Thank you so much for coming. I've presented here several times. I love it, I love the group. I'm seeing some familiar faces, which is great. And how many of you have actually hired the first person that you interviewed because they were so good? Has that ever happened to you? Isn't it great? It happened to me twice. And it would be great if we could do that every single time, but we know that's not what's gonna happen. And we know also that people are looking for different things as we are looking for different things as we grow. And although it's a rarity, we also know that we are in charge of making things happen and hiring the right people. And the staff is watching you as you hire that person, right? But this is what we're gonna be looking at today. We're gonna be looking at communication and strengthening those relationships. I also have a book, the book, The Emotionally Intelligent Physician Leader. I'll be giving one away at the end of the presentation. But we are gonna be looking at reminding ourselves is what makes us have best people? What are we really looking for? And how do we hold on? And sometimes when we get that right person, we wanna hold on to them and we learn that the good people will leave because they can find a job anywhere. So we have to take care of that. When we look at the best applicants, what we have to take care of is looking at all sides of the person. We're looking at their personal stuff, even though you can't ask personal, we somehow get that in the interviews, but we want that person that's balanced. And it's interesting that we are looking for that because that's what applicants are looking for as well. They wanna know that we're gonna be around and things like that. We'll go into that more. So what are your priorities? What is the business of compassion? Because when I was a manager, I would always weigh out the compassion part and the money part. And that's what managers do. You're constantly weighing that back and forth and hiring those people that will support that, right? And finding applicants that have a natural compassion is really, really hard to do. You can do all these tests in the world, but you really don't need to do a lot of tests. People learn how to take tests and somebody may have a good day, somebody may have a bad day. So a lot of the personality tests can work, but I think if you have a really good interview and you interview with the right people and have the right people around, you don't need to do that. I think that's an extra step. When you hire for sensitivity and compassion and awareness and emotional intelligence, there are companies that have done this and it reduces turnover by 63%, 63%. And that's because people don't wanna leave because they feel valued. And if you make someone feel valued, that really makes a difference. Now, a lot of us are hiring for that cultural fit, right? We want someone to fit in with our culture, but sometimes people add to our culture. Sometimes we need somebody with a little energy. Sometimes we need someone with a little something difference. We have to be very aware of not hiring people that we like, but people that are very good for the practice. And for retention, that's 63% less turnover also equaled about $250,000 more in collections with companies. That's a lot. Think of your collections people, how in tune they are with their patients and with everybody else. They can actually collect more money. This is what awareness will do for you. Now, thinking about the ad, women are less apt to go for something they're not qualified for. Men will always go for something they're not qualified for. Women are more hesitant. And I think that's very interesting. Women also pay attention to the rules a little bit more than men. And I say, women, get out there, be bold. Why not go for it? I remember going for a job as a project manager about 25 years ago before I started my company. And I was not qualified for it, but I really loved project management. And you never know. I've hired people out of donut shops, out of breakfast buffets, because if they have the right demeanor, you can change and you can't change demeanor, but you can teach anyone a task. So if you find that right person, right? I once got a job in public accounting where somebody asked me, have you ever done this before? And I said, no, but I can do anything you wanna train me to. And she said, I could teach you anything you wanna learn. And that's what got me the job. Because if you have that meeting of the minds when you're interviewing somebody and you connect, that's really, really good. Only 13% are hired on experience. And that's probably because of what I just said. And 40% say communication is the most important thing. Just like when you ask the patient what they want, they wanna be heard. Employees wanna be heard too, right? That's very, very important. So why wouldn't you keep doing that? The ad, the ad says so much. And a lot of times, I think ads have gotten a lot more creative, but I used to work with a doctor that gave out cookies at three o'clock. But I used to work with a doctor, really three o'clock cookies every afternoon. What gives you the edge? Whenever I work with any physician across the country, I say to them, is there any way that, I say to them, why would I come to you as a physician? And they say, I spend more time with a patient and I give a lot of patient education. Every doctor says that. So what do you do that's beyond? And it's the same thing with your groups, right? You ask, what do I do beyond? What do I do beyond that would keep you here, that would make