By DR SIMON HOCKEN
Those of you who know me well know that I am passionate about many things and that fine cars come pretty near the top of the list. My current daily drive is a gorgeous dark blue Jaguar F Type convertible which is still making me smile nearly three years after I bought it.
Recently, I was tempted by an ad in a motoring magazine offering to “re-chip” my car in order to lift the performance by 10 per cent (for me this was a no go of course; it doesn’t need it). The ad claimed this tuning would iron out some of the lumps and bumps in the engine’s power curve, making for smoother, quicker acceleration.
It got me thinking that it would be great if I could send some of the practice owners I meet to be “re-chipped” so that they would come back without all the behaviours that are getting in the way of their success.
I’d have their new chip upload these behaviours:
- Have them spend time on planning the growth of their practice every year
- Have them put aside enough time every week to work on their practice
- Have enough free time to recharge their batteries and have some fun
- Get rid of their fear of change
- Improve the speed of their follow through
- And have them finish what they start in a timely way
- Stop them taking all the profits out of the practice, leaving enough to fund business development
- Help them hire the right people and then have them take enormous care of their team, eliminating their discourteous/rude/emotional behaviours and start praising their team
- Stop them being late and have them be early (every time)
- Have them stop looking around to find someone to blame and take it on the chin
- Improve their self-esteem and have them believe they are worth it
- Stop them being tight with the profits, particularly around staff pay, practice environment, marketing, training, etc
- Accept that they have to walk their talk
- Stop going home early/before the rest of the team
- Make decisions and stick to them, unless they are obviously going wrong
It’d be great wouldn’t it? Swap one chip for another. A painless and quick change…
I’m sorry to say that back on planet Earth, thus far at least, this remains impossible. It is, however, within your potential to make these changes for yourself, and it’s worth it. Especially if you truly want to be successful. The first step is to be honest with yourself: which of your behaviours are really getting in your way?
If you want some help to reset yourself or your team’s behaviours for real, contact me on:
m: 07770 530576
e: simon@breathebusienss.co.uk