Recognizing Greatness in Our Teams

Posted on October 7, 2024 by Edward Petty

Synergy and the Balanced Business

smiling happy woman Linda Skiles,
Wisconsin Chiropractic Assistant of the Year 1990, 2024

We are all busy helping our patients, clients, and customers. That is what we do.

As a doctor and business owner, you have spent years learning your skills and spending fortunes investing in your business. You have sacrificed personal and family time to make a go of it. Your attention is on service, outcomes, and the bottom line. This is understandable and correct.

But sometimes, a key element of the practice gets little attention.

I have seen this in other offices as I have seen it in ours.

A business has 2 major parts. It is like a yin-yang engine. One side of the formula pushes, and the other pulls. One side is production and services, and the other is support and organization, like a car engine with driving pistons and other moving parts supported by the stable engine block.

To the degree each side, each component supports the other, the faster the engine will go.

This is synergy.

The support and organization side of the business engine does not always get the recognition it deserves. Most employees, at some point, have wanted to improve their practices and have been eager to do so.

We live in a mostly thankless world with constant negative reinforcement. We often don’t acknowledge the excellent work of our staff, our patients’ successes, or even our spouses’ contributions.

I feel that all chiropractors and their staff should take time off every month just to celebrate their successes and acknowledge their grit.

LINDA SKILES

This brings me to our Linda Skiles. Linda is our practice manager and is the C.A. to all our offices – doctors and staff. She has worked with us since 2001. She may have worked with you in one manner or another.

This weekend, in front of 400 or so in attendance at the fall convention of the Chiropractic Society of Wisconsin, Linda was acknowledged as Chiropractic Assistant of the Year.

Linda began working for a chiropractor in 1985. After he retired, she worked for another group practice here in Wisconsin. She then began working for Petty, Michel & Associates.
In 1990, Linda was awarded Chiropractic Assistant of the Year by another Wisconsin association, the Wisconsin Chiropractic Association.

In addition, she has volunteered her time to many chiropractic projects and local community activities in her small country town here in Wisconsin. She has received numerous private commendations for her good work over the years and sets an extraordinary example of team member work ethics.

She gets things done!

In 2023, she completed the Practice Manager MBA program and is now in the Practice Manager Internship and Certification Program.

Linda has contributed to the profession for 39 years and is not about to retire.

You can read more about Linda’s career here.

Let’s all take time to recognize the contributions of our support teams, without whom the engines of our businesses would not run.

Keep your motors runnin’,

Dave Michel, Linda Skiles, Ed Petty

Back to School Month

Posted on August 22, 2023 by Edward Petty

chiropractic back to school, goal driven

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
(Attributed to Nelson Mandela)*

September is almost here, and soon the schools will be busy.

Since doctor means teacher, why not go all in on education and teaching this month?

BACK TO SCHOOL FOR THE KIDS

Support your teachers and the kids they teach.

This September, you can align your office with a local school and support other teachers and their students.

There are many approaches to this. You can call or visit a school and tell them you would like, along with your staff and patients, to make a contribution of some kind to a specific department or activity. These could be new uniforms for the marching band, art supplies, or supplies for the kids in need, like calculators, notebooks, and book bags.

You can also get the kids in for a back-to-school check-up and include a short workshop on backpack safety.

Whatever your plan is, promote it in your e-newsletter, on posters and handouts, and your social medial platforms.

You can also offer a special discount to teachers.

Staff often have great ideas and love to work on special projects like this. Get them involved!

While these types of promotions are not designed to generate boatloads of new patients, they can be fun, generate goodwill, and establish your business as a trusted community member. All of this supports your other marketing activities.

BACK TO SCHOOL FOR THE ADULTS

Because staff and doctor education is important, but not urgent, it is typically put on the back burner. This is true with many things, including patient care, where we focus too much on pain relief and not enough on correction, strengthening, and wellness.

Your Patients

As health professionals, you know that healthcare information in the marketplace borders on criminal. Corporations that produce soft drinks don’t warn about the harmful effects of high fructose corn syrup, “food” companies about the dangers of linoleic oil in cooking oil, or corporations that sell farm and lawn products about the toxins from weed and insect killers.

The benefits of chiropractic and non-corporate health care certainly aren’t promoted, and we have seen what happens to the M.D. s that speak out against the well-funded medical narrative.

Inform While You Perform, and in doing so, you help your patients become healthier and position your practice as a genuine HEALTH practice. Be a rebel, and educate your patients on health: corrective care, strengthening, care, nutrition, diet, exercise, and all the basics of good health that can’t be patented!

You and Your Team

The fall seminars are coming up! State conventions often have teachers that actually teach practical information! Schedule yourself for a weekend this fall… and take your staff.

Fall State Conventions. Staff education is more important than you might realize. First, they learn some valuable concepts and procedures. But beyond the obvious, investing in their education shows you recognize their value. They are an integral part of practice success and patient outcomes and are worthy of the investment. They also see that they are part of a larger profession – that there are others besides you and their practice mates that have similar jobs, challenges, and rewards.

Chirofest. Besides your local state conventions, a shoutout to Chirofest out in Vancouver WA. Dr. Paul Reed does a great job, and nothing compares to the Oregon coast, two hours from Vancouver.

Goal Driven Management and Leadership Training. Our own Practice Management and Leadership Training starts September 18th. We are limiting enrollment to just 7 offices for our Founder’s Round and we still have a couple of spots open. There is absolutely no training like this anywhere. Let me know if you are interested. It’s an amazing deal — but only if you want to improve your income and create an even more dynamic practice manager!

Seize September,

More info:

Goal Driven Management and Leadership Training

ChiroFest seminar

Your state association

The Goal Driven Business book by Ed Petty

*Nelson Mandela quote: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Madison Park High School, Boston, 23 June 1990; reported in various forms

Chiropractic Training Doesn’t Cost – It Pays

Posted on June 13, 2023 by Edward Petty

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” Alvin Toffler

I just returned from a Parker Chiropractic Seminar.

There were some excellent topics and knowledgeable and informative speakers. I met some wonderful chiropractors and staff, attended a few classes, and learned new things. And, as always, was thankfully reminded of old things.

Some doctors brought their staff. This can be expensive, I know. But it is worth it.

Employee education is essential. First of all, it pays off. Case studies of individual companies show that financial returns vary between an increase of 30% to even as much as 7,000%!*

Stats show that companies invest in employee training. For example, on average, smaller companies (from 100-999) spent $1,678 in 2022 and 67 hours per employee. The total spent on employee training in the U.S. in 2022 was 101 billion.**

This means that even if it costs $5,000 to take your team to a training seminar, you should see an extra $1,500 in collections on top of the money you’ve already spent.

People want to do their best but need the knowledge to do so. I often refer to the Self-Determination Theory, which, through research, has shown that all of us have an inherent desire for advancement and improvement. Good training supports this intrinsic goal.

Providing training for your staff shows that they are an integral part of providing patient care and achieving practice success. It demonstrates your respect for their value as team members.

The world is changing mighty fast — as you know. The Parker seminar had two keynote speakers discussing critical social and health-related issues that are rapidly developing and will impact practices. I will report on this next week. Staying current with evolving technology and social trends allows you and your team to stay innovative and in better touch with your community.

Parker has great classes, but there are many other practical seminars. In the fall, most state associations have conferences with training programs within driving distance of your office. And beyond seminars, there are online courses, books, and your personal teaching.

I often encourage doctors to assign staff to read relevant books, sections of books, or specific videos and bonus them for doing so. The staff can present what they learned at a team meeting so everyone learns.

It is easy to feel we don’t have the time or the money to invest in training – for ourselves or our staff. But with deliberate practice and coaching, training improves performance and income.

Like chiropractic, training doesn’t cost – it pays!

Seize the future through study and training,

References:

Toffler: “Rethinking the Future: Rethinking Business, Principles, Competition, Control & Complexity, Leadership, Markets, and the World” (1998m Rowan, Toffler)

Tribal Knowledge Can Improve Your Practice

Posted on April 11, 2023 by Edward Petty

teams, management, chiropractic, knowledge

Mining the Underground Innate Knowledge of Your Team

You may not have run into this term before… maybe you have. It was new to me before I began putting together the notes for The Goal Driven Business.