you wanna stay here? Can you go to your kid's spelling bee and take some time off to do that? That work-life balance that we'll talk about too. Technical competencies were last, because again, you can teach that. And no matter where you go, you have to learn some kind of new technology. So that really works well. Looking at the resume. I called a reference on a resume once and it was their boyfriend, right? That's when I learned, you don't look at the phone number, you look at the practice, you look it up, you looked up the practice's number. And you can tell when people are lying. I'm in North Carolina. Anyone here in North Carolina? Yeah, where are you? I'm in Durham. Yep. You Raleigh Ortho? Ortho1C, excellent, excellent. Now I forgot what I was saying, of course. But references, I always looked at the number and I called and I got this boyfriend. Then there was a number that somebody had put, family practice of Raleigh. And you could tell it was a fictitious name. So I called the applicant and I said, which practice was this? And she couldn't tell me. So needless to say, that's as far as it went. I called on another reference and she said, I don't even know you, I'm not gonna talk to you. I mean, so yeah, I mean, obviously this other person did not get the job as well. But looking at the references, look at what they're putting in there. Because it makes such a huge difference. The person that I hired, one of the people I hired on the very first day, I said to her, you're the first person I'm interviewing and I would love to hire you, but they say never hire the first person you interview, but I want you to go home, wash your scrubs because I'll be calling you in a few days. And her resume said, I can do my job and more. That alone was catching, right? So you always ask for a cover letter because you can see if they're cutting and pasting, you can see if they're putting it especially to you, which everybody should, because if they're not putting any effort into it, why would you, right? We all have to look at that. You have to look for those mistakes. Background checks. Everyone here doing background checks? Yes? Yes. And I was here a couple of years ago and there was a practice actually in North Carolina and she was saying that she doesn't check references. And I told her that I knew two people in their area where I caught them embezzling in other practices. And really, please check your references. I think it was like a trend or something, but please check your references. Makes a huge difference. So what does anybody want? I know what I want, right? I wanna feel respect. I wanna feel some leadership. I want some room to grow. This is what people are looking for, compensation and job security. You know, generations ago, people would look for a job, they'd stay 50 million years and they'd retire. That's not so true anymore. But at the same time, if you're gonna be around, they might be around too. They're looking for your success to be their success. And if you help them grow, they will grow with you. It really works. I asked my daughter who's in her 30s, what she would look for in an employer. And she has a great job. She said, I like my job. I want to be here in a year and I wanna know you're gonna be here in a year because so many practices are turning over. I want room to grow no matter what that means. And you'll notice in a medical practice, it's very structured. It's sometimes very hard to find room to move up because somebody does insurance, they've been doing it for a million years. Somebody does this and they don't move. Front desk and nursing are the only ones that keep that turnaround, right? Everyone starts at the front desk and moves on from there. But really looking for that, I wanna know you're gonna be around. And that makes a difference to me because if I'm gonna give you the best years of my life, I wanna know it's gonna be worth it. And contributes to a happy workplace is meaning, autonomy and contributions are at a tie and then pay and then opportunity. Pay is great. Love does not take you to the bank. That's what my stepfather used to say. And it's true. But if you had a wonderful life and you loved walking in the door every day, the pay becomes not the most important thing. We all learned that with COVID. We learned that other things were much more important. And I think our industry, if we can sell this to people who are looking for a job, we are in the very best industry. We're healing people. My sister remembers reading a book about how somebody took care of, it's hard to forget someone who's taken care of you and taken a thorn out of your paw. And it's true. When you help people heal, it's a beautiful thing. I had to have my ACL replaced. And I used to run a PT, the PT department where I had my ACL replaced, the same practice. And it was very interesting being a patient. They were absolutely wonderful. The doctor was 30 minutes late and I told him how I felt about that. But I said, this doesn't have to happen, doctor. It really can be better. Of course, he just sloughed it off. And went on to the next patient. But I'm the patient, I have something to say, right? But we are healing people. And I can walk 20 million steps now. And it's wonderful. And I will never forget the MA and the physician that was an incredible surgeon. Really makes a difference. First impressions. Anyone here been to the Denver Zoo? Yes. This is a tiger. His name is Ben. And first impressions really make a difference. When I was with my friend, she said, he wants to play with me. She said, no, Susan, he wants to eat you, right? I still