Category Archives: Motivation

How Gratitude Can Improve Chiropractic and Healthcare Practice Performance

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Be a Good Finder

One business owner (a dentist this time, not a chiropractor) I worked with years ago seemed to always be in a bad mood.

He was quiet and basically ignored his staff. His opinion was that he paid them to work, they should work hard, and that was it. But his office wasn’t doing well, so he called me in. I made several visits to his office, each time simply working to improve empathetic communication with his team. I coached him on listening to each staff member and to simply acknowledge them for their contributions.

A few months later, we saw his practice grow. Numbers were headed up!

I remember this because he was always complaining to me that I wasn’t doing anything for his office! His constant criticisms and lack of appreciation were the real problem, but he didn’t see it. While I was countering his abusive lack of gratitude for the support he was receiving from his staff, I tried to coach him on his issue.

Apparently, he was a good dentist, but to his strife and possible forever struggles, he was both a poor clinic director and student.

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Employee Performance

So, I just want to mention and remind us all how important it is to be grateful and express gratitude.

When gratitude is expressed to others, many benefits occur. A simple “thank you” goes a long way in improving the morale and ultimate performance of others. Of course, it must be genuine. Counterfeit praise is easily seen through and can do more harm than good.

According to Tom Rath, co-author of How Full Is Your Bucket, “Gallup polling has revealed that 99 out of 100 people say they want a more positive environment at work, and 9 out of 10 say they’re more productive when they’re around positive people.”

He points to research that shows when a work team has more than three positive interactions with managers for every one negative interaction, it is significantly more likely to be productive. The point is not to keep managers from correcting or reprimanding but just to express more praise.

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Gratitude is Good Health Care

“The practice of gratitude can have dramatic and lasting effects in a person’s life,” says Robert A. Emmons, professor of psychology at UC Davis [my alma mater!] and a leading scientific expert on the science of gratitude.

“It can lower blood pressure, improve immune function and facilitate more efficient sleep. Gratitude reduces lifetime risk for depression, anxiety and substance abuse disorders, and is a key resiliency factor in the prevention of suicide.” **

According to UC Davis Medical Center, “Gratitude is associated with higher levels of good cholesterol (HDL), lower levels of bad cholesterol (LDL), and lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure, both at rest and in the face of stress. It also has been linked with higher levels of heart rate variability, a marker of cardiac coherence, or a state of harmony in the nervous system and heart rate that is equated with less stress and mental clarity.

“Gratitude also lowers levels of creatinine, an indicator of the kidney’s ability to filter waste from the bloodstream, and lowers levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of cardiac inflammation and heart disease.”**

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Be a Good Finder

You don’t have to have a PhD to understand that people respond well when they are noticed for something they did well.

So, this newsletter is just a reminder.

And I know that some of you, chiropractors, acupuncturists, dentists, vets, Vitalistic or not, have experienced the phenomenon of quantum entanglement with your patients – or even with your team. Being a “good finder,” creating positive relationships, and thinking positive thoughts about others — if genuine — often do bring positive effects. I have seen it, and I am sure you have too.

So, be a Good Finder…

…and More Good will find you.

Ed

https://health.ucdavis.edu/medicalcenter/features/2015-2016/11/20151125_gratitude.html

 

Music Is Therapeutic for Chiropractic and Other Health Offices

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guitar players playing good vibes goal driven to create musicGood Morning Doctors and Health Professionals!

Sending this out early in the morning…

No nuts and bolts this morning, just some music.

Some good vibes.

Music is therapeutic – for the body, the mind, and the soul. It improves patient outcomes as well as employee performance. And, customers like it and can be more agreeable to what you advise.

I did the research! (Some of it is below.)

But never mind the research, just listen to music that you like, and that your team and a patients enjoy.

Here is a video (just listen, no need to watch, but great to watch all the same) with musicians from around the world -performing Ripple, lyrics by Robert Hunter and music by Jerry Garcia.

And have a good vibe groovin’ week!

Ed

Music Video Ripple, Playing for Change.

“Music can heal the wounds that medicine cannot touch.”

–Debasish Mrihda

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For follow-up research:

Music to Encourage Buying Products & More: Best is ambient, classical, not popular as this can be distracting. Also, faster tempo music customers lingered less and moved faster.

https://cloudcovermusic.com/music-psychology/encourage-buying/

https://www.psychologistworld.com/behavior/ambient-music-retail-psychological-arousal-customers

Music has been found to have a positive impact on employee performance in certain situations. However, it’s important to note that the effects of music can vary depending on individual preferences and the specific work environment.

Here are some studies that explore the relationship between music and employee performance:

  • A study published in the Journal of Applied Ergonomics in 2015 found that background music had a positive impact on the quality of work and efficiency of employees in a data entry task. The researchers concluded that music could help improve performance by enhancing mood and reducing stress.

  • In 2012, a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research examined the effects of background music on creative problem-solving. The results showed that moderate levels of ambient noise, such as music, can enhance creative performance compared to both low and high levels of noise.

  • Another study published in the Journal of Music Therapy in 2014 investigated the effects of music listening on productivity and mood in a workplace setting. The findings revealed that employees who listened to music while working reported higher productivity and positive mood compared to those who did not listen to music.

  • A study published in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology in 2019 examined the effects of different types of music on cognitive performance and mood in a complex task. The results showed that participants performed better and reported higher positive affect when listening to music they personally enjoyed.

Does music help us work better? It depends

“Listening to music has a positive impact on our health, by helping us recover faster when we experience stress and through the reduction of stress hormone cortisol, to help us achieve a calm state or homeostasis.” – Alex Doman

Music can improve health.

Research from the Royal Society noted that “group singing can improve physical and mental health, as well as promote social bonding.” An older paper by researchers from the University of California suggests that participating in choral singing “is associated with strong increases of Immunoglobulin A,” also referred to as immunoenhancement. They tested cortisol and immunoglobulin levels in saliva before and after singing in a choir, and found that performance singing “leads adaptively to levels of positive feelings and satisfaction.” The Healing Power of Singing – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

The Healing Power of Music

Music therapy is increasingly used to help patients cope with stress and promote healing. Richard Schiffman

April 8, 2021
 New York Times

Does Goal Setting Really Improve Performance? Ask Science.

