Do you remember what finals week was like in chiropractic school?  Long hours, pushing through exhaustion, getting your studying done. Not that it was healthy, or how you would want to function long term, but sometimes we have to hear Dr. Sid’s voice saying, “Do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, whether you like it or not”.

I find many chiropractors forget what it’s like to have the pedal to the metal. They are used to being on cruise control.  As chiropractic coaches and consultants, we work with our chiropractors to shift their communications and procedures to a TRUE Wellness Model of practice. And sometimes they get halfway through establishing a new (and stronger) foundation of Visit 1 and 2 and get stopped.  They feel overwhelmed and frustrated. And we have remember that, “Rome wasn’t built in a day”.

The truth is, having a successful chiropractic practice is simple, but not easy. If it was, everyone including you, would already be thriving.  Keep in mind your results in practice are directly proportionate to your communication skills and our level of certainty.  And if we want to change the results we are getting, we have to not only change our procedures and skills, we have to also change ourselves. Sometimes we have to push through with motivation like it’s finals week, to get to the next level. Without this push through The Dip, we’ll never get the results and changes we are looking for in a timely manner.  And we all want results yesterday!

Are you ready to take your practice to the next level? Do you want to thrive in a TRUE Wellness Model? If you’re ready to work, we’re ready to help!

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Tags: Chiropractic Coach, Chiropractic Consultant, finals week, frustration, hard work, overwhelm, Results, The Dip

In the book, Change or Die by Alan Deutschman he studies the 3 keys of change, and what works and doesn’t work.

In a recent blog post, Ask vs. Tell, I explored the power of asking questions to shift consciousness, beliefs and therefore behaviours.   This follow-up post is meant to look at the two types of questions we can ask: Scare Questions or Care Questions. What do I mean?

A good portion of our profession and practice management companies uses scare tactics and fear to manipulate people to do what we want.  Our perspective, at Rosen Chiropractic Coaching is that fear and manipulation have no place in a chiropractic wellness model.  We stand for clean communication with compassion.

In Change or Die, Alan Deutschman explores the three “F” words: Force, Facts and Fear and why they don’t work. When the three “F” words become too much, people go into denial as a protective mechanism. They make irrational decisions that could cost them their life (only 10% of heart attack patients changed their lifestyle despite the fear and threats).  In contrast, Dr. Dean Ornish had 75% of heart attack patients change their lifestyle with the three “R” words: Relate, Reframe, Repeat.

So we need to relate to the people we care for. We need to build rapport, bond, connect, offer hope and relieve their fears.  We need to reframe their consciousness and beliefs about health, and ask questions to shift their current paradigm, to plant seeds and teach under the radar. And we need to repeat these questions in our daily interactions, our Touch-Tell-Ask-Teach and find ways for people to become successful every visit, working towards a new goal. We as their doctor, need to lead them, inspire them and empower them.  And we need to create a culture in our office creates a supportive community.

Because making changes in life can be challenging and these new behaviours need to be reinforced with love and support, not fear and commitment. This is exactly what we do at Rosen Coaching to help you have a thriving wellness practice! We address the 3 R’s in the LAASR Mastery process. If you want a communication system based on the 3 R’s then give us a call!

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Tags: Alan Deutschman, Ask vs. Tell, care tactics, Change or Die, Chiropractic Coach, Chiropractic Coaching, Chiropractic Practice Management, Chiropractic Wellness Model, communication, Denial, Facts, Fear, Fear Tactics, Force, Leadership, Reframe, Relate, Repeat, scare tactics, Scare vs. Care, True Wellness Model, wellness chiropractic practice management

For many people, their understanding of health, where it comes from and how to stay well is as deeply ingrained as some smoker’s beliefs about smoking.

We are living and practicing chiropractic in a medical world. Although we are in a shift of a wellness revolution, the majority of people who show up in your chiropractic office are bombarded by big pharma advertising and years of thinking that health comes from drugs or surgery.  And it is your job to change their mindset and beliefs about health and healing, where it comes from and how to get it. Good luck!