think he wanted to play with me. I've always wanted to play with tigers. But that makes a very big difference. So when you're having the interview and you're getting first impressions, they're already nervous enough. Make them feel comfortable. Offer them water. When you break bread with someone, it makes them feel more comfortable. There's something about that. And it helps them relax just a little bit more. They might give you a few more answering honestly. So you have to be very precise when you're asking these questions. For example, I was at one job interview and they said, have you done proformas? Oh yeah, I've done proformas and I had. I had done five or six page proformas. They were talking about 83 page proformas, which was really a business plan. It was not a proforma, it was a business plan. And the bankers didn't wanna see it, but that's what they wanted me to do. So I was ill prepared. So please be very exact with your questions and ask circling questions. Go a little deeper. Tell me more. When somebody tells you, well, when the front desk does this and then I do this and I do this and they understand what happens before and after what they're doing, it shows you they really understand the whole process. If they just tell you about their part, they either don't care about the other people or they just don't know how it works. And that might happen in some places because they're really big. But the more understanding anybody has of other people's roles helps everybody work better together. They bond better and then they stay. It's just a nice symbiotic thing. So if you triangulate your answers and also why should I work for you? Ask these questions really. Now there is an exercise. Oh, let me do this first. Yes, on your first page of the app, there is an exercise. And what I would like you to do is it's called first impressions. You can all see this from here, right? But it's first impressions, the interview. And if you look at your app and I will ask you please three things about your practice that makes it very special. If I were someone coming into interview, what would you tell me? Why should I work for you versus somebody else? So if you would write down three things and then anybody can share, I'll give you a moment. Anyone want to shout out what you have? Anything? Yes. Been around since 1976 and continue to grow. You get a prize. Come on up. She said been around since 1976 and continuing to grow. I think a long established practice says a lot. It says you've done your contracts, it says you have good doctors, you have good stability. Here, don't look, just choose. There you go. And then if you would, bring that to, who's the next person? Who would like to say one thing that is special about your practice? Can you give that to them? Thank you. I saw her hand first, so I'll go back here. This is a microphone. Yeah, just pass it around. This is a really cool thing. Retirement and profit sharing. That's big too. People want to plan a good future. Yep. Anyone else? You're supposed to be able to throw that, but I would never do that. We have a staff engagement team that sets up special events throughout the year, like crab feasts and parties and after hours events and stuff like that. So we also do charity organizations that they set up as well, like wheelchair ramp builds and stuff. That's wonderful. One thing we did at the ortho practice I worked at is every, through the holidays, we would have, each department would have a family that we would buy for. And that family, I'm not kidding you, that box was like this high and this wide, just filled with stuff for them. Okay, you want to pass that? We'll get one more. Oh, good catch. Woo, good catch. Morning. I like to tell people when I'm in an interview with them that we have so much growth potential. And I use my example, as I started out as an MA, then I was an MA lead, then I was an operations supervisor. Now I'm an operations manager. So we have growth within, which is really big for people. That is wonderful. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. So there's very important things about interviewing. When you're looking at people, the body language and mirroring is really, really important. How many of you know about body language? I have never looked at a group the same way, right? It's the way you're sitting, it's the way you're standing. It really makes such a huge difference. So when you're looking at the body language, I mean, I once interviewed somebody for the front desk and she came and she sat down and she did this. You know, she was terrified. And I had to tell her to relax, but she was so meek. You can't hire a meek person for the front desk, it doesn't work. And the other thing was I was walking, I would always have the interviews for the front desk in the very back of the building because I wanted to see how fast they would walk down the hallway. And because you know, you gotta be fast, the front desk. So this woman was walking like this. Now it was nothing against her. She could have done another job just fine, but the front desk was not for that person, right? We have to look at the body language. Now, when you're sitting with someone and you're interviewing them, sitting across from someone is very confrontational. If you can sit next to them or catty corner, it makes a very big difference in the approach. It's more familial and it's more bonding and you can see the whole body. You can see how their legs move. You can see if they're squirming a little bit more. You can see if they're tapping their foot. Things like that that you can really see