Lamberti Physiotherapy – The power of purpose

At the start of their journey with Grow, Fiona and her management team at Lamberti Physiotherapy found themselves watching Grow’s case study videos, playfully dismissing the possibility of ever becoming subjects themselves. Little did they know what they would achieve in only 12 months. This story unpacks a remarkable transformation – from anxiety and frustration to a purpose-led business delivering 400% growth in profit.

In 2004, Fiona established Lamberti Physiotherapy, and she focused on servicing patients in the private healthcare sector. However, she was unhappy that there was a significant gap in accessibility to physiotherapy for individuals unable to afford private healthcare. Her dream was born, to to make high-quality physiotherapy more widely available to diverse demographics.

Over the next 5 years, 5 young physios who shared Fiona’s vision of accessible physiotherapy joined the Lamberti team and assisted Fiona with the leadership of the business. But Fiona still felt the burden of building the business was falling squarely on her shoulders. The vision for Lamberti Physio existed only in her mind and lacked a tangible strategy. Fiona’s struggle to articulate a clear strategy led to a management team stuck in the day-to-day execution, managing their practices but not leading. The absence of a defined purpose, objectives and targets resulted in a disjointed pursuit of opportunities, leading to frustration and stagnation.

“I knew something needed to change so I attended entrepreneurial workshops and read the recommended business books, but no-one was telling me how to implement this new knowledge or where to start. I found it all very overwhelming until I met with the Grow team” says Fiona.

The turning point for Lamberti Physiotherapy came in February 2022 during a strategy session with their Grow coach. The emotional session unearthed frustrations and resentments amongst the managers, that Fiona never realised were brewing beneath the surface. The hard conversations during the session led to a profound understanding of each team member’s frustrations, creating a foundation for a unified vision. Finally, the team could leave the emotional baggage behind and start charting the roadmap for the future. 

Step 1 was defining Lamberti Physiotherapy’s purpose, long term goal and vision and each member of the leadership team brought valuable, deep insights to the table. This strategic work took a lot of time and energy from the team but brought with it much needed ‘big picture’ thinking, clarity and buy-in. The next step was applying this strategic clarity to the development of a game plan to achieve their vision. Developing and agreeing on initiatives that would make up the game plan was much easier with the purpose and long-term goal acting as the strategic lighthouse, and the strategy map charting the path to reach the lighthouse. The nett result was a compelling and motivating plan of action, clearly outlined in a set of OKR’s (Objective and Key Results) that promised to not only deliver business results but also achieve Fiona’s dream of making quality physiotherapy accessible to more people.

Understanding the importance of leadership in executing Lamberti’s strategy, the management team engaged in one-on-one coaching sessions with their Grow coach. Individual coaching sessions not only realigned their skills with the business purpose but also empowered them to lead through change. 

Their Grow coach remarks that the transformation from practitioners to business leaders was profound. “The managers really stepped up, shifted their thinking from purely operational to strategic, aligned their team to the business metrics and their own KPIs and started proactively supporting Fiona and each other. Fiona’s anxiety and fear of the business falling apart if she stepped away dissolved. She could confidently go on leave knowing that her managers would keep driving the business forward and working at achieving the OKRs in her absence.” 

“We finally felt like a proper business with a proper management team” says Fiona proudly.

Fiona also found immense value in having regular coaching sessions herself, quickly realising their necessity in navigating the complexities of business growth. A crucial outcome of the coaching was learning how to take every staff member, not just the management team, on the journey to ensure an inclusive understanding of Lamberti’s vision, values, and targets.  

Today, Lamberti Physio is a growing enterprise with 9 practices spread across Johannesburg and Cape Town, employing over 20 physiotherapists and 8 admin staff. 

Reflecting on the tangible outcomes after 12 months of coaching with Grow, Fiona describes the results as impressive. “Revenue increased by 15% and we look set to achieve 20% revenue growth in Year 2”. Profitability soared by 400%, enabling Fiona to extract healthy profits, over and above her salary, for the first time since the business’s inception.

Fiona knows she has a strong team to help her realize her vision, with the original five physios, together with herself that now form the core leadership of the business, who have brought Lamberti Physio to where it is and continue to grow Lamberti Physio to where it needs to go.

The most emotionally rewarding outcome for Fiona was realising the business’s capacity to fulfil its purpose, taking her dream of expanding access to quality physiotherapy and making it a reality. From an over worked and frustrated business owner to a thriving, purpose-driven entity, Lamberti Physiotherapy is a testament to the transformative power of business coaching. Fiona concludes, “We could not have achieved this alone. My only regret? I wish I had contacted Grow earlier”.