Remember when your child, or a kid you knew, constantly asked you “why?”
“Time to go to bed honey.” “But why, Mommy?” “Dad, why is the grass green? ”
This happens for a few years until the child finally learns that it is just so much trouble to keep asking the “why” question.
This happens to us all. After a while, we all just become inured to the day to day demands and take for granted our eventual roles of working in a world of work that has little other reason than to pay our bills. And we begin to live just for the weekends.
But living for the weekend is not much of a motivation to do good work, to perform our duties with excellence that inspire trust in others, and to be happy with it.
Our jobs should have a reason beyond money or relief from work. What we do for money should have a higher purpose than money. It should satisfy us and motivate us in and of itself.
After many years of research, Stephen Covey determined that those people and companies that were the most effective followed the habit of: “Begin with the End in Mind.” In other words, start with a goal in mind. He emphasized the value of developing and living by a personal mission statement as well as one for your business, and even your family.
Some of the better offices that I have had the privilege of working with would often end their team meetings by reciting their group’s mission statement.
While this helps, it can also become rote so that the real meaning of the mission becomes dull. One way to remedy this is to now and then ask “Why?” Simply ask each team member to describe, in their own words, why this is, or should be, the mission statement.
We are all looking for greater meaning in our lives – or at least have at one time or another. “What does all that I do account for?” “What do I account for?” “What will be my legacy after I am gone?”
This applies in leadership as the CEO of your chiropractic business.
The primary responsibility of a leader in a purpose-based organization is to build, nurture, and sustain the core purpose of the organization. (“It’s Not What You Sell, It’s What You Stand For.” Roy M. Sence, Jr.)
But leadership is also marketing. You are putting your noble ideas out into the world to give others a clear vision of what is possible and why it is important. You stand out as different – because you are stating WHY you are making a difference.
A few years ago, I posted a T.E.D. talk on our website (www.pmaworks.com) that focused on how “WHY” was so important in leadership. (TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design.) The key differential between the very successful companies and leaders was not what their company provided, or how they provided it. The key difference was that they communicated why they did what they did. (The link to this talk by Simon Sinek is below.)
Much of corporate medicine has devolved into a goalless and soulless technology and bureaucracy. The relationship between the patient and the MD has become interrupted by critical paths and reimbursement protocols, techs, testing, and terms (codes and abbreviations), and lots of notes. Yet, the stats for America’s health care relative to other industrialized countries worldwide are poor.
Be nice and genuinely interested in patients and talk about WHY you want to help them AND their family, and do so, and you can’t help but win.
Let prospective patients know WHY you are a chiropractor, why you chose their community, and why you do what you do. Let them know why you adjust children, seniors, teen athletes, and “Los Pobres.” Communicate this to your existing patients as well. In fact, any promotion you do will work better if you tie in to WHY you are promoting.
For example, take the donation campaign called “Coats for Kids. “ It has all but lost its meaning over the years with every TV and radio station jumping onto some kind of faux goodwill activity. Promoting what it is about and how it will benefit kids as well as patients will help make it successful. But to make your promotion much more successful, explain that the reason you are participating in this campaign is that you have worked in homeless shelters and seen shivering and poorly clothed kids. This is “why.”
Attached is an article on “Why We Promote.” It is a sample letter you can mail to your patients after their first progress exam, or simply have it as a handout. You can also use its theme to end a new patient class. Feel free to embellish it or change it. (Active clients can get a customizable Word doc here. http://pmamembers.com/?p=874)
Personally, take time to remind yourself about the WHY for what you do. Study resources that support this “why.” What is the mission of your office and why is that the mission? Remind your team about this “why.” Training new staff on this is particularly important. Go over the “why” for the office, as well as the “why” for their particular role.
So the next time your child, or any child asks you “why?” take your time to answer. And as they get older, you can start asking them “why?” (Get even!) But the world unfolds and reduces to its raw and basic truths when you do – and this in turn allows passion and purpose a clearer channel to help you achieve your goals.
Golden Circle a TED talk by Simon Sinek. http://pmaworks.com/observations/2011/02/10/leadership-in-chiropractic-the-golden-circle/
Sample Letter to pts-Why we promote.
[This article is from the upcoming book: “The Third Goal: A New Practice and Business Building Methodology That Is Simpler, Faster, and More Fun than What You Are Doing Now.) by Edward Petty, due to be published in late 2015. © 2015]