In any case, it is a concept worth knowing and one you can use to improve your business. I’ll give you an example and then define it.

It was spring years ago, and I was meeting with a motivated practice owner who was already doing well. We were discussing marketing plans for the next several months, and some of our programs ended in June. We needed something that would work for July. So I said, “Why don’t we ask the staff for some ideas?”

We were scheduled for a team meeting anyway, which I attended. After the usual topics were covered, the doctor asked the staff for some ideas for marketing in July. Now, the doctor was relatively new to the community, and the team was long-time residents. Various ideas were thrown around, and one seemed to percolate and draw enthusiasm from the staff. A popular promotion that they had experienced as local consumers in their town was “Christmas in July.” Since their community was familiar with this promotion, they were sure it would work well if it were tied to a patient referral program.

Both the doctor and I thought it was a dumb idea. However, the staff was already in high gear planning the promotion by the end of the staff meeting. I suggested to the doctor that he let them run with it. He did, and as it turned out, it was a big hit. They had one of their best new patient and office visit months ever… in July.

At another office, some years later, I was helping the doctor work out her mission statement for the practice. She and her associate were hitting speed bumps trying to come up with a simple definition. I recommended putting it to the staff to see what they might come up with. At the next team meeting, the doctor discussed the idea of a global statement for the WHY of the office and its higher goals and asked them if they could work it out as an office mission by next week.

And that is what they did. The following week, the manager and staff presented the mission statement to the doctors. The doctor emailed it to me.

I didn’t really like it as it was long and too mushy, at least for me. But the doctor approved it and posted it in the reception area. The staff loved it. It fit their compassionate attitudes towards the patients and captured their existing relationship with them. They memorized it, and it was recited after every staff meeting. Their stats haven’t come down since. They are a happy and Goal Driven group!

In our consulting, we routinely encouraged the wisdom of veteran staff to be integrated into the management and marketing of the office. We didn’t have a definition for this knowledge, but it was effective nonetheless.

Here is the definition of Tribal Knowledge according to Leonard Bertain in his book, The Tribal Knowledge Paradox:

Tribal knowledge is the collective wisdom of the organization. It is the sum of the knowledge. It is the knowledge used to deliver, to support or to develop value for customers. But it is also knowledge that is wrong, imprecise and useless. It is knowledge of the informal power structure and process, or how things really work and how they ought to. … But more importantly, it is the untapped knowledge that remains unused or abused.

There is much more to this, of course. A valuable management and leadership skill is how to elicit tribal knowledge, decipher it, filter the practical from the impractical, and put it to use.

I try to keep these newsletters as short as possible. If you want to set up a time to discuss this subject more, just make an appointment (link below). No charge for subscribers to this newsletter.

Not everything can be put on job checklists. Job checklists are very useful, but there is a wealth of knowledge just under the surface with your team, even your spouse, that can be accessed and put to good use.

By creating a culture where it is safe to contribute learned experiences in team meetings, coaching sessions, and other opportunities, improvements in your practice can be made faster.

Seeking and honoring the tribal knowledge gained from the experience of your team respects them, whether the information is useful or not. This is the essence of creating a synergistic office – where team members help each other — to help more people become healthier.

Carpe Future (Seize the future)

Want to discuss how to uncover the Tribal Knowledge in your practice, schedule a short call with Ed here.

She Wanted to Teach Chiropractic Staff

Posted on February 21, 2023 by Edward Petty

Greater Prosperity through Goals, Leadership, and Teaching.

woman teaching to a crowd Effective 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,

Also, read my book! 😊

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

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Onboarding for New and Veteran Employees

Posted on December 13, 2022 by Edward Petty

Just Focus on Goals and Expectations

The way you set up the initial relationship with your new employee will directly determine how well they perform in the first year of employment.

I don’t think that this is given enough consideration. You are in a rush to fill a position, and once you have done so, you are now just happy that it is done so you can get back to seeing your patients.

The new employee is given some training, but since everyone is busy, it is very brief and short-lived. As a result, the productivity of the new hire is held back.

New employees are not like plug-and-play appliances. Everything is new to them. The staff, the patients, the jargon, the flow of traffic, the procedures — all these which you take for granted, are to them, new.

The prospective new staff member never really knows what they are walking into. Is this going to be their best or their worst work experience? So, despite their smiling cooperation for the first few weeks, underneath, they may be worried that your business is not for them.

It can take 8 to 12 months for a new staff member to gear up to full capacity and performance. But the critical period in my observation is the first three months.

Orienting, training, and acclimating the new employee to their new job, new team, and new business is called onboarding.

Onboarding – the First 3 Months

You want each team member to be happy working with you and operating at close to their full capacity. This is what you want for yourself, right?

Once you make the decision and the new person is hired, your management work just begins.

A systematized onboarding procedure helps the new employee feel safe, that this is where they belong, and that they are important to you and your office.

As a result, a deliberate onboarding process will “increase new hire retention by 82% and improve the productivity by 70%.” (zippia.com)

I have seen this in action – both the right way and the wrong way!

We provide an onboarding checklist for our clients (which we are updating), but here are some fast tips:

1. Checklist. Assign the new employee a list of actions to be completed over the first 3 months that include orientation, study, and training. The checklist should also be assigned to a veteran staff member to help the new employee get through the checklist.
2. Ongoing meetings with the owner/doctor. You want to have the new employee have a good understanding of you and your history, goals, and plans to achieve them. Do this over lunch or coffee.
3. Relationship with goals. You want the new employee to have a relationship with the goals of the office. Go over:

a. The mission of the clinic and why this is the mission.
b. The clinic and team’s values. Who we are and how we are. (For example, we are care-aholics!)
c. The outcome of the clinic’s services. For example: happy, healthy patients.
d. Mission and outcome of their specific role.

4. Expectancy. They need to know that achieving the goals for their specialized role is what is expected. How they do it is important, but that they achieve them is most important.
5. Regular (weekly or biweekly) coaching reviews.

Re-boarding

You can do a version of this every 12 months with your key veteran staff. Why not?

Next to your skills, your reputation, and your patients, YOUR PEOPLE are your most valuable asset in your practice. Take care of them, especially when they begin, and they will help you take care of the practice.

Staff as Support Professionals and Experts

Posted on August 30, 2022 by Edward Petty

staff experts as professionals “No company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it.”
Jack Welch, former CEO Boeing

There is a direct relationship between motivation, skill, and the outcomes achieved in your practice.

One doctor we work with told me that, after being in practice for over 30 years, he is now getting better results than ever before. I have watched him continue to train, study, and practice his skills over the years. As a result, he feels he is on a whole new level of expertise. He has discontinued most of his external marketing efforts. He routinely sees 100 visits per day and has brought in another doctor to help.

But you, as the doctor, are only ½ of the equation. The other half is your staff. Even if you are the best in your state, if your team is not equally as skilled and motivated in their areas, the quality and quantity of your services will be impacted.

You want everyone on your team to be professionals on the road to becoming experts.

They may not know that this is what is expected. Perhaps they consider their job is, well, just a job. Some doctors refer to their staff members as secretaries or girls. I know! The early 1960’s still lingers.

A Big Shift from Employee to Expert

Make a shift in how your employees view themselves and how you view them as well.

I have been recommending to doctors that when they interview potential employees, they let them know that in 1 year, they are expected to give part of the lay lecture to patients on health care.

I also recommend that staff study and report what they learned at staff meetings. This lets them know that they ARE professionals, should be knowledgeable and need to take responsibility for what they know.

Also, teaching is another approach to learning, as in the adage: “To teach is to learn twice.”

To stress the importance of training, I sometimes ask a staff member to answer some basic questions about chiropractic when I am at a team meeting. For example, I might ask them to define “subluxation,” or “what are the effects of a subluxation,” or what does “pain is the last to show and the first to go” mean? Often, the staff member stumbles or can’t answer. After a tense moment, I lower my head and look at the doctor. Then, I help the staff member with the answer so they don’t feel bad.

I teach a specialized exercise program part-time. Have for years. I have learned that the student’s performance is directly linked to how well I have taught them.

Your Employees are Your Students

Your employees are your students. This is often overlooked by clinic owners and here is why: they are focused on just 2 roles — doctor and owner/entrepreneur.

