back your schedule back if you go off-track.

Restart at the next planned time block.

9. Build healthy work habits. Start small.

Don’t rely on motivation (too variable). Work on building one healthy habit at a time. Once automatic, begin another.

Small, consistent changes set you on a trajectory to achieve larger goals.

10. Take (scheduled) breaks. Recovery is essential.

Use breaks to recover and reset. If you do not rest enough, your body will force you to rest through illness or burnout.

5 practical ways for SLPs to deal with uncertainty in private practice

10 November 2022 By David Kinnane Leave a Comment

Things can feel out of control. Rising inflation and interest rates. Staff shortages. Long waiting lists. Reporting deadlines. Work-life-family pressures. Life in private practice is messy!

We’re wired to fear the unknown; and many SLPs love order and control. But uncertainty and possibility are two sides of the same coin.

Most things that matter – relationships, life-changing experiences, achievements – come to us after long periods of uncertainty.

We can learn to manage uncertainty better:

Reframe: We’re all playing James Carse’s “infinite game” – not to ‘win’ or ‘lose’, but to do something meaningful. We are on an adventure to help people, and we can change the rules if needed.
Balance: Some things are under our control, including our routines and habits. Fixed morning and night routines, work systems, mediation and fitness habits, and environment tweaks to reduce the number of pointless choices we make each day can help provide balance.
Act! Actions change your mood. Many successes come from a series of small, consistent steps. Feel the fear and get going!
Prime yourself with regular, small risks: Take small, calculated risks with limited downsides, e.g. by learning something new out of your comfort zone. Not that long ago, I made my first Instagram Reel. I felt foolish and incompetent, but the new trick made this old dog feel braver about dealing with change!
Recast: Failing hurts. Unfair things happen. Chaos can inflict tunnel vision. Widen your perspective with different ‘lenses’:
- learning (What can I learn from this?);
- gratitude (What do I still have?);
- timing (This is temporary, I can try again!); and
- challenge (heroes overcome obstacles). Spend more time with people you respect and love. Doing things you care about. Stay true to your values and mission.

Key source: Furr, N. & Harmon Furr, S. (2022). How to Overcome Your Fear of the Unknown. Harvard Business Review, July-August, 135-139.

Retain your speech pathologists with better professional development systems

6 June 2022 By David Kinnane Leave a Comment

Retaining talented speech pathologists is both a top priority and challenge for most private practices.

Practice owners can increase staff retention in several ways, e.g. with money, clear career paths and promotion opportunities, and by offering flexible work schedules, e.g. part-time and remote working options.

An often-overlooked retention strategy is on-the-job professional development. It doesn’t have to be expensive and gives speech pathologists something they really want.

Studies in other industries show that:

94% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career development;
bored employees are twice as likely to leave;
employees who get professional development are 15% more engaged, and have 34% higher retention; and
organisations with a strong learning culture are 92% more likely to develop new services and processes; 52% more productive; and 17% more profitable than their peers.

To improve professional development in your practice without ‘breaking the bank’, private practices can:

build professional development into their onboarding and induction processes, with training on practice strategy, employee motivation, teamwork and key technical skills;
set aside time every month for employees to explore an area of professional interest unrelated to their current caseload;
create training rituals, e.g. by scheduling “Drop Everything and Learn” (DEAL) sessions, where everyone stops what they are doing and takes an online course, or by hosting regular journal club meetings led by team members; and
offer one-to-one coaching sessions beyond day-to-day supervision, with access to experienced clinicians.

By focusing on professional development, private practices can reduce turnover, improve their reputations as employers, and make their workplaces better for everyone (including clients).

Key source: Keswin, E. (2022). 3 Ways to Boost Retention Through Professional Development. Harvard Business Review, April, 2022.

This infographic also appears in a recent issue of Banter Booster, our weekly round up of the best speech pathology ideas and practice tips for busy speech pathologists and speech pathology students.