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November 1, 2014

Fear of the Unknown!

Fear of the Unknown!

Fear often paralyzes and sometimes even stops us from living a happier life. Yet fear is really only a negative prediction of the future and not reality. The fear I am going to address today is the fear of the unknown. Many of us choose to stay right where we are at because we feel safer when we know what to expect. Even if it is a negative, toxic or even a dangerous relationship or environment! For example, staying in a work environment that you dread going to everyday or choosing to keep a negative or toxic employee. Or worst case scenario staying in an abusive or dangerous relationship. I have found more often than not that the times where life my life seemed difficult or scary were actually just what I needed to push me to live a happier and juicier life!

This month is dedicated to overcoming the fear of the unknown!

http://youtu.be/-aDc7wCh-yY

 

My Orange Fish Fable!

Every spring my awesome hubby Steve meticulously sets up our pond in our back yard with a fountain! We call it our fountain pond! It takes two full days to complete but it is well worth it. LOL, that is easy for me to say as I am not the one doing the work. The second day includes a trip to Terra Garden Shop to purchase water Lilly’s and other aquatic plants…followed by a visit to the local Pet Smart Store to purchase 25 to 30 assorted colors of goldfish! Of course the majority are bright orange!!! I think they really should be called orange fish as they are not gold they are really orange and orange is a much happier color! So being as it is my article I will refer to them as orange fish!

They live a happy life all summer long swimming, eating and growing in their fountain pond! They have even found the perfect places to hide when they feel threatened by raccoons, birds and the occasional otter! Their pond is a sanctuary of underwater crevices between the rocks! I can imagine them paddling around thinking life is good!

 

Ahhh…but here comes the unknown! Time to cue the scary music….

We live in MN where any ponds that aren’t very deep freeze solid during the winter. Every fall we need to either rescue the orange fish from freezing or it will mean imminent death. We take them to the lake across the street that doesn’t freeze so they can live and flourish! Of course they don’t know this! This is their unknown! All they see is a woman (me) with a big net chasing them around in their pond! LOL, I have one responsibility when it come to our fountain pond…catch the fish in the fall! I am the net lady! These poor little orange fish fear for their lives because they don’t understand that I am really trying to save them and give them a better and longer life. So out of fear of the unknown they hide in their safe sanctuary! What they don’t realize is that what they believe is their salvation will actually lead to their demise!

I thought this was a great analogy for human life! We can’t see what’s over the hill or around the bend or in our future so we are afraid to step forward! We would rather stay where we believe we are safe because we fear the unknown. Yet the fear we feel is only a negative prediction of the future…it’s not reality. Whereas the situation we are currently living in is reality and in some cases a very dangerous reality. But we stay right where we are at and pretend, avoid and hide from things with excuses (excuses are human crevices) to feel safe!

Action Steps:

  • Come from a mindset of positive expectation instead of fear.
  • When things seem difficult see it as an opportunity to learn and grow.
  • Let it go! Seriously, let it go!
  • Decide on your next step.
  • Listen to your gut instead of other people.
  • If feels scary but exciting go for it…if it feels heavy walk away.
  • Take the next step no matter how scary…you will be happy you did!

There really is a bigger pond waiting for all of us! We in essence all live in our own little pond where we feel comfortable and safe because we think we know what we can expect in life…or so we think…that is until the net lady comes our way! The universe is our net lady trying to provide us with ample opportunities to live a happier, healthier and higher performing life!  Don’t let the fear of the unknown stop you from swimming in a bigger pond!!!

Contact Judy Kay today if you would like to learn more about how she can help your team WORK together to build a happy healthy and high performing culture!

October 1, 2014

Assumptions!

ASSUMPTIONS!

HOW CAN WE STOP MAKING ASSUMPTIONS?

WE MAKE ASSUMPTIONS EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY DAY.

SOMETHING HAPPENS AND WE INSTANTLY ASSIGN MEANING TO IT.

THAT IS AN ASSUMPTION.