However, there is a 3rd role most doctors are reluctant to fulfill, which is the manager or CEO.

As CEO, you are responsible for the training and coaching of your team and hence, their performance. This is a style of management sometimes called Servant Leadership or Servant Management.

You want and really need an expert support team. A team of experts support the doctors will greatly improve the quality and quantity of services and make your life much easier. To achieve this, you’ll need to take on the CEO role. At first, this may seem to add extra work to your already busy week. But in time, things improve.

Done right, you will have a Goal Driven Practice driven by a Goal Driven Team. Still, there are real barriers to becoming a Practice CEO and creating a support team of Goal Driven experts.

Look for our new program in 2023 where I will teach the Fast Flow CEO System as part of several Goal Driven trainings for next year.

And if you haven’t purchased The Goal Driven Business yet, do so. Required reading!

Seize your Future,

If you are interested in being part of a limited number of offices trained in Goal Driven Management and the Fast Flow CEO System, click here for updates in the months to come.[ special email category]

3 Effective Methods to Amp Up Your Team’s Motivation

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Edward Petty

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)

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

The SPARKLING Practice and How to Achieve It: Synergy is the Key

Posted on May 24, 2022 by Edward Petty

We just awarded a two-doctor chiropractic office employee the SPARKLE award for outstanding service to patients and team members for 21 years of service.

Why a SPARKLE award? Well, that was the term most frequently used to describe this team member.

The clinic owner said: “She has dedicated almost 21 years (7,440 days!) of her professional (& personal, let’s be honest) life to our practice & the pulse of our family and pediatric practice. Over those years we have walked many of life’s journeys together, and she has formed meaningful connections with our patients. We have shared laughter (SO MUCH laughter!), tears and everything in between. She has changed many lives in her nearly 21 years.”

sparkle award for teammate While she indeed does “sparkle,” so does the entire practice. And the sparkle of this office is a byproduct of its synergy.

I even feature their practice as a positive example in my book, the Goal Driven Business.

The owner, the doctors, and the staff are all committed to the goal of providing the best service possible to each patient. But their goals also include supporting each other.

According to Merriam Webster: ” ‘The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,’ expresses the basic meaning of synergy.”

In his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey refers to synergy as Habit #6.

“Synergize is the habit of creative cooperation. It is teamwork, open-mindedness, and the adventure of finding new solutions to old problems. But it doesn’t just happen on its own. It’s a process…”

Much of the Goal Driven Business draws upon Covey’s work as I have seen his concepts help create a business that runs at full capacity smoothly.

His preceding two habits particularly apply:

Habit 4. Think win-win.
Habit 5: Seek to understand first, then get understood.

This chiropractic practice has formal communication systems, but they also communicate abundantly informally. And each team member has the goal of helping each other and the patients “win.”

In the end, it all goes back to goals. It always does. The owner keeps the goals, including the mission and core values, at the forefront of the team each week. Further, she sets an example by living these goals professionally and personally.

And as a result, staff are happy, patients are happy, and the office runs at full capacity, profitably and smoothly.

You can generate synergy in your office by improving communication and focus on win-win goals for the patient and for each other.

And make your practice SPARKLE!

PS. For help in creating a synergistic and sparkling practice, contact us!

The Cobbler’s Wife Has No Shoes

Posted on January 25, 2022 by Edward Petty

The Cobbler’s Wife Has No Shoes

And Your Team Members Have No Personal Health Programs

You have heard the old expression, “The cobbler’s wife has no shoes.” Sometimes it is also said: “The cobbler’s children have no shoes.” Either way, the message is that the shoemaker, or cobbler, is often too busy with his work to spend any time making shoes for his wife and children.

The same can apply to your support team when it does not receive the health services you provide your patients.

Too frequently, I have seen employees not given a personal health program that is supervised by the doctors for whom they work and support. While this is an oversight, I feel it is also negligent. And it can be expensive.

Staff who are ill need to take time off to get well. I have heard about this more in the last year with the COVID protocols of quarantining. Employee absences can impair the quality and quantity of daily services to patients and clients. It can also create backlogs and add extra stress to the employees who try to cover for those who are ill.

There are no 100% solutions to prevent employee illness, of course. But perhaps there is more you could be doing. To start, ensure that each team member regularly receives the same services you also provide to your patients.

Then, I have seen many reports that say keeping Vitamin D levels up minimizes the risk of viral infections. Why not get your staff’s vitamin D levels checked if you haven’t already? It is easy to do and inexpensive. I list a source for testing vitamin D that I have used at the end of this article. (1)

Beyond Vitamin D, there are other supplements that can be taken to bolster defenses in winter against viral infections. The FLCCC (Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance) has a list of supplements they recommend. You can find a link to them at the end of the article.

And speaking of the FLCCC, if you have not been following them, I recommend you do. (Link at the end of the article.)(3) They are a group of medical doctors and other medical professionals that have spoken out on and advocated for other remedies for COVID other than vaccinations. Pierre Kory, who is the President of the FLCCC, once taught at the University of Wisconsin Medical School and worked at St. Luke’s Hospital here in Milwaukee. (4) (He recently spoke at a rally in D.C. this past Sunday. Link to see a clip of his speech at the end of this article.)

But back to your staff and their health.

We all get busy. I get it. Front and center are the urgent and important matters of our practice which we must deal with directly. But some matters are very important that do not seem urgent. For example, taking care of the health of our staff and ourselves is important, but because it does not seem urgent, it often gets put on the back burner.

Working ON the business is important even though it may not be urgent. And working on the business includes working to improve the health and education of your team members that support you and the patients.

So, keep this in mind: for fewer sick days, fewer quarantines (!?!), and fewer service interruptions, see that each team member is seen regularly by you or by one of the doctors at your practice, and ensure that they are on a health program. And help them follow it. This is no guarantee of less sick days, but it can certainly help.

Having a mission to help people become healthier and relieved of pain is a noble goal. But remember that it applies not only to your patients but to your support team, your family, and yourself as well.

In all ways, try to stay true to your goals!

Goal Driven — Faster to a Better Future!

Carpe Posterum (Seize the future.)

Get the book The Goal Driven Business and apply it. It will help you achieve your goals including better service, more profit, and…more freedom. Be a Health Rebel and grow your practice. Fight Back! The Goal Driven Business

(1) Vitamin D testing
(2) List of supplements recommended by the FLCCC
(3) FLCCC
(4) Pierre Kory, MD, speaking at a rally at Washington DC, Sunday, Jan 23. (Here he is talking last Sunday at a rally in Washington D.C. (Another link to the same clip.)

The Future Belongs to the Best

Posted on March 23, 2021 by Edward Petty

A few years ago, a staff member at an I office visited confided in me and told me the following story:

“Our office was really slowing down last year. So, the doctor decided to take everyone out of town to a weekend practice management seminar. The speakers discussed really cool methods for doing our work. It was fun and we learned a lot. Plus, we also went over some great marketing ideas. We were all pretty excited when we returned to work after the weekend.

“On Monday, we agreed to get together at lunch to discuss how to implement what we learned. Some staff members were still dealing with patients, so our lunch meeting started 30 minutes late. Once we finally got together in the break room and started eating, we began a good meeting. We were interrupted with a few phone calls, and some patients started arriving early for their afternoon appointments. We had to cut the meeting short and didn’t get to discuss much of topics of the seminar, but we agreed to continue the meeting the following week.

“As it turned out, something always came up each week and… we never did meet again about the seminar.

“But we were still pretty pumped from the seminar and we had one of our best months ever. It was my job to clean the break room and, after a few months, I noticed that the binders of information we received at the seminar were still on the break room table, never opened. I stored them away for future reference.

“Now it is almost a year later, and everything is pretty much back to the way it was before we went to the seminar. The numbers are back down, some of us are a little burned out, and I don’t think we ever did implement anything from that seminar.”

—

Sound familiar?

I bet it does. I have seen it play out almost the same way countless times.

We are in the improvement business. We help people improve their health. We should be able to do the same for our business and for each other. In fact, if you are not constantly improving, your patients will seek practices that are.