Most chiropractors I coach and consult, or speak with in the field tell me that they educate the people in their office.  And the usually follow up with, “but they still don’t get IT.”  And if they did get it, our entire profession would already have thriving, true wellness chiropractic practices.  So something’s not working in our approach…

What does educate mean? To most chiropractors, they lecture and talk ‘at’ their people until they are blue in the face and the person is tuned out. There is an important distinction to make, between educating by telling or educating by asking good questions.

Try and convince a smoker that smoking is bad for him.  Tell him all the things he already knows (or doesn’t) that it is killing him. Use fear. Use threats. Use your authority as a doctor. Lecture until you’re blue in the face.  Does anything change for the smoker? Nope, he still doesn’t ‘get it’.  That’s right, his beliefs and mindset haven’t shifted one bit from all of your telling.

And this is what most chiropractors who are not having high retention, thriving wellness practices are doing.  Trying to educate by telling.  I gotta tell you, from my experience, that’s never going to work. Why? Because it’s from the outside-in, it is your idea and not theirs. Because how do human beings do react when someone tells them what to do? Resist. So you get decreased compliance, they like you less and wonder when you’ll use your authority again to get them to do what you want.

Remember a smart guy named Socrates? His philosophy was one of asking questions to have the person think. And since doctor in Latin means ‘teacher’, it’s about time our profession stopped lecturing and started asking better questions to really teach the chiropractic principle of health. Why? Because when a person thinks, processes and answers a question, it comes from the inside-out and they own it.  Since it was their idea, there is no resistance, they feel valued and given a voice. There is increased  compliance and likeability and you don’t use authority, you use leadership. How’s that for congruence with chiropractic philosophy?

But oh wait, there’s one more benefit.  Not only will they ‘get it’, understand health, healing and chiropractic at a deeper level, but do you think that it is easier for them to refer their friends and family if they can articulate their newfound understanding themselves?  And the practice itself grows from the inside out by high retention and high internal referrals.

So the trick is to find out how to ask better questions during every interaction of Visit 1, Visit 2, Daily Interactions, Re-Assessments, Re-Reports and in handling difficult questions. We coach chiropractors this day in and day out.  It will transform your practice, your relationship and your life. And you’ll help shift the consciousness of the world. Let us know if we can help.

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Tags: Asking, Authority, Beliefs, Chiropractic Coach, Chiropractic Consultant, Chiropractic Philosophy, Chiropractic Practice Management, Chiropractic Practice Success, Chiropractic Principle, communication, Convince, Educate, Fear Tactics, Health, High Retention, Inside-Out, Internal Referrals, Lecture, Medicine, Mindset, Outside-In, Questions, Results, scare tactics, Shift Consciousness, Socrates, Telling, True Wellness Practice, wellness revolution

I’ve been learning to surf since 2005. It’s tough since I don’t live on or near a coast - so I have to travel far and  wide for surf. Both the east and west  coasts of Canada have surf (brrr) and  we’ve fallen in love with warm water  surf of Central America.

Despite not being able to surf on a regular basis, I’ve seen some great improvements in my skill with the investments of time and money that I’ve made so far, yet I’m not where I want to be. There is still lots of surf I can’t handle, and sometimes my surfing gets worse instead of better (Re: My Christmas Vacation in Costa Rica). 

Yet here are the things I’ve learned from surfing that apply directly to succeeding in chiropractic practice.  And as a chiropractic coach and consultant, I work with chiropractors day in and day out on these challenges as they show up in practice. Whether you surf or not, you’ll get this:

• Success and mastery won’t just come to you. You have to create it.  It is not a matter of ‘luck’.
• Your head space and mindset matters! Your subconscious mind is always looking to validate what you believe to be true. Check your head or get a coach to check it for you.
• Get clear on your big vision and keep it in the forefront of your mind, even when you are not getting results. Keep perspective.
• Set realistic goals to reach your vision.
• Don’t be so hard on yourself. It doesn’t help you get what you want any faster or easier. It probably makes matters worse.
• Plan your work and work your plan. Consistent action is the only way to achieve your goals. Actions are the small things that create the BIG thing: Success!
• Repetition is key. Just because you’ve done something once doesn’t mean you don’t need to practice.  
• Recognize the first step is unconscious incompetence: you don’t know what you don’t know. A scary place!
• Next is conscious incompetence: you know what you don’t know.  At least you can seek out answers and get help.
• Then comes conscious competence and you start to get the mechanics of the skill. Ahhhhh finally! If you want to be mediocre, stop here.
• After hard work and refinement, it becomes unconscious competence where you don’t have to think about what you are doing because it is so ingrained in your nerve system - and you are on your way to mastery!
• As soon as you think you’ve got a skill, something will happen and you’ll be back at square one again. Shake it off and go again.
• Patience is key - you can’t rush nature and you can’t push the universe.
• Be prepared, develop strong foundational skills and work hard - the opportunity will come to you when you are ready.
• Results don’t happen immediately!  Real successes are not quick fix solutions. Get to the cause.
• Don’t always do what everybody else is doing. Be exceptional.
• Be grateful for what you have and what you are given! Gratitude every step of the way is key.
• Take responsibility for everything.
• Get back up. Paddle back out.
• Everything has a Dip: excitement phase, frustration phase, uphill battle phase, and then success.
• Don’t start something unless you want to push through The Dip to get to the other side - otherwise it is a complete waste of time and money.

Chiropractic practices always have a Dip, whether it be starting a practice from scratch, buying an existing practice, or changing your practice from a pain-based model to a wellness model.  We get excited by the idea and we start the process.  We soon get frustrated by the lack of immediate success, wonder what we got into and either quit or press on.  Those who continue to keep their vision big and take action on their plans eventually push through The Dip.

Your DIP could be building a dream team staff, it could be breaking through the glass ceiling of the volume you’ve always maxed out at, it could be starting your practice, or changing your chiropractic practice to a wellness model. Or something else entirely.  But your good idea starts to seem like a bad idea when you are in The Dip. That’s when you know you need help!

If you want support getting through The Dip, email me.  I’d be honoured to help coach and consult you through the process and help you get the success in chiropractic practice you are looking for!

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Tags: communication, Success, Surfing, The Dip, wellness practice management

As a chiropractor, do you know what your vision is? Do you know why you get up every day and do what you do?  Without a clear vision of where you are headed it can be hard to stay the course.  Just like a raft guide who doesn’t know where he’s headed, a chiropractor without a vision can get easily lost. If you can’t clearly articulate your vision, that is the first thing to master to have success in practice.  Because you are not just leading yourself, you are leading your team and the people you take care of.

Your mission is how you are going to accomplish your vision. What will it take to get there?  It answers the 5 W’s of who, what, where, when and why. Your vision and mission is what guides your everyday action and reduces the overwhelm of your To-Do list.  It is essential to start with the big picture in mind to have a successful wellness practice and life for that matter!

Like the raft guide, you are steering the raft of your office for the people you serve, your team, and the community.  Do you know which direction you are headed?  Are you padding upstream or with the current flow of the river of life? Your vision and mission are essential to being able to course correct with wellness practice management principles.  As a chiropractor, are you stepping up to the level of leadership required to save lives in your community?

Next, what does it take to have a successful wellness chiropractic practice? Have you got what you need and are you implementing the strategies to do so? Just like the raft guide has to pack meticulously to have the correct rations of food, tools, supplies and emergency necessities, do you know exactly what you need to run a wellness practice and in the correct amounts?  Or does it feel like you are flying by the seat of your pants (or hanging on to your life jacket)?  May I suggest that you start to look at your practice as if you were a raft guide, who is responsible for the lives, the well-being, the nourishment, and the enjoyment of yourself and others on your journey.  Nothing can be left to chance in the wilderness ~ have a vision, make a plan, have what you need and course correct to be in the flow of life and success! But don’t wing it… your happiness and the health of your community depends on it.

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Tags: chiropractic, Leadership, mission, Practice Management, Success, vision, wellness, wellness chiropractic practice management

It is time for our chiropractic profession to shift.  It is time to tell the truth to the world and to ourselves.  It is time to stop fitting in to a medical infrastructure and practice model and to stop selling ourselves short by selling ‘pain relief’.  Aspirin or Tylenol is way cheaper than your services.

