{"id":3770,"date":"2015-05-18T09:11:06","date_gmt":"2015-05-18T14:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/?p=3770"},"modified":"2015-05-18T22:55:11","modified_gmt":"2015-05-19T03:55:11","slug":"the-importance-of-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/the-importance-of-why\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Why in Chiropractic Practice Development"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remember when your child, or a kid you knew<\/strong>, constantly asked you “why?”<\/p>\n

\u201cTime to go to bed honey.”<\/strong>\u00a0 \u201cBut why, Mommy?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cDad, why is the grass green? ”<\/p>\n

This happens for a few years until the child<\/strong> finally learns that it is just so much trouble to keep asking the \u201cwhy\u201d question.<\/p>\n

This happens to us all<\/strong>.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

But living for the weekend is not much of a motivation<\/strong> to do good work, to perform our duties with excellence that inspire trust in others, and to be happy with it.<\/p>\n

Our jobs should have a reason beyond money<\/strong> or relief from work.\u00a0 What we do for money should have a higher purpose than money. It should satisfy us and motivate us in and of itself.<\/p>\n

After many years of research, Stephen Covey<\/strong> determined that those people and companies that were the most effective followed the habit of: \u201cBegin with the End in Mind.”\u00a0 In other words, start with a goal in mind.\u00a0 He emphasized the value of developing and living by a personal mission statement as well as one for your business, and even your family.<\/p>\n

Some of the better offices that I have had the privilege<\/strong> of working with would often end their team meetings by reciting their group\u2019s mission statement.<\/p>\n

While this helps, it can also become rote<\/strong> so that the real meaning of the mission becomes dull. One way to remedy this is to now and then ask \u201cWhy?\u201d\u00a0 Simply ask each team member to describe, in their own words, why this is, or should be, the mission statement.<\/p>\n

We are all looking for greater meaning in our lives<\/strong> – or at least have at one time or another. \u201cWhat does all that I do account for?\u201d \u201cWhat do I account for?\u201d \u201cWhat will be my legacy after I am gone?\u201d<\/p>\n

This applies in leadership as the CEO of your chiropractic business.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The primary responsibility of a leader in a purpose-based organization is to build, nurture, and sustain the core purpose of the organization. (\u201cIt\u2019s Not What You Sell, It\u2019s What You Stand For.\u201d Roy M. Senc<\/em>e, Jr.)<\/p>\n

But leadership is also marketing<\/strong>. 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.\u00a0 You stand out as different – because you are stating WHY you are making a difference<\/span>.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, I posted a T.E.D. talk<\/strong> on our website (www.pmaworks.com) that focused on how \u201cWHY\u201d was so important in leadership.\u00a0 (TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design.)\u00a0 The key differential between the very successful companies and leaders was not what their company provided, or how<\/span> they provided it. The key difference was that they communicated why<\/span> they did what they did. (The link to this talk by Simon Sinek is below.)<\/p>\n

Much of corporate medicine has devolved into a goalless<\/strong> and soulless technology and bureaucracy.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Yet, the stats for America\u2019s health care relative to other industrialized countries worldwide are poor.<\/p>\n

Be nice and genuinely interested<\/strong> in patients and talk about WHY you want to help them AND their family, and do so, and you can\u2019t help but win.<\/p>\n

Let prospective patients know WHY you are a chiropractor<\/strong>, why you chose their community, and why you do what you do.\u00a0 Let them know why you adjust children, seniors, teen athletes, and \u201cLos Pobres.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

For example, take the donation campaign called \u201cCoats for Kids. \u201c<\/strong>\u00a0 It has all but lost its meaning over the years with every TV and radio station jumping onto some kind of faux goodwill activity.\u00a0 Promoting what<\/span> it is about and how<\/span> it will benefit kids as well as patients will help make it successful.\u00a0 But to make your promotion much more successful, explain that the reason<\/span> you are participating in this campaign is that you have worked in homeless shelters and seen shivering and poorly clothed kids. This is \u201cwhy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attached is an article on \u201cWhy We Promote.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 It is a sample<\/span> 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.\u00a0 Feel free to embellish it or change it. (Active clients can get a customizable Word doc here. http:\/\/pmamembers.com\/?p=874)<\/a><\/p>\n

Personally, take time to remind yourself about the WHY for what you do.<\/strong>\u00a0 Study resources that support this \u201cwhy.\u201d\u00a0 What is the mission of your office and why is that the mission?\u00a0\u00a0 Remind your team about this \u201cwhy.\u201d\u00a0 Training new staff on this is particularly important. Go over the \u201cwhy\u201d for the office, as well as the \u201cwhy\u201d for their particular role.<\/p>\n

So the next time your child, or any child asks you \u201cwhy?\u201d<\/strong> take your time to answer.\u00a0 And as they get older, you can start asking them \u201cwhy?” (Get even!)\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

Golden Circle a TED talk by Simon Sinek. http:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/2011\/02\/10\/leadership-in-chiropractic-the-golden-circle\/ <\/a><\/p>\n

Sample Letter to pts-Why we promote<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[This article is from the upcoming book:\u00a0 \u201cThe Third Goal:\u00a0 A New Practice and Business Building Methodology That Is Simpler, Faster, and More Fun than What You Are Doing Now.)\u00a0 by Edward Petty, due to be published in late 2015. \u00a9 2015]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 \u201cLos Pobres.\u201d 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. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[189,10],"tags":[361,357,126,377,367,28,104,348,349],"class_list":["post-3770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-as-ceo","category-marketing","tag-chiropractic","tag-chiropractic-marketing","tag-goals","tag-michel","tag-petty","tag-practice-development","tag-practice-management-2","tag-promote","tag-three"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3770"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3776,"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3770\/revisions\/3776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}