What Purpose Really Looks Like (Hint: It’s Not Always Easy or Efficient)
The word purpose gets thrown around a lot. We’re often told to be purpose-driven in our work, but what does that actually look like? It’s easy to nod along, but harder to connect the dots when we’re buried in our day-to-day tasks. I was reminded recently, in a very simple way, what purpose in action […]
The One Question That Transformed the Way I Communicate
Imagine you’re at work, and your manager approaches you after overhearing your interaction with a patient on the phone. Scenario 1“I just overheard your interaction with that patient over the telephone, and I think it could have been improved by you saying ‘this’ instead of ‘that’.” Scenario 2“I just overheard your interaction with that patient […]
BRAVING; Guiding your dental team to a better culture.
We all know the importance of trust in our relationships, including the relationships we have with our working colleagues. Trust helps create safe environments to work and grow with one another. Dental practices that foster effective Team Cultures usually have trust as one of their core values. Recognising why trust is important to your organisation, and […]
Using the AFL off-season to plan for your future success.
It’s an exciting time for followers of AFL. It’s even more thrilling for fans of the Footscray and Melbourne Football Clubs. From the perspectives of teamwork, leadership and goals-achievement, I find sporting teams deliver valuable insights that can be applied in any business, including dental practices. This morning, my mind turned to the clubs whose […]
Success leaves clues
One of the biggest obstacles dental practices have when considering team training is time. There is simply no time to do anything else other than to see patients. Dental practices need to make as many of their onsite minutes as productive as possible, primarily by seeing patients. The only breaks we aim to allow to […]
Do you have a swinging team member?
The signs are varied.It can be the look of misery when they arrive for work.It can be the short and unpleasant message sent over the smartphone about something that displeased them.It can be the shift in attitude from helpful to unhelpful to those around them. It is the moody team member. It is the team […]
Are you happy?
If I were to ask you how happy your team members are, what would your response be? “No-one has come to me with a problem, so they must be happy.” I remember during the years of my practice ownership when a team member would come to me with their trouble with a colleague. I was […]
How much do you value honesty?
One of the first lessons that our parents teach us is HONESTY. And there is good reason why. Honesty is, in my view, the most important characteristic we develop as human beings. And this is why honesty is the fourth value that I believe is crucial to a successful dental practice. (Go to my blog […]
Does your team care?
In these recent blog articles, I have been considering the values that I believe are important for dental practice success. Values are an important factor in the development of your dental practice. When implemented successfully, values direct the behaviour of team members, help create the systems and processes of the practice and guide the delivery […]
When you embrace this value for your practice, magic happens.
Last week, I explored in my blog what my values would be if I still owned my dental practice. Professionalism was the first value that I identified as crucial to have a successful practice. (Read last week’s blog in case you missed it here: https://julieparkerpracticesuccess.com/professionalism-what-is-the-value/) My second value is one that fosters an ever-improving performance for staff […]
Professionalism – what is the value?
I have recently been considering what, if I still owned a dental practice, would the values of my business be. The core values of your business are useful to identify as they become the guiding principles that direct all behaviours and processes. A core value that I would find crucial to the successful operation of […]
Envy: A potential step towards your personal development
Have you become better because of your envy of another? Let me explain… I was listening to a podcast conversation between UK comediennes Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. French stated to Saunders that when Saunders developed her comedy series Absolutely Fabulous and it became a huge hit, French was quite envious of her success. Saunders […]
Why leave the graffiti?
There is a dental practice that I drive past every now and then. It has a wonderful back-story. After realising that the current location could not accommodate their growth, the owner-dentist purchased a new site and built a beautiful new practice. And he did it all in secret so he could surprise his team. Whenever […]
Is your inner self trying to make you better?
You know that uncomfortable feeling you get? It often happens after you have had an interaction with someone and the result wasn’t all that ideal? It’s a feeling in your gut and it stays with you a while. You try to budge it by rationalising your own behaviour and also by criticising the other person. […]
The Need To Create Cash!
In a recent blog, I wrote that COVID-19 had seen many of us dropping down Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Abraham Maslow was an American psychologist who developed a now well-accepted theory that our psychological health is predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority order or steps, culminating in self-actualisation. Maslow portrayed human needs in […]
Love or fear: What is driving your behaviour?
Never before has it been so necessary to be ‘tuned-in’ to each other’s mindset. The reaction to COVID-19 has been wide and varied. While some appear relaxed and confident that this situation will be managed well and pass to return us to happier times, others are at the other end of the spectrum. They are […]
How will you be judged?