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young boy celebrating success
FOR THE WIN!
 
There you are, sitting at the team meeting at the beginning of the month.
 
What goals should you set for the new month?
 
And… does it really help? I mean, after so many months (and years) of goal setting, so many seminars, and books that say you should set goals — does it really matter if you set goals for this month?
 
And what kind of goals?
 
And, does your team really care?
 
And, do you? (lol)
 
Well, here’s the deal: YES, goals do matter.
 
Here’s some evidence from a study by Edwin Locke and Gary Latham, who summarized 35 years of empirical research on goal setting theory*. They found that setting specific and challenging goals led to significantly higher levels of task performance than easy goals or no goals at all. They found that goals:
  1. Direct activities towards goal-relevant activities and away from goal-irrelevant activities.
  2. Can be motivational or “energizing.”
  3. Affect persistence.
  4. Encourage people to use the knowledge they have acquired.
But goal setting is affected or moderated by many factors. For example, Locke and Latham found that feedback and commitment to goals were critical for goal attainment.
 
FEEDBACK
 
You and your team need to know how you did last month. You all need to know if you are heading toward your mission or away from it.
 
The clinic director or manager should individually meet with each team member and review how they did. This should be done in a friendly and collaborative manner, ideally each month.
 
The idea of employees being a TEAM also necessitates the concept of a COACH. So, the clinic director or manager must act as a coach and help individuals, and everyone achieve goals.
 
COMMITMENT
 
According to the Study, goal commitment is linked to the importance of the goal. In my experience, this is improved by:
 
  1. Examining the mission or why of the practice.
  2. Reviewing patient successes and outcomes.
  3. Allowing team members to participate in goal setting so that it is their goal, not management’s!
  4. An occasional group goal and game, with a deadline that may include a reward.
As part of the Goal Driven System, we emphasize 3 categories of goals:
  1. Production. These are usually monthly goals such as new patients, visits, kept appointment percentage, and case completions.
  2. Organization. These are important but not urgent goals, including training, catching up on backlogs, planning, and other activities. Because these are not always apparent, vital functions can become neglected. A checklist of duties helps with this, and then reviewing them monthly.
  3. Greater Goals: professional and personal. No one works just for production or organization, so setting goals for long-term achievements is essential. We aren’t just workers — we are dreamers and explorers. We like to adventure, and we like to play.
Goals are part of games, and games should be fun. We humans like games, from the Olympics to the most recent popular computer game. It is part of our nature.
 
My grandson just had his 7th birthday. He’s a big basketball fan. I gave him a couple of presents. The first one he opened and quickly tossed aside. The second present was a large book with photo’s of basketball players and their stories. As soon as the wrapping paper was off, he raised it over his head, cheering: “for the win.” And ran off with it like the wild boy he is!
 
So set goals and play the game.
 
Keep it fun and go FOR THE WIN!
 
Ed
 
 
*https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12237980/

She Wanted to Teach Chiropractic Staff

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Greater Prosperity through Goals, Leadership, and Teaching.

woman teaching to a crowdEffective leaders are, first and foremost, good teachers.
We’re in the education business. — John Wooden

Greater Prosperity through Goals, Leadership, and Teaching

A highly productive and prosperous chiropractic clinic always has a goal driven team for support.

Motivation is directly linked to goals and leadership. When anyone pushes their way towards their goals, they are leaders. And one of the primary methods of leading is through teaching.

This is how you lead your patients to their health goals – you educate them at the initial report, the progress report, and each visit where you Table Talk!

In a Goal Driven Practice, eventually, everyone takes a leadership role. And leaders teach.

Teaching, in and of itself, is motivational.

She Wanted to Teach

I will never forget an outstanding example of this, though disappointing in some ways.

One of our clients hired a woman to be his office manager. She had big goals while working at another chiropractic office but was not encouraged to pursue them. So, she found an office, one that we worked with, where the doctor supported her mission.

She was a powerhouse on the front desk, but also worked with the staff and the doctor on improvement projects. She told him that she would work with him for one year, and if the numbers reached a certain level, she would replace herself, receive a substantial bonus, and move on. However, she had a bigger goal in mind. She wanted to begin a team training program for other chiropractic staff throughout the state.

We worked together on this plan for the entire year. The office was already busy and doing well. But after she started, we saw the volume increase significantly. She was a great team trainer, and after a year, she won her first game. The numbers increased on a sustained basis by over 20%. The owner was very pleased.

The disappointment occurred when she visited doctors around the state to encourage them to have their staff train with her. She also promoted her services to the state association. The reception in all cases was mild. She could not convince the doctors or the association of the advantages of having their staff on a professional training program.

She eventually took a high-paying position at a corporation in another state.

Teaching is Leading

As the chiropractor, and the Clinic Director, you are a leader – and a teacher.

In a Goal Driven Practice, you also want each team member to be a leader. The fact is, in their own way, they want to be leaders. Maybe not on the stage or in front of an orchestra, but leading by actively pushing their way to their goals and the office’s goals as well.

Each one of your team members has professional and personal goals. Just like you do. These goals should align with the goals of the office. You can help to unleash the power of these goals, for yourself, and for each team member, in the following ways:

1. Accept the fact that pursuing goals is leadership. And a function of leadership is teaching.

2. Do your own in-office seminars. Teach your team how to achieve the goals of the office, and especially, why.

3. Meet with each team member and help them write down their professional and, optionally, their personal goals. Then, help them achieve these goals.

4. Have them teach. For example:

a. At occasional staff meetings, one team member can give a presentation on some aspect of their job, a core value of the office, or a chapter in a book or a video.

b. In one year (or two) after they are hired, require all staff to help you give the first half of a lay lecture.

A Goal Driven Practice is not dependent upon the doctor. Instead, it is dependent upon goals and, as such, is more profitable, provides better service, and is more fun to work in.

Seize the future and your goals,

Ed

Contact us on the link below if you are interested in discussing how we can help you create a Goal Driven Practice.

Also, read my book! 😊

*https://www.expressionsofexcellence.com/ARTICLES/wooden_interview.html

Contact Us

The Future

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It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking to the future.
(Viktor Frankl)

Traditionally, the first of any New Year is an excellent time to take stock of the prior year and make plans for the year to come.

