Archive for September, 2008

Visionary Leadership – Your Leader Styles

September 30, 2008 at 1:23 am · Filed under People, leadership ·Tagged , , ,

I’ve been preparing for a talk on “Visionary Leadership” for 4th year dental students and as I began doing some research to add to my body of wisdom and call upon others who have offered insights on how they continue to lead and lead well, I was struck by the different styles of leaders and some of the employee responses to certain leader styles.

 

I was amazed to learn how many people follow a leader who is unwilling to change and who adopts the attitude that “this is the way we have always done it and it seems to be working” so why introduce something new and upset everyone? (And with the proper change process upset doesn’t have to happen!) The greatest ideas come from the people who work with you who are in the trenches, who meet the clients, the vendors, and the customers’ everyday.  They are the ones who see what is brewing and who hear through social media and their friends new trends and things to be alert about. I understand some of that “things are working well” philosophy however change is a given and if you don’t grow and prepare for what might happen, if you aren’t ready to shift to a different model you could suffer at the hands of a competitor who is on the cutting edge and aware of what is drawing new patients and keeping staff.

 

People like to be where the action is and where things are happening and they like to be part of a growing organization.  It doesn’t mean that you have to keep changing the services that you offer; it does mean that you can be attentive to the suggestions that come to you and see if they have validity and if it might be time to change and look at what you are doing.  Taking people’s suggestions and using them at staff meetings is one way to keep people on your team and demonstrate a different leader style.  It shows you care, you listen and you are ready to have some strategies for when the tide changes.  It also shows that you can flex your leader style – every style is a good style, just not in every circumstance.  As you learn the leader dance you get to decide what works according to the situation and the outcome you desire.  Have fun!  Play with it and get lots of feedback.

 

As I reflect on some of the attributes of great leaders, listening is still one of the greatest examples cited by happy employees.  They love being heard – an environment that encourages sharing ideas, possibilities and ways to improve processes, patient handling, even the colors in your office, or the background music can make a difference both to your practice and to your rank as a leader.  Think about it!

 

Here’s a little piece of trivia on “doing things the same way” that I found fascinating!  (Do you have any of these ruts in your practice?)

 

Enjoy,

Kathy

Need to Say It Right the First Time?

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Buying a Practice? Expanding? – Banker and Broker Resources

September 22, 2008 at 8:16 pm · Filed under Bankers, Education, Resources -, Selling A Practice ·Tagged , , , , ,

Education can come in many forms and I have been getting educated on some of the services offered to help you grow your practices.   I have been interviewing consultants, bankers and brokers for the dental industry to learn of their uniqueness and how they assist in the growth of your practice.  Today I would like to feature some highlights from my interviews and share some of their insights. I have been learning that there is a need to have a multitude of resources available to you and have them working in concert with you as well.  Today I am going to feature two of the people I have recently interviewed and will add more!

First I want to share my interview with Carolyn Craft who is a Vice President and a Relationship Banker at California Bank & Trust in Laguna Hills.  (located at 24012 Cale de la Plata #140, Laguna Hills, CA 92653, 949 830-7440)   Carolyn has been in the banking business for 21 years and has helped in the medical and dental profession for the last three to four years.

I wanted to know how her services serve the dentist’s needs and how she believes they are unique in the banking world. What I learned is that they base everything on service - Carolyn actually comes to your place of business and gets to learn who you are and meets you to learn about your practice, your personal and professional needs and goals of your practice.    What I really liked about Carolyn is how genuine she is in her interest in making sure she is the right person to service your needs - needs like working capital lines and short term financing as well as personal banking needs for you and your team.  What really appealed to me is a new service they offer that saves time and gas – no more waiting in lines, you can make your deposits right from your office!  There are certainly many advantages to this service and the many more that she offers.  Discover the power of relationships, give her a call soon!

Selling Soon? – If you are thinking of selling your practice and want to be well represented, then I highly recommend that you contact Kerri McCullough at Practice Transition Partners.

I asked Kerri what makes her unique in the broker industry and she shared that she cares about the doctors she works with and that she has their best interests at heart.  I asked her how she found the dental practices wanting to sell that are right for her – and I loved this – “we find each other”.  She attracts the best and then goes to work! She also properly introduces the buyers to the sellers she represents and she makes sure ahead of time based on the information she receives that there seems to be a good fit.  This maximizes the opportunity for a good match and happy and satisfied clients.  She educates her seller’s and takes good care of them.  She also has a team of people that she refers her clients to for the areas of expertise that are also critical elements for the seller.  I learned that having the right Dental CPA and the right Dental Attorney are critical components and that it is important that everyone has the same set of standards and ethics.  Kerri is a high integrity person and I would highly recommend that you speak with her if you are thinking about selling your practice and want to be well represented!

Speaking of education, if you want to attend a program that will help with your communication skills so that you can say it right the first time, every time – check out Communication Skills for Small Business.

I know that these are services and people who can help you grow your practice and achieve your dreams!