In this new decade, apart from the many new events and changing tides of culture, technology, and mega-corporate influence, your future success is up to you. And it will be primarily based on the quality of your service and your outcomes – the experience your customers receive.

A report from a survey by Microsoft underlines this:

“As customer expectations continue to climb, it becomes more challenging for brands to set themselves apart from the competition. Markets are increasingly crowded, and both price and product are being steadily overtaken by customer experience as the number one brand differentiator” (Microsoft 2018, State of Global Customer Service Report).

More than any other short-term marketing tactics you may be using, only the best offices will thrive in the long run. And those will be the offices that are working on consistent improvement. Mediocrity could get you by in the past. But now, the future belongs only to the best.

But I have noticed that most offices just do not spend enough time consistently on improving their performance. After studying this for some time, I have observed a number of obvious and even hidden barriers that prevent us from working on improvement. I will explain what these are in a later article, but the following steps can help you ensure that you work ON your business to improve it, not just work IN it.

Your Improvement Clinic – Your Goals Lab

Time spent on improvement doesn’t cost. It pays! Some business owners are concerned that time spent on improving the business or staff is too costly. It can be if the training or planning is poorly done. But remember that:
a. Better team efficiency generates better revenue.
b. Better trained and focused team members generate better revenue.
c. Better outcomes generate better revenue.
Head Coach. As the owner and CEO, you are also the Head Coach. How your team does – the business – is in large part based upon your coaching.
Give it a name. In my new book, The Goal Driven Business (to be launched on July 4th of this year), I use the term Goals Lab as it is a location where you can go to work on getting to your goals faster. It could be your breakroom, a restaurant, a park, the reception area – anywhere really. You can call it your Practice Field, Improvement Dojo, or Mystic Garden! Just consider it a place and time that is separate from your time with patients.
What gets done.
a. Team meetings for communication, review, coordination, and planning.
b. Team training and practice.
c. One-on-one training and practice.
d. Personal training, study, meditation.
Schedule these routinely – weekly, monthly, quarterly, and as needed.
No interruptions, no calls, 100% attention present.
Be challenging. You don’t get better unless you question what you have been doing to see how it could be better.
Go over this with your team. Let them know that they, too, are coaches. And players as well. So, improvement is a team activity, one that requires responsibility and professional discipline.

Your car mechanic can’t work on your car when you are driving it down the freeway. You can’t see patients while they are driving their forklift at work or cooking dinner for their kids at home. You need a separate time and place dedicated to work on improvement.

Your goal is to create an expert office that generates expert results and gives your patients the best experience they can receive from any other comparable health care business.

Imagine your business being so good that patients not only drive in from across town, or even across the state, but fly in from all across the country to receive your services. Imagine that there is such a demand for your care that you even build a motel next to your facility to accommodate the out-of-towners.

Well, there was a Doctor of Chiropractic who was just that good. His name was Clarence Gonstead. His advice?

“Practice. Practice. Practice. Never stop.”

Ed Petty - author

It Pays to Be an Expert. Are You One?

Posted on August 21, 2018 by Edward Petty

Hi and Summer Greetings!

A vital component in our 3 Goals System is the importance of becoming an expert.

I’ll cut right to the most immediate reason:

Research shows that experts in any field or role make more money.

In high complexity jobs like professionals, the top 10% produce 80% more than average and 700% more than the bottom 10%[i].

But this is also true in less complex jobs, where it was found that the top 10% of workers produce 25% more than the average, and 75% more than the bottom 10%.

Aside from high school interns that help file and run errands, all the roles in your office are high complexity.

So, how do you become an expert?

A Desired Goal

Becoming an expert must be a goal that is desired to be achieved. It should be a core value. There must be a commitment to be an expert.

From the book, the Talent Code[ii]:

With the same amount of practice, the long-term-commitment group outperformed the short-term-commitment group by 400 percent. The long-term-commitment group, with a mere twenty minutes of weekly practice, progressed faster than the short-termers who practiced for an hour and a half. When long-term commitment combined with high levels of practice, skills skyrocketed.

Most employees in offices do not intend to become experts. It has never been a requirement for any job they have ever had. Plus, it is characteristic of modern culture to not value mastery. Why go through the long and uncomfortable task of becoming truly skilled and produce quality outcomes when it has never been expected of them?

Plus, I believe that through advertising we have been encultured to think in terms of instant gratification – I can get a “meal” through the drive-in at McDonald’s and replace that broken appliance through Amazon Prime.

And providers… you too are often so distracted by organizational issues that, well, good enough is good enough. You get fine results, right?

But I will remind you of Clarence Gonstead.

He continually worked at developing his skills and methodology. Everything else followed, including thousands of patients, so many in fact that he had to build a hotel next to his clinic for those coming from out of town.

Deliberate Practice

Keep your own checklist of procedures and work on them. Find how you can improve the manner in which you perform the most important tasks – and then improve some more. Much like you were practicing a musical piece on the piano or working out how to run the high hurdles faster – practice.

And the key is deliberate. Take some aspect of your job and work – deliberately. You might be surprised on how you might have taken some procedure for granted as working but when you examine it, you discover that there is a lot of room for improvement.

Research shows that doctors who have been in practice for twenty or more years do worse on certain objective measures of performance than those who are just two or three years out of medical school.

The reason for this is that doctors working day-in and day-out can begin to go on automatic because their work no longer pushes them out of their comfort zones[iii].

Find a Coach – Be a Coach

Coaching others will help you master your own skill. An old phrase applies:

“To teach is to learn twice.”

Seek out a coach, or coaches and mentors and learn from them. Have a “beginners mind,” or “Shoshin” — a term used in Japan meaning no matter how much you already know, always train as if you are beginner.

Schedule Training Time

Whether it is watching a webinar, reading a book, coaching a teammate, or reviewing an x-ray with a colleague, block out the time and interruptions. This is sacred time. Just a few minutes each week can produce definite results.

I know… I talk about this all the time …and will continue to do so as it is one of the least expensive methods to improve your business and increase income. And I know you also know this! So, this is just a friendly reminder to train and encourage your team to become experts.

I suggest your goal is to create a team of experts, and… and Expert Team!

Training Sayings

I have been keeping a list of “training maxims,” or aphorisms. I have listed a few on the next page.

Just for fun, could you offer others?

Stay curious and keep training!

References

[i] Hunter, J. E., Schmidt, F. L., Judiesch, M. K., (1990) “Individual Differences in Output Variability as a Function of Job Complexity”, Journal of Applied Psychology

http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=fulltext.journal&jcode=apl&vol=75&issue=1&page=28&format=HTML

https://80000hours.org/2012/09/how-good-are-the-best/

[ii] The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How. by Daniel Coyle

[iii] Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by Anders Ericsson

Ed’s Training Maxims

I am working on some sayings, or aphorisms on training and study. I have come up with a few.

Don’t cringe…!

Can you add any?

Educate – Don’t Terminate.
Don’t Complain – Just Train.
The more you learn — The more you earn.
Don’t Curse – Rehearse.
Don’t fight – Enlight!
To attain — You gotta train.
Don’t be on the dole — Be an expert in your role.
Become unchained — Go get trained.
Don’t choke your team! — Just provoke the dream.
Some will see it — Others will flee it.
Live the dream – Create an Expert Team

Not mine, but good ones:

To teach is to learn twice
“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”

The 3 Key Ingredients to Motivating Your Chiropractic Team

Posted on May 8, 2017 by Edward Petty

Most of your staff are not engaged in the success of your office. Most of them JUST DON’T CARE.

At least that is according to a 2015 Gallup report that interviewed over 80,000 working adults.

The report showed that there are twice as many “actively disengaged” workers in the workplace as there are “engaged” workers who like their jobs. The percentage of U.S. workers in 2015 considered engaged in their jobs averaged 32%. The majority (51%) of employees were “not engaged,” while another 17% were “actively disengaged.” (“Actively disengaged” means that they are actively sabotaging their work.)

But let’s say your office is different, which I am sure it is. You are motivated enough to read this article and I am sure that is reflected by your team as well. But all the same, take a look with me at the level of motivation of your office.

How was your last team meeting? Were you there? Was everyone sitting on the edge of their seat and contributing new ideas and plans on how to reach new goals in the office? Or, were most everyone pretty silent?