that you would not see otherwise. And it's just a friendlier approach. Every single person says, oh, we're family, we're family. But it's the body language and they're watching the staff. They're looking at everything. I remember getting one job and they were asking me and they said, we're being very picky about who we're hiring. And I said, well, that's good because I'm picky about who I'm gonna work for. And I think that got me the job as well. It was wonderful. But what is the universal body language? Does anyone know? What does anyone respond to instantly when you see it? Who said smile first? Come get it. Who said smile? If there were two, you can come get it. Well, one of you come. But it's true, a smile. And I was doing a workshop at a dermatology practice and I was telling them that. And they said, well, everyone's wearing masks. How can you tell when they smile? There you go. How can you tell when you're smiling? And I said, well, their eyes, you have to put those glasses on. And when the eyes pull back, that's how you can tell when somebody's truly smiling instead of that fake smile. And they said, oh no, we give Botox, you can't tell. So I had no idea. But if you're talking to somebody in the hallway and they're like this, they could be stubborn, they could be cold. If they're like this, they're actually just waiting for you to say something else. If they're standing with their legs kind of crossed, I don't know if you can see, but your legs kind of crossed, it means, okay, I'm listening to you and I'm kind of neutral and I'm gonna see what else I can do with you. Now, if they're standing with their feet pointing away from you towards the door, they don't wanna be with you. They wanna be somewhere else. Look where their feet are pointed, these little things. If somebody is sitting down and they cross their knee and it's pointing towards you, that's confrontational. We all have things, survival is our strongest instinct and our body reflects those instincts. So paying attention to that and mirroring body language is very important. You can get a lot out of someone by mirroring their body language and you make them comfortable with it. And one of those things is actually when they're speaking, if you repeat the last three or four words they say, they will go deeper into it. So you have this issue with Susan, tell me more about it. Oh, I did this and this and this. And when you did this, what happened? And they just go deeper and deeper into it. So it's a great way to go deeper into questions. And showing conversation, focusing on the conversation and taking notes, nodding your head, showing you're paying attention. Just whatever works with doctors, guys. You've learned how to do this. That's what you do with your people that you're interviewing as well. So you're creating that positive culture and it really makes a difference. Your personnel policies are very important. And that's something that I would stress as well. Those personnel policies. I think they're very, very important. Everyone wants a psychologically safe workplace. Now, generations are very different and every office I go into, there is a specific generation that talks to me about anxiety. And this is a younger generation and it's real anxiety. And anxiety does not go away. It stays there. So if somebody feels really good about being there, that's psychologically safe. If I can speak up and speak freely, that's my place. That's where I want to be, where I feel like I'm accepted from that no matter what I am. That's beautiful. And we're all different people. We don't have to be the same, right? Gender identity and expression, respecting that. For bereavement leave, what I used to do was if somebody was on bereavement leave and they were coming back on a Sunday and they had to go to work on a Monday, I would tell them, if they could take an extra, they could do it. But a lot of times they push it to that last day anyway. But I would tell them, sleep in until you wake up and just come in late. Don't worry about it. We'll cover it for you until then. And that way they're relaxed when they wake up. They don't feel stressed and they feel really comfortable. And they appreciate you giving that little bit of extra TLC. Don't worry about getting up early. We know you flew in late last night. Just come in just sometime before noon. Just call us and let us know when you're coming in. And that shows respect and compassion for your fellow person. And that really works well. Never just count the loyalty factor. The loyalty factor is what keeps embezzlement lower at medical practices than other industries because we are loyal to what we do. And policies built with respect make a huge difference. Reimburse for volunteerism. You had mentioned special events that you have, things like that. That's a wonderful thing to do. It bonds people. We used to go to baseball games, the Durham Bulls. The Durham Bulls are really good to go to. And also employee assistance programs. If you have them longer than two weeks, it's a waste. It's a waste. Because they're either gonna get better or they're not. You talk to them on Friday. If they're not gonna get better by Monday, if they haven't made up their mind, you got somebody hanging around for four months just poisoning the system. And all your good people are going, why are they still here? Because they're not doing any better. They'll either get better or not. So I think EAP programs have their place, but I would make them much shorter. I would make them a month long. I really would. I wouldn't make them three or four or five months long. And