 

We start imagining what other people are doing, what they’re thinking, what they’re saying about us. We invent an entire story based on assumptions and we believe it. One assumption leads to another assumption; we jump to conclusions and we take it personally. Then we point the finger and blame other people. We usually start gossiping to try to justify our assumptions. Almost all conflicts are based on false assumptions. Assumptions are nothing more than false stories that we are telling ourselves. This creates a big drama for nothing because we don’t know if it is really true.

For example, when we haven’t heard from a close friend in a while we start to wonder if anything is wrong. The more we worry about it the more reasons we find to support our belief that something is wrong. And instead of picking up the phone and calling to ask if everything is okay we justify why we shouldn’t and put the blame on them. We continue to build our story and stress. Then our friend finally calls and we find out they have just been swamped in the busyness of life! All that negative energy and drama for a story we made up from assumptions.

It may be correct or it may be incorrect. We won’t know unless we take the next step. That step is a simple three letter word. ASK! Sounds easy but it’s not. We often fear that if we ask, we may open ourselves up to an emotional reaction. I call that emotional reaction an eggshell. Eggshells spawn many of the assumptions in our lives and in our dental practices today. It’s the fear of these potential eggshells that stop us from asking and allow us to start assuming.

Some of the eggshells I am referring to are:

  • Anger
  • Judgment/Criticism
  • Retaliation
  • Hurt feelings

We can’t let fear stop us from asking if we want to avoid assumptions. We don’t know what someone meant by their actions or words or the way they said something. Sometimes even what they say or the words they use can mean something different than what we believe them to mean. And just because someone felt a certain way in the past doesn’t mean they still feel the same. Stop making assumptions and start asking questions regardless of potential eggshells.

When you get that twinge in your gut and you think “Hmmm – I wonder what they meant by that, or I wonder why they haven’t…?” Or you find yourself saying “I think they meant this” – you don’t know! Stop yourself immediately from wondering and speculating and ASK! You will be surprised how many of your initial assumptions are incorrect once you hear their intent.

Ask with care, concern and respect. Some simple questions to ask are:

  • I am not quite sure what you meant, please tell me more?
  • I am not quite sure what happened. Can we talk about it?
  • Is everything okay?
  • Are you okay?

Continue to respectfully ask questions until you understand the other person’s true intent. If you are still thinking “I think they meant…” you are assuming. It is important to continue to ask more questions to achieve a deeper understanding!

September 1, 2014

Engaging Success! Part III

September 2014

Engaging Success Part III!

This month we will cover the final three strategies to help you get your team engaged and bridge the gap between potential and performance! Just in case you missed the last two newsletters… here are the statistics to support why getting your team engaged is not fluff stuff! It’s how I help teams nationwide create a happy, healthy and high performing culture!

2013 Gallup Polls show 70% of Americans are not engaged at work! Which equals about 2/3rds of the team in an average dental practice. The downfall of not engaging your team:

  •  22% Loss of Profitability
  • 21% Loss of Productivity
  • 45% More Turnover
  • 48% More Team Safety Incidents
  • 37% More Absenteeism
  • 41% More Patient Safety Incidents
  • 41% Less Quality of Care

 

Open to Opinions

We encourage open communication to allow everyone to voice their opinions pertaining to the patients and the practice.   Doctors, managers and team members are often surprised when a co-worker who never participates starts speaking up at our workshop.  I have often found that when a team member doesn’t speak up it’s because they feel they have been shot down in the past.  They believe their opinion didn’t count so they stopped sharing.  When team members feel their opinion is welcomed and valuable they become more engaged.


 

Everyone on the team has the right to express their opinion and be heard without being criticized or made to feel stupid.  Instead share constructive feedback with the team member why you feel it may or may not work.  Being open to opinions means we at least consider the idea.  Considering a team member’s input can often lead to better decision-making.  This is because the team members are often the ones directly doing the task, process or service and understand the limitations as well as the possibilities.  When team members feel they are involved in decisions, they take greater ownership for the outcomes.  Ownership is a sign they are engaged!       

