Alun
Rees
In This
Issue - WelcomeWelcome to this edition of the ezine from Alun Rees, The Professional Coach.
You are receiving this because you are either a client of mine or we have met or corresponded professionally. If you enjoy this ezine, why not forward it to a friend?
Welcome to 21 new subscribers since the last edition.If you're in the Worcester area on June 29th you will very be welcome at an evening presentation "Profitable Practice". I'm speaking alongside Accountants Ballard Dale, Syree, Watson, Smith & Williamson Investment Management and Lawyers Harrison Clark. The seminar is being held at Sixways Stadium, the home of Worcester RFC. For more information contact Joanne Nichols on 01905 744844 or jnicholls@harrison-clark.co.uk
Professional
Reflections - Stay Well or Get ReadyOver the past couple of months two of my clients have had to have spells in hospital, neither of them could have predicted six months ago that they would have been unwell. They are in different types of practice but in both cases they are the "main men" of the business.
One is a single handed private practitioner where a serious dip in cash flow could have wiped him out completely, the concern being that as a lot of his work came from referrals this might dry up.
The other is in an orthodontic practice where an associate is working their socks off to keep the water levels from rising, fortunately this financial year they hit the ground running and are way ahead of their "UOA targets", six months ago when they were facing a shortfall and clawback the painstakingly built and maintained reputation could have been snatched away.
So lessons are: always have a plan B, Plan C, plan D and an exit strategy
• if you are in NHS practice make sure that your dependents can not have their inheritance removed by the PCT.
www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/5048209.Dentist_surgery_to_take_NHS_to_court/ www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/local/7945268.Dentist_practice_is_saved_at_11th_hour/
• ensure all your insurances are in place, life, critical illness, sickness, overheads and locum cover.
• be able to access several months cash should you need it in order to keep the wheels moving and your family fed and housed in your absence.
• maintain good professional relations with your colleagues so that your emergencies can be referred to a sympathetic face.
• have a membership scheme in place to help maintain the security of income and sense of patients' belonging.
You can reach me on 07778 148583 or alun@alunrees.com
www.alunrees.com/solutions/
Kolbe Tip - Where does Kolbe Fit?I have had some queries from readers and clients about where the Kolbe Index fits with other measuring methods favoured by coaches, HR & recruitment agencies. My response is: “I’m glad you asked me that because I have done a lot of research into them and that is why I choose to have invested in becoming a Kolbe Consultant”
Usually I am asked about Myers-Briggs (MBTI) and DiSC; but I am also aware of MSCEIT (which measures Emotional Intelligence), IQ testing (the use of which with the US military was pioneered by Kathy Kolbe’s father, E.F. Wonderlic), PF16, HVVA, TONI, Social Styles, OVA and the Hogan Personality Inventory. There are plenty of others all with their adherents.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is the most widely used employee test in the world, not because it is better than other methods, but because it's the oldest and most studied. The MBTI is based on Carl Jung's landmark 1921 book, “Psychological Types”.
MBTI asks questions that rate four pairs of personality traits: your natural predisposition toward extroversion versus introversion; sensing versus being intuitive; thinking versus feeling; and judging versus perceiving. After taking the test, you get a score based on which traits are most dominant, with each trait represented by a single letter. The MBTI is a affective instrument it provides a deep insight into the way people want to work. It can change over time and people do have difficulties remembering their preferences.
The MBTI is a good for understanding how people think and interact emotionally and cognitively. But it is not so great in the job world as a predictor of performance. It is based on preferences, which may change over time or even with situation.
DiSC is a behavioural (observed) model, it helps people understand why they do what they do, by measuring the interaction of four behavioural factors: dominance, influence, steadiness and conscientiousness. Using this information, DiSC can be used to describe a person’s general approach, including his or her motivation, dislikes, strengths and weaknesses. The way you relate to other people is, in large part, defined by which of these social styles is dominant in your personality.
