I’m not saying your associates are taking advantage of you. Most of them aren’t. Most of them have never sat on your side of the desk and have no idea what it costs to keep the lights on, the office rented, the admin team employed, and the marketing engine running. They see the percentage split and they assume it reflects the work. It rarely does.

That is not their job to figure out. It IS yours.

The problem is that as the practice grows, those tasks don’t automatically leave your plate. They stay and they stay quiet. Some of them get added to a team member's role but you keep doing them too because it’s faster to just handle it yourself. Some of them you forget you’re doing because they’ve become invisible, woven into the rhythm of your week. Some of them you know you should hand off but the thought of training someone else feels like more work than just keeping it on your plate.

None of these feel like much on their own. That’s exactly why they survive! They’re too small to notice when you’re looking at the big picture and too embedded to question when you are deep in the day-to-day and scanning your numbers. And then, when you stack them up across a year, the number is almost always bigger than owners expect. I have sat with practice owners who found over a thousand dollars a month in expenses they had honestly forgotten they were paying for.

Wondering if you're too late to grow your group practice, add systems, or restructure your associate splits? You're not. Here's what doing the work actually looks like, from a coach who has walked dozens of owners through it.

Servant leadership is one of the most powerful frameworks available to you as a group practice owner. But it is frequently conflated with people pleasing, and that confusion is costing leaders their clarity, their authority, and eventually their practices. This post is about untangling the two

What I want for you is a group practice that actually works. One where you feel like a leader, not just a clinician who accidentally ended up managing people. One where the business serves your life, not the other way around. That is what we build together, through business coaching for group practice owners that is grounded, direct, and built around you.

Every decision you make about your practice culture, your onboarding, your expectations, your tone in a team meeting. All of it shapes how your associates experience their work. The question is not whether you are influencing your team. You are. The question is whether you are doing it intentionally.

But here's what I really want you to hear today: you have more options than you think. And the option that's right for your practice might look very different from what the person down the street is doing.  And that's okay.  If you are intentional about what you offer and why it is that, you will be able to answer any questions or negotiations your potential associates may come up with.

As group practice owners, many of us feel like we have to wear every hat. Bookkeeper. HR. Intake coordinator. Clinical supervisor. Marketing manager. Team culture builder. Visionary.

Sometimes this comes from money concerns. Sometimes it comes from control. Sometimes it comes from being burned in the past and thinking, it is just easier if I do it myself.

And sometimes, if we are honest, it comes from identity. If I am not the centre of everything, who am I as the leader?

One of the most honest parts of this spring season is the mixed feeling of wanting to move forward while also wanting to hunker down. There can be excitement about what is possible alongside a very real desire for stability. Both belong.

Leadership is not about abandoning your team. It is about building capacity, clarity, and accountability. When you step in too quickly, you may unintentionally take away opportunities for others to learn, stretch, and succeed.

AI isn’t replacing the need for clarity. It’s rewarding it.

Search behaviour is shifting from short phrases like “counselling near me” to nuanced, human questions such as “I need a counsellor specializing in infidelity”

Many group practice owners intentionally prioritize culture, connection, and community. Depending on the practice, this might include peer consultation groups, regular team meetings, shared trainings, or team events like holiday parties. Sometimes it’s as simple as seeing colleagues in the hallway between sessions and knowing you’re not doing this work alone.

If you’re honest, you might notice that some of your decisions are being driven more by avoiding discomfort than by long-term sustainability. You say yes when you want to say no. You absorb the stress so no one else has to. You put your own needs — financial, emotional, and energetic — at the bottom of the list.

Your group practice goes through seasons — and leadership needs to shift with those seasons. In this post, we’ll explore the four seasons of a group practice (planting, growing, tending, harvesting) and how to lead with clarity and confidence in the season you’re actually in.

I know that for many practice owners, wintering feels emotionally risky. Productivity is quantifiable. Rest is nebulous. Growth is visible. Wintering is inward.

But here’s the thing every mature business eventually learns:
Scaling requires seasons.

People pleasing shows up quickly and quietly in group practice leadership. And over time, it can seriously hold back your confidence, your profitability, and the stability of your practice.

Let’s dig into why this happens, what it costs you, and how you can shift into a more grounded, steady leadership approach — one that values your time, your energy, and your role as CEO.

You don’t need to become an event planner or create a Pinterest-worthy party. What matters most is purpose, presence, and connection—three things that naturally align with the work we already do.

Your business? It should work the opposite way. Your business exists to serve you—your goals, your vision, and your life. Treating it like a baby flips the relationship: suddenly, you’re in service to the business, reacting to daily crises instead of guiding its growth with purpose.

If you’re an accidental group practice owner, it’s okay—you started from a place of care and connection.

But your next chapter requires intention, leadership, and structure.