086 - Creating a Culture Where A-Players Thrive

I gotta show up for the person that I want my team to be. Being on time is super important for me. Um, I don't tolerate any lateness in my practice, and my team knows that showing up with energy every day, and of course, the energy we bring to the practice reflects on everybody else. So for sure, energy is everything. And if we don't bring our A game, how do we expect our team to? Right? Yes.

And. And I think, like, you have to ask yourself before you ask someone else to do something like. Yeah, am I demonstrating this myself?

Exactly.

Hello, and welcome to Build you'd Remarkable Practice Podcast. This podcast is dedicated to chiropractors who are in the seasons of launching and building their practice. Join myself, Dr. Lona, and my co host, Dr. Bobby, as we have conversations each week as it relates to building the practice of your dreams. And remember, you can have a remarkable practice as part of a remarkable of a life, not instead of one. We are here to lead you on the way.

All right, welcome back to Build your remarkable Practice podcast. And I'm here with the beautiful Dr. Carla, who has been around TRP for quite some time at this point. You're one of the OGs. Definitely. Awesome. And we are actually down at the Immersion, the attraction Immersion in Phoenix, and just on a little break, so I grabbed her and said, let's record a podcast. So we're gonna be my first podcast. Yeah, yeah, we're doing that, but they're making it a debut. A debut here. Yeah. Okay. Anyways, we're gonna be talking about the attributes of, first of all, you being an A player and then also attracting a player. So, Dr. Carla, just give us a little bit about you, and then we'll jump right in.

So like Dr. Lana said, I've been with TRP for a long time. Before it was even TRP. I was an associate doc with Dr. Fransen and Dr. Camillo with my husband, who's also a chiropractor. And then we opened our own practice in 2006. So next year, it'll be 20 years of our owning our own business. So you can have a big party. Yes, I'm actually planning it. I'm very excited about that. So, yeah, that's the plan.

Maybe we'll have to do another podcast on your 20 year.

Yes, I know, it's crazy. I can't believe it. So I graduated from chiropractic school 20 years ago in February, and then almost 20 years in practice. So I basically run our practice. I do adjust a little bit, you know, primarily babies and Kids. And my husband does the bulk of the adjusting in our associate doc, so. Yeah.

Okay. And since, you know, when I asked her, like, what should we talk about? You're like a players. Yeah. Because to run a big practice and to be able to have family and not be adjusting all the time, you rely on having A players, which means you have to be an A player leader. So let's start with you first. Like, when you look at yourself in the mirror and know, like, okay, how do I lead from this point of like, showing up as an a player owner or CEO, or for those of you that are like, it's me, myself and I. But I'm the A player.

Right?

Right.

Yeah. Well, the obvious things like being on time, showing up, and being a good leader and not being. My husband always says, like, you can't be emotional. You got to take the emotion out of it. When you're a leader, you got to look at the. At the numbers and the statistics. And that was hard for me because by personality, I am emotional. I'm a female. You know, I'm an emotional person. So that was tough for me. But over time, I realized, like, I got to show up for the person that I want my team to be. Being on time is super important for me. I don't tolerate any lateness in my practice, and my team knows that showing up with energy every day and of course, the energy we bring to the practice reflects on everybody else. So for sure, energy is everything. And if we don't bring our A game, how do we expect our team to? Right.

Yes. And I think, like, you have to ask yourself before you ask someone else to do something like, yeah, am I demonstrating this myself?

Exactly. And there's times when you're not, because you're going through something, whether it's, you know, with your kids or, you know, you're not feeling healthy yourself because you've let your, you know, bad habits take over or you're fighting something or you're going. We had in the last two years to. My husband's parents, both passed away in the last two years. So, like, talk about struggle. And speaking of a players, my husband is like the epitome of a player. He's been through a lot, and he doesn't bring it to work, and he shows up day in and day out, and that energy is reflected on the rest of us. So.

Yeah, success leaves clues, right?

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Okay. So when you think about, maybe you're listening to this and you're thinking like, okay, you know, you kind of get what you get. Meaning, like, if you look at your practice right now and you're the. The owner and the leader, and you realize, I don't know if I have a players, and I don't really know if I'm showing up like an A player. I. Sometimes people are like, I don't actually know how to be that leader. Right. Like, how does one start to change that? You know, I have some ideas myself, but I'd love to hear.

I think, you know, being a coach with being coached by the remarkable practice and having a coach helps. You can't do it alone. And I've been coaching with Dr. Fransen privately now for. For years and in the CEO group, and he's the ultimate leader, and his energy is contagious, and I build off of that, for sure. So coaching for sure. Listening to POS stuff like podcasts like this on your way to work instead of the radio and the news and all that stuff. So owning your morning, getting up early and meditating, exercising, whatever you have to do to show up your best self. I think every leader, that's super important. So you got to get that right first and then.

And go back to the basics when you've gotten off track as well.

Right. You're like, feel good. I'm. I'm, you know, I'm staying up too late. I'm, you know, not eating properly, and that. And that shows. So you have to. Yeah. Get back to the basics and put yourself first. Take care of yourself and your health first.