The impact of the COVID-19 restrictions on businesses has had the opportunity to be an employee relations crisis. Both employees and employers have been confused, distressed and rudderless in terms of conditions of employment, job security, JobKeeper or JobSeeker, number of hours to be working (if working at all) and whether online from home is […]
Control Your Controllables
Turia Pitt is an Australian survivor. She is the ultra-marathon runner who was horribly burned by an out-of-control grass fire during a ‘Racing The Planet’ event. Turia endured months of operations and rehabilitation during her recovery and has been left with substantial scarring over her body. In an interview with Turia, she was asked how […]
What ‘normal’ are you rushing back to?
I came across this thought-provoking post on social media. ‘In the rush to return to normal, use this time to consider which parts of normal are worth rushing back to.’ Dave Hollis – Over Grow The System A few of the ‘normal’ parts of my life that I feel are worth rushing back to are […]
The best way to feel comfortable in uncomfortable or difficult or confronting situations
When I purchased my dental practice in 2003, I quickly discovered that I was going to have to ‘step up to the plate’. What I mean is that it would no longer be acceptable to back away from the difficult conversations that I knew I had to have. I remember a situation early in my […]
A Better Way to Reward Your Team
Staff bonuses are becoming more common in dental practices. Bonuses are either a pre-established amount of one to several hundred dollars paid monthly, quarterly or yearly or a percentage of profits. These bonuses are offered when financial targets of the practice have been met (aka, when dental patients accept treatment plans). I have never been a […]
Is it time for you to SURRENDER?
I have recently surrendered on an issue and it feels oh, so good! A dental receptionist I have been working with for many years, let’s call her Robyn, was tracking her Incomplete Treatment follow-up in a way that she found worked well for her. However, it was not the system I had encouraged her to […]
Here is the shocking truth: You are the answer!
I hear practice owners complain that team members are ‘stealing hours’. Yet these very practice owners are obviously focussing on every minute themselves. I hear practice owners complain that team members leave “the minute it hits five o’clock”, yet they resist paying overtime. I hear practice owners complain that team members scrutinise their payslips, working […]
“When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.”
“When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.” This quote by Alexander Den Heijer is one that can shift your perspective immediately. It clearly identifies where you should direct your focus when a team member is struggling to thrive in your dental practice. In the context of […]
Do you have your armour on?
If you are a resident of Melbourne, or have recently visited the southern state of Victoria, you will know that it is COLD! I have just arrived back from my regular hour-long walk with numb hands and face from the icy winds that have been our outdoors for some weeks now. As I was braving […]
Employee, contractor or what?
There is much talk nowadays about the legal bases on which dentists are employed in Australia. In my early days of working in dental practices, and when I employed dentists myself during the 10 years I owned my own practice, the ‘norm’ was to bring a dentist in as a contractor but they really worked […]
A dental practice mantra for EVERYONE!
To be the best leader, you need: · to establish a COMPELLING vision; · to be supportive and act as a mentor; · to help find the answers to the important questions; and · to inspire and motivate team members. To be the best practitioner, receptionist or assistant, you need: · to be efficient, productive and have a caring and positive attitude; […]
The Key to Happiness
Life coach and self-help author, Tony Robbins, states, “Progress equals happiness. Even if you’re not where you want to be yet. If you’re on the road, if you’re improving, if you’re making progress, you’re gonna love it. You’re gonna feel alive.” Working with dental practices from their early stages through to success, I have observed […]
A strange secret: when the leader shifts behaviours then the team shifts its behaviours.
As a leader, do you often feel frustrated with some behaviours of your team? Are you annoyed at their lack of appreciation? Do they run out the door the second their shifts are finished? Are you concerned that they work slowly to clock up extra paid minutes? Maybe you are upset at their questioning over every […]
I have a challenge for you. Are you up for it??
Self-improvement consists of making small, incremental changes to your thoughts and behaviour that will result in a more positive experience of life. I would like to challenge you to embrace a specific small change. The challenge is to avoid responding with criticism for one week; just seven days. Let me explain… Most people spend most of their time responding to situations around them […]
The Magic for Your Practice of Having a Team of Servants
Poor attitudes in dental practices are not uncommon. Despite implementing systems and processes that support a customer-centric style of service, practices can still experience poor team-member behaviour. Common examples of apathetic, negative behaviour that I see in our consulting work, or that are reported to me, are: unhelpful response to patient requests or queries sitting […]
Could collaboration be your path to high-level success?