Goals

In business, there are two (three, but for now, we will look at two) types of goals for your business:

  • Production Goals
  • Organization Goals

Setting production goals for where you want to be 12 months from now is the easy part of goal setting. The hard part is working out the organizational support you will need to achieve your production and collections goals. It could be more than you think!

But keep this in mind:

chiropractic and your services are never the primary barriers to practice success.

It is always management. It is the administrative issues connected with organization, including marketing, that gum up the work, gets in the way, slows your business down and holds you back.

Motivation

Part of management is managing your motivation. Yep… motivation needs to be managed. Keeping your spirits high and your drive strong is necessary for an organization to flow.

And this takes us back to your goals.

Visualizing achieving your goals will stimulate your motivation – and your drive. If you can’t see any way to your goals, well, that can be depressing. But if you can… if you can envision accomplishing your future goals, you will be motivated.

Viktor Frankl

I reference Viktor Frankl in my book, The Goal Driven Business.
Speaking of his experience in a concentration camp, “As we said before, any attempt to restore a man’s inner strength in the camp had first to succeed in showing him some future goal…”

He also said, “Even when it is not fully attained, we become better by striving for a higher goal.”

For your goal setting for the New Year, I recommend you start with your higher goals, the 3rd type of goal, which are beyond production and organization. For example, what brings you bliss? What gives you meaning?

  • Time with family and friends?
  • More vacations to more interesting places?
  • Going for the WIN of your best production and collections year ever?
  • Building a church?
  • Getting a diplomate in nutrition?
  • Improving patient outcomes?
  • Speaking out about health issues more?

Begin with these goals – the higher, wilder, richer ones. Then, look at your production goals, then your organizational goals.

I encourage you to dream just a bit and look at next year as your playground. What higher, richer, and wilder adventures would you like to accomplish?

Have some fun considering these types of goals and all the ways you would like to achieve them. This will add zest and a special spirit to your production and organizational goals.

Help with Your Future

We want to help you with your future. Your work is important, and helping you achieve your goals has been a driving force and a higher goal within our company for over 30 years.

For 2023, we have a few openings for our Private Client status on our Goal Driven Program.

If you are interested in working with us, please reply to this email, and we will schedule a time to talk.

All of us at Petty Michel & Associates want to help you achieve your goals in 2023

Seize the Future! (Carpe Future)

Happy New Year

Ed

Reference. More information on this is covered in sections in The Goal Driven Business, starting at page 19 and page 116.

Grateful for the Future

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Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.
(Cicero, Prolancio, 100 BC)

As many of us in the U.S. prepare for our annual Thanksgiving events, I wanted to offer a short perspective.

Daily events challenge us, and we struggle to deal with them as best as we can. Events in our offices as well as in our communities, country, and the world can be daunting.

So, it helps to pause, more often than we do, and appreciate the advantages we have from those who have come before us. Likewise, to be grateful for the people we know: our family, friends, and those with whom we work. And, of course, our patients. In small ways and large, we all help each other.

But I also want to mention our future and the opportunity it gives us all.

As we move through the Holidays and winter sets in up here in the Northern Hemisphere, the New Year comes at us again too soon. We live in uncertain times, but as business owners and health mavericks, now is not the time to hunker down as if to hibernate and hope that any storms that occur may pass us by.

They won’t. But we can prepare and seize the opportunities that lie ahead.

Forward-minded entrepreneurs always find a few new approaches to making things better while many business owners remain on the sidelines, wary of jumping into the game and fully committing.

The future offers us the opportunity to play and enjoy the thrill of creatively making a difference, however difficult.

So, enjoy the Holidays, and all those close to you, near and far, in the present and respects to those who have passed. Take time to nourish yourself and those around you. There truly is much to be thankful for!

But while doing so, also appreciate the freedom we all have to make a better practice and a better life in the years to come.

Seize the Day and Seize the Future. (Carpe Diem, Carpe Futurum)

With Gratitude for all you do,

Ed, and all of us at Petty Michel

In Praise of Geekiness

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Are you a chiropractic geek?

Are you a health geek?

Here is Merriam Webster: Geek: “…a person with a high level of knowledge or skill in a field…” “an enthusiast or expert especially in a technological field… [The word geek has] seen increasing use with positive connotations, showing membership in a specialized group (film geek, beer geek) rather than social awkwardness.”

I like the word geek because it indicates someone who specializes in a field and is so engaged that they are not especially concerned with keeping up with what is accepted conventionally. In other words, they are a bit of a rebel.

Steve Jobs, for example, was a geek. A core value of Apple was a “power to the people” idea, that anyone could have a personal computer, not just the big corporations.

Wouldn’t Clarence Gonstead have been a geek? It would be difficult to find many chiropractors who were, or are, as engaged in chiropractic as he was or worked as hard.

I remember years ago when talking with a chiropractor over lunch and all he could talk about was the X,Y,Z axis, something about Euclidean geometry, and bilateral symmetrical function. I was trying to keep up! But there he was, in practice for over twenty years, talking excitedly about the last few patients he had seen. He was a chiropractic geek, for sure.

He also had a million-dollar practice with a very strong practice manager.

Great athletes are geeks in their field, studying and training harder than most. Same with musicians or chefs.

But it is easy to get distracted from your game. Collections, bills, staffing, procedures, marketing, insurance, taxes, and everything that goes along with running a business can cut into your productivity and dilute your concentration on your services.

Don’t let it.

Only the offices that give the highest quality services and deliver the best outcomes will survive, let alone thrive. Organize your administration such that it does not dampen your eagerness to engage with each patient, and continue to study and enhance every detail of your clinical skill.

And as a plug, this is why I wrote the Goal Driven Business – to help doctors be doctors, unfettered by administration, and free to express their skills and interests in their profession.

Organize your office so that you can focus on the science, art, and philosophy of your profession. Do so that you can look at chiropractic and its results newly each day, as if you just discovered its powerful potential to help people become healthier. Go deep on every level and rediscover your profession again, for the first time.

Be a geek.

Goal Driven to seize the future,

Ed

Goals, Motivation, and Discipline

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“People often say motivation doesn’t last.
Neither does bathing — that’s why we recommend it daily.”
(Attributed to Zig Ziglar)

I want to thank you for continuing to subscribe to this newsletter.

