Running a podiatry practice can be overwhelming, potentially stripping podiatrists and practice managers of the joy they once felt in their work. Damien Adler, co-founder of Zanda Health, aims to change this. As Damien puts it, “No one gets into health to do paperwork, right?”
Before I go too far into the story of Zanda Health and how it came to be; here’s a backstory for context. It all began with owning a practice.
When setting up our practice we experienced the typical pressures that can easily fall on practice owners and managers. In healthcare there are so many moving parts, regulations, and constant shifts in patients, appointments, practitioners and finances. We saw how quickly things could easily get out of hand, particularly when using different systems for different tasks.
It was overwhelming; there had to be a better way.
Practitioners don’t want to be bogged down in this kind of paperwork; yet all too often these processes hold health professionals back from doing what they love. No one gets into health to do paperwork, right?
When I first got into the health sector, it was alarming to see how many practitioners weren’t enjoying their work, were getting burnt out, and were even leaving the industry. To have a healthy community we need to have a workforce of happy, healthy, thriving health practitioners.
We knew that technology could help solve this issue. Our thinking was – and continues to be – that if we can make running a practice easy and enjoyable, it supports improved mental wellbeing and job satisfaction. Practitioners and practice managers are more likely to stay in the health profession, reducing workforce turnover and improving community services. Practitioners are also more likely to grow, recruit, and mentor new grads if running a practice is easy and enjoyable. It becomes a positive cycle.
Zanda’s success hinges on a tight feedback loop: understanding what our customers want, assessing and validating it, then building and releasing it, getting more feedback, and keeping that cycle going. We have feedback dashboards to support this process in real-time, backed up with weekly feedback review meetings.
This continuous improvement process is essential if we are to make health practice management easy and enjoyable; to meaningfully bring our mission to life. My colleagues and I can’t afford to lose this two-way connection with our customers.
To bring the Zanda mission to life, my role is divided into two parts. I focus on strategy and planning, and also support and products.
The strategy and planning part of my role involves big picture thinking backed up with detail – looking at marketing, at strategy, what markets we’re able to make an impact in, assessing the data, and how we’re performing overall as a company.
The support elements of my role involve ensuring our support team runs well, removing roadblocks, and providing timely support to our customers. This part of our business is a never-ending mission because there’s always room for improvement, new features, or new technology to enhance our customers’ experience.
From a product perspective, my role involves reviewing what is being built, how people use our existing features, new feature requests, feature prioritisation, and helping to determine what goes on our roadmap.
All these efforts aim to make health practice management easy and enjoyable. I love the variety in my role – and the fact I have talented colleagues who oversee day-to-day operations.
We are big believers in strengths-based thinking, which helps to shape our day-today affairs. We always look for our team members’ superpowers and try to emphasise and maximise this – to double down on their strengths. In psychology terms, it just makes far more sense to focus on strengths rather than weaknesses.
Our mission is grounded in meaningful change: we are genuinely helping to lighten the load for health professionals.
Everything we do is about helping health professionals reclaim their time. This allows them to remember why they chose their job and focus on what truly matters to their wellbeing – mental health, work-life balance, and serving more patients. Whatever matters to each customer, that’s our purpose. When health professionals are better supported, everyone benefits.
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A collaboration between Zanda Health and STRIDE. |
© Copyright 2021 The Australian Podiatry Association