Sure, your employees smile and look busy when you are around, and often work hard and they do care. But really, how much?

What would your office be like if the motivation, creativity, and level of pro-activity was always very high at “10,” or even ranged from 7-10? If they felt that it was “their” business, where they took responsibility for the quality and quantity of outcomes, and regularly worked to improve the business – and themselves?

I have been reviewing the subject of motivation for some time, from my own experience over the years and from what social scientists have reported.

I have incorporated certain principles into a new system of business management that are specifically designed to unleash everyone’s innate motivation – including business owners like you!

Motivation is the foundational in a chiropractic office, or dental office, acupuncture – even with therapists and other service firms. It is a bedrock for any healthy practice and business.

Here is one very useful principle specifically about motivation and how you can use it to generate more engagement – and productivity — with your team.

3 Goals System of Business Management: Principle #5

Self-Determination and Motivation

Everyone wants their own sandbox to play in.

You do. This is one of the reasons you went to school – and why you started your business.

We all want to have something that we can call our own where we can create and demonstrate our competence. What we get in return is feedback that we can do something good, that we have power, that we can make something beneficial happen, that we can … make a positive difference. If only to ourselves, we can say: “Look what I did. I did this. This is my creation.”

You can see it in children, for example, when they bring you their colored scribbles on crumpled pieces of paper to proudly show you their great work of art. This is their sandbox.

Of course, we all work for money. But we also have deeper motivations that if tapped into and nurtured, can be very powerful. By harnessing these motivations, and then linking them with others who have a shared goal, we can create a dynamic team driven business that is very profitable.

This has been explored by social scientists who have studied what has come to be called Self-Determinism Theory. I have also seen it in action. Essentially, it states that we all have innate drives and inherent needs that motivate us to be more self-determined rather than determined, or controlled by, outside forces.

External motivation, like the fear of being fired, can only motivate us so far. Threats, criticisms, negative reinforcement may produce short term action, but in the end, they demotivate, or worse.

The level of employee motivation has a tremendous influence over the success of your business.

An unmotivated staff, one that only becomes engaged to the level of “I will perform just good enough so that I don’t get fired or criticized,” will weigh the office down.

Self-Determinism Theory (STD) has three components, all of which easily apply to your business. These are:

Autonomy
Competence
Relatedness.

And by the way, while reading this, consider how this also applies to you as well!

Autonomy

You do not want your treatment plans second-guessed by a clerk in an insurance company. Neither does your front desk want you breathing down their necks about where all the patients or practice members are, or why they used the blue pen. You should train and educate your team, but then get out of their way and let them succeed or fail.

Think of helping a child ride a bicycle. Sure, they will need your help for a while. A push now and then. Perhaps some training wheels. But you will have to let them fall down a few times and allow them to get the courage to get back on the bike and succeed. You can continue coaching them to improve, but you must let them go.

Even if you see employees appearing idle, or having brief personal discussion with another employee, back off. Tolerate minor errors. Give your team some rein. Come back around later to coach them and train them to improve. Mostly educate them on the mission of the office and of their roles, and get them to understand what outcomes they are supposed to be producing. Once they see that the statistics measure their performance, they will be more self-directed and want to do all they can to win the game!

We all want to be free to create our own enterprises, even if we work for someone else. As long as what we do is in line with the purpose or mission of the business and our role, there should be no problem. This helps us demonstrate our competence, which is the next element of Self-Determined Theory.

Competence

Doing a good job, all by itself, is its own reward. It pushes away self-doubts and shows us, and others, how good we really are. It is positive reinforcement.

And the better we can do a good job, the better the results will be, which demonstrates to us just how awesome we truly are! Plus, as we increase our skills, we also will find that our duties are easier to perform.

Your team wants to improve their skills. Help them do so.

Sign them up for seminars, webinars, give them monthly reading assignments, and give them a coach or three of them. But this has to be done in conjunction with your supervision. You will need to guide them through the training so that they see how it applies to their roles and the business as a whole. Quiz them on what they are learning and have them give presentations to the team on what they are learning. The old maxim applies: “to teach is to learn twice.”

And where possible, make sure they earn certificates and can wear pins or insignia that testify to their competence. This goes along with Game Theory – people win at one level and then want to go to the next level. They want their “badges.”

Business owners throw staff into their jobs and expect them to produce with little or no training. Without exception, the offices I have seen that provide more training and coaching for their team — do better. Companies spend an enormous amount on employee training. $161 Billion in the U.S. last year (trainingindustry.com). And, it pays off.

One study showed a comparison between car companies and how many hours they trained their new employees: Japan spends an average of 364, Europe averages 178, and the United States – 21 (Pfeffer –The Human Connection).

And you can guess which country has cars with the best frequency of repair record.

Children want to be super heroes and wear their capes.

Don’t we all!

Relatedness.

This is the feeling of being connected – and there are two aspects to this.

Family. First, “relatedness” is the feeling of not being left out of the “loop” and of being included. Staff meetings help with this as does the general work environment. This is the sense that we are in this venture, job, and profession together. That we are part of a family.

Keep your team involved with your decision making. Give them some of the issues you are dealing with and encourage their input. They are stakeholders – it is their office too!

Greater Purpose. The other aspect of relatedness is that people generally want to be associated with a greater purpose. The more that each member can connect to the greater purpose of the group and make it their own, the more motivated they will be. Taking it a step further, if employees have higher goals of their own that coincide with the organization’s and they are allowed to pursue them within the organization, there would be no reason for employees to work anywhere else.

Train your team, let them own and creatively improve their own areas – and help to do the same for the entire office. Nurture camaraderie and a spirit of family – and always remind them – and yourself — why we are doing what we are doing.

Do this, and not only will your business be more successful, but you too will be more motivated and have more fun in the bargain.

# # #

Self-Determination Theory: Basic Psychological Needs in Motivation, Development, and Wellness. Ryan, R. M. & Deci, E. L. (2017) and Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation Paperback – August 1, 1996

© Edward W. Petty, From the upcoming book: “Three Goals: A New Practice and Business Building Methodology That Is Simpler, Faster, And More Effective and Fun than What You Are Doing Now.” By Edward Petty, due to be published sometime before the Singularity. © May, 2017

More Fun Pics from the CSW Fall Summit

Posted on November 3, 2016 by Linda

Petty, Michel and Associates recently attended the Chiropractic Society of Wisconsin’s Annual Fall Summit. The Fall Summit is a great time to get together with others in the profession and share stories of the lives we change on a daily basis.

We always manage to have some team camaraderie also. Saturday as the sessions began to wind down we held our annual Petty, Michel and Associates photo session. Shown below are a few of our favorite shots.

: PMA Team at the CSW Fall Summit

: We’re on a mission from God

: Ed and Dave, Management Brothers, 2016

: It’s dark and we’re wearing our sunglasses

: Who is that person photobombing? Why, it’s Phyllis!

: Dave and Ed, have you seen the light?

Unlike many of the offices we work with our team is scattered across the country which makes it challenging to physically come together as a team. This year we were able to accomplish having everyone present, and a few extras, for cocktails at the Kalahari’s Diamond Cut and our team dinner at Wally’s House of Embers in the Dells. Lots of chatter, laughter and love shared with all!

: Mike, Dana, Phyllis and Dave

: Barbara and Ed

: Phyllis’s daughter Erin and Fiance John

: Lisa and Ken

: Team Dinner – Cheers

: Dr. Molly and Dana’s BF Mike

Those Blues Bros…. sure know how to treat their team!

Thanks Dave and Ed!

Linda

How to Create a Wondrous Practice Life

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Edward Petty

FORTY ONE YEARS AGO, around this time of year (August 7), a twenty four year old managed to sneak up to the twin tours of the World Trade Center, shoot a cable to the other side, get it rigged up tight, and walk across it to the other side. Actually, he made 8 passes, performed dances and entertained an audience a 1/4 of a mile below. He finally came in when it started to rain.

He was arrested, but the the charges were later dismissed if he performed for children in Central Park, which he did.

I recently had the opportunity to listen to Philippe Petit (on August 7, 2015), now 65 years old. He gave a stirring presentation in San Francisco to chiropractic health professionals at the Wave, a seminar put on by Life West Chiropractic College.