 

Constructive Feedback

We actually schedule feedback time with team members. If we don’t schedule the time chances are it won’t happen. Many offices schedule annual employee performance reviews. Meeting and discussing progress, achievements and goals on an annual basis is not enough to get engagement. How engaged or involved would you be in a relationship where you only had a deeper conversation once a year?

What works well is a quick (5 to 10 minute) monthly or quarterly Checkup with the manager or doctor touching base on their progress, achievements and goals. Questions to ask are:

  • What where your goals for this period?
  • What accomplishments would you like to celebrate?
  • What are your goals or projects for the next period?
  • How can I best support you?

We also establish an open door meeting policy where team members can request to schedule time as needed.  Scheduling time helps avoid constant interruptions and creates a more focused agenda.  Giving timely constructive feedback will help keep your team engaged.

 

http://youtu.be/GvoLvQtF0c8

Opportunity for Personal and Professional Growth

We create opportunities for every team member to continue to challenge themselves to learn and grow both in their personal and professional life.  We ask them to create a list of topics they would like to learn more about in the next year at their annual review.  The doctor/manager also add topics to the list based on what they feel will benefit the team member most.  Together the team member and doctor/manager prioritize the list and agree on completion dates.  The progress is reviewed at their monthly or quarterly Checkup meeting.     


 

We also start a monthly book club in the practice focused on personal growth.  Everyone on the team is asked to participate in suggesting books.  Great books for team meeting discussions are the Simple Truths books at www.simpletruths.comOr my book Rise & Shine and soon my next book Ta-Dah, www.practicesolutionsinc.net/book.html!  The book is discussed at the team meeting.  Lengthier books can be discussed in chapters.  There is open dialogue on the benefits and how it can be applied in the practice as well as their personal life.  Creating the opportunity to learn and grow will help to keep your team excited and engaged.


 

Engage your team by being open to opinions, giving timely constructive feedback and creating an opportunity to learn and grow!

Contact Judy Kay today if you would like to learn more about how she can help you get your team ENGAGED and WORKING together to build a happy healthy and high performing culture!

August 1, 2014

Engaging Success, Part II

August 2014

Engaging Success Part II!

I felt it was important to do a quick review just in case you missed last month’s newsletter.  I help dental teams nationwide bridge the gap between potential and performance to create a happy, healthy and high performing culture…which all depends on getting them engaged!

2013 Gallup Polls show 70% of Americans are not engaged at work! Which equals about 2/3rds of the team in an average dental practice. The downfall of not engaging your team:

 

  • 22% Loss of Profitability
  • 21% Loss of Productivity
  • 45% More Turnover
  • 48% More Team Safety Incidents
  • 37% More Absenteeism
  • 41% More Patient Safety Incidents
  • 41% Less Quality of Care

 

Just a few awesome reasons to invest time and focus on engaging your team!

This month we will cover three additional employee engagement strategies to help you raise job satisfaction, patient service and the bottom line. It really is a win for the practice owner, the patients and the team!

Purpose

I help teams clearly define their purpose. The purpose is their why behind what they do in their practice. It is important for the team to believe in the purpose of the practice. It would be next to impossible to get the team engaged if the doctor/manager’s only purpose was the bottom line or retiring. Team members also need to understand their individual purpose. Great leaders, (doctors/managers) help their team members see how their individual work connects and supports the purpose and the outcome. People are willing to roll up their sleeves and work hard together for the greater good when they feel they belong. They decide whether they belong based on how aligned they are with the purpose of the practice. Purpose helps them feel they are a part of something bigger than themselves. Reminding the team of the purpose of what they do each day helps nurture a sense of belonging and fulfillment.

Appreciation

We create a culture of appreciation and celebration in their practice. Team members get engaged when they know they are being seen and feel appreciated on daily basis. They began to feel recognized, important and cared about. It is natural for us to want to work with people who care enough to take the time to show us appreciation. The old saying, “They don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care” is true. Lack of appreciation is the number one reason Americans quit their job.

