GROW STRONG TEAMS

RETAINING TOP EMPLOYEES

Judy Cirullo

7 WAYS TO FOSTER A GROWTH MINDSET

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Even If You’ve Always Been Fixed In Your Beliefs

As a human, you have two ways to categorize your brain. You either have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. 

If you have a fixed mindset, you think there’s nothing more you can do with what you’ve got. You have a pre-determined amount of intelligence, ability, and talent that will never change over time.

On the contrary, if you have a growth mindset, you use your intelligence, ability, and talent as a starting point to get better, smarter, or more successful.

IS A FIXED MINDSET MORE ABOUT REALISM?

Before this gets to be a tortoise and hare argument, here’s what’s true about these two mindset types.

Carol Dweck first presented these two ways of being based on research conducted at Stanford University.

The primary difference between the two is more about how they respond to challenging situations.

A fixed mindset person will avoid taking on tasks outside of their known talents or abilities. The reason? Because failure is a devastating and likely consequence and they don’t believe that practice makes perfect.

In fact, for a fixed mindset person, success is something realized from talent alone. For them, there’s no effort required.    

THEN A GROWTH MINDSET ISN’T ABOUT FANTISIZING? 

Actually, it’s not. A growth mindset is about realizing the true depth of your potentiality.

Growth mindset people choose to go deep into developing their knowledge and skills so that they can achieve the success they seek. 

Challenging situations outside of their current abilities are welcomed as opportunities. And, whether they succeed or fail, they will always learn a lesson in the process of doing.

For the growth mindset person, there’s no delusion that success only comes from what they know now. It comes from pursuing what they don’t know in order to realize it. 

AN ARGUMENT FOR ADOPTING A GROWTH MINDSET

Truthfully, it is difficult for a fixed mindset person to grasp that they have the potential to expand their brain’s capabilities. “Fixed” in the term used to describe them.

If that’s the case, that you only have a finite set of skills, talents, and knowledge, how do you explain any progress made from infancy to adulthood? 

Is it simply stored knowledge that magically unlocks at specific points in time as you age? Or, is it something else entirely?

Your brain function can and does change over time, evidenced by numerous neuroplasticity experiments. This makes the case fo a growth mindset much more believable.

Besides, if a fixed mindset is the true nature of being, how do you explain people who change their “bad” habits?  

HOW TO SHIFT INTO A GROWTH MINDSET

While there are hundreds of ways to reframe your mindset from one of fixed to one of growth, here are the top seven ways you can practice right now…Even if you’ve always been “fixed” in your ways.

CHOOSE TO LEARN INSTEAD OF APPROVAL-SEEKING 

Your goal should only be to learn and expand your abilities so you can improve upon them. For yourself. 

If your goal is to impress someone or get their approval for the learning you’re doing to improve, you’ll end up highly discouraged and disappointed if you don’t get it.

Which means you’re 10X more likely to give up before you get good.

FOCUS ON THE JOURNEY, NOT THE DESTINATION 

Mastery of something new takes time. And, when you first start, it’s going to be awhile to get where you want to go.

If you choose to focus solely on the gap and not the small milestones you’re reaching every day to close that distance, you’ll easily fall into overwhelm. And in no time, overwhelm will make you feel like giving up. 

KNOW YOUR PURPOSE

When you approach learning, doing, or being something new, it’s your underlying why that takes you over the finish line.

Given a purpose to your pursuit of what once seemed insurmountable, you’ll make decisions that you once feared to make. You’ll gain a sense of internal knowing because you are aligned with the purpose you set for the change you seek.  

GO DEEP, NOT WIDE

Learning is a process. It takes time, effort, and energy. 

Deciding to focus those three resources to gain depth over a broader general knowledge boosts your confidence. And boosted confidence builds your courage to pursue more things outside your comfort zone.   

LEARN FROM OTHERS’ MISTAKES

Let others’ journeys guide your own. 

What you’re attempting to do, surely someone else has successfully done before you. And, they’ve made a mistake or two along the way.

Not that you should continually compare your journey to theirs for an ego-boost…

But, it certainly doesn’t hurt to recognize the mistakes others make so you can avoid some of the same pitfalls along the way.

ALWAYS PERSEVERE

Change can be a rocky road. It’s only harder if you resist it.

That said, so long as you have a purpose behind the change you seek, it will pay you well to develop a habit of perseverance.

While you’re at it, persistence is another muscle to build along the way.

A “C” IS NOT AN “F”

Look, when you’re growing your skills, you’re going to likely be a bit average when you begin. 

Excellence and eventually mastery come only after you adapt your behavior to the feedback you’re given over time.

