Right now the future of our world is being created by students in schools, colleges and universities as they grow their brains, their perspective and their possibilites. Ponder for a minute, how would our future be, if this year they will be studying from the same texts, reading the same books, discussing the same issues and sitting the same exams as they did last year.
Would their lives be enhanced, by doing another year of the same stuff?
Would their creativity be enhanced?
Would their satisfaction levels go through the roof?
Would our nation and the world be more innovative or prosperous as a result?
I don’t think so.
Rather, I suspect that this year our students and those who value their life and their future will be upping the ante, testing new territory, letting go of limited notions, challenging the old, uncovering new knowledge and discovering new abilities.
The process of growth is an accumulative experience, which does not cease when we graduate. We are either growing or we are dying.
The opportunity for learning, discovery and development is present every day of our practice lives and yet all of us at some level dig ourselves into a rut of the familiar, of the usual. We hope that outside circumstances don’t impinge on us too much so that we can eek out a living without too much change to the status quo.
Many a chiropractor claims have 10, 20, 30 or 40 plus years of expereince when in fact they have had one years experience 10, 20,
30 or more times.
If there’s one thing we can count on in our life it is that whatever is going on now, will change. We live in a sea of change. Everything in our universe, our solar system our world and our bodies is changing. Only a fool would try to flout this universal law.
Most chiropractors want to change. They want to learn, grow and expand their practice. They want outreach, they want to be highly effective in their community. But there’s risk in change. Change triggers fears, guilts and aprehensions that render many paralysed and unable to progress beyond a given point in their practice development.
There are physical limits to what one chiropractor can do and this is where the phenomenon of leverage comes in. Leverage in your practice involves hiring great people who can do what you are capabale of doing but dotn need to. This,in the first instance involves a team of great staff and paraprofessionals.
The next level is developing a cohesive associate practice.
When it comes to creating a successful associate driven practice the rigidity and reluctance to embrace change holds chiropractors back, causing them to experience the frustrating ‘same old same old’ where their way, rules, style, methods and mindset are ‘the way’. They spend their life in the comfort zone of control.
Having an associate come onboard is a great opportunity to let go and move to a different dimension of knowledge and growth. At the same time the presence of a colleague on the scene can be challenging.
There are a number of ways in which chiropractors make it difficult to impossible to accept associates into the practice’s culture. These may include such things as:
- Not having a clear practice purpose
- Not defining a vision for clinical care
- Rejecting differing philosophical viewpoints
- Being reluctant to investigate new techniques
- Shunning new or different management styles
- Neglecting to keep the team rallied around a bigger focus that includes all chiropractors
Many ‘issues’ surface when a new member is added to the ‘family’. It causes everyone to shift to some degree in order to accommodate the new assocaite’s presence.
The shift that takes place for chiropractors as they let go of the safety of the familiar and allow themselves to experience the reinvention of their practice is truly transformational. Your associates are truly a gift to you for you to realise more of who you are – if, and this is a BIG ‘IF’ you are willing to let go.
So today, as you settle back into your practice are you going to study the same texts, read the same books, discuss the same issues and sit the same exams as you did last year or will you be upping the ante, testing new territory, uncovering new knowledge and discovering new abilities. Will you commit to doing one thing each day that necessitates you letting go of the shackles of your past and embrace the change that extends, expands and excites you and your practice. This in turn gives your associates more space to ‘play’ under your practice’s ‘umbrella’.
It can be terrifying. It is also enlightening.
Let go and let your practice transform.
Dr Mark Postles