It has morphed into a kind of Tuesday’s Tips for Goal Drivers.

It includes weekly practice development tips, reminders, nudges, and even sometimes…insights. We include what we have seen that works, or doesn’t, in all types of chiropractic and other offices.

This newsletter has gained momentum over the last year from the publication of my book, The Goal Driven Business. It is written for that part of us that strives to achieve our goals.

The value of goals just can not be overstated. But “goals” cover a wide range of concepts and so can become confusing or even worse, boring.

But by frequently reconnecting with WHY you do WHAT you do, what you do becomes easier and more effective. And even more fun.

Why you do what you do is your motive — or your motivation.

Motivation to achieve your goals is senior to organizational procedures — but still needs organization to support its drive. When organization fails, as it often does, motivation is weakened. And organization is directly dependent on having the discipline of doing what needs to be done.

I don’t see the subject of discipline brought up too often in practice management conferences or discussions. It’s embarrassing, perhaps. Whether it is coming in late to see patients, not doing a thorough case review, or neglecting your support team, the little oversights can take a toll on our motivation.

Attending new seminars can give you a temporary buzz and momentarily motivate you. But unless you and your team have the discipline to stick to your values and procedures, the drive to your goals will lose its energy.

In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins talks about how successful businesses create a culture of discipline. He says, “It all starts with disciplined people…Next we have disciplined thought. You need the discipline to confront the brutal facts of reality, while retaining resolute faith that you can and will create a path to greatness.” “Finally, we have disciplined action.”

In a less academic way of saying the same thing, Mike Rowe said, “Work ethic is important because, unlike intelligence, athleticism, charisma, or any other natural attribute, it’s a choice.”

The way to stay motivated is to stay true to your mission, values, and procedures and to frequently take time to face the “brutal facts” of your performance and your WHY.

Like bathing, the process never ends… and keeps you clean!

Seize your future,

Ed

Going Public or Going Purpose

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Be like a juvenile delinquent!

The chiropractic model for care follows three main stages, according to many patient educational articles. These are 1) Relief, 2) Correction and 3) Maintenance and Wellness.

I am sure it could be nuanced into other levels or worded differently, but these three make sense to me — so much that it inspired me to write a book – The Goal Driven Business.

But I had another inspiration.

I read a book about a young French-Canadian rock climber who lived in Southern California and was not finding the equipment he needed. So, he became a blacksmith and started making his own. In the late 1950s and ’60s, he started the Chouinard Equipment Co and made climbing gear for other climbers. He also wanted better outdoor gear, and so founded Patagonia, a clothing company.

The name of the book was Let My People Go Surfing. It was by Yvonne Chouinard and tells the story of how he grew Patagonia.

Patagonia, now a 50-year-old company, has done very well financially. It has also done very well for the quality of its products and services and its employees. But it is also driven by the goal of making Earth healthier.

Patagonia demonstrates three goals I believe every business has: 1) profit, 2) expert service and people, and 3) higher purpose. In my book, I reference examples of how the best companies focus, knowingly or unknowingly, on these three goals.

The best offices I have worked with over the years have also been committed to these three goals. They cared about providing the best service to their patients, but also to their staff. They were committed to helping as many people as possible be healthier. And, of course, they insisted on profits.

Chouinard, with his family, own Patagonia.

That is until this month. Valued at 3 billion dollars, Chouinard announced that they are giving the company away. He could have sold it to … Amazon, for example, or they could have made it a public company. Instead, he donated it to a fund called the Patagonia Purpose Trust. He says, “Earth is now our only shareholder.”

“Instead of “going public,” you could say we’re “going purpose.” Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth for investors, we’ll use the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth.”

I encourage you to look into Chouinard’s lessons on business, which he acquired through trial and error as we do! I have some links over on the blog (see below.) There are many business lessons to learn by studying the trials of other business owners in different types of businesses.

But I guarantee you that if you commit to these three goals, in the long run, just like with your patients, your business and your life will thrive.

And one other note!

I think ol’ Yvonne would have been a natural chiropractor. He reminds me of you guys. In an interview in 2017, he says:

“One of my favorite quotes is if you want to understand entrepreneurs, study the juvenile delinquent because they’re saying, you know, this sucks. I’m gonna do it my own way. And that’s what the entrepreneur does. They just say this is wrong. I’m gonna do it this other way. And that’s the fun part of business actually.”

So, have fun, and seize the future,

Ed

For links and other references, go to our blog here: Goal Driven

Ed Petty in front of Chouinard Equipment Company, Ventura California

 

Patagonia home page
https://www.patagonia.com/home/

Interview with Chouindard
https://www.npr.org/2018/02/06/572558864/patagonia-yvon-chouinard

News articles
https://www.reddit.com/r/climbing/comments/xebzib/yvon_chouinard_gives_patagonia_to_charitable/

https://www.inc.com/yvon-chouinard/patagonia-ceo-let-my-people-go-surfing-why-company-mission-is-not-profit.html

Book
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/let-my-people-go-surfing-yvon-chouinard/1124064053?ean=9780143109679

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Here in the United States, July 4th is a date we celebrate each year, commemorating the independence as colonies from Great Britain.

And I can’t help but see a parallel between those hardy souls in the American colonies that wanted their freedom and, well, you! Chiropractors and their teams.

To colonize means to “take control of a people or area, especially as an extension of state power… to take or make use of (something) without authority or right.” (Merriam-Webster)

It could be said that the profession of medicine has been colonized by a few corporate interests. Same has been happening with other professions and industries. A few large corporations own and control more and more businesses that were once independent.

But for the most part, chiropractic as a profession has remained independent.

It hasn’t been easy, what with the AMA and Pharma coming after you, as was disclosed in the Wilk’s trail. (That was just a speed bump for them!) But Team Chiropractic has won its independence and freedom due to the courage of those who have come before you.

And it also comes from your continuing courage today.

So, this Fourth is also about your independence and your continued efforts to do the BEST for your patients and your communities.

Celebrate this!

Yes, it is just another day at the office. But this weekend, have an extra cool drink and recognize your leadership and courage in standing up for the true health of your patients and your community.

Stay free, and help others do the same.