If at first you don’t get an A+, remember, your “C” is not a failure. It’s just a benchmark to help you quantify how much you need to improve. 

CONSIDER THESE 7 WAYS TO FOSTER A GROWTH MINDSET

If you’re in the fixed mindset camp, and you’re ready to shift into a growth mindset, take these seven steps to make the transition.

  • Improve for yourself, not the approval of others
  • Acknowledge every milestone you reach along the way
  • Define the why underlying the change you’re after
  • Dive deep into one area at a time to gain confidence
  • Become aware of potential roadblocks so you can avoid them
  • Build your persistence and perseverance muscles
  • Accept feedback as a barometer of right now and keep going

Adopting a growth mindset can be a tricky shift. I help leaders adapt and embrace big mindset shifts. If you’re facing an especially difficult shift and could use some guidance, I’m here for you.

Schedule a free strategy session with me and let’s talk about it. 

ENGINEERING YOUR POST-COVID-19 HEALTHCARE PRACTICE

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It’s a strange new world out there. Post-COVID-19 healthcare practice leaders have some serious gaps to bridge to return some semblance of order to their work lives.

WHAT THE PROBLEM ISN’T

It’s not the improved cautionary measures you must take in your practice that’s causing you and your team so much friction.

In fact, you’ve adapted quite easily to the hyper-vigilance with cleaning, scheduling, and distancing your patients.

It’s also not the shift into telemedicine or telehealth virtual appointments. These are actually more likely to gain a stronghold in the way you treat patients moving forward. 

Your problem is actually two-fold.

PROBLEM ONE – ABUNDANT CHOICES 

Pre-COVID pandemic times looked a bit different on the healthcare worker hiring scale.

Times were lean. It was tough for you to find the right team members to fill the vacant roles in your practice.

Retaining great team players was also a big struggle. In some ways, you had to “settle” for “good enough” and hope for the best.

Today is a whole new day. 

With so many people losing their jobs and practices closing their doors, there’s now a plethora of qualified folks in the hiring pool.

The challenge now for your post-COVID-19 healthcare practice is who to choose and why. 

PROBLEM TWO – FAULTY INFRASTRUCTURE

Because you had gaps in your staff pre-COVID, you likely filled vacant roles yourself. As any effective leader might…

Rolling up your sleeves and doing the work that needs to be done ultimately becomes your responsibility.

Here’s the problem with this scenario.

Over time, when you’re in the doing of the things you can and should readily and easily delegate, your infrastructure becomes a bit fuzzy and unclear.

Current team members aren’t willing or capable of taking some of these tasks off your hands because you’re not leading them. 

You’re not developing them into who you need them to be to make your practice successful.  

THIS IS THE NEW NORMAL

Given that you now have abundant choices for who to hire and who to develop into your future team leaders, what are you doing about it?

Defaulting to the old way of being the person in charge who takes care of errant tasks and things that don’t involve driving your business mission just won’t cut it anymore.

It’s time you decided what is most important to you on a core level.

Is it for you to be scrappy? Resourceful? Dependable? 

Or, is to leverage your time, people, and other resources wisely?

ABOUT YOUR YOUR POST-COVID-19 HEALTHCARE PRACTICE PRIVILEGE

You have the luxury of hiring key players to round out your team right now. Don’t squander it. Instead, use this time to figure out the who and the how of your business.

First, you have to figure out the answer to this question.

“How can I organize my infrastructure so that I can get out of the “catch-all” doing and move into the leading and developing so I can step away and know my business will thrive?”

Next, answer this.

“Who can I hire that fits the model of what my strong team means to me on a core value level?” 

WHAT TO DO IF THOSE ANSWERS ELUDE YOU

Those questions are big. I get that they’re not always easy for you to answer on your own. Especially if you have no model to follow that demonstrates the success you seek.

I personally developed two frameworks to work you towards your answers. 

One to develop the proper infrastructure for your healthcare practice to succeed. The other to find, hire, develop, and retain the right people to grow your strong team.

Schedule a free strategy session with me and we can talk about your next right action steps to take to build a thriving post-COVID-19 healthcare practice. 

5 REASONS WHY PERFECTIONISM HAS NO BUSINESS IN YOUR BUSINESS

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And How To Fix It If It Exists

Perfectionism in business is what you should strive for, isn’t it?

Ironically, no.

No matter what you’ve been told otherwise by any business expert, the truth of the matter is this. Perfectionism can literally be the way you kill your business.

As a leader, here are five big reasons to reconsider your stance on perfectionism.  

DELEGATION BECOMES IMPOSSIBLE

Because you have such a high standard around every task under your watchful eye, it makes it hard to hand any of them off. 

