Alana was once gifted a "chaos coordinator" badge at her Clinic.

She wore it. At the time, it felt like recognition. Looking back, she sees it differently.

Because in General Practice, there is a culture of badges and mugs and shared trauma. The shit show supervisor. The captain of chaos. An identity built around how many fires you put out each day.

That identity feels like belonging. But it can also become the trap that keeps Owners, Practice Managers, and teams stuck below the line.

For Owners, this episode is a reminder that a Practice cannot scale if its leadership identity is built around rescuing, reacting, and absorbing every problem.

In this episode, Todd sits down with Alana Flohr -- 13 years in General Practice, former Practice Manager of a large Tweed Coast Clinic -- to name the three behaviours that keep owners and PMs stuck in the drama, and the above-the-line alternatives that change everything.

What you'll get from this episode:

• The three "below the line" roles -- victim, hero, and villain -- and how each shows up inside a real Practice
• Why the hero role is often the most seductive trap for Practice Managers and Owners
• Alana's honest reflection on owning her own hero behaviour, including the chaos coordinator badge she once accepted
• How to coach your team through difficult conversations, even while you're still learning to have them yourself
• The "shut the door" system Alana used to protect one hour each afternoon for above-the-line thinking and improvement work
• Todd's recommended action for this week: share the episode with your PM, create a shared language, and agree to call it out when you see it

Resources mentioned:

Dare to Lead by Brené Brown

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P.S. Whenever you're ready, here are 4 ways we can help you grow your General Practice without burning out:

1. Ask Us Anything (Free Support): Post your toughest Practice question in the SGPO Facebook Group and get answers from us + 1,000 Owners who "get it." [Click here]
2. Sharpen Your Skills: Join one of our regular live workshops. Practical, proven tactics for recruitment, team performance, and profit tailored to Owners juggling it all. [Click to Register]
3. Get the Blueprint: Watch the free Practice Success Blueprint Training; the proven roadmap Owners use to grow profit, reclaim time, build trusted teams, and protect legacy. [Watch Training Now]
4. Explore Working With Us: We partner hands-on with a select group of GP Owners each year. Your free Practice Growth Call is where we'll diagnose your biggest constraint, map next steps, and see if there's a fit to work together. [Click to Book Your Call]

Most Practice Owners with a spare room will let someone in before they've worked out what the room is actually worth.

The logic is familiar: a paying tenant is better than an empty room. In the short term, it feels true.

But below a certain rate, a tenant starts costing you more than the room generates -- in admin time, in blocked space, in the leverage you've quietly handed away. Todd and Sachin call this the keep-open cost, and most Owners don't know where theirs sits.

In this episode, they walk through how to calculate it, who actually belongs in a spare room and in what order, and the agreement mistakes that lock Owners into the wrong arrangement for years.

What you'll get from this episode:

• The hierarchy of what belongs in a spare room -- from a GP first down through allied health, and why the order matters
• Why the allied health tenant who treats your space like a business beats the sessional who comes twice a week
• Sachin's locked-in mistake: the five-year sublease that handed over front desk services and left no leverage
• Why Todd watched a $700-800k allied health operation return almost nothing -- and what that taught him about keep-open cost
• The cosmetic injector scenario: why it sounds like easy income and why it almost always ends badly
• Three mistakes to avoid: room block, below-cost rates, and the agreement that locks you out of your own best use

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Connect with Todd: LinkedIn

Connect with Sachin: LinkedIn

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P.S. Whenever you're ready, here are 4 ways we can help you grow your General Practice without burning out:

1. Ask Us Anything (Free Support): Post your toughest Practice question in the SGPO Facebook Group and get answers from us + 1,000 Owners who "get it." [Click here]
2. Sharpen Your Skills: Join one of our regular live workshops. Practical, proven tactics for recruitment, team performance, and profit tailored to Owners juggling it all. [Click to Register]
3. Get the Blueprint: Watch the free Practice Success Blueprint Training; the proven roadmap Owners use to grow profit, reclaim time, build trusted teams, and protect legacy. [Watch Training Now]
4. Explore Working With Us: We partner hands-on with a select group of GP Owners each year. Your free Practice Growth Call is where we'll diagnose your biggest constraint, map next steps, and see if there's a fit to work together. [Click to Book Your Call]

Your Practice Manager just gave notice.

Maybe with two weeks. Maybe with none.

The owners who come out of this better than they went in aren't the ones who found a replacement fastest. They're the ones who resisted that instinct, stepped in, and used the window to understand their own business better than they had in years.

What you'll get from this episode:

• What Todd calls "the speed demon" -- and why the fastest hire is usually the one that lands you back here in six months
• Sachin's real story: two sites, 50 staff, still consulting full time, and fully under control in under a month
• The one Gallup question that might explain why your PM really left -- and why the honest answer might point back at you
• How to temporarily carve up the role so no single person drowns -- and what you discover about your team in the process
• The three things owners must never do when a PM exits, including the one that triggers a chain of resignations

.....

Connect with Todd: LinkedIn

Connect with Sachin: LinkedIn

.....

P.S. Whenever you're ready, here are 4 ways we can help you grow your General Practice without burning out:

1. Ask Us Anything (Free Support): Post your toughest Practice question in the SGPO Facebook Group and get answers from us + 1,000 Owners who "get it." [Click here]
2. Sharpen Your Skills: Join one of our regular live workshops. Practical, proven tactics for recruitment, team performance, and profit tailored to Owners juggling it all. [Click to Register]
3. Get the Blueprint: Watch the free Practice Success Blueprint Training; the proven roadmap Owners use to grow profit, reclaim time, build trusted teams, and protect legacy. [Watch Training Now]
4. Explore Working With Us: We partner hands-on with a select group of GP Owners each year. Your free Practice Growth Call is where we'll diagnose your biggest constraint, map next steps, and see if there's a fit to work together. [Click to Book Your Call]