Ed

3 Effective Methods to Amp Up Your Team’s Motivation

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Do you sometimes feel that you are just reporting in on Mondays to work on the assembly line? Has the eagerness to achieve your goals been replaced by an attitude of “now I have to go to work.”

How about your team members? Do you suspect that they sometimes disengage from their work when you are not looking?

It happens.

Yet, the level of any team’s motivation directly affects its level of success.

Here are three keys to improving motivation:

1. GOAL ALIGNMENT

The outcomes of any job need to be matched with the mission of the job.
For example, let’s take the front desk. Many front desk new hires are trained on the appointment procedures for patients but omit teaching them on the mission of the front desk.

The mission of the front desk is to assist the patient in becoming healthier by helping them keep to their health and treatment plan. That would be its mission or higher-level goal. The lower-level, or practical, goals would include every patient keeping their appointment, or 100% kept appointments!

If the front desk is primarily busy working on insurance paperwork, their work is not in alignment with the mission of their job. This is a misalignment of goals.

“The psychologists Ken Sheldon and Tim Kasser have found that people who are mentally healthy and happy have a higher degree of ‘vertical coherence’ among their goals — that is, higher-level (long-term) goals and lower-level (immediate) goals all fit together well so that pursuing one’s short-term goals advances the pursuit of long-term goals”. (The Happiness Hypothesis – pg145)

In the Goal Driven System, we have found that everyone works more efficiently and with a better attitude if the mission of the job is connected to its outcomes.

You, as the doctor, come to the office to work with patients, yet much of your work involves getting administrative tasks completed. Your higher clinical goals as a doctor do not line up with all the admin chores needed.

Here is a sample chart showing higher-level goals and lower-level goals.

Action Step: Regularly review the mission for everyone’s job, including your own, with the outcomes it needs to produce. Keep higher-level and lower-level goals connected.

2. TEAM INCLUSION
Your employees will be more motivated if they are included in the progress and direction of the business in which they work.

“Motivation requires that people see a relationship between their behavior
and desired outcome…” (Edward L. Deci). (Why We Do What We Do, Deci, page 59)

Action Step. Keep your team updated on the progress towards your goals, as we discussed in our last newsletter.* Do this in regular staff meetings to monitor the progress in achieving lower-level and higher-level goals.

3. COACHING AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Several studies indicate that people are more likely to achieve their goals with accountability and support.*

This is one reason why weight-loss programs do so well – there is someone you must answer up to who also guides you, supports you and keeps you on track to your goals.
There are many barriers that can cause us to lose our enthusiasm to achieve our goals and settle for substitutes. Owning and growing a business as a doctor is very challenging and sometimes a lonely endeavor.

Action step: The solution is to recruit trusted advisors – colleagues, and professionals for accounting, legal, and practice development (our specialty.)

Carpe Posterum (Seize the Future)

Ed

This is covered more thoroughly in my book, the Goal Driven Business. Buy it here.

*Last Goal Driven Newsletter: https://www.goaldriven.com/post/those-numbers-do-you-manage-by-emotions-or-by-goals

* Study on Accountability. Psychological Bulletin © 2015 American Psychological Association 2016, Vol. 142, No. 2, 198 –229 Does Monitoring Goal Progress Promote Goal Attainment?

Make each day an Ode to Joy!

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“Music is … a higher revelation than all Wisdom & Philosophy”
― Ludwig van Beethoven

Takes 5 minutes. This is an inspirational musical event. The link is below.

It is worthy of the best humans have to offer – and akin to what you provide innately to your patients – as doctors, providers, and support professionals.

Match this with all you do in April and you’ll have a great month!

-Ed

 

For more information on how to create a more profitable business that is more fun than what you are doing now, please purchase and then use the book, The Goal Driven Business.

Motivation

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No matter how many goals you say you have or how you write them out, unless you have the motivation to achieve them – you won’t.

“Motivation is the driving force behind the energy required to complete a task… a person’s willingness to exert physical or mental effort in order to complete a goal or set aim. (Psychology Dictionary.org)

This is a key element in a Goal Driven Business.

You first need to define your goals – and they must be practical as well as meaningful. But you also need the drive to achieve them. Without the drive, the motivation to get to where you want to go, you are just a poser in the business world.

(Case #345) The doctor and I had discussed a plan to motivate his team and increase production. This was many years ago. Over lunch, we had a team meeting to announce the plan to his other two doctors and about 10 support staff. He announced that if certain goals were met over the next 7 months, everyone could get a trip to Hawaii.

Everyone was shocked. Including me! The doctor and I had discussed a two-month plan for rewards based upon a modest performance improvement – but not Hawaii and not the increase in production he wanted. He came up with this on the spot during our meeting.

But that afternoon, amazingly, the phones lit up. People were calling in for appointments. (Never mind that this was an example of Innate or Quantum Entanglement!) As I recall, they had their best month ever. But unfortunately, they soon realized that the goals were unrealistic, they had little support to achieve them, and the doctor saw that he couldn’t afford it even if they did reach their goals. The practice subsequently went into a long-term slump.

==================================================================

What is the lesson? Well, there are a few of them, but I want to focus on motivation.

While it may seem like people become motivated because of the “carrot,” or the reward, there are deeper reasons – or principles.

Edward Deci, along with others, put forth a new framework for motivation called Self-Determination Theory. Essentially, it states that we are all driven by intrinsic goals as part of our fundamental nature. Our reward comes from the satisfaction we feel from the achievement more than from any external prize.

These are the three intrinsic goals we all share:

AUTONOMY. We all want to play in our own sandbox! We need to feel in control of our own corner of the world. Just like we don’t like insurance companies intruding into our clinical decisions, staff does not like being micromanaged.

COMPETENCE. We all want to be superheroes! Deep down, the prospect of becoming more skilled, more masterful, and better able to be in control of our environment is a drive we all have.

CONNECTION. We all want to be part of something bigger than ourselves. This manifests in two ways: a) being part of and working with a supportive group or team, and b) working to help bring about something more significant than our paycheck or the accomplishment of our everyday tasks.

The office staff was excited to go to Hawaii, but this was not necessarily because they could lie in the sun. It was because it was a huge goal that gave them a very large sandbox to play in – together – to work for a very large result.

Self-Determination Theory is why games work. In Kevin Werbach book, For the Win, he discusses the subject of Gamification.

