by Ginny | Mar 26, 2017 | Communication, Inspiration, Practice Leadership, Team Development, Uncategorized
First Step… Celebrate Your Successes!
There are five fundamentals of PIVOT Leadership. This post will focus on Strategy. Click this link to the article, Go Right Ahead, Play Favorites that addresses where your leadership focus should be to celebrate the high performers on your team. Today we’ll talk about the how to celebrate and come alive in your practice. Here we go….
“Seems like as soon as we reach one goal, we move onto the next goal. I think our practice could do a better job of giving us that high-five feeling when we’ve earned it.” Brave words from a team member during a recent meeting.
- Could one of your team members be feeling the same way?
- As the practice leaders, could you do a better job of celebrating success and encouraging your team to celebrate each other?
Who doesn’t love a celebration? I especially like when I see team members recognizing one another for great work by sharing their ‘wins’ from the day before. This is one of my favorite parts of my client on-sites and Skype meetings.
“Tell me something good” is a key fundamental strategy for success as well as an uplifting way to start each day and celebrate each quarter with your team. Below I’ll take you through the 5 Steps to Celebrating Your Success Team Meeting.
5 Steps to Celebrating Your Success Team Meeting
Step #1 Schedule a special team meeting
The first quarter [Q1] of the year begins with holiday celebration, fanfare, party hats and noisemakers. This is a time when many teams focus on strategic planning and thoughtful intention for the new year. It’s high time we give some attention to the start of the second quarter [Q2], too. Let’s start with recognizing and celebrating your Q1 wins.
Step #2 Create a fun atmosphere in your meeting room
Celebration meetings should not look the same as every other team meeting and usually involve festive foods. You could bring in lunch or snacks, decorate with balloons or noisemakers. Some teams choose snacks like fruit, yogurt, or crudité while others go for nuts, candy, and chocolate. You could also decorate with small potted plants that the team members can take home. This is also a good time to plan a fun activity for the team during the meeting.
Step #3 Brainstorming Time
Let the team know it’s important to you that the team recognizes and celebrates success and you realize that some ‘wins’ are obvious to the entire team, yet many times a team member has a personal win the rest of the team would love to know about. Then, break into smaller groups, give each group a copy of the Celebrating Your Success worksheet attached and have them begin their brainstorming session. Each team’s challenge is to create a list of the accomplishments [big & small] that you as individuals and as a team have accomplished in Q1 and identify how you achieved your results.
Step #4 Synergize
After about ten minutes, bring the small groups back together so you can share your lists. Have a large sheet of easel or butcher paper and sharpies available. Draw straws to see which team will create the main list on the large paper and then have the other teams call out their ‘wins’ and together create one long list. *Tip: Brainstorming is most successful when it begins in small groups and you’ll build momentum as you come back together. * Chances are the group will think of more accomplishments as you synergize to create this one big list. more accomplishments.
a. Talk about how you made these achievements happen
b. Encourage team members to share details of the most meaningful patient connections they had in the previous month.
c. Clapping and cowbell celebrations should be encouraged too!
d. When discussing the team behaviors and actions that went into these special moments and practice wins be sure to notice any recurring themes. This exercise sets the stage for establishing Q2 strategies goals and we’ll talk about that in next week’s email blog.
Step #5 The Take Aways
Our lives are enriched by the quality of our relationships. Look for opportunities to build the quality of your team relationships. Yes, this takes time, but less than you may think. Begin every day by sharing “what was great about yesterday” so you authentically create an atmosphere that supports and encourages the team to raise the bar on their connections with each other and with patients. Like a new pair of shoes, it may feel awkward in the beginning. Stick with it. One day you’ll notice you all have come to love this strategy for team success. Ask me how I know ☺
To get you started please download my Accomplishments by Quarter Worksheet.
My best,
by Ginny | Mar 5, 2017 | Team Development, Uncategorized
What would 202% mean to you?
How does engagement impact productivity? First, we have to ask, what it is that inspires team members to go above and beyond? What is it that takes work ethic to the next level and has your team offering their head, hands, and hearts in support of your vision for the practice? And, why does this matter?
More Productivity
The Dale Carnegie organization did an assessment that showed businesses with employees that could be identified as “engaged” outperformed their counterparts with “disengaged” employees by up to 202%. Take a moment and do the math, what would 202% improvement in productivity and revenue mean to you and your practice?
Let’s be very conservative and make it easy, what would 10% of that look like?
At 10% a practice currently collecting $100,000 per month would see an increase of $10,000 per month translating into $120,000 annually. Do you think your team could produce and collect $10,000 more per month? That’s $625 per day if you work 16 days per month; an increase of $78 per hour in an 8-hour day.
Now give those numbers faces and imagine the good work you’d be doing to improve your patients’ dental and overall health… this is what having impact is all about…and this is something that people can get their heads around. Your team’s effort could be fueled by a goal of doing well by doing good. The key is to take good care of your people if you want them to take good care of your patients.
What is the impact of YOUR engagement?
Several years ago, I witnessed a team member making a point that she didn’t believe her doctor really cared about her as a person, instead she thought he saw everyone as “a replaceable pawn in his business.” Shocked, the doctor insisted, “Of course I care about you.” The team member responded, “Ok, so what’s my last name?”
Silence. Red-faced, the doctor admitted he didn’t know. This isn’t conclusive evidence, but when we realize that each person’s perception is their reality, this supported the team member’s feelings.
What can YOU do?
Get a list of all team members, their contact information and families’ and pets’ names, study it and connect on a personal level.
Hint: people love to share photos of their kids and pets.
Take a few minutes each week to have a personal conversation with a couple team members to learn what they like to do for fun. Do they enjoy sports or the arts? Share the fun by starting a team meeting by having everyone take a few minutes to share where they grew up if they had any siblings, what was their favorite pastime as a kid, what brought them to dentistry.
Once you learn someone’s story you naturally feel like you understand them better and set yourself up to improve your communication with them. Once someone has shared some of their story they feel more invested too.
Feel like having some fun at next team meeting? Try playing “Getting to Know You” Bingo” with your team! This is a fast-paced and fun activity to use to set the energy for a meeting!
This is an easy pivot for this week and I’d love to hear how this went in your practice. Please share your experience in the comments section below.
by Ginny | Oct 3, 2014 | General, Innovation, Inspiration, Practice Leadership, Strategic Planning, Team Development
ADA Newsletter Hegarty Fall 2014
“We make money the old fashioned way… we earn it!” Oscar Winner, John Houseman’s bounding voice created this memorable catchphrase for an EF Hutton Investment Firm commercial over 30 years ago.The message struck a chord then… and still does. While we can absolutely shorten the learning curve to success, there are no shortcuts to the basic principles of success…not even in the digital world we now live in.
A study of the online reviews of multiple dental practices in a major metropolitan area revealed that for all the changes we’ve seen in how a business presents itself to the world, the bottom line of what makes a lasting positive impression remains the same. Read the full text of my article Score a Great Online Review and Earn Patient Loyalty (more…)
by Ginny | Sep 1, 2014 | Communication, General, Practice Leadership, Strategic Planning, Team Development
“Do you take my insurance?” To provide the best service to your patients, your team must understand that this is NOT a Yes or No question.
Our patients, neighbors and business associates deserve an understanding of health care from the health care providers’ perspective to balance out the message they may be hearing from their insurance providers so they can truly make informed decisions. Freedom of choice is a time-honored value in this country and remains a viable choice in spite of reports to the contrary.”
Click to read my full article in the Summer Edition of the American Dental Association newsletter, Dental Practice Success http://bit.ly/HegartyADASummer2014DPS