Philippe was born in 1949 and still very active. He considers himself, among all things, an artist. But he also juggles, climbs rocks, fights bulls, fences, builds structures with 18th century tools and considers himself an accomplished equestrian.

He explained that he learned early in life to follow his passion and his intuition. But his creativity seemed to be overlooked or given little importance when he was young and so he felt that it must be illegal.

In his book Creativity, Philippe writes: “The creator must be an outlaw. Not a criminal outlaw, but rather a poet who cultivates intellectual rebellion.”

In his talk to us on August 7th, he offered some tips, or precepts that he thought might help us as they have helped him in his life.

He began by talking about his passion to pursue his goals. But right next to that, he emphasized the importance of tenacity. This was a word that included determination, discipline, preparation, and training to do what was needed to be done to achieve those goals about which you are passionate.

He exhibited this nearly a half a century ago as he pursued his goal to walk from one 1,300 foot tall building to another on just a wire. He started planning the walk when he was only 17 living in Paris. The Towers were not yet built. Certainly, the walk itself took immense focus at the time. But it lasted only less than an hour. The real work was in the planning and preparation and training. This took tenacity.

He stressed to listen to your intuition. When you have a question or a problem, listen to your gut and an answer, sooner or later, will visit you. But you do have to listen.

He emphasized simplicity in all that you do, but still be elegant. And don’t be afraid to make mistakes. This is how we learn and move forward. All this, of course, takes courage.

You have to believe in yourself. (Or as Dr. Jimmy Parker used to say, you have to have “FCB – Faith, Confidence and Belief.”) In your role of doctor, provider, and as a professional team member, you have to have faith in yourself and in the services you provide.

In our 3 Goals System of Practice Development, the Third Goal includes your greater purposes. These go beyond financial demands (Goal 1), which are necessary, or profession and business competence (Goal 2), which should be sought. But above it all are your Greater Purposes, your highest values — professionally and personally, that we really seek and that make life worth living.

We learn at an early age to quell our passions and creativity and to fall in line with convention. Obey and comply. And, to some extent, this is necessary for a society and a business to function. But in the bargain, we often lose our spirit. Our creative aspirations, our sense of fellowship with each other, and the outrage at the wrongs that we see — these gradually lose their importance. Our greater purposes become blunted — or even forgotten.

Certainly, this has happened to many people in your community as they “report in,” zombie like to the local drug store for “health care”, especially if it is promoting “free flu shots.” (Average drug prescriptions per person in 1993 was 7.1 In 2014 it was 12.2 And watch out for anyone over 50 where the average prescriptions used are 19, and over for those over 65 – 27. That’s right – 27 prescription medications per person. Average!2)

It is important to keep your greater purposes in sight and to respect them enough to keep them alive. They can and should be integrated into your professional life as you do not work in a factory assembly line as your parents or grandparents may have, or as those who produce your cool t-shirts and running shoes do now. For example, if you like children, have pictures of kids on your walls and have a special “Kids Day.” If you like running, put up pictures of runners and get your patients to join more running clubs. If you want to help the homeless kids in your town, promote a donation program for the local shelter.

Back at the seminar: I noticed that some of the presentations were held in ballrooms that had special, but temporary names. For example, there was the “The Reggie Gold” ballroom, the “Frank Sovinsky” ballroom, and the “Lloyd Latch” ballroom.

In the mid 1980’s, I worked for several years directly for and with Dr. Lloyd Latch. Though he didn’t promote it much, I am sure that he did have the largest chiropractic clinic in the world. While his personal production was high, the total office saw over 2,000 visits per week. The key was that he had created a wonderful team of doctors adjusting patients in 28 adjusting rooms and supported by a dedicate team of professionals.

And what was a key to his success? Over and over I heard Dr. Latch tell his doctors, and others who would visit, that success was “an inside job.”

I think this is exactly what Mr. Petit was getting at.

Success doesn’t come from the latest marketing procedure… it comes from deep inside. It comes from your heart, your passion, your imagination, and the tenacity to work and train daily.

Mr. Pettit says that there are –
“qualities inside all of us, that we are rarely encouraged to recognize
but that are essential to make our dreams come true, to plan, to construct a wondrous life.”3

IMG_1390 copy

Successful people learn from others, but ultimately take their own counsel.

As Philippe wrote:
“Observation was my conduit for knowledge, intuition my source of power.”3

So, follow your greater purposes and integrate them into your professional and work life. Allow your team members to also pursue their greater purposes – and you will see your practice become more creative, productive and wondrous.

Carpe Diem (seize the day),
Ed
———————–

Generation Rx How Prescription Drugs Are Altering American Lives, Minds, and Bodies by Greg Critser (https://danmurphydc.com/Critser.pdf) , also http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/retail-rx-drugs-per-capita.
www.imshealth.com/deployedfiles/imshealth/Global/Content/Corporate/IMS%20Health%20Institute/Reports/US_Use_of_Meds_2013/Percent_population_prescriptions_per_capita.pdf
Creativity, the Perfect Crime. Philippe Petit

The Most Cost Effective Tool You Have to Build Your Chiropractic Practice and Help Your Patients – and you probably are barely using it!

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Edward Petty

what if I told you copy

Forget about the roller tables, stretching bands, balance boards, traction devises, taping, decompression, protein powder, vibrating platforms, laser, lipo body sculpting, ultrasound, stim, tens, supplements, orthotics, etc.

Any or all of these may or may not be appropriate for your practice, but they should not be your first choice in providing a modality or ancillary service to your patients.

Think about this: what could you do for your patients, in addition to your adjustments, that would help them improve their health the most?

EDUCATE THEM

The more the patient knows about how chiropractic works – and how your services help them – the more motivated they will be in following through with their health care plan.

People don’t know about subluxations just like they really didn’t know about asbestos or cigarettes. It was a while ago but advertising was rampant on television and in print promoting cigarettes. MD’s were often used to legitimize the use of cigarettes.

Today, your patients are also being inundated with propaganda about food, drugs, and basic lifestyle choices that are not healthy, let alone not true. They are told that drugs are safe solutions for headaches, back pain, and other ailments when in many cases they are found to be poisonous. (Vioxx, Accutane, Cylert, Darvon & Darvocet, for example.) Nearly all the food they eat has various toxins, from aspartame in diet food to herbicides that linger (glyphosate, used in “Roundup” and sprayed on your kid’s schools playgrounds).

Educated patients are better equipped to keep to their treatment program and continue improving their health. Isn’t this what you want?

This is your #1 ancillary service.

#1 Marketing Tool
Educated patients are more motivated to refer those they know to you and to help you set up external events. They can become your ambassadors, field representatives and sales force. They know that someone with headaches, low back pain, or other odd symptoms may be helped by chiropractic and your services. They may be able to refer them directly, or you can help them by providing special workshops, special events, and opportunities for external programs at their place of work.

#1 Team Management Tool
All of this also applies to each of your team members as well.

We are all “numbed down” by a conventional lifestyle and a culture that is greatly manufactured by just a few large industries such as Big Pharma and Big Food that use media and government to achieve its ends.

And, frankly, we tend to take what we do for granted. Imagine a patient who had a headache for years and after your care is now pain free and can get a full night’s sleep and her relationships with her family have improved., etc. Amazing, right? But for us, pretty routine. We can end up being more concerned about billing her secondary or supplement insurance or keeping her scheduling than in just celebrating with her.

Almost anything you know about health care will be “new news” to your patients and probably many of your staff. Plus, we all tend to forget what we once knew.

What is the big difference with you from when you started chiropractic college and after you graduated (Besides debt) . THE difference was and is that you were motivated. And you were motivated because… you were educated and even more, you were enlightened. You were able to see things in people’s health conditions that you never saw before. And with all this understanding, you were now more motivated.

But in time, awareness can dim and so can motivation. New patients start dropping off, treatment plans get shorter, and the quality of staff performance erodes. The solution is to keep educating patients and team members so that they stay awake and motivated.

In other words, WAKE THE FLOCK UP!