“For thousands of years, we’ve created things called games that tap the tremendous psychic power of fun. A well-designed game is a guided missile to the motivational heart of the human psyche. …monetary rewards aren’t even necessary because the game itself is the reward.”

Whether it is a sporting event, video game, or Sheepshead (a popular game of old-time Wisconsinites, so I’ve heard), we love our games. And I think we need them.

But it all goes back to the principles of Self-Determination Theory.

Remember when you started your business? The challenge that lay ahead? The new business card that identified you as the hero to conquer new plateaus?

Those drives are still there and can be rekindled, regardless of prior disappointments.

As Soon as You Make a Goal—You Have Created the Potential for a Game.

Win or lose, IF the principles of Self-Determination Theory are in place, you will be motivated and so will those with whom you work.

Apply these principles to yourself and your team – for the game, for the fun, and for the win!

Seize the Future,

Ed

For more information on how to apply self-Determination Theory, games, and motivating yourself and your team, please purchase the book,
The Goal Driven Business. [Link to sell page]

 

The Cathedral, Stone Blocks, and Your Goals

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stone cathederal

(This is the third in our series on goals.)

The Cathedral, Stone Blocks, and Your Goals

Christopher Wren was one of the greatest English architects. He designed 53 different churches in London before he died in 1723 at the age of 91.*

There is a story about how he walked unrecognized one day among the men who were at work upon the building of St. Paul’s Cathedral — which he had designed. St. Paul’s Cathedral sits on a hill and is one of London’s most famous and recognizable churches.

“What are you doing?” he inquired of one of the workers, and the man replied, “I am cutting a piece of stone and working hard so I can feed my family.”

As he went on, he put the same question to another man, and the man replied, “I am an expert stonemason, and I am building a solid wall.”

He walked a little further, and around the corner, he asked a third man what he was doing. “I am helping Sir Christopher Wren build a beautiful cathedral that will be a place for worship, where people can come to pray, where the poor can come for clothing and food, for the Almighty.”

This is a parable that has some measure of truth, but I have not been able to find any credible verification. But the point of a story such as this is to illustrate an idea or moral.

All three workers had goals. They expressed these to Sir Christopher when asked what they were doing. We can assume that each stone cutter was skilled, worked hard, and did the same work as the others.

One can guess that their goals kept them motivated. But each viewed their goals differently.

The first two workers had immediate tangible objects as goals – a cut stone block and a well-built wall. However, the third stone cutter’s goal was a purpose, a vision of the future he was working to help achieve.

From this, we can look at all goals at two different levels: at a higher level, such as a purpose, and at a tangible level, which is a practical manifestation of the purpose.

In your practice, these two levels of goals might look something like this:

Higher Goal: Our mission is to help as many people as possible in our community become healthier, relieved of discomfort, and better educated so that they continue to improve their health and those around them.

Practical Goal: A person who completed a program of care, whose pain was relieved and is now healthier and incredibly happy with their results and of the service they received and has enrolled in a wellness program.

stone mason building a wall

Practical goals are quantifiable in a set period. For example, how many new patients can we generate, how many visits can we achieve, and how many programs of care can we complete next month?

There must be an equal emphasis on the higher goal, often called a mission, and the tangle goals, often called quotas or objectives.

Too much attention on the mission, and we live in a dreamland and go broke. Too much attention on production quotas, and we eventually feel like we are on an endless assembly line, find no meaning in our work and lose our motivation.

Like the stone cutters, dream about the cathedral but also set a target for how many blocks you will cut and how many walls you will complete next month.

Both echelons of goals should be viewed, reviewed, revived, and recalculated as needed at each team meeting.

Goals are your future – where you want to be. And, where you want your patients and your community to be. So, nourish them both as a mission and as outcomes, and the work to achieve them will come much faster and easier.

Carpe Posterum (Seize the Future),

Ed

*Wikipedia

Why Goals Work and How to Harness Their Power for Greater Prosperity

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Goals are the 20%of efforts thatWhy do goals work?

We all know the obvious: they help keep you focused, and as Yogi Berra, the baseball catcher, said, “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up somewhere else.”

We have all heard about their importance.  But we may not have heard or understood WHY.

What is the underlying principle behind goals, and why do they work?  What gives them their power? And can you harness it improve your business and its bottom line?

Stick with me and find out…

==   ==   ==   ==   ==

It was one of those September days in the Midwest when the leaves were turning orange, and the wind was blowing.  I was in Chicago – the Windy City – where I attended a seminar downtown at one of its plush hotels.

The program was kind of out of my league – at least then.  The fee for three days was $7,000.  I was only attending the first day, which was $1,000 – still a lot of money.  But I was drawn to the subject, and I was familiar with the person who was putting it on.

There were aggressive young MBA types flying in from around the country and the world.  On the night before, at the hotel where the seminar was to be held, I saw several small groups in lively discussion around laptops – as if they were in the middle of inventing the next Big Thing.  I remember talking to one young man from Singapore and learning about the high-energy atmosphere of entrepreneurship there.

The seminar focused on building, buying, or overhauling a business.  The speaker was a self-made billionaire, a former management consultant, so his teaching fees did not come cheap.  This was not a seminar for dabblers!

The subjects discussed on the first day and, as I learned, on the other two days, were surprisingly uncomplicated.  They discussed the key ingredients to look for when deciding what business to build, buy, or grow.  These few key factors were introduced on the first day of the seminar and then expanded upon the other two days.

But it all started around one principle: the PARETO PRINCIPLE.

Many of you know the Pareto Principle and the Rule of 80/20.  This Principle has been used over the last 50 years by major manufacturing companies to improve the quality of their products.  The concept is easy to state but often difficult for entrepreneurs to apply.  It predicts that roughly 80% of valuable results come from just 20% of efforts.  In some cases, the ratio can even be more extreme so that 10% or even 5% produces 90% or 95% of the results.

Not all efforts are equal: there are the “vital few” efforts and the “useful many” efforts.  Workaholic entrepreneurs can struggle to put this concept into practical use.  We find that delegating a $20 an hour task is risky, so we will spend time organizing a bookshelf or driving to get office supplies ourselves instead of taking care of a potential $1,000 an hour task, or even a $10,000 an hour task.