Here’s to the crazy ones ~ the chiropractors who want to push back against the status quo.  The ones who are standing their ground, practicing wellness chiropractic and not the treatment of symptoms, sickness and disease.  The ones who are becoming leaders in the wellness revolution, the shift that is unstoppable.

The medical system in many countries around the world is on the verge of collapse with regards to the percentage of GDP spent on health care and the increasing statistics of disease and death.  Ready to burst at the seams as soon as the baby boomers are ripe.  It’s a faulty premise to use sick care as health care and it’s not working.  

And people want something different.  They just need to know that chiropractic is a better way.  And that you are the one who will care for them with honest, loving, authentic service.  You’ve got to have enough value for your service, enough confidence in your skills and the communication level to share the truth… and the guts to do so.  

From my favorite ad campaign of all time… Apple in the late 1990’s called ‘Think Different’.  It is time to inspire yourself and the people in your community to Think Different about health.  Are you willing to be the ‘Crazy One’ in your community?

“Here’s to the crazy ones.

   The misfits.
    The rebels.
     The troublemakers. 
      The round pegs in the square holes. 
The ones who see things differently.

They’re not fond of rules.
   And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, 
  disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. 
    Because they change things.

They invent.    They imagine.     They heal.

 They explore.     They create.    They inspire.
      They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones,
    we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think
    they can change the world, are the ones who do”.

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Tags: Apple, Better, chiropractic, Choice, Crazy Ones, Different, Different Way, Disease, Health Care, Medical System, Medicine, Pain Relief, Service, Shift, Sickness, Status Quo, Symptoms, Think Different, wellness revolution

Listening is one of the most powerful skills to develop as a human being and a chiropractor, and one that will make huge impact in your world.  The old adage, “two ears and one mouth” stands as an ancient truth in communication.  Use your ears twice as much as your mouth.

The three levels of listening is taught by one of the most insightful coaches I know, Jane Burnier.  She is a master listener.  The three levels are: listening for information, listening to deepen the conversation, and listening for what is not said.

In the Rosen LAASR communication model, the “L” stands for listen.  This is truly the first and most important part of our interactions in our personal lives and our practices. People don’t want to know how smart you are, they want to feel heard.  They don’t want to be shmoozed, they want to feel important.  They don’t want to talk about what you want to talk about, they want to talk about what they want to talk about.  In our office and in our personal lives we want to talk less and ask more questions… and then listen!

So give people what they want by listening like a true leader.   Make them feel important.  Develop deeper relationships.  Transform your life and theirs.

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Tags: communication, ears, Leadership, listening, transform

“To panic, or not to panic, that is the question…”

How many times in your life has a challenging situation arose and you find yourself on the brink of a panic? It could be a car accident, the athletic performance of your life, your teenager got suspended from school, your dog is missing or someone in your office poses a difficult question you don’t know how to answer.  You have a choice ~ to panic or not to panic?

As a certified facilitator for Emotional Intelligence for Personal Leadership through the Institute for Health and Human Potential, as a chiropractor whose focus has always been the Nerve System and understanding neurology, and as a chiropractic coach, I can say with certainty that leaders are people who in those circumstances hold it together and don’t panic.  True leaders keep their cool.

If your Amygdala gets hijacked, you’re done.  You lose perspective, you lose 75% of your intellectual power and are in shackles to your ‘fight or flight’ response.  Good luck on saying the right thing or saving someone’s life in this state.

Leaders at all levels need to develop skills to maintain a high EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient).  To be able to take a step back, stop the brain hijack to stress mode, to stay present, and keep the big perspective in mind is leadership. Disallowing the ‘freak out’ will keep your performance high and results great, with little setbacks or fallout.

Want to have better communication in your office? Want to perform at a higher level?  The time is now to demonstrate your leadership.  A downturn economy is the time you must improve yourself, your office, your procedures and your leadership!

P.S. For those of you interested in knowing your EQ or Emotional Intelligence Quotient, test it here!

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Tags: Amygdala, EI, Emotional Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence Quotient, EQ, Fight or Flight, Freak Out, Leadership, Panic, Performance, Results, Skills, Stress