The Hidden Competitive Advantage Most Practices Overlook

When you walk into a thriving optometry office, you can feel it: a sense of connection, collaboration, and calm confidence. Patients notice it too. That feeling isn’t luck or personality. It’s culture.

According to Dr. Chad Fleming, culture is the number one competitive advantage any office can have. While many practices compete on technology, pricing, or patient perks, few recognize that culture, how your team works together and treats each other, determines how every other effort performs.

“The number one competitive advantage that any office can have is their culture,” says Dr. Fleming. 

Building a Single Office Culture Across Multiple Locations

For Dr. Fleming, culture isn’t a slogan on the wall. It’s a lived experience that requires ongoing attention and consistency, especially in a multi-location practice.

With five locations under his leadership, he’s intentional about ensuring every team operates with the same set of values and expectations. “We have one culture that is in five different locations,” he explains. “That’s something you can struggle with if you’re not intentional about it.”

The key to making that happen? Structured, recurring touchpoints that connect everyone.

• Monthly all-staff meetings keep every team member aligned on goals and values.
• Monthly provider meetings allow for check-ins, shared insights, and ensure leadership is united.
• Weekly conversations between Dr. Fleming and his doctors reinforce that message of unity and purpose.

It means the team feels like one unit, no matter the distance, and patients can count on the same welcoming experience every time.

Practice Culture Requires Repetition and Reinforcement

Great cultures don’t sustain themselves. They require rhythm, intention, and leadership follow-through.

Dr. Fleming sees his role not as a distant leader, but as a cultural anchor — someone who continually brings the focus back to what matters. By repeating the message, he prevents drift and misalignment.

In healthcare, where busy schedules and day-to-day demands can easily pull people in different directions, that kind of reinforcement is essential. It ensures that culture doesn’t become background noise, but the framework that shapes every patient interaction and every internal decision.

Connection Beyond the Clinic

Culture doesn’t stop at the office door. It extends into how teams connect beyond work hours. Dr. Fleming’s practice hosts summer events where team members and their spouses come together, a simple but powerful way to build genuine relationships.

These moments matter. They remind team members that they’re not just part of a workplace; they’re part of a community. When people feel known and valued outside of their job title, they show up differently inside the practice.

Creating a Practice Culture That Lasts

For leaders who want to build a stronger, more connected culture, Dr. Fleming’s approach is a great place to start.

1. Define your culture clearly.
   Make sure every team member understands what your culture stands for in language that’s simple and actionable.
2. Reinforce it regularly.
   Talk about it in every meeting, celebrate it when you see it in action, and correct course quickly when it slips.
3. Build rituals that connect people.
   Whether it’s monthly meetings, team lunches, or shared celebrations, consistency breeds connection.
4. Lead by example.
   Culture follows leadership. The way leaders show up sets the tone for how everyone else does.

Culture Is the Strategy

Every practice faces its share of challenges, from staffing shortages and economic pressures to shifting patient expectations. But as Dr. Fleming reminds us, culture is what holds it all together. It helps teams weather uncertainty, support one another, and show up for their patients every single day.

When leaders put culture first, they build practices that people love to walk into, whether they are working there or being cared for.

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