Patient and staff education provide the best ROI of any activity you have. Modalities and extra services have many overlooked costs such as staff time to account and bill for the therapies, extra staff to apply the services, someone to take inventory of the products and to sell them, etc. Patient education is pretty much a no cost proposition. How much does a care class cost? Watching “Doctored” or “Food Inc. ” or “Bought” with your staff and then discussing it afterwards (that is very important), it is much cheaper than flying to Las Vegas.

And if you do it often and effectively, you will be able to afford that next seminar in Hawaii.

As the doctor, you are the CEO, the Chief Evangelizing Officer. I first heard this term from Guy Kawasaki, who was called this when he worked for Apple when the Macintosh was first launched in the early 80’s. Macintosh was trying to win over users from IBM computers to the Apple Macintosh.

You are creating converts to a chiropractic and natural health lifestyle.

Remember that education, both staff, patients, and your own education as well should cover not only what your services do, and how they do it, but WHY you provide these services. In fact, your emotional connection to the reason you do your services communicates the strongest.

WHAT TO DO
1. First, keep yourself aware and amazed at the innate healing power of the body and the great affects your services provide. Provide an hour or two of study for yourself each week. Just like you work IN your office, you have to work ON your office – and that includes yourself.

2. Let yourself get emotional about what the FLOCK is going on! Don’t be “correct”, well heeled and a good little domesticated “provider.” It is natural that you become somewhat “riled up” about the injustice that your patients and their family and friends experience in receiving “health care” or at the misinformation “fed” to people about healthy living.

3. Educate your team. Watch a movie with them and then have a discussion period afterwards. (The discussion is very important as it helps get everyone engaged in the process.)

4. Staff Meetings. Go over a case history or two.

5. Patient Care Class. There are many different names for this, but all patients get better, faster, and stay healthier longer if they know more about chiropractic and health. Make it a part of their treatment plan and bribe them with food!

6. Start a Lending Library and position your office as an educational facility. Even if you lose a few books or DVD’s each month, it is worth it as your patients will see that you are serious about health and health education. Give each staff member a bonus for a book report presentation at a staff meeting.

There are many ways to educate yourself, your team, and your patients. Done right, education turns into enlightenment and this will produce a greater return than many other activities you do.

# # #

Pilot of the Wheelchair: The Girl and Her Passenger

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Edward Petty

This short story may not seem at first to pertain to your chiropractic office, but it does.

In the hot afternoon Sunday traffic, in the right lane waiting to turn right, our lane had stop moving.

Crossing the busy six lane intersection heading toward us was a man in a motorized wheelchair. His face was full but motionless and looked worn. I couldn’t be sure, but he had that straight-ahead look of someone who was blind. He was maybe upper thirties or mid forties with short hair, perhaps a wounded veteran who paid no mind to the antsy cars that waited for him and his wheelchair.

Sitting on his lap was a thin little girl. Maybe eight years old. She was curled up, cuddled with one of her shoulders against one of his. As they were crossing the last three lanes, she stretched out her arm with an open hand as if to say “halt, please let us cross.”

She had the look of a girl who had not had an easy life but was happy to be with this person whose immobile legs she rested on.

Once they made it to the other side our lane started to move. The pair moved closer as I moved forward. It appeared as if she was acting as the man’s eyes and told him when to go. I had the sense that he was a family member, perhaps her father, by the bond they seemed to share.

As I passed them in my nice air conditioned car, I looked closely at the girl and waved to her and smiled. She looked at me directly as I drove by. She gave me a wave and beamed a big smile as if to say “Thanks. We just made it across a busy road and me and my pa are having a Sunday outing.”

In my mind, her face reminded me of pictures of Anne Frank, the girl in Amsterdam that kept a diary before being taken by the Nazis to her death in 1945.

I would have liked to stop and help her in some way. Or say “hi” to the man in the wheelchair who looked so stoic. Maybe there was something I could do for them.

But the fact is – they did something for me.

They set an example – of courage, caring and love. They had heart: For each other, for their goals, and seemingly for their adventure.

Not everything can be put into a mission statement or measured by statistics. No “boot camp” can teach this, and even if all your policies and procedures were followed perfectly, you could still miss it.

Heart.

One office I know has so MUCH heart the whole town loves the office and the office loves the town. The fact that there is a 2-3 week waiting list of new patients is the biggest challenge the office has.

By training and professional experience, I have a bias towards procedures, organizational structure and production. No doubt, without these, offices would experience anarchy or insolvency. But I have also learned that heart is more important.

We can all become discouraged at times. Emotions and confusions can affect your patients as they do you and this can put a barrier around our capacity to care. This may be affecting you or your office now.

But this is only temporary and not the real you.

This is what the little girl gave me. Her wave to me was a “thank you for stopping to let us cross the road”, but also, “we are all in this together.”

That is the lesson I am left with.

There is heroism all around us. Simple and quiet examples of selfless caring and love pass us by daily if we were to notice. People want to help others and want help as well. Why? Because we are all in this together. Because we care. Because we have heart.

Training on procedures such as the report of findings is fine, but your patients aren’t adversaries and neither is your community. They want to get better and they want to help others to get better. Really care for them, really love them, be honest with them, and have the courage to always do this, and they will never leave you.

Whatever your office mission statement says, if you have one, it should say what is in your heart. And if you follow that, I am sure you can successfully pilot your team on its adventure.

# # #

Ed Petty

JUST RELEASED: New Chiropractic Music Video – “Munson Style”

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Edward Petty

Just released: A new professionally recorded music video by Dr. Cindy Munson, a chiropractor in Plymouth, Wisconsin. It features her staff, family, and some of her patients.

The more times you watch it the more little clever trivia you can find. The scenes were well thought out.

What is remarkable about this office, which is actually demonstrated by this video, is the exceptional leadership provided by Dr. Munson. With her great staff, she has created a true chiropractic “Dream Team” – a group of professionals working together for the betterment of their patients and their community.

Feel free to let Dr. Cindy know how you liked the video or any thoughts or questions you may have.

We are proud to say that we have worked with Dr. Cindy and her team for many years.

www.drcindymunson.com

Monthly Goal Setting for the Chiropractic Team

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Edward Petty

Chiropractic Team Goal Setting

At the beginning of each month you want to see that your team sets new TEAM GOALS. You can also set individual goals privately at a different time, but TEAM goals are most immediate and important.

Each goal setting session always begins with a REVIEW of the past month. This gives the opportunity for the group (or individual in individual goal setting) to explain how they did and how they did it. And it gives you the opportunity to listen and then give some feedback. The feedback could be praise, or otherwise.

After the review, set the goals. Group goals should be simple, usually just Office Visits and New Patients, though Collections can also be included. IMPORTANT: Let the group set the goals. You should negotiate the goals, but it has to be theirs. Once these goals are set, ask the group (or individual) how they/we plan to achieve these goals? Get at least 3 action steps.

The last goal should include a “greater purpose” goal or two. This could be a party at your house next Thursday night, Betty, the Front Desk Coordinator will give a book report on one of the books in the Lending Library at next month’s Team Goal Setting meeting, and a check to see who is going to volunteer for working at the food bank next Saturday evening.

Why? You should also spend some time discussing why you have these goals. This takes you back to your MISSION. Numbers for numbers sake is a soulless and goalless pursuit.

In sum:

Review last month’s numbers. Were they up or down from the prior month? Ask.
Then, ask why? Get the team to figure it out. Let it be a brainstorming session if possible.
Let them tell you and you listen and question as needed.
Acknowledge. Praise or show disapproval, as appropriate.
Then ask for action steps to achieve goals.
Then, get a few “greater purpose” goals.
Then, continue with the rest of the staff meeting, such as announcing upcoming events, miscellaneous, etc. Include some discussion about WHY these goals are important.
Do the same for individual team member’s right after the Team Goal Setting, or soon after.

For more information on how this procedure is done, refer to the webinar called the Fast Flow CEO.

Chiropractic Practice Management, Marketing, and Leadership Recorded Training Webinars

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Edward Petty

This is a list of our practice development recorded webinars.

Each is a recording of a slide show driven lecture, each filled with an abundance of practice information derived from in the field work – and plenty of slides!

Currently, you have to be active on a PM&A program. By this summer, these will be available on and individual basis for a small fee.

Chiropractic CEO Webinars

Creating your Dream Team Summary and VideoA virtual “live” interview with the doctor and staff of a true chiropractic dream team. Find out what they do to achieve high numbers, profit, and fun.