The Social Style™ training model originated by Merril & Reid looks to find flexibility – the ability to get along with people whose styles differ from one’s own. It is said that flexibility frequently distuinguishes success or lack of success. The two continuums in this model are Ask vs Tell and Controls Emotions vs Emotes. This results in the four social styles: Expressive, Driving, Analytic and Amiable.
The 2008 study by Colorado University and Regis Learning showed that Social Style is easier to understand and apply than Myers-Briggs or DiSC.
Hogan Assessment Systems specialise in personality instruments. Their 3 primary indices contain 28 separate scales designed to identify:
(a) how others perceive one's behaviours and day-to-day interaction style from a leadership/managerial perspective,
(b) one's values, and
(c) derailing tendencies that inhibit positive interactions.
The complete set of reports provides a comprehensive description of an individual's behavioural tendencies, how they are viewed by others, and insights into how/why they are effective.
So it’s clear that there are a lot of instruments out there, all with their fans. To differentiate Kolbe we need to go back to basic principles. The mind has three basic features:
• Cognitive relates to knowledge or intelligence.
• Affective relates to attitudes, beliefs or values.
• Conative relates to instinct or natural energy.
• The Cognitive, telling you what you can or can’t do, is measured by IQ, and similar, tests.
• The Affective, telling you what you want to do, can be measured by most of the systems that I have described above.
• The Conative or Natural Instinct is measured by use of the Kolbe Index.
The Kolbe Index has been shown to be consistent over periods of many years. As a potential employer or someone looking to build a team that you can predict and rely upon for consistency this is most important. The measures of the Affective mentioned earlier can change dramatically in a relatively short space of time, MBTI as much as 50% in six weeks, as an employer I would find that scary.
Kolbe is a straight forward, simple to remember, system that tells you how employees and colleagues approach their work and problem solving, and how they will ACT during stressful times. Let’s face it that’s really what we want to know when we hire someone or work with them on a team isn’t it?
I am the only Certified Kolbe Consultant working in UK dentistry. If you are having problems shaping or retaining your team you can contact me on 07778 148583 or email me alun@alunrees.com.
To take the Kolbe 'A' index go to www.alunrees.com/kolbe-analysis
ResourcesMention here does not mean that I endorse the products or services but I wouldn't mention them if I didn't think that they may be of use.
Here's an email from Jack Christian of Denticom
Good morning Alun,
I wanted to thank you once again for taking the time to meet with me last Friday.
As discussed I wanted to send you across a brief e-mail to outline some of the main services and benefits of Denticom, as well as giving you a rough indication on cost to clients.
- Full call management - how many calls are you losing?? Missed and abandoned (which as we discussed = lost business). If a patient is worth £300 - £500, can you afford to lose just one call a day?!!
- Call recording – We can provide full call recording and optional call recording to all practices, this is encrypted and very useful for any disputes or training purposes.
- Ability to promote - Private treatments and services can be promoted while patients wait to speak to someone. E.g. 10% off teeth whitening in March. This saves money on other advertisements, and is proven to be a more effective way of advertising to patients FREE OF CHARGE! Patients will also be informed of their place in the queue if receptionist is busy on a call or attending to patients face to face, and this also reduces the perception of waiting time.
- Built in messaging - e.g. between 1pm – 2pm (If you were shut for lunch?) or 5pm – 9am (Opening hours) There would be a professional message stating this to patients when they call. This is built in so that you only need to set it up once for different messages to be played at different times, and can also change the message or add messages at any time needed.
- Digital line Installation - We install Isdn 2 line’s (Digital line) to all practices, we review their line usage to advise how many speech channels a practice will need? This means that callers will be able to get through and not get engaged, and if receptionists are busy the call can be answered in a professional way giving the patient options to hold, or leave details for a call back (Set up completely dependent on the individual practices requirements.
- Equipment – We provide whatever equipment is needed. E.g. wireless headset (Reception) Portable phones, desk phones. (All again dependent on the practices needs)
- Installation - Installation usually costs around £800-£1000, however for a number of referral sites and other practice we have done this FOC and would be happy to if you were to put us in touch with a practice or client.
