Apex e-zine

#theapexshow: @alunkrees what does it look like to find out your Kolbe Index A?
@alunkrees: Most people have a “lightbulb moment” a great feeling of “ah-ha got it!”. Usually they see why they have to wrestle with some things in their lives and revel in others.

Keith’s story is a great illustration and case study:

Keith is a practice owner in a rural town, he has taken until his late thirties to become a practice owner and is transitioning from the previous owner. He and the old owner, Larry, have effectively swapped positions. Larry had promised that he would reduce his days at the practice over a period of months but he is starting to give excuses and postponing his plans. Keith is finding this very frustrating and feels like he should be taking the bull by the horns but when he broaches the subject with Larry he comes across as being aggressive and the two of them, having enjoyed a good personal and working relationship to date, are hardly speaking.
There is a practice manager who has been with the practice for several years. She has a background of running her ex-husband’s business and is very confident in her approach to running the business. Keith is somewhat in awe of her and tends to defer to her.

So we have a new principal desperately wanting to put his mark on the business but tending to “beat himself up” because he felt that he ought to be more dynamic, he wanted to feel like he was an entrepreneur, that he was a trailblazer and leading from the front. Unfortunately some poor coaching previously had re-enforced these feelings of inadequacy so poor Keith was battling with his demons. He attributed his perceived lack of progress to a weakness in himself.
Keith’s Kolbe score is 5:6:4:5, this means that all his measures are in the mid-range and he is classified as a “Mediator™”.

It is not an Action Mode but rather an ability to accommodate to all of the others. A Mediator easily switches among the Action Modes, moving from one mode to the next as needs arise.

A Mediator is willing to:
Accommodate all other modes
Adapt to changing needs
Gain cooperation by mediating
Commit to group progress
Provide backup support

A Mediator’s contributions include:
Having the ability to act as a facilitator among people with various insistences
Being a team player
Being adaptable – thriving when cross-trained for many roles
Being able to lead by consensus
Being able to empower and delegate

In common with many of my clients who have taken their Kolbe A™ there was a huge moment of clarity when Keith’s scores were explained to him. Another name for Mediator is Facilitator and Keith realised that he had been his most successful and happy when he was not in a starring role but rather when he was acting as the glue that held people with different insistencies together. He naturally liked to work in environments with individuals who had a lot of instinctive diversity. Keith’s flair for leadership came from bringing consensus to those around him. Without a particular way of getting the job done, the Mediator is a crucial bridge between polarized conative factions on the team. He actually resists taking a starring role as he thinks it is superficial and stops him contributing.

So much for theory, with all this awareness Keith was able to resurrect the amicable relationship with Larry that they had enjoyed for many years and was able to help and support Larry through his move to new challenges.
Whether the “Kolbe aware” Keith changed in his attitude to the practice manager I am not sure, but she moved on within 12 months or so. Instead of this being the crisis that it would once have been, he was able to appoint a successor that was his choice and this has been a success.
The team that he has built, and continues to build, is a far happier crew than it was. Keith is at one with his role of Facilitator – Conciliator and no longer feels that he has to be the “dynamic, thrusting entrepreneur” (whatever that may be) that he had previously imagined was the only way to be a success. Now at one and happy to trust his instincts his efforts are bearing fruit and he has one of the best practices with the best team for miles around.

#theapexshow: @alunkrees what effect does Kolbe have on a team that implements it?

@alunkrees: Here’s a case study that shows the team analysis and the benefits on recruitment.

The four Conative Characteristics:

• Fact Finder – Gathering and sharing of information.
• Follow Through – Sorting and Storing Information.
• Quick Start – Dealing with risk and uncertainty.
• Implementation – Handling space and intangibles.

We lead from different strengths and it is the mix of the intensities in each of these characteristics that gives rise to our individual ways of doing things – our modus operandi, or MO.

Jimmy and Kate run a one-dentist dental practice. They bought a run-down practice and have successfully converted it from a large dependence on the NHS to 100% private.

Jimmy is a dentist with an MO of 4:5:3:8, he is technically excellent and loves nothing more than expanding his clinical knowledge. Kate’s background is in dental nursing, in the past she has worked for a small corporate in a management position she admits that her real love is working with people. Her MO is 5:3:8:5.

They have a full time receptionist, Susanna, who has an MO of 7:6:4:3, a hygienist Marion with an MO of 5:7:3:5 and a dental nurse, Jane, with an MO of 7:8:2:3.

Kate has been trying to act as a practice manager and, whilst she can cope with the systems desperately misses regular contact with patients, but feels guilty about “not pulling her weight” in the office.

What do their MO’s tell us? Jimmy’s “8” in Implementor means that he is well suited to working with his hands, he will prevent stress by acting skilfully, mechanically and dexterously. His “3” in Quick Start means that he prevents in that mode, his instinct wants to keep things on track, he dislikes working to deadlines and tends towards the status quo. If change is inevitable he wants to understand how and why and he will then prevent chaos.

Kate’s “8” means that she initiates in Quick Start, her “3” means that she resists in “Follow Through”. Her instinct means that she thrives on short deadlines, loves the flexibility of having several balls in the air at once, she’s an improvisor. She’s far more of a natural entrepreneur than her husband and business partner, which will result in stresses between them until they understood their “Kolbes”.