Establish an appreciation strategy that recognizes how each person prefers to be shown appreciation. I highly recommend reading the book on appreciation titled, “The Five Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace”. It covers the 5 different ways to show appreciation and would be an awesome book to discuss at your team meeting. Practice showing appreciation daily that is timely, specific and authentic. Never give a fake compliment or you will instantly lose trust and respect. Look for fun and creative ways such as an appreciation board, employee of the month, even Ta-dahs!   Showing appreciation is not just from doctor to manager to team member. It also includes team member to team member and team member to manager or doctor. Please email me at Judykay@PracticeSolutionsInc.net if you would like to receive my white pages on appreciation.

Encouragement

We lead, manage and train by utilizing encouragement instead of judgment or criticism. Encouragement goes hand in hand with appreciation and is key in helping to nurture employee engagement. When team members know their co-workers, manager and doctor(s) believe in them, they feel empowered to face their fears, look forward to challenges and continue to strive to raise the bar! I think back to when I started my business. I knew I had my husband Steve rooting for me and believing in me even during the times I doubted myself. His consistent encouragement allowed me to take more chances and not cave to the fear of failing. Encouragement instead of judgment and criticism will help the entire team feel confident to think outside the box and challenge themselves to continue to learn and grow.

Tune in again next month to Part III of Engaging Success and more employee engagement strategies!

Contact Judy Kay today if you would like to learn more about how she can help you get your team ENGAGED and WORKING together to build a happy healthy and high performing culture!

July 1, 2014

Engaging Success! July 2014

July 2014

Engaging Success!

I coach dental teams nationwide on attitude, communication, relationships and performance to improve the patient experience and the bottom line.  Which all starts by getting the team engaged to bridge the gap between potential and performance!

2013 Gallup Polls show 70% of Americans are not engaged at work! Which equals about 2/3rds of the team in an average dental practice. You may think, how big of a deal is it really? You can count on then to show up most days and get their tasks done. You decide! The difference in not engaging your team:

  • 22% Loss of Profitability
  • 21% Loss of Productivity
  • 45% More Turnover
  • 48% More Team Safety Incidents
  • 37% More Absenteeism
  • 41% More Patient Safety Incidents
  • 41% Less Quality of Care

An engaged employee out produces and is more profitable than their non-engaged colleague by 22%…in essence you could have 4 engaged employees instead of 5 not engaged and cut your overhead by an entire salary! A $20 per hour employee working 32 hours per week would save you $32,000 per year.   That number does not include taxes and benefits. Realistically you would save more like $40,000 per year.

Even better…focus on engaging your team and get all 5 employees engaged to produce 21% more. Let’s say for simple math you produce $100,000 per month…you would now produce $121,000 per month ($21,000 more per month) equaling an annual increase of $252,000! Imagine what you could do with an additional $252,000! Not fluff stuff!

My newsletters over the next few months will focus on developing an employee engagement strategy to help you raise job satisfaction, patient service and the bottom line. It’s a win for the practice owner, the patients and the team!

Ta-Dah!

It is important to understand and be able to identify the different levels of engagement. There are three levels of engagement; Engaged, Not Engaged and Actively Disengaged.

Engaged Employees – are passionate about their work and feel very connected and loyal to the practice. They are always looking for ways to improve performance and patient care. They are focused on the big picture of helping the practice succeed. They base their success on the practice’s success!

Not Engaged Employees – are essentially checked out. They can be difficult to spot. They are just coasting through their day by putting in time without energy or passion. They are thinking about lunch, who just called on their cell phone, or what they are going to do when they get off work.

Actively Disengaged Employees – are unhappy at work and demonstrate it in their words and actions. They monopolize the doctor/manager’s time (always having to issues that need addressing), have more on-the-job accidents, create more quality concerns, are sicker and miss more days. They undermine what their engaged coworkers accomplish and sabotage the practice.

In this blog I will focus on three strategies I use to help get teams engaged!