This past weekend was a special one for me. JPPS collaborated with another business, Dental Management Expertise, and presented Dental Business Mastery, a 3-Day Conference in Melbourne. The event ran beautifully. We had great speakers, and the attendees were enthusiastic and fun to spend the three days with. But, the reason the weekend was special […]
How does your team behave, and is this the team behaviour that you want?
It is said that culture is the collective personality of an organisation. Another definition is this: ‘Culture is what your people do when no one is telling them what to do.’ Culture is the values and behaviours that build and then drive the unique social and psychological environment of a business. As I have written in […]
Mary has a dilemma.
I was speaking with a dental team member – we’ll call her Mary – who posed an interesting dilemma. “During a social dinner, a friend complained of a dental problem she was experiencing. For the first time, I didn’t feel comfortable in recommending the practice where I work.” Mary had worked at this practice for […]
Discover Your Team’s Secrets To Top Performance Through Open Communication
Regular readers of this blog will know that one of my leadership strategies is to create an ‘emotionally-safe’ working environment for team members. Top performances are not possible when team members feel under any threat that blocks their trust, confidence and creativity. One of the elements of creating an emotionally-safe environment for your team is […]
4 Steps Guaranteed To Start Your Day On A High (without drugs!)
Are you a ‘morning person’? Someone who wakes up enthusiastic for the coming day with energy to burn? While some team members may be bright and cheerful from the crack of dawn, there are others who take time to warm up. The energy of your team at the start of the day will have a […]
How to say ‘I’m sorry’ without being embarrassed or feeling foolish!
Have you ever had the best of intentions, but upset someone anyway? Have you ever been under pressure and reacted poorly and upset someone? Have you ever had bad intentions towards someone which reflected in your behaviour and then, once you witnessed the impact on the other, you regretted your actions? Or is it just me? Our […]
Why On Earth Would Developing Self-Awareness Help You Build A Stronger Dental Team?
I can say with great conviction that the happiness I have enjoyed while working in dental practices over the years is due to my developing self-awareness. My developing self-awareness is also responsible for my ability to work in harmony with others and be a strong contributor. It is also thanks to my developing self-awareness that […]
Can you look at yourself?
Being a Victorian who is interested in sports, this past weekend has been a happy one. The Richmond and Melbourne Storm wins have raised the energy of the locals, with celebrations said to be continuing through the week. Richmond’s victory has also raised interest in their coach, Damien Hardwick. How did he manage to turn […]
Sir Richard Branson hit the nail on the head!
Sir Richard Branson hit the nail on the head with this quote: “Train people well enough that they can leave. Treat them well enough that they don’t want to.” It is not unusual for me to observe the fatigue of dental practice owners and managers when they are faced with training yet another team […]
Are you out of feedback balance?
The best and most successful dental practice owners are relentlessly on the lookout for areas that need improvement. They know the value of a key business principle that ‘everything counts!’ They may see a blown light globe that needs replacing or an untidy staff room. Or it may be bigger things, such as a downturn […]
Walk your talk!
“The greatest way to live with honour in this world is to be what we pretend to be.” Socrates When asked in a professional setting what your values around team management are, I am sure you provide an answer that you believe to be true. “I have open and honest relationships with my team members.” […]
Amazing Benefits of Leading Your Team to Safe Places
Creating an environment of emotional safety for your team is one of your most important roles as a leader. I have laboured under the harsh leadership of a hard-to-please boss. He questioned much of what I did and I never felt he trusted me or my abilities. The result for me was a continual decline […]
“Something needs to change!”
“Something needs to change!” I have had this thought on several occasions during my time working in dental practices. It happens in my personal life too. It is your mind finally reaching its tipping point, saying “enough is enough!” It may be an ineffective system or a team member’s lack of enthusiasm and attention. […]
Why Do We Resist Difficult Discussions?
“I should talk to that employee about her poor performance.” “I have to tell the employee dentist he cannot have a pay rise.” “It’s not working out; I have to let the steri-nurse go.” Difficult discussions are a part of owning a business. However, the thought of having these discussions sends nervous trepidation through many […]
What is your mindset when things go wrong?
I met Mariam recently, an interesting and inspiring woman. During our conversation, she shared her perspective that there are three mindsets that we can choose from when in conflict and pushing for change. VICTIM: This is egocentric. It is focusing on your personal response to challenging times, at the exclusion of anything else. This […]
Many Heads Lead to Magic!
