Decisive. Determined. Diligent. - The 3 D's

I became an optometrist because I was captivated when my grandfather told me that the most rewarding thing was “putting on a child’s first pair of glasses and watching their face light up as they see things that they’ve never seen before.”

I have seen that look on a kid’s face and must say that it is pretty cool, but there is another look that is more rewarding to me. It is the look on a person’s face when they first decide that they are going to succeed.

It's a wide-eyed look, with eyes darting around, often surrounded by flip-chart sheets and a sort of "half-smile." They always nod their head a little too. Often they will say, "Yeah, I can do this."

It comes when there is a realization of personal confidence that you have what it takes AND you are willing to do the necessary work. It is a beautiful thing to watch unfold as their face lights up seeing things that haven't happened yet.

Determination comes when things go wrong. Early on, it is easy to give up when things don’t go as planned. I have never been involved with a project where everything happened like it was supposed to happen. Those who are determined to press on regardless of barriers always seem to find a way to win.

And “diligence” is simply “prolonged determination.” We are all subject to burnout and its toxic effects. It is becoming more and more common for high achievers to give up current successes for the thrill of seeking newer ones. Those who are considered “masters” in their field are the ones who continue to hone their craft beyond compare.

At the 2020 Executive Retreat, we will focus on the 3 D’s and how we can all hone our craft at reaching our individual versions of success. It is Jan 9-11 in Atlanta. AGENDA

Keynote speaker, Melissa Hill will teach us all about working through the “Toughness Decision.” She will share her method to overcome her personal struggles and how those lessons can guide us through tough decisions that we need to make.

The webinar message broadcast LIVE from Executive Retreat will feature Dr. Mark Kapperman who will share what rewards diligence can bring in building, developing and leading a team of eye care professionals.

Registration will close next week, so if you are thinking about coming, please REGISTER NOW.

Three Words. Results.

The Results are In.

Last week, I sent you a message, asking you to share the 3 words that best described the practice you are building.  The response was great and this exercise generated a lot of thought-provoking conversation.  

The image that you see above is a word cloud of all the words from your responses.  The larger words were included the most often.  

We were forced to remove some profanities from some of our members that must be going through a tough time right now.
 
Dr. Kerry Salsberg in Toronto stepped it up a notch.  He put his 3 words to video to very clearly demonstrate what he and his practice are all about.  

 

So What?

This exercise helps you hone in on what truly matters to you and your practice.  It allows you to focus on work that makes a difference and helps you stop getting distracted by things that don't.  

At the Executive Retreat, we will use this as a starting point and build on it to show you how to have a meaningful impact on your team.  

-Mike

April Fool's Day is a great time for discussing money.

When it comes to spending money, I have my quirks. 

I tend to buy nice things, I don’t like to use coupons and I would rather do without it than settle for low quality.  On the flip side, I refuse to waste money.  I will put paper back in the printer that has something printed on one side and I would rather replace the soles on my shoes than buy new ones.  It is tough for me to explain the “logic” I use for spending money.  
 
At the Executive Retreat in January, Dr. Mick Kling helped me understand some of my quirky financial habits in his lecture, The Emotional Impact of Money.  He taught us that most of us make financial decisions based on feelings more than rationality.  
 
The most common emotional factors in our financial management are greed and fear.    When managing the finances of our practices, we too often allow our feelings to make those decisions for us.  Sometimes it’s fear that prevents us from making that investment we need to grow.  Other times, we spend too quickly because we get excited at a trade show and sign up for that new service that just doesn't make sense for us. 
 
We also avoid uncomfortable conversations about money which is why most of us fail to always make good recommendations to our patients until we know how much they will have to pay “after insurance.” It is also why we give broad percentage raises to all staff regardless of how well they perform individually.

(Here’s on old BLOG about giving raises)

 So how can we overcome this tendency to manage by feelings?
 Our surveys show OD’s consistently ranking their own management of finances lower than any other area of the practice. On a scale of 1 – 9, we rank ourselves at an average of 4.88 in Financial Management - compared to a 7.76 in Patient Care. 
 
At Leadership OD, we have put together tools to help bring some of the logic into your financial management strategy.  Our members always have access to their budgeting calculator, and now we are releasing a tool that we use at WGEC to track all of the metrics we can think of within our practice. 

USER GUIDE

 And on April 14, our own Dr. Mickey Kling will host a webinar helping us gain control of our Cash Flow.  The title is “Where did all the money go?” and attendance is free to members.
 
Our Face2Face meetings this month will focus on financial management, bringing doctors and staff together to talk about real challenges we are all facing and how to improve. 
 
We still have more opportunities for than barriers.  We just have to keep working on it.
 
Happy April Fool’s Day,
Mike
 
p.s. To have a better understanding of your Money Personality, some say it is a good exercise to recall your very first memory of money.  I will tell you my first memory….if you tell me yours.
 

Optometric Management

Do you ever have problems with your staff?  

Leading a team to excellence is more of a challenge than ever before.  Communicating your vision, motivating the team to care and keeping them inspired through tough times requires constant attention.  And frankly, most of us are too busy to dedicate the time and energy needed to succeed.  So we continue to settle.

This year can be different.

At the Executive Retreat, we hold each year, we introduce and explore proven techniques of building strong leadership teams within your practice.  
 

Thank you to the editors of OM for publishing Mike's article on Staff Leadership.  This article gives a sneak peak of the methods used in his practice to consistently get the most from his team.
 
If you can't make it to the Executive Retreat, at least read this article.  It is a great place to get started.