also, who has a great idea that's worked really well for you with getting somebody in that positive culture? I think actually you said that already with having those events and everything. That's really good. But any other ideas of what you sell for your practice? Yes. With my team, I manage the billing staff and my co-workers all work from home. And our practice, our coders are underpaid, very much underpaid. And so I do the leniency thing with them. You get your eight hours. I don't care what time that is. You just work it. If you need to leave and go get your kid, leave and go get your kid. But that's kept my coders from leaving to make much more money. I, like you, work for the cheapest man on the planet. Yeah. He really was. I had to justify buying window envelopes instead of regular envelopes. I had to tell him that writing the name of the vendor twice took more labor time than the cost of the envelope. And that wasn't the end of the story. Yes, yes. I know just what you mean. Yes. So I'm not sure if AAOE still has this, but they had a mentorship program. Mentorship and bonding are so hand in hand. And you can have reverse mentorship. You don't have to have older people with younger people. You have younger people with older people showing them things. And it's a very big bonding thing. And it also allows the employee to see different perspectives from different generations. We all have different views, right? So it's the different priorities. We all are in the system, but we all learn it in different ways. We all have our own shortcuts. And instead of just being shown one way, if you're introduced to a lot of different ideas, it really helps people meet in the middle. And no one knows anybody better than you guys. You all have the same issues. You all have the same problems. You all have the same greatness. So you can all compare to each other. AAOE is invaluable to you. It's absolutely wonderful. And using that, that camaraderie. My husband is the most wonderful man in the world. He's understanding, but he doesn't understand what it's like in a medical practice like we do. So that's absolutely huge. Exit interviews. How many of you do this? It's a really good thing to do. What is that saying from World War II? Something like, loose lips sink ships. And it's true because people are on their way out. They will tell you things about themselves. They'll also tell you things about others. Use that as an advantage. And it also helps you feel better. It really does. It helps you learn more about it. So communication with staff is really important. This is the second page of your workbook or the third page, actually. But what are the three most important things that are your priorities and leadership that you would want to tell your staff? Because we may think we are putting out a message, but sometimes we're not. So please just think about what are the three things that are most important to you. Write them down and we'll talk about it in a minute. What do you want to tell your staff that's most important to you? Normally, I mean, for the week I do send the schedule, their schedule, my schedule, their schedule, because I manage different sites. So my schedule, their schedule, who's supporting which provider for the schedule. As you know, the schedule changed like weekly. And the third thing, where are we with as far as budget? Very good. Thank you. Anyone else? The basic tools that they need to do their job, if we're bringing on a new provider, a new policy, a new procedure, the information ahead of time so they're not being caught off guard. Very good. Thank you. So that their contribution to the team matters and, you know, how they fit into the process. Come up, get a prize. Oh, thank you. Yes. People want to feel valued from day one. They really do. I used to spend the first half day of anybody who was new, I would spend the first half day with them just to make them feel at home, introducing them to people, taking in the walls. My three are, I'm here to help you whenever you need. Be on time. Thank you. Be on time. Because I'm a real stickler about being on time. Because your other coworkers, they're on time and they're waiting for you and it's just rude not to be on time. It's just one of those things I have. And you know, I think just respect everybody. And if you have a problem, come to me because we can take care of it. Those are the three. Anyone else? Is that it? Okay. I'm sorry. We're getting short on time. I always make my presentations too long for the time allotted. There's so much to say. So with toxic people, gossip is absolutely huge. It's okay if there's a little bit of it. It's healthy in the manner of people are naturally curious. But once you get into clicks and it becomes a barrier to other people being able to do their job, it is not good. And I guarantee you the good ones will leave because they don't have to stay. I know I've said that a million times, but we know it. It's very true. So how many people have left due to gossip and clicks forming? Think about that in your practice. People need to feel accepted. They really do. And Maya Angelou used to say, I'm not in it. When somebody would try to gossip, I'm not in it. The other day, somebody tried to gossip about somebody and my daughter said to them, you know, if you feel that bad, you should really go to a supervisor and talk about that. Right? She's so diplomatic. She's amazing. I wish I had half of that for her. But being as transparent as possible, saying the same thing to everybody so some things cannot be misinterpreted. If you're doing projects, you're doing