I believe in setting goals, personally and professionally. When it comes to my professional goals, it's not about me; it's about my team. When we focus only on ourselves, it does little to help our team or business grow. As a leader, it is my responsibility to set the bar, inspire, and motivate our team to greatness.
The most successful leaders have mastered the art of listening, which is much harder than it sounds. When was the last time you listened to someone without thinking about your response or, worse, while thinking about some other task you needed to complete? At its best, listening is active, focused, concentrated attention to understand the meaning expressed by the speaker. (Wrench, 2014) It allows you to hear what is being said and what is unsaid to meet your team's needs.
The most effective teams have a variety of personalities, strengths, and weaknesses. If you made the right hiring decisions, you need to trust your team to perform without micromanaging them. Micromanagement makes your employees feel as if their work will never be good enough. They lose motivation and confidence in their ability to perform the required tasks. The result is decreased efficiency and increased turnover. (Jacobs, 2019)
Share the "why" behind what your business does and remember to share it often. Remind your team about the problems you solve for your patients. A strong "why" lets them know that their hard work makes a difference beyond generating revenue for the practice. If you have not established a mission statement and core values for your practice, I strongly encourage you to do so. Every week in our staff meeting, we recite the core values of our company and ask team members to give examples from the prior week of how we demonstrated them. They influence our decision-making. They remind us "why" we do what we do.
When it comes to decision-making, be decisive. Nothing is more frustrating than having to wait for a solution to a problem. Additionally, it reduces productivity. Even as a leader in your practice, it is understandable that many decisions still must be run through the practice owner. Schedule regular meetings to get these answers quickly for your team. If your practice owner struggles with indecisiveness, offer help by presenting both the problems and solutions.
Being a leader does not mean you have to be uptight. It is strongly encouraged that you smile, laugh, and have fun with your team. My team has come up with some of the best ideas during moments when we were having fun. What started as a joke turned into one of our most successful marketing campaigns. For us, laughter comes just before the magic happens on any project.
Being a leader is not only about focusing on the team but also on each person individually. Your team will never meet its full potential if everyone does not step outside his or her comfort zone from time to time. Recently, I have taken on new responsibilities that have pushed me outside of my comfort zone. My mentor reminded me that this was a growth opportunity personally and professionally, and I needed to embrace it. How can we achieve greatness if we don't grow and learn?
Your job is to develop future leaders. If you do your job right, your company will expand and grow. My goal is to help my team achieve greatness and move on to lead teams of their own. It hurts to lose them, but nothing makes me happier than seeing them help others achieve greatness and become leaders. (Long, 2019)
Let them make mistakes. I have worked for Dr. Foxworth for 10 years (as of last month), and in that time, he has let me make plenty of mistakes. The lessons learned from those mistakes are the most valuable of my career. I once asked him why he didn't intervene, and he said, "You learned more from that mistake than you would have if I had stepped in. I know that you won't ever make that mistake again." He was right.
As a leader, you have a significant weight on your shoulders. Your company and your team depend on you. When you fully understand your purpose and role, it breeds confidence, which is very contagious and creates an incredibly confident team and successful practice.
Kristi Hudson is a certified professional compliance officer (CPCO). She serves as the Director of Business Relationships for ChiroHealthUSA where she has helped to educate DCs and CAs on establishing simple and compliant financial policies. You can contact Kristi at 888719-9990 or [email protected], or you can visit the ChiroHealthUSA website at www.chirohealtnusa.com.