Nobody can do it better than you can. So, you just do it.

You think you’re ultra-efficient because you don’t need to wait for a task to be completed by someone who works at a slower pace than you. 

Who doesn’t know how to do it as well as you. Or, who doesn’t do it the way you like it done.

Instead of an environment for speed, you’ve created the ultimate bottleneck. You doing things that could easily be done at least 70% as effectively by someone else need to make their way off your to-do list.

Decide to diligently record the process in painstaking detail, then let it go. 

You are always welcome to revisit the tasks to “QC” them after you give your team member a chance to learn your process and execute on it for a week or so. Then, give your feedback.

MICROMANAGEMENT BECOMES YOUR GO TO

If you have your hands in everything, even those tasks you’ve rationed off, you’ve effectively made yourself into a micromanager.

I’d say congratulations, but you know that’s not a complement.

Nobody ever wants to be told what to do with every minute of their day. It drains their energy, and it drains yours.

Besides, if you’re so deep into everyone else’s work, how in the heck are you getting your own work done? 

Manage what you can control. The quality of your own work. Unless your team members are doing serious damage to your company’s reputation, choose to manage them in a way that favors empowerment.

PROCRASTINATION BECOMES A HABIT

When your focus is to only deliver perfect work or to complete a task error free 100% of the time, you will put it off as long as humanly possible.

Because having and meeting impossible standards is a form of stress. And, procrastination gives you relief from the stress temporarily.

Procrastination is the exact opposite of what you’re shooting for when you want tasks done just right. In fact, you want to minimize mistakes so the work can be completed as efficiently as possible.

Perfectionism favors inefficiency. 

Let go of something needing to be perfect 100% of the time before you allow it to be declared done. Sometimes “done” is better than “perfect.” Remember, the lens of the person viewing what you believe to be error-free may hold it to a different standard than you do.

DISTRUST IS THE NEW STANDARD

Your team members know more than you think. And truthfully, your habit of perfectionism makes them feel like you don’t trust them to do their work well. 

Refusing to delegate.

Micromanaging.

Triple-checking. 

Not hard to see why, is it?

When your team distrusts you, it breeds contempt. And contempt means you lose good people.

Build an environment of trust by allowing your workplace to be a safe space. Allow your team members to make mistakes and not to feel like they’re going to get fired because of them.

STRESS BECOMES YOUR NATURAL STATE 

Suffice it to say that perfectionism in business is one of the leading causes of high-stress responses in the workplace.

Bordering on traumatic.

Being held to an impossibly high standard and getting criticized daily for not meeting it causes your team to feel unrelenting stress. And an environment that elicits that kind of stress response regularly leads to a severe decline in mental and physical health.

For your team. Yourself. And even the customers or clients who you do business with.

Yes, stress has a funny way of rippling out much further than the leader and team member dynamic. Clients can feel the stress in every tense interaction you engage them with.

Once outside of work, the stress spills over into the time you and your team spend with your family and friends.

It’s rampant.

Instead of holding on so tightly to having everything perfect, choose to allow a feeling of peace in your workplace. To do that means you have to let go of the control you think you have over everything outside yourself.  

KICK PERFECTIONISM IN BUSINESS TO THE CURB

While there are plenty more, I gave you five good reasons that your business has no room for perfectionism.

Lack of delegation, micromanagement, procrastination, distrust, and stress are all nasty side effects that no business needs to suffer.

The choice becomes whether you would rather lead a business that feels productive and light. Or if your preference is to make your work environment one that feels oppressive and heavy.

I can help you work through your perfectionist tendencies so you can invite satisfaction back into your team culture. Schedule a free strategy session with me to start the process. 

WHY LEADERS SHOULD NEVER HIRE A MULTI-TASKER

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Hire a multi-tasker and you’ll get more done in less time, right?

Absolutely dead wrong.

While the temptation might be pretty strong, here are just a few reasons why a multi-tasker is just what you don’t need in your business.

MULTI-TASKING ROBS PETER TO PAY PAUL

In the short run, when you have an “expert” multi-tasker, they get a lot of things done.

And fast.

The problem is, your staff member also burns tons of mental energy in the process. Which leads to a bandwidth problem. 

Here’s my take on other trickle down effects of multitasking long-term. 

HUMANS ARE NOT BIOLOGICALLY WIRED TO MULTI-TASK

Think about a time when your attention got divided between two or more things.

Got that scenario recalled?

Great. Now tell me this. 

How did you perform handling multiple inputs at the same time?

Because truthfully, you can’t give your full attention to either task when you’re attempting to do them concurrently. Which is the exact reason your performance suffers in the process.