assignments and you want to put them up in the staff lounge, do so so people see that. But the more you lead to question, the more people will question. And there are some people that just stir it up. They just do it. And the best people, you want them to stay. So another thing about getting people to stay is confidence in people and backing them up. If the front desk knows that the manager and the back desk has got their back, they will fly because they can work with confidence because they know somebody is supporting them. And it's the same exact way with every single employee. I once had a job where my boss said to me, she introduced her with, my job is to make it so you can do your job better. I felt like I could take over the world. And I still love this woman. She actually ended up editing my book because she ended up working for another company and she turned out to be the editor for my book. Just wonderful. If you feel good about being there and people are making you feel good about being there, it makes all the difference in the world. People also have to feel what the end result is, right? Because people have to feel like they're doing something. They have to feel a part that's a bigger part of themselves, that bigger than themselves. For example, Angela at the front desk said to me, you know, I just don't feel like I'm ever getting anything done. I feel like the hamster in the wheel. And it's true. The front desk comes in, they go, but they don't feel the completion of the visit. So I said, when you've scheduled that patient correctly, you've done your job because you've affected the workflow. Doctors have no idea how much front desk affects their workflow, right? But the front desk, when you've gotten the information and you've entered it correctly, that means that claim is going to get paid the first time you've done your job. We won't have to come back and get more from billing. So you let them know how every single step of what they do is so important to completing the job. And if the workflow is good and the patient is seen on time, the patient's happy, the doctor's happy, that's huge. Having that workflow responsibility, right? And also, if you're a manager and you're in a size practice where you can do this, check in a patient once in a while. Nobody's above working, doing anything. If just like when you're in a restaurant and you see bus boys bussing the tables and you see waiters bussing the tables and you see the manager bussing the tables, that's somebody who you know is pitching in. And again, if I know somebody who's pitching in and helping me, I'll work for you forever because you're valuing my role and you're supporting that. And I really like that. What is the one thing that people like to hear most when you're asking somebody something? Do you know what that is? Two words. Prize. Who is it? Yes. You want to come get it? Oh, you have one. Okay. Who else said thank you? Anybody? Uh-oh. Okay. We'll leave that alone. But that really is. That's an old Dale Carnegie thing. Thank you and your name are the two things. So thank you, Susan, for doing this. When you say someone's name, they perk up. They really do. They perk up. It's an identification thing. So helping staff meet goals. We have five generations right now. Five generations is an awful lot of people. And we have the baby boomers. That's me, right? Some are headed to retirement, but we want that comfort. We have a lot to offer. We like to work remotely and we like to contribute and we like to mentor because we like paying it forward. There's a lot I can tell people. Take advantage of your older workers. They want to contribute. And especially if they're on the way out and they're thinking of retiring, there's a wealth of knowledge in there. Years and years of experience. And then Generation X, 65 to 80, they're the ones that are framing our organization now. They are the ones. They are the biggest workforce right now. Generation Y, 84% are willing to do freelance or contingent. And these are the ones that are sometimes hard to hold on to because, remember, they also entered the workforce, a lot of them, and were in the middle of their beginning years of experience when COVID hit. So they learned how to work remote much quicker than we did. So it was just a very interesting transition, and now they're willing to do that. They're willing to move for something good, but they're willing to stay for something good too. It's our job to say what is worth saving and what is worth staving for. And Gen Z is a quarter of the population. And they're very interesting because their culture is based on mental health and wellness. And we want to offer that, right? We want to offer that to people. You can keep your job and you can have your family life too. That's what COVID taught us. That's why I think it was so hard to have people come back because people learned that your job is not the end all of everything, right? The family is much more important. And with anything, please rid stereotypes. We have stereotypes of certain generations. I've heard for years how the younger generation doesn't want to do this, do that. You give them something to sink their teeth into and a value and a mission, and they will do it. And that's what healthcare is. We're healing people. It's consistent. People are always sick. They're always going to need our help. That's never going to go away. It is continual. Only 1% of CPOs say that they're going to be calling in everyone to work. We've told people that 25% of jobs are going to be remote. It's hard to do in a medical practice because we have to be