As a non-business example of the 80/20 Rule, consider all the clothes in your closet.  I bet you wear just 20%, or less, 80% of the time.  Then, consider how you get to work – out of all the choices of roads to take, you use just a few of them.

Look at a winning athletic team.  Just a few players are responsible for 80% of its success.  This does not mean that the other players are not important – just not THAT important.

All efforts are just not equal or average.

How might this apply to your business?  Well, for example, 80% or more of customer dissatisfaction comes from 20% or less of your patients.  On the other hand, 20% or less of your patients account for 80% of your patient referrals.

As the CEO of your business, what are the vital few actions you can take that will produce the most results?  I suggest that defining the business’s goals, ensuring that your team understands them, and keeping these goals alive each week is key.

As Stephen Covey advises: “Begin with the end in mind.”  Goals are simply the end you have in mind.  On the higher end, they would include your mission, vision, and reason for them – your WHY.  They would also include the values you hold as standards of behavior and performance.

These greater goals would be manifested as products or outcomes.  For example, if your mission included helping people have healthy teeth, then a practical manifestation of this goal would be “Jim,” a patient, having his teeth cleaned today.  If your vision were a healthy and pain-free community, the practical outcomes would be 100 patients adjusted today.

As a doctor, what would be the 20% of your actions that account for 80% of your results?  I suggest letting the patient know that you understand their goals and work to help them achieve those goals at each encounter.

As the manager of your business, ensuring each team member knows the goals of their roles and helping them achieve these goals, with good coaching and communication, will produce 80% of their successful efforts.

It all goes back to goals.  

They are the leverage points that direct and amplify all your efforts.

But here is the truth you must understand:

A small amount of time consistently spent defining the goals of, and within, your business — and working out how to achieve them — are the vital few actions that produce most of your excellent outcomes.

Know before you go.

If you and your team routinely define and redefine your goals, both the higher ones and the practical ones, and work out how to better achieve them, you will have a more prosperous and stress-free business.

Get the goals right each day, and all else will follow in your favor.

Working towards a better future,

Ed

If you don’t have it yet, get my book to learn more about how to use goals in your practice. The Goal Driven Business.

***New Training Program***

Also, stay tuned for a new training program we will be offering on the Goal Driven System. It will be limited to just 10 offices and last for 6 months. Its goal is to train the business owner and manager/senior staff member on the Goal Driven System to transform their practice into a Goal Driven Business. A Goal Driven Business is a team of Goal Drivers. That is what this program will teach you to create. (What is a Goal Driven Business? )
If you are interested in taking the training program on the Goal Driven System, for you and 1 team member, please go here to schedule a time to learn more about it. Schedule a meeting with me.

Goal Driven.com
Petty Michel & Associates

Whose Goals: Yours or Theirs?

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goals-2022 nurturing your goals to growth

At the beginning of each New Year, it is customary to reflect on the past and look at and set new goals for the New Year.

This can help you have a happier and more prosperous New Year.

Life can get messy and confusing, and like a rookie quarterback facing many onrushing tacklers, even frightening. The solution is to have planned goals already established that you can confidently move forward towards regardless of the circumstances you face.

Here is a vital tip about goals that is often overlooked:

GOALS NEED REGULAR NOURISHMENT.

Weekly, even daily, a fast reflection on where you are going and WHY helps focus and energize your drive towards them. Once established, you need to take time aside weekly, and more so on a monthly and quarterly basis, to rekindle them and mark your progress towards their achievement. Make adjustments and course corrections as needed.

Do this as a scheduled and determined ritual!

Share them as well. There is nothing better than sharing agreed-upon goals with others and working together to make things better. Work with your patients, your team, and your family to achieve shared goals.

And do this or else!

There are good consequences in doing this and not good consequences if omitted. Other powerful interests have different goals for you and your patients. So does plain old inertia.

In this New Year, stay true to your goals, nourish them, and help others do the same.

Ed

For more information on how to do this, please read my book, the Goal Driven Business.

Also, stay tuned for a new training program we will be offering on the Goal Driven System. It will be limited to just 10 offices and last for 6 months. Its goal is to train the business owner and manager/senior staff member on the Goal Driven System to transform their practice into a Goal Driven Business. What is a Goal Driven Business?

What is an Adjustment

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B.J. Palmer

What is an Adjustment by B.J. Palmer

An adjustment (“setment”) is one if not THE most exact in operation in the world; greater by far than ripping out an appendix, etc. It requires that “intuitive” sense of direction, proportion, distance, and ability to deliver just that and all that, and nothing more; a sense of fitness to do this one thing, which few seem to possess, which can be acquired if one is willing to pay the price in thought, study, development of mind and body.

I have spent 40 years to do what I can do today. The “follow thru” of an adjustment IS IMPORTANT, but not nearly as important as “the approach.” If the “approach” is natural, easy, perfectly timed and distanced, then follow-thru is The sportsmanship of adjusting subluxations is no different than the perfection in tennis football, baseball, or any sport where ONE gets this top, MANY drag behind, and MANY are way down at the tail of human endeavor.

The MIND thinks all action. As the MIND understands, the muscles deliver. I will spend no less than ONE HOUR studying a DISlocation before I adjust it. WHY? The mind THINKS all action, and the MUSCLES deliver. The more the MIND knows, the better will be the delivery of MUSCLES. I had a child-like that recently — 6 months old — a DISlocation to correct. It was done in a split fraction of a second. When your muscles come through, THEN they haven’t time to think action. Action must be formed IN THE MIND ahead of time.

(Page 844, Up From Below the Bottom, B. J. Palmer, 1950)

PDF Version for downloading: What is an adjustment by B. J. Palmer

The Morale Virus: What doctors say and how they are combating it

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Over the last few months, I have been noticing a particular phenomenon in offices that I don’t think I have seen before… maybe ever. It is like noticing a slight hand tremor that you never knew you had or a buzzing sound from outside that has become increasingly loud and annoying.

2020 was a long year, a stressful one. And you all have been in the thick of it. Daily, seeing more people in one day than most providers see in a week – or more.

My old football coach, Johnny Pappa from Davis, made a big impression on me as a young freshman when he said: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” In my then youthful life, I had never heard such profound words. They still apply – especially to you. You are tough!