What goes for you goes the same for your new hire.

Given the choice between your team member doing two things half as good, or doing one thing at a time the best that they can, what’s your preference?  

DISTRACTION IS THE DEATH OF PRODUCTIVITY

The human attention span is now shorter than that of a goldfish. You have something like 7 seconds to hold someone’s attention.

Add multitasking to the mix, and you’ve got an even shorter span of time.

When the brain jumps in and out of task after task, it can’t adequately focus long enough to get any of them done. So, instead of a multi-tasker being an asset, they become a liability. 

A distracted brain can’t see tasks to completion if it’s constantly bombarded with them. 

Think of it like a smartphone with too many apps open and running in the background at the same time.

Not only will you burn the battery out much faster, but the app you’re actively using starts to glitch if it doesn’t shut down and kick you out of it completely. 

THE MULTI-TASKER CUNNUMDRUM

You say you want someone who can handle multiple responsibilities and tasks all at once. And you also say you want someone who is highly productive.

Does it make sense to you now why those two conditions are contradictory?

Constantly hammering your team member with tasks they may be able to do but outside of their job requirements burdens their capacity and burns them out.

Just like you’re a bottleneck in production when you’re spinning too many plates in the air, so too is your team member.

Try this instead. 

DEFINE AND DELEGATE  

Make a list of the tasks that need to be completed. Assign priority to each task that needs to be done. Decide who is best to complete each task.

Then, deploy your task list when you delegate.

Be sure to outline the dependencies of each task in the project sequence with the team members too. Ensure everyone is aware that missing individual deadlines affects the completion of the next phase of the project. 

Once you deploy, stay out of your team’s way. Let them do their jobs. 

Don’t try to jump in and do their parts and your own, or you’ll end up right back at the multi-tasker burnout stage.

SIDE EFFECTS OF PROPER DELEGATION

Besides giving you more space to think because you’ve uncluttered your overtaxed brain, you get to build your team’s confidence.

You allow them to do what you ask, they deliver.

Which also leads to a boost of confidence in their abilities along with a deeper appreciation for their work. You’re demonstrating that you trust them to deliver the results they know they’re capable of delivering.

Now, you’re fostering an environment to develop each team member while leaving them room to grow their skills.

You create a new habit of extreme focus. Your team feels empowered. Win-win! 

HIRING A MULTI-TASKER HURTS YOUR TEAM CULTURE

Multitasking strains brains. It’s the ultimate distraction. 

And truthfully, multi-taskers are less productive in the long-term.

When you choose to delegate and deploy, you get to develop a habit of extreme focus while empowering your staff and fostering an environment of trust and teamwork.

Learning how to properly identify and delegate the right tasks is critical to running a successful and satisfying business.

It’s a process that’s worth the investment of your time and energy, because multitasking is a shortcut that costs you too much in the long run.

I’m here if you need help to define and design your own delegation strategy. Schedule a free call with me and let’s talk about it.

THE REAL PROBLEM WITH LACK OF COMMITMENT FOR LEADERS

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Every human who has ever led anyone can testify that at some point they have suffered from a lack of commitment.

Which seems counterintuitive to most leaders, to be honest. 

You just don’t know why it is that sometimes this non-committal attitude takes the wheel and drives your decision making. Especially when you naturally excel in the decisiveness and action-taking departments.

LACK OF COMMITMENT IS A FICKLE FOE

First, let’s clear one thing up.

Occasional lack of commitment does not mean you’re a failure as a leader. It means you’re a human being.

What it also means is that, without even knowing it, your intuition is trying to tell you something.

It’s a subconscious clue that you’re going against what you believe is the best choice “in your gut.” But, it could also mean that there’s something about the way the situation is unfolding that reminds you of a previous failure when you took a similar course of action before. 

In short, fear shows up to the party.

WHAT’S LURKING BEHIND THAT FEAR 

When fear arrives, emotions are high. And when emotions run high, intellect runs low. 

Think about how difficult it is to focus on making a choice if you’re on edge from the stress or anxiety it’s causing you.

Not an easy task, is it?

It makes it much easier to understand why that decision may be conditional at best given the potential repercussions scare you.

IT’S MORE ABOUT FUTURE-PACING

What’s really going on behind that lack of commitment is most likely an inability to predict or to control the future. 

Which, as a leader, is not your job. 

In fact, your real job is to make sound choices that align with your core values and the mission and vision of your company.

That’s it. 

OTHER FEARS BEHIND NON-COMMITMENT

In truth, there are a couple other potential fears causing you to not fully commit to the decisions you make.