there for the patients. But of course, there are certain things you can do, appointments, referrals, scheduling, all sorts of things you can do, either remote through Zoom, you can do PT on Zoom, all sorts of things you can do. But we have to also think about our communication strategies as people are working in different places, right? So if somebody is working at home and somebody is working in the office and you're having a Zoom meeting, have everybody sit at their desk so everybody can see everybody's faces so everybody is on even ground instead of everybody in a group and then individual people at home. It really makes a difference. Even a brief conversation over Zoom or in any kind of venue that you want to use with somebody working at home helps them feel in touch. If you have a once a week touch base, 15 minutes, how is this going? Someone wants to ask me, what do you expect them to do at home? How do you gauge that? The same way you gauge it at work. If you're supposed to do a certain amount of claims at home, that's what they're still supposed to do. And it's easier to do. I get to work at home. It's much easier to work at home without those 35 people at your doorway waiting to see you, right? Or asking you questions. Having a structured plan for remote, a lot of you have already had that and trust is huge. Some people want to come in and the first thing they say is, can this job be remote? And you can say, after a year, yes, it could be if you meet the expectations. And you can give it some time. It's not going to be automatic. But really, if you're calling somebody into the office to be there all the time, don't keep having Zoom meetings all the time because why would I come into the office if you're just going to keep having these Zoom meetings? So think about what you're doing and balancing out that time of day and how you're having those meetings. So provider report. And this is what a lot of my book is about, is getting that provider support and working with staff and patients. I was in one ortho practice and I was shadowing a physician and he said, who's that person over there? And I said, that's Carolyn. He said, when did she start? I said, eight years ago. Physicians protect themselves. They don't want to go up front because they don't want patients to see them. We have an emotional bank account. And if I'm at the front desk and I never see the doctor and I know you're saying hi to the nurses all the time, that's not nice. So you have to come up and even just saying good morning makes a huge difference. It's the little things that count. Just like any relationship in our lives. It's the little things that count that make the difference. That's what keeps you there, right? You have resources. What do I need to do my job? I once went to a practice and the first thing someone said to me when I walked in the doors, I'm not qualified to do my job. Because she was terrified of being fired because she was not trained. Give people the tools they need and they will fly. Professional certifications make a big difference. You can have a master's, you can have a bachelor, you can have anything you want. But it's timed. Healthcare has changed 30 minutes, right? So if you got a degree 10 years ago, how much has healthcare changed? So those professional certifications make a huge difference. It keeps you up with everything that's current internationally and nationally. It's very good. And it affirms your leadership. And that's true for your staff too. So disagreements and differences are really, really important. Conflict, it's okay to make a mistake. Show that you're human. And that makes them be able to approach you more, right? The hardest conflict is the unspoken. But it's really spoken amongst your staff. They just don't do it around you. And again, the good people will leave and the bad people will stay. So approach it. And if you've ever noticed, if you've ever approached conflict, a lot of your staff will come up to you and say, oh, I'm really glad you did that. We were waiting for you to do something. And again, you have to nip it in the bud. You really do. You have to take care of it. And exposing your vulnerability is good. It lets people see that you're human. And it's how we handle it from that point on. And we all want to be respected for who we are, right? That's everybody does. So for open up to cultural differences, that really makes a difference. I think we're like a quilt of care. We have all different people, all different sizes, all different colors, but we all come together and we're there to care for people. And being aware of those preferences and necessities makes a huge difference. So how many times does it take to create a habit? Anyone know? Surprise for this. How many? Six weeks. It's funny people put in time. Someone else told me a month and a half. But how many times do you have to do something? 