Clear Expectations

We start with an open and candid conversation clarifying expectations and the results desired. Go deep enough to explain what, who, when, where, why and how. So often time’s things are left unsaid and assumptions are made resulting in frustration for the doctor, the manager and the employee! If the employee is not clear on expectations they can’t possibly deliver.   If you are thinking, they should just know that, or I already told them once…so I don’t need to tell them again…you are setting the employee up to disengage!

“If you don’t ask for what you want don’t be angry when you don’t get it.”

 

Appropriate Equipment and Supplies

Next is making sure the team has the appropriate equipment and supplies to maximize efficiency and get better results.  It also demonstrates to the employee that their work is valued because you were willing to give them the support they need to do their job. For example, a specific instrument to aid your hygienist in safely cleaning around dental implants. It is important to ask employees if they have what they need to be able to do their job efficiently and effectively. The initial cost is outweighed by the ROI of increased performance, service and productivity.

I have found men are usually much better at getting the right equipment and supplies whereas women will try to make do. This summer my husband Steve and I went a little crazy with filling our deck with pots of flowers, succulents and evergreens! Needless to say it became huge watering chore for me because we did not have a hose up on the deck. I have been traveling a lot more for business…which means Steve has become the water boy! Surprise! I came home to find a faucet and short hose up on the deck. Watering is now so easy it is actually fun! What used to take me 1/2 hour or more now takes under 10 minutes! We have just tripled my productivity and increased job satisfaction by having the appropriate equipment and supplies!

 

Strength Focused

We focus on identifying and building on each team member’s strengths. This one step alone can change productivity by as much as 12.5%. The best opportunity for people to grow and develop is to help them discover their innate talents. It just naturally creates a feeling of wellbeing when we can do something well. We enjoy our work more. Focusing on a team member’s strengths is a far more effective and positive approach than constantly focusing on their weaknesses.   When employees know and use their strengths, they are more engaged, have higher performance, and are less likely to leave the practice.

Research shows that the management style of focusing on the positive strengths reduces active disengagement to 1%. Whereas a negative focus management style produces 22% disengagement. Surprisingly, being ignored causes the most damage at 40% disengagement! The old saying, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all!” is not a successful management style. It delivers to the most negative outcome of all.

Which response would your employees say best reflects the management style in your practice? It’s time to ask!

  • My manager/doctor focuses on my strengths or positive characteristics.
  • My manager/doctor focuses on my weaknesses or negative characteristics.
  • My manager/doctor doesn’t say anything at all and I feel ignored and invisible.

Engaging success starts by asking questions!

Tune in again next month for more employee engagement strategies!

 

Contact Judy Kay today if you would like to learn more about how she can help you get your team ENGAGED and WORKING together to build a happy healthy and high performing culture!

June 1, 2014

Team WORK!

 “Team WORK – It is the fuel that allows common people to obtain uncommon results

Team work!  A phrase so often used with so many different assumptions of its meaning!  The dictionary defines team work as cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons acting together as a team or in the interests of a common cause.

The team part happens pretty easy.  Once we belong to a group or organization we automatically become a part of the team.  The WORK part of team work is not so easy!  It takes work to build happy, healthy and high performing team relationships.

This month’s newsletter is dedicated to the WORK part of team work.  BTW…this message works for your marriage as well.

I have spent years coaching dental teams on how to create happy, healthy and high performing relationships.  Successful team relationships don’t just happen by accident.  They take work just like any relationship.  Yet the assumption is that we should all just naturally get along.  If that were true I wouldn’t be so busy.

Communication is the first core fundamental in team work. It would be very difficult to work together as a team for a common purpose without it! The right hand would never know what the left hand was doing nor what was needed or expected. The team’s success would be limited to only what each person could accomplish individually.

It is important for the team to create standards on how the team would like to communicate with each other and patients to build successful relationships. The work part is the ongoing focus and commitment to support the standards even when we may not feel like it.

Successful team communication includes:

  • Communicate Clearly – Clarify expectations by defining who, what, when, where, why and how.
  • Communicate Positively – Smile at each other and speak in a warm and friendly tone.
    • Avoid negative sarcasm and gossip.
  • Communicate Respectfully – Always consider how your words may impact the other person. Ask yourself; how can I say what I need to say and be respectful of how they may feel?
  • Communicate Professionally – Use words such as yes, no, please and thank you.

