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Rhonda Mullins

"C4 YourselfSM" Leadership — Beyond the C4 Principle


By Rhonda Mullins

Finding, hiring, training, and retaining self-led individuals who have a passion and a love for what they do day in and day out is one of the many challenges in dentistry. One of the key factors in attracting individuals who have the desire to reach and to grow with your practice is how well you lead. Excellent leadership skills set you apart, give you distinction. It will enable you to set standards and help you create your own particular office environment. The way you lead affects the kind of team that surrounds you. Your staff will model their own behavior after your leadership example. If the leader in you is effective, together the entire office will establish a culture where everyone is a significant part of the self-led management team. Everyone participates and everyone benefits, including your patients.

The C4 Yourself Principle is a four key elements action plan to improve your leadership skills. It is simple, if you stay focused.

The four key elements of "C4 YourselfSM"


C1: CREDIBILITY
As a credible president and CEO of your enterprise, your management style has a balance between being a responsible leader and dentist. Your trustworthiness, which is the sum of your integrity and sincerity, generates the transparency and credibility which in turn, attracts loyalty and respect from your patients and employees. Others around you will either embrace your new standard of leadership, or they will remove themselves from the environment.

C2: COMMUNICATION
Ninety percent of leadership is being able to communicate something people want. Communication is the most important and essential leadership skill one has to master. Why isn't communication first and credibility second? I have discovered that the character of people and their credibility stems from a standard of core values. Those core values make you the person and leader you are becoming. So foundationally, credibility must be in place first. Here are four steps to achieve your goal of improving this area:

  1. Cultivate a clear style
  2. Cultivate a cogent style
  3. Cultivate naturalness
  4. Cultivate persuasiveness

C3: COMPETENCE
Invest in yourself. The areas of your competence are vital to you and to everyone around you. Stay current in your ability to provide cutting-edge dentistry. Invest in an upper level training program, research new products, and learn new things that will add value to yourself and to what you do for your patients. You cannot give what you do not have. Self-leadership is the ability to make more of you available to others.

C4: CARE
It is all about the relationship when it comes to the driving force of why you do what you do. This element should be a reflection of who you are. This four-letter word speaks loudly when referencing a style of leadership. Care allows others to feel valued. It is simple. Keep that in the forefront of your leadership and you will thrive, professionally and financially.

These four elements will be your distinction in attracting individuals who love what they do, who have a passion for dentistry, who you want to be on your team, and who want to be on your team because you care. The culture of your practice has a sound. According to Ken Schmidt, the former CEO of Harley Davidson, who helped changed the face of that company in the motorcycle industry, "What noise you make in your industry is your distinction". Therefore, the sound that you make as a leader, dentist, and practice in the industry sets in motion the distinction you are to your staff and your patients. It all begins within you! It is the people within the culture of your practice that demonstrate credibility, competency, effective communications and a caring nature, FIRST to each other and then to your patients. That is what patients listen for and why they choose you to be their dentist. Ok, now you may be asking yourself: "How do I influence the culture of my practice?"...................Transform it!

Where do you begin… with YOU! Whether your role is the dentist, hygienist, administrator, assistant, or associate dentist you can be the change agent in the culture in which you work each day.

Transforming the culture of your practice is not an event, it is a process and it takes COURAGE. People who embrace change must have the courage to change themselves and the culture they work in. People embrace change when they initiate it, not when they are told to do it.

Miguel Lobo at Duke's Fugua School of Business has done some interesting research. He conducted a survey by asking 20 million people, "What do you want most in a working environment?" Take a few minutes and attempt to rank them in order of priority to an employee.

"C4 YOURSELFSM" (Answers at the end of article.)
Prioritize the list from 1-10. One (1) being the most important and ten (10) being the least important.
_______ Promotion
_______ Job Security
_______ Interesting Work
_______ Filled in on Things
_______ Help with Personal Problems
_______ Good Money
_______ Good Working Conditions
_______ Appreciation
_______ Management Loyal to Employees
_______ Tactful Discipline

The process of this discovery in your practice can be painful if the "C4 YOURSELFSM" principles are missed, overlooked, or not embraced by the dentist, first.