Susanna scores highest in “Fact Finder” and is well suited for a post of receptionist, she asks lots of questions and is good on long term projects although she needs to be reminded of deadlines as there may be a tendency to keep researching. Her “3” in Implementor means that she imagines ideas or concepts without the physical structure she is able to imagine.

I will leave the other two team members to another time. The real light bulb moment came when Jimmy and Kate realised not only why she (Kate) was struggling with the Practice Manager role but also that she was the ideal person to fulfil the role of treatment co-ordinator that none of the rest of the team suited. Also Jimmy was able to come to terms with his misgivings about expanding the practice.

They decided to recruit a practice manager and to help them with this I was able to produce a synergy chart showing where they were lacking energy, what different individuals might offer and how they would fit. So on with the recruitment.

Two individuals were short listed for the post, Dawn and Emily. Dawn’s MO was 5:6:3:6, Emily’s 7:4:6:3. Differences between them were in “Quick Start” Dawn was a “stabilizer”, Emily a “modifier” and in “Implementor” Dawn was a “restorer” and Emily an “imaginer”. Of significance was where their MOs fitted into the synergy chart of Natural Talents that I had produced. My advice was to give the job to Dawn but, clients being clients, they had been more impressed with Emily in the interview so she was offered the post and accepted.

Two weeks after she started work I called them to see how everything was going, “a complete disaster” was how it was put to me. All my misgivings were correct, she showed no signs of being able to work with the rest of the team or on her own, tasks started were never finished and there was a tendency to ignore or just not accept deadlines.

Thankfully, Dawn was still in the market and accepted the post, two years on she’s still in post and is a valuable member of the team. Her tendency to stabilise is still there but Kate and Jimmy can work with that and know what to look for when they are working with her. More to the point they still give thanks for the fact they were able to see why Emily was wrong for the post, it wasn’t just a new employee settling in it was a matter of synergy. It might have taken months or years to realise what was wrong and they would have then possibly be faced with the challenges of employment law.

When we asked Dr Marty Jablow, a very busy dentist a regular contributor for Apex, to give us a testimonial about what he likes most about our ezine, he decided not to give us a traditional testimonial but instead created a quirky short film that includes shots from the exhibition floor at the recently held 2010 Chicago Dental Show. We love our Apex fans!

Martin Jablow DMD, practices general dentistry in a group setting in Woodbridge, NJ, USA. He enjoys promoting the use of technology in the dental office to improve efficiency and patient care. As a partner in Dental Technology Solutions, he lectures and writes articles on the use of technology to enhance the practice of dentistry. Visit his blog at http://dentechblog.blogspot.com

The Mastery Company specialises in delivering customized dental practice management consulting, coaching, business training and workshops for dentists. For more information visit www.masterycompany.com

Chris Barrow has been active as a consultant, trainer and coach to the UK dental profession for over 12 years. He is the Director of Private Sector Development at Integrated Dental Holdings (IDH), the largest dental corporate in the UK.

Chris spent the first 17 years of his working life in the corporate sector and followed this with 21 years of self-employment. The different dynamics of both worlds have given him the valuable gift of knowing how to operate – and communicate – in both.

Recognising the opportunity in the dental profession, 1997 saw the creation of The Dental Business School (DBS) and the development of a 12-month business coaching programme for dental practice owners and their teams, delivered to over 400 UK dental practices in the following 10 years. His role at IDH is to create a division of the company that is made up of dynamic private practices which have been acquired but with principals who still have an interest in the profitability and capital value of their businesses.

Ask Chris what he motivates him, and he’ll say it’s to help people succeed in their lives and businesses more quickly and easily than he did. Chris writes a regular column for Apex on themes of leadership in dental practice.

Chris Barrow’s blog www.coachbarrow.com

Visit IDH www.idhgroup.co.uk

Mark Oborn (MBA LBIDST) describes himself as a complete dental and internet geek, creative e-marketer for dentists, blogger, dad and husband.

Find out more about Mark Oborn.
Web markoborn.com (FREE eMarketing guide for download available)
Blog dosomethingremarkable.co.uk

Dr Chris O’Connor is a 24-year-old dentist who qualified from Newcastle University in 2008. He is currently completing a two year GPT training course in Newcastle and has recently accepted an exciting new job at Penistone Dental Care, in Sheffield, UK. www.penistonedentalcare.co.uk

Chris is committed to achieving success in his dental career and helping other young dentists to do the same. Chris has recently founded the Inci-Dental blog, a forum which discusses the clinical and non-clinical issues young dentists face in a positive friendly environment. He welcomes everyone to read and contribute to this blog, it will be all the better for your input.

www.chrisoconnorblog.com

Dr Alun Rees is a Newcastle-trained dentist and dental business coach. Having many years of experience in how not to run a dental practice, Alun understands the factors that contribute to a thriving business and a high standard of patient care.

After transforming his practice into an award-winning business, which he sold in 2005, he decided to broaden his experience and trained with CTI to become a qualified Co-Active Coach. He has served as media representative for both BDA & BDHF and has made frequent appearances on local radio, BBC2 and Sky TV.

His main aim is to help his clients reach personal and professional satisfaction with fewer problems and faster than he did. There are only four fully trained and accredited KOLBE Consultants in the UK and Alun is only one experienced in working with dentists and their teams

To find out more about Dr Alun Rees visit www.alunrees.com