- Training - We provide full training for all members of staff (On the day after instillation) on the equipment and Management tools for all staff
- Ongoing Consultation – We provide ongoing support, consultations and Account Management. This is to make sure the practices we deal with are using the business tools to their full ability, and that the solution is setup correctly for their working environment.
- Through identifying and capturing lost calls, and being able to either answer them at the time, or calling any you missed back (or they can leave a message);
- Installation of Digital lines, to make sure callers can get through;
- By playing promotional messages while they wait to speak to someone;
- Identifying whether the caller is an existing patient or a new caller interested in new registration;
In regards to pricing, we always arrange a site survey and an initial consultation for find out what the practices current telephony and IT setup is? Before looking at a package for them. However rough package prices are below:
Package 1 1-4 phones £150 per month
Package 2 5-7 phones £200 per month
Package 3 8-12 phones £250 per month
No capital outlay or setup costs involved!
I hope this all makes sense Alun, and is of more help to you?
Like I said in our meeting it would be great if you do have any clients or know of any practices that I could talk to and help, with regards to our Denticom solution. Please do let me know.
Jack’s contact details are: jchristian@ascentuk.com 07854 206371 and the company’s website is www.denticom.co.uk
News & CorrespondenceIt had to be from the Mail on Sunday and The Sun, never known for letting scientific analysis get in the way of a good scare story. If you're in Dental Practice, be ready for the "I read that X-rays are dangerous" comment and get everybody's responses rehearsed - you do have scripts rehearsed don't you?
A joint British-Kuwaiti study claims that dental X-rays may “dramatically” increase the risk of developing thyroid cancer, report the Daily Mail and Sun. According to reports, researchers found that patients who had received more than ten X-rays at the dentist were up to five and a half times more likely to develop the disease than those who had not had any. Researchers note that they were relying on patients’ recollections but hope to carry out further studies using dental records. British dentists argue that dental X-rays play a valuable role in the diagnosis of dental disease and that thyroid cancer cases are more common in Kuwait than in the UK. BDA spokesperson Martin Fallowfield presents the case for using dental X-rays noting a general reduction in use and technology which allows for lower doses of radiation.
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/health/article-1283393/Ten-dental-X-rays-raise-cancer-risk-times.html
2) Capital Gains
The Coalition Government’s first Budget is on 22 June. Despite the efforts of the Daily Telegraph, it appears very likely that changes will be made to the Capital Gains Tax regime, which will increase significantly the amount paid by individuals. I attach a note of how this may affect you. (for your copy please contact Alan directly).
If you would like to discuss this further, please do not hesitate to contact me.
With kind regards. Alan Suggett (Alan is an accountant at UNW Chartered Accountants in Newcastle-upon-Tyne)
Direct Dial: 0191 243 6009
E-mail: alansuggett@unw.co.uk
3) No apologies for the length of this piece.
An email from Richard Fretwell of Guidepost Dental Practice in Northumberland.
Now I have done my share of distance running and I'd love to think I could do what they're attempting but I know my limits. Good luck Rich & buddies, a great cause and, as a parent, there but for the Grace of God go I.
On the 7th September, all being well, we will set off to ride from Lands End to John O’Groats on our bicycles. It is our intention to complete the ride in under two weeks providing all goes to plan, this will equate to roughly 85 miles per day, as you can imagine our back sides are going to know about this. and I expect to be working standing up for at least a month.
We need your help in various ways firstly to donate as much as possible safe in the knowledge that we are paying the price for it. We’ve set ourselves very ambitious targets because we know how generous you all are so please dig deep for this very important cause.
As many of you know we have all bought some fantastic gear and all look like extras from Little Britain!!! Our wives have suggested we should have just given the money we spent on bikes to charity and saved ourselves the pain, but as we know that isn’t the point. Hopefully we are ready for the big challenge? That’s why we named this ride, ‘All the Gear – No Idea’.