Demonstrating Credibility, Competency, Communications, and Care to your team members will transform the power in your leadership and the culture of your practice.

In addition to the C4 elements, here are 8 top points to influence the culture of your practice.

Your finest hour in dentistry will come from a person or persons in whom you made a difference. This positive impact will occur because they trusted you, you heard their need, and you served that need with clinical competency and, above all, because you CARED!

  1. Treat Others with Uncompromising Trust.
    2. People that work around you want to be informed about the happenings in the practice. Handling the truth is easier than covering a mess.
  2. Lavish Trust on Your Associate(s).
    3. This does not necessarily indicate another dentist. Your first associate is your hygienist. Your chairside assistant can also be the best profitability margin you have if the culture has been changed and a "C4 YOURSELFSM mindset has been established throughout the practice.
  3. Mentor Unselfishly
    4. Train someone. Anywhere, anytime. Skill, Knowledge and Benefits are good. However, by creating a courageous culture, your dental practice will go from a job discipline culture to a learning community where others THRIVE and grow.
  4. Be Respectful of Ideas, Regardless of Their Origin.
    5. Diversity is your best commodity; allow it to come forth in every individual that surrounds you in delivering excellence in dentistry.
  5. Take Personal Risks for the Practice.
    6. See the practice (which is the vessel) succeed, because when it succeeds, you succeed. This message must be reinforced by the point leader. It will keep everyone focused.
  6. Give Credit Where Credit is Due!
    7. Acknowledge and show appreciation daily to each other. Transformation of Care to patients is a reflection of how the entire office treats each other, before the first patient arrives.
  7. Do Not Touch Dishonest Transactions.
    8. Conduct your office financial protocols with ethics. Make sure there is accountability among all employees, especially the ones that handle money.
  8. Put the Utmost of Others' Feelings Before Your Own.
    9. It's the BIG PICTURE perspective in life………It's not about you.

    Modeling the "C4 YourselfSM" principle consistently creates a cultural change, which leads to significant success for everyone.

    Remember, people embrace change when they initiate it; C4 Yourself!!

    Answers to "What do you want most in a working environment?" Quiz

    1. Appreciation
    2. Good working Conditions
    3. Interesting Work
    4. Management loyal to Employees
    5. Being filled in on things
    6. Tactful discipline
    7. Promotion
    8. Good Salary
    9. Job Security
    10. Help on personal problems

    ©2006 Rhonda Mullins. All rights reserved.

    Rhonda models leadership and executes real solutions for dentists and their teams as a national speaker and on-site consulting. Her objective; Transformation. She executes this through (3) three key areas: Strategic Practice/Business Development, Performance Based Leadership Coaching, and Human Resource Management. Her knowledge and instinctive business savvy in management and transition has increased net profits in practices nationwide.

    As an author, she has penned her wisdom in numerous industry magazines such as Contemporary Esthetics, and more recently in "Powerful Practice" a recently released book by James Brookfield Publishers. This is a collaborative effort with the Academy of Dental Management Consultants. Also, in 2007 she will be a featured author on "Leadership in Dentistry" in Access, the National Dental Hygiene Associations publication.

    She is a member of the National Speakers Association, Speaking Consulting Network, the Institute of Management Consultants, and the Academy of Dental Management Consultants. She has lectured for numerous Study Groups and National Dental Meetings such as; the Thomas P. Hinman Dental Society, Tennessee and Florida Dental Associations. Rhonda is one of the most influential Speakers/Consultants the Southeast.

    Contact Information:
    Phone: 770-841-5721
    E-mail: info@rhondamullins.com
    Website: www.rhondamullins.com