I’m excited. Today I get to have a workshop with a colleague and….COLLABORATE! After working in a team environment for so many years in dental practices, the aspect I miss most is the regular collaboration on how to do things smarter. Julie Parker Practice Success has been going for six years now. My time is […]
What you focus on, grows.
What are your competitors doing? How can you find out? Who can tell you? Meanwhile, what are YOU doing? At times, we fall in to the trap of becoming distracted with our competitors. There are two reasons I encourage you to re-direct your attention. Firstly, I don’t buy in to the concept of ‘competitors’, and […]
This is what I call FUN!
Being involved with a dental team whose members are experienced and effective brainstormers is my idea of a good time! Such teams can solve anything. It actually is easy for them to tap in to their brilliance and creativity. To them, there are no problems, just solutions waiting to be revealed. Brainstorming is a way […]
Asking for change is not enough.
One of the frustrations when working in a team is getting everyone to work in the directed manner. AFL football coaches frequently suffer such frustrations! Staff meetings become a place for repeating the same requests for changes in behaviour. Tension builds as leaders feel ignored, and staff happiness suffers because they feel hen-pecked and micro-managed. […]
Why do you and your team come to work?
A successful Practice is much like a successful human being: those who thrive are those who access their passion and their skills, who discover how to adapt to their constantly changing environments, and who are able to effect lasting useful behavioural changes. People develop bad habits. We don’t always eat the ideal diet for physical […]
Business management was only the SECOND most important skill to master…
I knew, when I first owned my practice, that in order to be successful, I would need to learn what I didn’t know. I knew nothing of financial reports or employment law. I knew nothing of business management or marketing strategies. The list was long. Remaining ignorant would have lead me to failure. So I […]
Is it time to get excited?
I was always excited when I owned my dental practice. But I got SUPER excited in December. What excited me? New goals! Despite spending my whole year tackling the existing practice goals, there was something magical about the Christmas break. I would spend time reflecting over the previous year. What were the challenges? What insights […]
Are you brave enough to ask?
I loved my years of dental practice ownership. I grew enormously as a person, and it is where I developed my skills as a leader. Someone asked me recently: “What was a key lesson in my leadership journey.” I immediately answered “getting brave enough to ask for feedback”. I had always intended to be an […]
Maybe it’s not them. Maybe it’s you…
I, like many of us, learned early in life that we choose how someone appears to us. I recall a friend I had during my primary school years, Fiona. I had initially disliked Fiona. Not for any legitimate reason, I am sure. I first looked at Fiona and judged all she did as silly and […]
Who is watching you?
Have you ever been employed by a boss who inspired you to work harder? I can say that I have had such bosses! Contemplating what made these bosses special and different, I have realised it comes down to tone key factor: Their behaviours generated my respect for them. Most bosses have similar agendas: they strive […]
Are you providing the environment for staff to be successful?
Encouraging staff to engage with the vision and systems that I implemented at my practice was a process I was eager to learn. I understood that a vital element to my business success was getting strong performances from staff. I discovered that what I needed to do in order to achieve this was to provide […]
Just in case you breach trust…here’s a 6 step plan to rebuild it
I wrote in my last blog about discovering the deeper elements of: TRUST. That it is not simply being someone others can rely on. That trust develops over time and after a series of kept promises. As Charles Kovess, JPPS co-founder, says in his presentations, “trust is built like a wall: brick by brick. Breaking […]
What evidence is there of your trustworthiness?
Of all of the business books that I have researched, and all of the people management articles I have read, there is a word that is used repeatedly by all: ‘TRUST’. However initially, I don’t think I truly ‘got it’ initially. I thought of myself as a trustworthy person and that others would somehow ‘see’ […]
Share it around
When I owned my dental practice, I had the roles of receptionist and practice manager. Not being confined to the surgery as most owner-dentists are, I relished the opportunity of being able to manage my business full-time. Delegating tasks never entered my mind. Why would it? I had the time and I had the enthusiasm […]
That winning feeling….It’s worth the effort!
In my last blog I shared with you by ongoing wish to get better results. And, that to get better results, I have to BE better. To achieve greater and greater progress and success in life, we need to be on a path of continuous improvement. Tony Robbins coined the term CANI: Constant And Never-ending […]
You must be true to your word
Developing a set of principles that drive your leadership is one of the most important things you can do. But it can get tough… I have found that with each and every principle I adopt, I am tested. This happens in every area of life. I don’t know whether it is a ‘universal law’ but […]
Why you MUST master your EI!
