Feature Article:

Happy New Year from Dr. Simon

Dear Clients and Readers:

The beginning of each new year brings with it an opportunity to reflect, assess, and contemplate the future. If you are still in the process of creating a vision, setting goals, and making an action plan for this New Year, I invite you to consider the following questions.

• What was your most significant success in 2007?
• What was your most valuable lesson from 2007?
• What about last year was disappointing to you?

• What is your level of optimism going into 2008?
• What would you most like to accomplish in this year?
• What change in attitude or behavior on your part would make 2008 a great year?

• If you were to do one thing differently in 2008, what would it be?
• In what ways would you like to ?fine tune? your personal or professional life in 2008?
• Flash forward to 12/31/08. What made this year gratifying?

I believe strongly in the habit of stating intentions, setting goals, and even in making resolutions. But these declarations are only as good as the self-evaluation and action steps associated with the process. Setting a goal because it sounds good in the moment, or because it?s the new year and you need to say something, will not yield satisfying results. Stating goals that are too grandiose, pie-in-the-sky, or that could only be achieved with divine intervention will result in disappointment and frustration.

Goals worthy of your energy, time, and attention should be based on your most important values and connected to a larger purpose. They should be noteworthy enough to be motivating, but also attainable. As you think about and plan for the rest of 2008, I encourage you to take the time to make sure that whatever you set out to achieve is infused with authenticity, meaning, and significance.

Last year at this time I published Resolution: Why Developing Personal Competence Enhances Resolve, an article about new year?s resolutions, goals, and the importance of developing personal competence — an often overlooked and yet critical ingredient for success. If you?d like to read that article again, click here. It was the first of a three-part series called The Three ?R?s? for Successful, Sustainable Change: Resolution, Resistance, and Resilience. You can read all of past issues of Practice Your Way at this link.

I?d like to take this opportunity to thank you for reading and passing my newsletter along to your friends and colleagues. Practice Your Way is more widely distributed than I?d ever have imagined it would be at this point, and I know that you, my readers, are in large part responsible for the success of the newsletter. So, thank you.

I?m pleased to announce that I?m now a regular columnist for Dynamic Chiropractic. My column, Beyond the Basics, will appear every six weeks covering difference topic related to practice success and professional development. You can read the first column here if you missed the early January edition in print.

Because I?ll be devoting considerable time to writing the new DC column, some issues of Practice Your Way will likely be shorter in 2008. With that in mind, I have a request; I?d like to know what you are interested in reading and learning about this year. What are your most pressing practice concerns? What new information do you need that you aren?t finding elsewhere? What trends are you seeing that you?d like to see explored in Practice Your Way? I?m also open to feedback on the newsletter in general — content, length, format, delivery, and style. Please send your suggestions to me at info@beyondpracticemanagement.com.

I wish you a happy new year and hope that 2008 brings you practice success, personal fulfillment, good health, and prosperity.

Best regards,
Shelley Simon, RN, DC, MPH, DC

Client's Corner:

Throw Away the Scripts

Q: Several of my staff members resist using the scripts I picked up at a recent seminar. They say it makes them feel like ?robots? and that patients can tell when they?re working from a script. But I think these scripts could be effective if they would give them a chance. Should I force them to use the scripts, or does my staff have a point?

A: I?m not a fan of scripts, for the very reasons your staff members bring up and for other reasons as well. Practitioners who instruct their staff to use scripts hope to achieve a certain level of control and consistency. And consistency they may get, but it?s often at the expense of having staff members who are able to think on their feet and address and resolve patient?s unique problems and concerns in the moment, as they arise. While scripts do provide a starting point for learning and developing procedures, when they are relied upon exclusively for staff training they can undermine resourcefulness and the quality of service offered in practices. Too often, scripts end up disempowering staff and limiting their ability to develop their own skills, particularly those related to being empathetic and dealing with patients as individuals. Instead of scripts, I recommend providing guidelines that give staff members clear direction about what to do, but at the same time allow them the flexibility to make decisions using common sense, emotional intelligence, and intuition. Encourage your staff to focus on developing meaningful professional relationships with your patients, each of whom is unique, rather than on memorizing words and phrases suitable for ?all occasions.?

An Offer:

Request a Consultation, Beat the Fee Increase

Last year was busy at Beyond Practice Management. I feel fortunate to have coached a wide variety of highly motivated clients and to have witnessed the amazing changes they made in their business and personal lives. These clients have been loyal and forthcoming with a great many referrals. Because of this, my practice was at or near capacity for most of 2007. I am grateful to everyone I worked with last year and enjoyed learning from each and every client.

Effective April 1, 2008 my coaching fees for new clients will be increasing across the board by about 25%. Due to the level of customization I provide to coaching clients, I can work with only a limited number of people at any given time. So, if you?ve been thinking that this is the year to make sustainable change in your practice and you?ve been on the fence about signing up for coaching, now is the time to take action. Clients who begin prior to April 1 can lock in current coaching rates for the remainder of this calendar year.

The first step in deciding whether coaching would be effective for you in 2008 is to request a complimentary, introductory consultation. When you schedule this session online you?ll be asked to answer several thought provoking questions as a way for you to: (a) become clear on what your most pressing issues are; (b) think about what you would like to get out of our conversation; and, (c) convey to me how I can best help you. To request your consultation, please click here.