Collaboration is the second core fundamental needed to enable the team to successfully work together. It is important to remember that there is more than one way (our way) to do things. Collaboration means:

  • Sharing thoughts and ideas about what works and what does not.
  • Being open (think outside the box creativity) and willing to listen to new and different ideas from others.
  • Agreeing on a solution that serves the best interests of the patients and the practice instead do any individual.
  • Trying again and again and continue to be flexible and to adjust until it does work.

Celebration is the third core fundamental to successful team work. It is important to celebrate daily. Even the little things. If our focus is always on the next patient or task we will miss the good in the present moment and eventually we will lose our joy for our work.

Celebrate by:

  • Looking for and becoming aware of what is positive in the present moment. Right here right now what is good?
  • Being grateful for what is instead of complaining about what isn’t.
  • Showing appreciation for your coworkers and your patients. Celebrating in the moment with a physical gesture for example a big smile, thumbs up, high five or even a Ta-Dah!

Implementing these three core fundamentals will empower your team to WORK together to build happy, healthy and high performing team relationships.

Contact Judy Kay today if you would like to learn more about how she can help your team WORK together to build a happy healthy and high performing culture!

March 1, 2014

The Power of Affirmations!

Affirmations are powerful!  They can either set us up to succeed or to fail.  Yet very few of us consistently practice positive affirmations.  The dictionary defines affirmation as: 

  • The act or an instance of affirming; state of being affirmed
  • The assertion that something exists or is true
  • Something that is affirmed; a statement or proposition that is declared to be true. 

This month is dedicated to learning how to practice daily positive affirmations to drive our future happiness and success!    

Affirmations are like planting seeds in the ground. It takes time to go from a seed to a mature plant.  It takes consistency and time from the first declaration to the final demonstration.  You can’t just say something positive once and expect it to appear.  

 

 

Here are five steps to help you succeed at practicing daily positive affirmations and live a life you choose!

Step One – Just get over yourself!  We are so afraid we may look silly or weird if we say positive things out loud to our self.   So what if someone hears us.  We are all weird.  LOL, for me it is normal to talk to myself…as I often work alone.  The key is making sure that the conversations are always positive.   

Step Two – Start your day by defining how you want to feel or be today.  Choose words or a phrase to describe that feeling or state of being.  It could be words like happy, successful, healthy or awesome!  When I am about ready to present I think of how I want to be with my audience.  I practice words like connecting, loving, authentic and present.  Stand in front of a mirror and make eye contact with yourself. Okay, I know this seems a little weird…but it’s a good weird!  It is important to say it loud as if it already exists.  I am…  It must be I am not I want.  It is more powerful when said out loud and your mind believes it already exists because you stated I am.  For example, I am happy, I am awesome, I am going to make positive things happen today, I love my life, I love what I get to do, I am going to make good decisions today,  I like how I look today, I am going to rock it today, I am going to have an awesome day!  You can say as many things as you want.  There is no limit to positive self-talk!  

Step Three – Say it with conviction and attitude!  Just like little Jessica in the video above.  Think about the level of happiness and success you want to attract. The more energy and emotion you put into it the more you attract!  It’s the Law of Attraction in action.  Like seeks like based on the frequency of energy emitted! 

Step Four – Replay the same message over and over throughout your day.  Ask yourself; do my words and actions support those feelings or state of being.  Reset if necessary to align your words, actions and state of being.  Replaying and resetting will enable you to overcome the negative noise distractions from the world and instead focus on what you want.  

Step Five – End your day by saying out loud how you felt or state of being for the day.  I was happy today.  I was awesome today!  I made a difference today!  I made others smile today.  I helped someone today!  I changed someone’s life today by giving them a new smile!   

Contact Judy Kay today if you would like to learn more about how she can help you become a better leader, get your team to work together better and create an office culture you can’t wait to go to every day.

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