66. It's a lot, but this is when it automatically becomes habit. And I think the six weeks is from you're doing one cycle of a month and you're doing one cycle of something. And 66 sounds like a lot. But think of your front desk. How many patients are they checking in a day? Think of your nurses. How many people are they calling in a day? It doesn't take long to get to 66. Now it is hard to make a change sometime, that's true. Now this is another thing that I wanted you to do. And we have four minutes. So I'm just going to tell you about this and you can look at this on your app. It's the Emotional Intelligence Temperature. So look at it on your app. It's a list of priorities of what you would like to know from your staff. And these are experience-based questions. You can take these and use these for your staff and you will get an actual, you will get a pattern. You will see if the insurance department is not responding well. There are questions like, the feeling I have as I enter the office every morning is, and it goes everywhere from exasperating to excellent. There was one job I got nervous every time I walked into the office, I didn't like it. And beyond that point, I think I lasted a month. You want people to feel good about walking in. My ability to maintain control in a confrontational situation is. And if people say exasperated, but if you look at your app, you will see these questions in your workbook and feel free to use them. Another one is dealing with change here is. My supervisor's respect for me is. My communication with my staff members and peers are. So you're seeing how people are communicating. If you do this anonymously throughout your practice, you will see patterns because it's not anonymous to you, but you will see patterns in your practice and you can approach it. You can even approach it when you're doing a big project, have it be project-based. But doing that makes a world of difference because people can ask this honestly. Work alignment is absolutely huge. How many people have a, it's called a boundary ritual, where you go home and you do something physical to take care of yourself, to make yourself totally relaxed from work? Does anyone have something really good they do to totally detach? You just stay stressed all the time? I have a four to five minute drive, so sometimes that's in silence. Sometimes that's, I can't, it's just an emotional day. So everybody always talks about my long drive and I'm like, it's the end of the day. It does. It puts you in a whole thing, a whole new thing. My brother-in-law used to, he was gone a lot. He traveled a lot. But when he came home, he would just get home and just jump into the pool with the kids. You know, do something different. If you can take a nice hot shower, I listen to loud music and sing all the way. And that kind of distracts me. You know, everyone has their thing that they do, but it needs to be something physical. If you wear contacts, you could take your contacts out, put your glasses in, you know, something physical that takes that away. And not everybody, we have to remember too, that not everybody has the gusto for the job that we do, right? So putting in an extra little bit of time is not really too much for us, but it might be for somebody who just wants to come and work to pay their rent or wants to work nine to five. There are those people, right? They say only 30% of people are engaged, but I think there could be more. I really do. And I used to have up to 60% engaged. And you know, you want 100%, but it's just not going to happen. So what you can do now is consider why somebody would want to work for your practice. That's what you want to stress. Everybody sees, oh, we're a family, we're this and that. Put something extra, make it fun, really. I had one interview, one person I was hiring, it was actually, we were putting the DEXA scan in at the ortho practice. And I was interviewing and we couldn't find anybody. So I made it a lot of fun. I said, we work hard, we have a lot of fun, we have free snacks, come and check us out. Your workday is Monday through Friday, no extra things, you know, that kind of thing. And they loved it. We got an incredible candidate. She was amazing. Review your personnel policies and manual, because that really makes a difference if people are staying. If they see it's not supported, they're not going to stay. And let each staff member know why they're valued, how they're contributing. If you're looking for education, look around and give yourself a break, too. You're working very hard. Give yourself a break. Because if you get overworked, you're not any good to anybody. If we have time for questions, but first I wanted to give my book away. And the handouts, I thought were going to be printed, but they weren't. So what I'm going to do is, who can guess my birthday month? And then we'll go from there. June. June. August. December. October. July. May. Who said May? You got it. May. August. October. July. May. It's funny, everyone went into the seasons, went into the seasons, that's great. But please remember that we are in no better industry. Thank you. Can you stick around? I want to take a picture. Thank you. Hope you like that. Show that to your doctors too. They need it. They do. But we're in no better industry than healing. And I think selling this to people, when you sell something to someone and we make people feel better. When I speak for oncologists, I tell them they make people's lives feel better. And I can tell you that my brother passed away about two years ago. And I went to see him about three times before he passed away. And we had lots of talks with doctors and nurses and everybody. And it was because of the communication that we were able to be stronger and take care of him at home until he passed away. And if it weren't for that support from practices and from MAs and managers and everybody like you, you are the one that made it happen that families can make the healing so much better. And if you can sell that to anybody, that's a really big selling point because everyone can identify with being sick and getting better. It's an honor to be here again and thank you very much.

communication

building relationships

positive work culture

medical practice

hiring

emotional intelligence

diversity

conflict resolution