Thank you.

Kathy

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What’s Your Mindset? A bit of introspection…

September 18, 2008 at 5:40 pm · Filed under People, Symptoms for Change Intervention, leadership ·Tagged , , , ,

I had the wonderful opportunity to coach over 100 business owners for OneCoach, a John Assaraf company and one of the first things we focused on was how thinking affects a business.  Thinking revolves around your beliefs, your habits of thought and communication, and how you respond to situations.

All success begins by how you beleive and the intentions that you set for your practice.  If you believe and think that you will be successful, you will!  Years of conditioning, influences from society, education, friends and family affect how we think and how we project what we want to have happen.  The good news is that if we don’t like the results we are currently experiencing we can begin to change them at any time by changing our thought patterns, setting different intentions, and creating new stories.  What helps is having a process for that kind of change and sticking with it until the change we seek becomes the new habit.

As the leader of your practice, how do you think?  What kinds of thoughts run through your mind throughout your day?  Do you have “stinking thinking” – a phrase a friend of mine in Florida used to use that always stimulated me to look at my thoughts.  Many people go through their entire lives without knowing that how they think creates the reality that they live. 

There is a great little book available that I have passed on to many clients and to my nieces and nephews as graduation gifts because I think it has great wisdom – you can get your own copy – “As A Man Thinketh” by James Allen.

The first step to changing how you think is to become aware of your thoughts and notice what triggers those particualr thoughts.  Awareness is the tool to use today.  If you want to know more, let me know!  This might be the first step in understanding that a process for introducing other kinds of changes in your practice to get the results you desire is exactly what you need.  The point is to begin somewhere!

Look at your level of success and if you are doing great – congratulations!  If you believe you could be achieving more and you can’t quite put your finger on what it is, begin to become aware of your thoughts and conversation and send in a comment or question to take a deeper dive!

Remember – how you think and what you think can make all the difference in your day and in getting the results you seek!

Have a great day!

Kathy

Need a change process for your practice?

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More on being a leader in your practice…

September 9, 2008 at 2:38 am · Filed under People, leadership ·Tagged , ,

I’m keeping this post very short so you can enjoy the read!

A Great Leader – for Dental Practices

Best of Success,

Kathy

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Convincing Your Dental Team to Support Your Change Efforts!

September 9, 2008 at 2:21 am · Filed under People, leadership ·Tagged , , , , , ,

 

I have been talking to people about their experiences with change efforts and thought I would focus today on working through the changes that didn’t work and setting yourself up for success for the next change you want to implement –

 

“The last time we tried to change something it was a disaster. How do I convince my team this will be different?”

 

So it sounds like you experienced what I call “crumbling teeth on the death bed of change©”!

 

First examine what you did and what your expectation was for the change and identify what didn’t work.  Then look at one or two things that did work.  Chances are not everything was a total disaster.  The reason you want to look at this first is to give you as the leader an opportunity to compare what you did to how this new program is different.  You may want to capture a few bullets on the benefits to the team and the benefits for the practice for this new change.

 

If you want to work with a proven process to make sure you are successful, I encourage you to review the FAQ’s on the 1in9 website to see if this will be the ticket to your success. You can contrast what didn’t work with the tools you will have available to you in this program and be able to share why and how this will be different. By using the 1in9Dentists program, processes and forms, you will have every reason to succeed and get everyone on your dental team.  As you go through the program you may discover additional reasons why the changes and the way you intended to implement them did not work. 

 

Just remember that most people resist change and part of getting “buy in” on the changes you want to implement requires that you do your homework before introducing a process for change.  This homework includes understanding the personalities on your team and how each one of them could potentially react/respond to the changes (covered in depth in the program). By consciously preparing yourself to handle any obstacles that may occur and setting intentions for how you want everything to work, you can and will succeed.  You can make the process fun and the program will guide you through how to do that and how to get everyone pulling in the same direction.

 

Other things to consider that help to overcome people’s resistance to change is uncovering the fears they have around change.  By focusing them on the benefits to them individually and to the patients and the practice you can help them join you and support your through the process.  Major changes sometimes cause brief setbacks as everyone flows through the process of learning new things.  We go through four stages – unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence and finally unconscious competence.  Helping your team to understand that they might experience some discomfort frequently will mitigate resistance. 

 

One last thing to consider is your own response to change as a leader as well as personally – how do you normally approach major or minor changes in your life?  What kind of approach do you like people to take with you?  How do you like to hear about changes that are going to affect you?  As you answer these questions it might help you to see if your responses are in any way reflected by the people on your dental team.  Sometimes the reasons our change efforts don’t work is that we have to first look at ourselves and how we respond and change our own habits before we can ask or expect others to act differently.

 

The good news is that there are many tools and some very competent people to turn to when you want expert help to guide you!  Check out some of the resources listed on this blog and if you can’t find something or someone, ask and I will be happy to find a source for you!

 

Thank you for reading!

Kathy

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