I have always loved working with teams. Identifying and overcoming the barriers of achieving top performance has been a consistent source of enjoyment and satisfaction for me. I have found the key influencing factor that determines the quality of performance is the measure of our emotional intelligence, our ‘EI’. Emotional intelligence is the ability to […]
Do you have the ‘generosity gene’?
One of my unofficial mentors over the years has been Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric. Welch is considered an expert in business and leadership, with the value of GE rising in value by 4,000% during his 20 years at the helm. During his many years in business, Welch has managed many people in […]
Do you deliver torturous performance appraisals?
I have learned something from providing many performance appraisals in my time. They can be torturous! A badly handled performance appraisal that needs to communicate the need for improvement results in feelings of defensiveness and unhappiness. Often the staff member feels ‘set-upon’ and misunderstood. This is the absolute opposite of the purpose of providing staff […]
To solve problems better, be like Columbo!
I have mentioned in the past that one of the best business books I have read is ‘Leadership’ by former lawyer and politician from New York, Rudi Giuliani. One of the insights I have previously written about is to ‘choose your battles’. You can read more about this here. Another key message that I […]
Why celebration is vital to your future success
I have found when dental teams achieve success, it is often acknowledged, but rarely celebrated. We are very quick to turn attention to the next challenge, leaving the winning feeling of achievement far behind. Life is a collection of experiences. Indeed we are an amalgamation of the emotional attachment we place on these experiences. Our […]
How does Tamara, my paramedic relative, do what she does in traumatic situations?
Have you ever thought to yourself, “if I was first on the scene of a bad car accident, would I dive in and assist immediately, or would I look around for others to help?” I have certainly considered how I would react, hoping that I would be driven by a surge of bravery and heroics. […]
Slow appointment book? What a great opportunity!
There are a number of dental practices who are still enjoying full appointment books. These practices are often those who have been established for many years. Their patient base is one whose loyalty has been cultivated over time through the caring and trusting relationships that have been developed. These relationships are such that patients are […]
Stop shaming or blaming: get to the solution, and the lesson, faster!
I learned early on in my time as a practice owner the importance of developing solutions to problems FAST. A stumbling block to this process that I used to experience is one that I now see JPPS clients suffering. When a problem is caused by a team members’ mistake, for some, there is a desire to bring that […]
The Currency of Employment
Over the years of being both an employee and employer, there here have been particular instances of employee unhappiness that have caused me to deliberate. They have been times when the employer has been seen to do all the ‘right’ things. They pay above-award wages, are clear about all employee entitlements, create a supportive and […]
Set the standard to boost performance!
It has been proven to me time and time again that the best way to raise the performances of those around me, is to lead by example. The ones within a business who hold the strongest commitment to the vision, values and systems are the owners and managers. However as you employ more people to […]
Choose Your Battles
When I became a business owner, one of my intentions was to become an excellent leader. I had experienced many great bosses during my years as a dental nurse and receptionist and I wanted to be one of the better ones for my staff. So, just as I would do for all of my business […]
Respect Your Stakeholders
When you own a business, you are placing yourself in a position where you will have an affect on many people. The way you treat your ‘stakeholders’, or the people that both have a direct impact on your business, and those who are directly impacted by your business, is something you want to get right! […]
How I Got Clear with Staff
Have you ever been surprised by a staff-member tending their resignation? You shouldn’t be. I say they should have felt safe enough, and seen you open enough, to share their feelings before it came to quitting. More on that in a minute… In my early days of staff management, I never used to ask people […]
The Power of Being Heard
During my 10 years of practice ownership, there were many opportunities to challenge my leadership abilities. On one such occasion, it turned out that I was more powerful keeping my mouth shut and ears open. Let me tell you what happened… A string of misunderstandings that eventually led to a harsh confrontation had occurred while […]
The 5 Pillars of Trust
The existence of TRUST is vital to the success of any relationship, whether it be a friendship, a loving partner or the relationship you have with your children. It is also true that the quality of your workplace relationships is directly related to the trust you have developed. It cannot be overstated how important it […]
6 Qualities of a Charismatic Leader
I recently discovered this list of 6 qualities that make a charismatic leader, which was compiled by success.com. Over my many years of researching this topic of leadership, including reading countless autobiographies of great people in their field and/or lives (such as Rudy Giuliani, Elie Wiesel, Sidney Poitier, Nelson Mandela, Eleanor Roosevelt …), this list […]