All About You FRIDAY – Be the Team You Want (Mornings with Bob)

Teamwork spelled with wooden blocks on table

I never intended to be a business owner. I was perfectly happy working an 8-hour day with full benefits and for the first 12 years of my career, I was a great employee. But I had ideas and executing those ideas within the confines of my current job was proving to be limiting.

“You’re just sticking your toe in the water,” my life-long entrepreneur husband said. I had launched a seminar business while still hanging on to my day job. It felt like the least risky thing I could do. “Maybe it’s time you jumped in,” he added.

And so I did.

I quit my job. Found a location. Hired a team. Spent a lot of money. And we opened our doors. I’ve never just worked an 8-hour day since.

I didn’t know how to be a boss, really, but I knew what lit the fire in me to even break away from the security of employment: my curiosity and my need to think differently. I had taken a job a few years prior instructing kinesiology (the study of human movement) at a local community college. As I prepared each lecture, I realized we were missing the boat on solving people’s pain problems by being too short-sighted.

So, I started a think tank. If I had an idea, I would share it with the people I worked with and encourage them to try it. If it worked, I kept the idea. If it didn’t work, I learned from it. This think tank became the basis of my business.

My first clinic actually had a dedicated think tank room. Each week, we would block out 90-minutes and assemble in that room. We plastered giant sticky notes on the walls and we would brainstorm ideas to solve musculoskeletal problems. It was a room that encouraged free thinking and ideas. I loved that room.

But think tanks can be expensive. Paying people to sit in a room and talk instead of treating patients doesn’t directly help your bottom line. And after I opened my second clinic, things got crazy. I stopped doing weekly think tanks because it was a bigger hassle to assemble both teams in one place. My focus went to finances and figuring out how to make a profit. And all of a sudden, I felt like I had to be a boss.

Morale dropped. I had to field more complaints from staff and clients. For the first time, my work felt like a job.

Bob had something to say about that. “One thing I emphasize is to always demonstrate the behavior you want to see in others. On the surface this sounds superficial itself and psychobabble. But it’s based on good research.”

“Humans learn first and most often through mimicry,” he added. “The reason we need social contact so much is that is how we learn from each other especially the most effective behavior but also specific skills (it’s why you teach).”

He told a story of a client who was having trouble getting team members off their laptops or phones during meetings. “My solution was simple,” he said. “It was…don’t say a word or announce anything. No rules. These are adults. Simply stop bringing your computer to the meeting. Instead bring a pen and small tablet. Lay it in front of you. Within three meetings almost everyone (there’s always at least one) will stop bringing their laptops. And the ones who persist are either oblivious to social signals or aren’t aligned with you which is good to know. It’s a simple test and gets the behavior you need to be effective.”.

The power of non-verbal communication.

He was right again. The fire that was lit in me to make a difference in people’s lives, to think differently, to be curious and solve problems needed to be at the core of my business. I re-established the think tanks and when I discovered something, I shared it with the team. I started teaching my patients the “why?” behind the “what?” and began hearing my staff do the same.

It’s some of the best advice I’ve ever received. You don’t need to tell people what to do or how to act. Just be the team you want. The bills will get paid, you’ll love your job and you’ll change a few lives along the way.

It’s been a long week. Don’t forget to celebrate.

Until next time…