One is, you may feel like you’re “selling out” yourself, your team, or even your business if you commit to what is being proposed to you. Acting on that commitment takes you out of alignment and threatens the integrity of all you know.

The clear solution here is to know who you are and your core values. Boundaries are a must if you want to protect those. Just be sure this isn’t your reptilian brain kicking in to frighten you into not doing something because it’s “new and different” and outside your comfort zone.

Another fear is that you’re not confident in your ability to “perform” on the commitment at hand. And, lack of confidence stems from lack of knowledge and lack of action on that knowledge. Both of which you can do something about to improve. 

One last fear worth mentioning is you’re afraid to be vulnerable in front of your team and admit you’re not sure what the best choice is. Instead of hiding that fear of uncertainty, invite them to help you make a better decision.

CONSEQUENCES OF A LACK OF COMMITMENT 

Here’s the bigger picture when it comes to making wishy-washy decisions as a leader.

If you do it too often, you are modeling a behavior that your team will identify with and adopt. Once they do, you’ve now baked in one of the top five causes of team dysfunction.

To lead a team that’s strong, sometimes you have to stick to the tough decisions and take your lumps in the process. 

TURN LACK OF COMMITMENT INTO AN ADVANTAGE

As a leader, it’s absolutely important to show that you are human.

Admitting you don’t know the best path once in a while makes you more relatable and trustworthy to your team.

Dealing with the head trash that you’re not capable, not setting clear boundaries, or that you’re somehow responsible for every potential outcome is the solution. 

What are you struggling to accomplish because you won’t fully commit your bandwidth to getting it done?  

Hop on a free strategy session with me to get some guidance on how to clear out that underlying fear. 

HOW TO LEAD WITH INTEGRITY WHEN FACED WITH A DILEMMA

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Dilemmas are a natural part of life. Especially in business. If you decide to lead with integrity when faced with a dilemma though, choice becomes easier.

THE POWER OF CHOICE

The choice between being right and being kind is easy, isn’t it? 

Always choose kindness.

Some choices aren’t always so cut and dry. Especially if both roads have foreseeable favorable outcomes. 

That’s exactly why leading with integrity matters. Staying true to what matters most to you is the key.

WHAT MATTERS MOST 

Integrity to yourself is a powerful dynamic that drives why you choose what you choose when you make a choice.

Another factor to consider is how you lead with integrity in regards to your team. And your clients.

When you are deep in consideration on what path to take when faced with a dilemma, it’s critical you understand this. Your decision reflects back to you and a much larger audience than yourself about what’s important to you.

While your opinion of yourself matters a great deal regarding your ability to lead, how others perceive your priorities makes a massive impact on your effectiveness too. 

KNOW YOUR CORE VALUES

To lead with integrity and make the right choice for you, it pays to know your core values and how they apply to you.

Sometimes they can be hard to define when you’re applying them to yourself. Which is why I suggest you try this exercise.

How is it you want people to talk about you when you’re not around?

Do you want them to say you’re honest? Loyal? Truthful? Decisive? 

Because how you want others to perceive you is a clear indicator of what matters deeply for you.

If that seems difficult, try this instead.

Think of the leaders you admire the most. What qualities do they have that make you want to follow their direction? 

WORK OUT THE WINS THAT ALIGN

Now that you’ve got your core values narrowed down (I’d suggest you create a list of five), it’s time to reconsider that dilemma you’re facing.

If you choose path A, who will you have to be, how will you have to show up, and what will you have to sacrifice to make that choice work?

Now, repeat the same exercise for path B.

Once you have your list ready, proceed to the final step.

ATTACHMENT-FREE DECISION MAKING

When you consider following path A, what wins do you see that are in sync with your core values? Make a list.

How about the losses that are out of sync with your core values? List them.

Now repeat this exercise for path B.

Your path A and path B lists should have everything you need to know to make a choice that allows you to combine your “head” and your “heart” and move ahead in integrity.

If they don’t, take some extra time to dig deeper. You’ll likely end up thinking a little further ahead in your timeline and realizing additional consequences of each choice in the long-run. 

More importantly, you’ll think about how each path affects what you value most. Which allows you to choose free from an attachment to the immediate gains you could realize from the path you take. 

ALWAYS LEAD WITH INTEGRITY DILEMMA OR NOT

You are always in charge of what you create based on the choices you make.

It starts with knowing the power you hold. 

Next, acknowledge your core values.

Then, define how closely the choice you make aligns with your core values.

Finally, allow yourself time to process which choice is best freely from an attachment to a specific outcome. 

And, if you’re still stumbling out of the blocks wrestling with a dilemma, schedule a free call with me and let’s talk about it.