How Great Systems Help You Scale with Tom Swales | GP 291

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Why is documenting your process the key to replicating yourself and growing your practice? How can strong systems help you scale a business in months rather than years? What does it look like to build a system that truly supports your clinicians?

In this podcast episode, Brandon Shurn speaks about how great systems help you scale in months instead of years with Tom Swales.

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Meet Tom Swales

• The need and benefits of systems 

• The system that supports a clinician

• Systematizing your work to replicate yourself 

• Final takeaway for listeners 

The need and benefits of systems 

That allowed us to scale because now we had management training their staff, and we had to just make sure management is on the same page and on our boat to make sure that they’re implementing the systems that we had created. That’s the only way to scale. If we can’t create systems, then we’re spending time training every single person on everything that we do. (Tom Swales) 

Tom had noticed that their business was pouring way too much time and effort into training up their potential staff. He knew that they needed an overhaul. 

So, he launched AMT to bring in new students who were ready to go, created workable systems from the ground up that supported management in taking care of their employees, and set the business humming at a higher, smoother frequency. 

Now I can take a new-grad physio and, in 6 months, I can get them as good as a 3-year physio, just because of how it organizes what they already know, and how to use it more effectively. (Tom Swales) 

Using systems effectively creates simplicity because it looks at the person as a whole system first, their role in the business from start to finish, and then finds the priorities on what they can contribute to the business overall. 

You have to operationalize and systematize everything in your practice; front desk training, policies and procedures, emergency preparedness, business practices … We’re not telling clinicians how to treat [their clients], we’re just showing them a path. (Tom Swales) 

The system that supports a clinician

I like the phrase, “We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our systems” … School teaches us the parts and the pieces, but they don’t tell you how to put it all together. (Tom Swales) 

When you work through a system – any system – you are assuming that anything is not not affecting anything else. You do assume that everything is connected, in some way or another. 

When you approach something systematically, you clear out all the options in pursuit of the answer. 

If you don’t check all the parts off in the system, then you won’t know why the situation that you are in came to be. So, when you work through all the aspects of a system that an employee functions within, you can structure it holistically. 

It’s an awesome reminder for us mental health therapists to keep and maintain that system … It’s like a checklist, a roadmap to help the new clinician… as a way of replicating yourself. (Brandon Shurn)

Systematizing your work to replicate yourself

To scale any business, you need systems. 

If you launched and grew the business yourself, you are likely going to need people to take over the reins from you, and what this means is that you’ll need to write out what the systems are to teach others.
So, start documenting and refining the process. 

Start writing it down. Start figuring out, “What is my process? How would I replicate myself?” That’s the best way to do it. Once you start putting it down on paper and organizing your thoughts and your process and your system, now you can refine it and reflect on it too. (Tom Swales) 

Not only do you get a better understanding of what you do and why you do it when you start to write it down, but you get these systems out of your head and into a document that you can use to teach others. 

Final takeaways for listeners 

You are not alone. Find a coach or a mentor that you resonate with and who can help you get to where you want to go, and beyond. 

Useful links mentioned in this episode:

Check out these additional resources:

• Treating Medical Trauma and Stress with Dr. Christen Mullane | GP 290
• Practice of the Practice Network
• Group Practice Launch
• Group Practice Boss: www.practiceofthepractice.com/grouppracticeboss $149 a month
• PoP Group Practice Owners Facebook Group
• Free resources to help you start, grow, and scale
• Work with us
• Practice of the Practice Network 

Meet Prof. Brandon Shurn

Brandon Shurn, Ph.D., LCPC, LMHC, AFC®, NCC, is a licensed clinical professional counselor and the founder of EmPower Me Holistic Counseling, a fully virtual Maryland-based practice. He’s also a full-time professor in Seattle University’s online Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. With extensive experience launching and directing university training clinics, Brandon now focuses on helping therapists design and grow impactful, sustainable practices. Outside of his work, he enjoys fitness, yoga, Wing Chun, golf, reading, and spending time with his family and dogs.

Visit Empower Me Counseling, and connect with Brandon on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Email him at: [email protected]