Why am I doing it?
Well 2 of our friends recently lost their children during pregnancy, here are some words from them to explain.
We are trying to raise funds for 'tiny lives' not only is it a worthy cause but also to make the brief life of Millie Rose positive for others as well as ourselves. Millie Rose Chitsabesan was stillborn 19.50 23/03/10 weighing 1lb 10 ounces and just 27 weeks old. It's amazing how someone 'minus 13weeks' old can touch the lives of so many. She burst onto the scene in September 2009 and showed herself to be a very stubborn and active little girl. They could never get a good picture of her as she was always on the move or had her arm in the way in every picture of her face. She had her daddy's big feet and hands and though she was really stubborn and beautiful.....just like her mum....things became a bit too much for her delicate body and she was unable to keep up the good fight. Mum and Dad miss her very much and every second of the day. She will always be a part of our family and will never be forgotten.
All the staff from the fetal and maternity services were amazing and supported us through these recent hard times. The love and caring that these initial strangers shared with us was both humbling and greatly appreciated. They always had the right word and the time for us. We are enormously thankful for their continued support.
The Neonatal Service at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne looks after newborn babies from all over the north of England. They look after about 600 newborn babies every year, and up to 30 can be with them at any one time. Tiny Lives supports this work, providing:
Education and training
Funding for research
Specialist developmental care
A homely environment
Help with travel costs for parents
Expensive equipment
Thank you for all your support, kind words and love
Wendy and Chitz X
Oscar was born at 10.20am on 6/2/10. His mum went into labour as we were waiting for our flight to London to go to the England Vs Wales Rugby match (Dad is an ex-rugby player for Torquay and Medicals). The labour came on very quickly and an ambulance ride and an hour later he was born. He was 14 weeks early and weighed just 1lb 14oz. Had we got on the plane just imagine what would have happened!
He was taken to the SCBU (Ward 35) at the RVI in Newcastle and over the week had many visitors coming in to see him. Some days he was better and some days he was worse- words cannot describe the roller coaster we were on. It was made so much worse as he was an IVF baby and it had taken us a long time to get this far.
After a week with us, little Oscar died on 12/2/10 in his Mum and Dads arms- he was just too ill and too tiny to fight for his life.
What made our time with Oscar incredible was the staff in the unit. I have never had such heart felt care and kindness in such a situation and they job they do is incredible. I have heard this so many times before but never really paid attention when people say it. Think about having to tell people your baby is going to die, taking photos for you, dressing the child ready for the funeral and supporting parents whose life has crashed around them- this unit deserves all the help they can get. We all have our pet charities and you never know what they do until you need them- but take it from me, this unit does an incredible job.
So- all I ask is instead of flowers or cards, or just if you want to- can you help me raise some money for the unit in memory of Oscar? I think this is the best tribute to the little man I can think of.
Thanks so much.
Stu & Helen
It goes without saying please help us raise as much as possible as, so we can push forward with research to stop the terrible loss of our loved ones.
In addition we are having a web site www.allthegearandnoidea.com where we will be posting photos over the next few months and details of all the companies that sponsor us. Should anyone want to have their company details or their associates displayed as a supporter on the site then feel free. During the event we will be using 2 BIG motorhomes which we intend to logo up with all our sponsors.
Good luck folks.
www.justgiving.com/Richard-Fretwell
& FinallyIt gave me the chance to see the results of orthodontics done using the Damon appliance system and I am very impressed. If you are referring patients to an Orthodontist, or you're a potential patient yourself, do some research and ensure that your patients can avail themselves of this treatment modality.
See you in a fortnight or thereabouts!
About Alun
Rees -
The Professional Coach Copyright © 2010
all rights reserved.
Alun is the perfect coach for the practicing professional. He
thrives on working with fellow professionals who are good at what they
practice but want to do more with their businesses and their lives.
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