But stoicism has its limits. The cognitive dissonance can finally get to you.

One doctor expressed to me extreme frustration about two young and very healthy patients, who exercised, got adjusted, ate well, took their vitamins, but decided to discontinue taking their outdoor walks for fear of COVID.

Another doctor, venting his dismay, told me that he couldn’t bear to watch the medical bureaucrats talk about masking and vaccinations as the only remedies to COVID when he knew of so many methods that have been demonstrated to ameliorate the virus. “People are frightened and told to stay at home, don’t socialize, wear a mask if you go out, and wait for the vaccine. That’s it? That’s all you got for people? This really shuts people down.”

One doctor I talked to who, after dealing with depressed and suicidal patients, many of them vets, has become depressed himself. Another wonders what the hell is happening to our chiropractic colleges – have they all been taken over by medical bureaucrats? Is chiropractic finally squashed?

Your good nature can become frayed, your patience worn thin, and regardless of your professional composure and your disciplined countenance, the stresses can have an affect. I mention this because most of you are tough as nails – you have successfully dealt with many types of stressful situations in the past, as a doctor, professional, and for many of you, a business owner.

Morale Virus

So if you are feeling a bit off, recognize that you might be affected by a contagious “Morale Virus.” The Morale Virus is what I call the social sickness that occurs as an emotional response to continual fear-baiting. Frightened, your patients are told they can’t do this and shouldn’t do that.

The Morale Virus is not caused by hardship itself. It is caused when you are pushed into a corner and given no way to fight back. You tend to give up. (Or go stark raving mad!) (Reminds me of the movie, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest when the star, McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), says: “You guys complain how much you hate it here, and then don’t even have the guts to leave! You’re all crazy!”)

There has been a constant assault of bad news emanating from officials and authorities. Yes, and I know the media plays a part — it is mostly owned and controlled by just a few rich people and corporations who have their own agenda — namely, more money. But still – no one buys boring newspapers. Sensation sells the news, and we, the consumers, buy it. We listen and read the “news” that riles us up and confirms our bias. Social media does the same, times ten.

Dirty Laundry (Song by Don Henley) 

I make my living off the evening news
Just give me something, something I can use

People love it when you lose. They love dirty laundry
We got the bubble-headed bleach-blonde who comes on at five

She can tell you about the plane crash with a gleam in her eye
It’s interesting when people die, give us dirty laundry

Morale Virus Disinfectant

Here are some ideas on how you can fight back, disinfect your office from this disease, and better help your patients regain their spirit of hope, kindness, and free enterprise. And yours as well.

Good Vibe Year

One doctor we work with likes to anchor her practice around a yearly theme. For 2021, she is calling 2021 the year of Good Vibes and has events planned to support this philosophy. And just to reinforce the idea, she has T-Shirts made that say Good Vibes. (And by the way, she has a bustling two-doctor office.)

Study. Acquire More Knowledge. Teach

Fear is often a byproduct of lack of knowledge – so arm yourself with the facts.

For example: Roommate 1: “Oh my god! (A panic shout is heard.) The television isn’t working and the game is on. What will we do?” (Drama ensues.) Roommate 2:(Calmly) “Check the remote for new batteries.”  Roommate 1: “Ah, that fixed it, thanks.”

Study, use critical thinking, avoid bias – your own and others. Go to the sources – research studies and from people who are actually working on what you are studying. Then, please educate your patients and clients on how to be happier and healthier. And educate your team, help them increase their knowledge. Arm them as well. Doctor comes from the Latin to docere – “to show, teach, cause to know.”

Leverage Point

What area in your office, if changed, will produce the most significant effect?

Obviously, first and foremost is the doctor. Each day should be a trip to the playground, the ski slope, the baseball field, the dance floor. Ideally, each day is a fresh opportunity to accept the privilege of helping as many people from suffering as possible, to teach them, and have fun doing so.

In most offices, I would also say it is your front desk. The front desk’s power is so poorly recognized in most offices that at least 20% or more production is lost. A vibrant, aggressively friendly, caring, mission and goal-oriented front desk can and will boost your volume – this week. Front Desk team members may need more support and less admin (billing) duties. They may need a better understanding of the mission and how your office is helping people.

Entrepreneur Harder

During cultural upheavals and shifts, entrepreneur businesses remain and often thrive. New opportunities open up. More established and larger companies are weighed down by dogmatic rituals, have high overhead and many vice presidents, and vast networks of suppliers. Change is difficult. But not for the entrepreneur. Most entrepreneurs are all too “change-happy.” You can adapt, innovate, and overcome quicker than companies who are afraid to or can’t. So what if in-person care classes are out for now? Get everyone on a Zoom class, give them a secret word. Test them when they come in again and if they answer correctly, give them a gift – a bottle of Vitamin D or a lunch at another patient’s business.

Stay Out of the Weeds

One doctor told me that her solution was to “stay out of the weeds.” To stay in her lane and just keep helping people and not get caught up in the storms of controversy. I suggest that this is the best course of action. You want news? Sensational news…? Just listen to your patients and staff and community. But stay on the fairway and don’t get sidetracked, mentally or in real life.

Goals

Stay with your goals. Goals are agreements that you made with yourself, and usually others. If you stay true to them, they will lead you out of the den of the morale sickness. Staying true to your goals is a point of integrity. Your goals are not in the weeds – they are straight ahead. Figure out new and better ways to get there or resurrect old ways that worked. Fall down 7 times, get up 8. Each day and each week — begin with the end in mind.

Your goals are in three categories:

  1. Financial. This includes marketing and production.
  2. Service. Developing individual and team expertise with constant improvement..
  3. Purpose. Your higher purposes, those goals outside of work that are greater than this week and that are most meaningful need to be integrated into your work-life.

The Future is Bright and Roaring!

We have seen harsher times. The past is easily forgotten, and we think we are in the worst of times. Well, the 1918 flu was much worse than COVID. Plus, we were sending our young boys to suffer in horror and die in the trenches in Europe in the Great War. But society prevailed and soon ushered in the Roaring 20’s, a time of economic growth and cultural freedom.

Prepare to roar!

Carpe Deum (Seize the Day)

Ed

Ed Petty - author

This is such an important subject, I encourage you to share it with your team and colleagues:  To print out a hard copy