The Fast Flow Practice CEO -55 minutes webinar video and summary.
One of the biggest challenges in running and growing your business is the time it takes you away from seeing patients and from your family. We have solved this with what we call the Fast Flow Practice CEO System. A new system derived from old principles.
Management by the Numbers: 44 minutes – Summary and Video
Management is a subject that has techniques to help you go from where you are to where you want to be. Management By the Numbers (MBN) can be faster and more accurate than other forms of management, and help build staff morale and make it more self directed.

Capacity Constraints : 33 minutes – Summary and Video
Do you work hard but you just don’t get as far as you should? The reason may be that you are running into unseen bottlenecks that are choking off your production and suffocating your growth. This is the subject of Capacity Constraints.

How to Be an Effective Practice CEO Video
If you are struggling with the ups and downs of a stressful practice, or have finally “settled” into a comfort zone producing much lower than you know you are capable of, this program is for you.

Chiropractic Office Manager Webinars

Chiropractic Manager Webinar – Roles and Goals Summary, Video and Study Guide
What Are The Key Roles In Your Office? A hidden barrier in many offices has to do with confusing roles and job duties. Clear these up and see how much smoother patients and paper flow, and happier the team becomes. Small office or big health business, clarify these 8 roles and the numbers will go up.

Chiropractic Manager Webinar – Job and Performance Reviews Video
Employee reviews are often neglected, or are dreaded by employee and doctor. This webinar covers the basic steps to make them effective and positive for both doctor and employee. Approx 37 minutes.

Chiropractic Manager Webinar – Motivating Your Staff – Video Ms. Phyllis Frase shares 5 secrets to keeping yourself and your staff motivated.

Chiropractic Manager Webinar – Team Meetings Summary, Video and Study Guide. This is an overview of 8 essential actions to help you improve your meetings and make them faster, more fun, and more effective. Plus, different types of short meetings that your team can grow.

Chiropractic Manager Webinar – The Office Manager Job Description Summary, Video and Study Guide. This class covers 17 essential duties of the office manager. Both the doctor and the office manager should watch and discuss these duties.

Chiropractic Manager Webinar- How to Best to Train Your Staff Summary, Video and Study Guide This webinar covers eight tips to improve the performance of your team. Training plays a big part in team building.

Chiropractic Manager Webinar– How to Hire the Right Team Member Summary, Video and Study Guide.
This webinar covers eight priniciples for hiring the right team member from knowing when to hire, who to hire and how to hire.

Office Manager Webinar – It’s All About the Patient, the Doctor and the MISSION [Summary, Video and Study Guide]
There are procedures to help the patients and procedures that help the doctor help the patient and then there is Everything Else. Tips on how to deal with Everything Else. (30 minutes)

Office Manager Webinar- Part II – Tips and Tricks to make the office more efficient[Summary, Video]
Part II reveals tips and tricks of what an office manager can actually do in the office on a day to day basis to make things run smoother and significantly improve the volume and quality of services. (55 minutes)

Office Manager Webinar- Part I – Fundamentals of Practice Management [Summary, Video]
Part I covers the fundamentals of Practice Management (55 minutes)

Chiropractic Marketing Webinars

Innate Marketing (55 minutes) – Webinar plus Summary.
There are stories that float around every now and then about how some offices can simply “think” “New Patients” and they come in.
Are these stories an urban legend? A myth, or a fact? Can staff or doctors “concept” new patients in the door. Is this true? If so, how can you do this? 10 steps to help you generate more patient visits through “concepting.”

Chiropractic Special Promotions (55 minutes) – Webinar plus Summary.
This webinar covers different promotions by month. You will learn 2-4 different practical promotions for each month of the year. More importantly, you will learn how to organize them so that they are time effective and productive.

Patient Retention – Summary and Video
If you understand the underlying basics of patient retention your appointment book should always be full. Covered in this webinar is: Patient retention should be based on Principles – not gimmicks. Where are we you taking your patients? Why they quit? The cost of not getting them there.

Chiropractic Patient Education – Summary and Video (45 min)
We go over 7 basic strategies that cover the entire horizon of patient education and explain why it is so necessary to educate your patients if you want them to be healthier.

Infomercials. – Summary and Video .
Whatever happened to Infomercials? They’re still around and they still work. And you can do them very inexpensively. You just need to know how. This webinar will give you practical examples and include forms for you to use in producing your own amateur and informational marketing that can help you create more new patients and keep the ones you have.

Internet Marketing and Social Media. – Summary and Video . This webinar covers some fundamentals regarding social media, Facebook, and general Internet marketing. (35 minutes) (not yet posted)

The Art of Spinal Screenings. – Summary and Video . Spinal Screenings – The Queen of External Marketing. Everyone has done at least a few spinal screenings. You have probably had some success with them. But how much better could you do if you knew the fundamentals of this time tested external marketing activity? This is a three part series on spinal screenings. This session we will review the most fundamental principles of screenings. Get these, and all else will follow.(45 minutes)

Scheduling Screenings and other External Events – Summary and Video . How to Schedule External Events And Create External Referral Sources. Types of events, Outcomes, Purpose. How to plan the events and get them scheduled.(30 minutes)

Marketing Tips: Earth Day, Spring Promotions, and other Tips – Summary and Video This webinar covers: Powerful internal marketing script, Report of findings referral procedure, upcoming spring promotions, with special attention to utilizing Earth Day as an opportunity to promote your services.

Short Overview of Chiropractic Marketing Management with Some Marketing Tips – Summary and Video This is a short version of marketing management and some tips for the upcoming months. What are the three levels of marketing? What part does communication have in your marketing? How to engage your patients in your marketing efforts. Upcoming special promotions. (30 minutes)

Marketing Management, Part I and Part II – This is the longer version of how to manage your marketing, and why.

Chiropractic Marketing Management – Session I – Summary and Video The Why, What and How of Marketing. Getting your Marketing off the Ground. (55 minutes)

Chiropractic Marketing Management – Session II – Summary and Video Specific Marketing Manager Duties – Your Job Description. General Overview of the Most Effective Marketing Procedures in Each of the 11 Marketing Categories (55 minutes)

Observations

observations from our travels in the world of chiropractic

Category Archives: Team Morale

Recognizing Greatness in Our Teams

Synergy and the Balanced Business

Back to School Month

Chiropractic Training Doesn’t Cost – It Pays

Tribal Knowledge Can Improve Your Practice

She Wanted to Teach Chiropractic Staff

Contact Us

Onboarding for New and Veteran Employees

Staff as Support Professionals and Experts

A Big Shift from Employee to Expert

Your Employees are Your Students

3 Effective Methods to Amp Up Your Team’s Motivation

The SPARKLING Practice and How to Achieve It: Synergy is the Key

The Cobbler’s Wife Has No Shoes

The Cobbler’s Wife Has No Shoes

And Your Team Members Have No Personal Health Programs

The Future Belongs to the Best

Your Improvement Clinic – Your Goals Lab

It Pays to Be an Expert. Are You One?

The 3 Key Ingredients to Motivating Your Chiropractic Team

Self-Determination and Motivation

Autonomy

Competence

Relatedness.

Self-Determination Theory: Basic Psychological Needs in Motivation, Development, and Wellness. Ryan, R. M. & Deci, E. L. (2017) and Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation Paperback – August 1, 1996

© Edward W. Petty, From the upcoming book: “Three Goals: A New Practice and Business Building Methodology That Is Simpler, Faster, And More Effective and Fun than What You Are Doing Now.” By Edward Petty, due to be published sometime before the Singularity. © May, 2017

More Fun Pics from the CSW Fall Summit

How to Create a Wondrous Practice Life

The Most Cost Effective Tool You Have to Build Your Chiropractic Practice and Help Your Patients – and you probably are barely using it!

Pilot of the Wheelchair: The Girl and Her Passenger

JUST RELEASED: New Chiropractic Music Video – “Munson Style”

Monthly Goal Setting for the Chiropractic Team

Chiropractic Practice Management, Marketing, and Leadership Recorded Training Webinars

Chiropractic CEO Webinars

Chiropractic Office Manager Webinars

Chiropractic Marketing Webinars