Yes.

Yeah.

You can't from an empty cup.

Right.

And then also, I think, you know, sometimes our. As leaders, if we've gotten drained, whether it's from stuff in our personal lives or just the tax of running the business, and we maybe lose that zest for chiropractic. Same thing we can't pour to our team if we're not also super inspired by our vision and our mission. So how do you keep that part of you excited and energized?

I.

20 years in.

Yeah, I don't know. I'm still excited 20 years in, which is awesome. But I'm always learning. I'm always reading, listening to chiropractic stuff, positive stuff. Attending TRP immersions, obviously, is a big thing in bringing my team. You can't leave here this weekend without being fired up and excited. So that's a big thing.

Yeah, I agree. I'm at almost 16 years now and in practice, and I like listening to Dr. Pete last night and, oh, like, all right, let's go.

Like he still fires me up and I feel like every time he speaks, he gets better. And I still, like, I feel it right here in my heart. And I get emotional too. Like chiropractic makes me excited and emotional. I love it every time.

And to what you said earlier is like, it's equal parts. Right. You can't be only emotions and we also can't be all business, all metrics, all day because. Exactly. People need to feel it in their heart. There's moments where your teen needs you to be really human and to lead with the heart and lead with like the miracles that can happen in the practice, the miracles that chiropractic gifts us with. Knowing, even just to know that our body is self healing and self regulating is something that the vast majority of people don't honor and, and maybe have never been told. Right?

Yeah.

So if we have reverence for this work and that kind of oozes from us and then we get the structure and the metrics and all the data in place, now we've got like that secret sauce to make people actually like connect in, grow, work their hardest and we're truly linking arms to do the mission.

Yep.

Awesome. So when you look for hiring, then hiring A players, like, what are some of the things, things you take note of.

That's tougher for sure. And to be honest, I've been blessed with an amazing team. My office manager's been with us for almost 17 years and I haven't had to hire for that position. And our associate doc we found through word of mouth through Gonstead clubs and our last tech, like, last two tech CAs were patients who like, I knew just right away were right and were A players. So to be honest, like, I, I'm, I'm not good at, you know, the traditional hiring and so attracted them. Exactly.

Yes.

And now I'm like, I think I have to hire a position. Yeah. And I'm scared because I'm like, man, I got to like do an indeed ad and like go through this whole process and it's hard to like hire an A player because, you know, everyone presents their best self right away and sometimes it doesn't reflect until later on. But I did hire an awesome associate doc who is an A plus plus plus player. Like, and you realize when you have a true A player that the people who aren't A players really show up, you know, So I have to, I don't know if I'm answering your question about the hiring because I'm like, it's tough. It's A tough part. I don't know if you have any tips. You know, what we can do to make sure we're hiring a players. Because I'd actually love some advice from you, to be honest.

But I think it goes back to what we were talking about before is like, if we lead with that heart and then the head. Right. And we watch when we're interviewing and when we're, like, talking to their references. And yeah, like, I know that if somebody kind of shows me their cards in the interview, like, oh, I see that when I talk about the mission vision we're on there, you can feel that they're excited about that or that they're really, like, curious about what is.

This place about, like, their energy that they bring. Right.

And for most of our offices, when you walk in there, there is a different energy to them than, oh, yeah. Especially if someone, you know, was maybe previously in some sort of medical establishment. So I just kind of watch. I would certainly watch body language. I certainly would check references.

Oh, definitely. And yeah, making sure, like, if you're late. Well, like, for me, that's a game changer. If you. If you take out your phone, that's. That's a game changer too. So parameters and stuff, for sure. And then going through an observation, like they would go through kind of an observation day and you know, how to interact with your team, their energy. If. Yeah, yeah.

And you have a. You have a training period for a reason.

Exactly. So, yeah.

You know, and with that said, I think that's something I've had to check myself on because, like, you, Carla, like, I've had amazing people and sometimes they come in very interesting ways. Not from indeed ads. Right, Exactly.

Yeah.

And I like it when they are just. They like, sort of like gifted to me out in the universe. Yeah.

This was supposed to happen for. Yes.

And I know as we keep expanding there, we still have to, like, pray and move our feet.

Right.

We have to go find the people. And sometimes that is putting it out in different channels to find the people as your team keeps expanding. And so I just had to realize that myself as a leader had to grow, knowing that my brain and my expectations and agreements work one way. And some of those are negotiable and some of them aren't. Meaning I can have a players who show up to work slightly differently than I would maybe show up. And that actually makes us more robust as long as they are truly a players. I'll give you an example. I'm an A player who. Big picture.

Right.

I'm big picture all the time. If I hire someone who's very detailed, very meticulous, the way they see how things work in the office, we're going to see very, very different things.

Right.

We also are going to probably answer like if we're doing a quarterly board meeting and I send out some sort of channel for Q and A because I want to know what people thinks are going well and what's not going well and level of overwhelm and things like that. Like, I. I have just realized that the more I limit myself to just initially labeling people sometimes of like, oh, nope, not a good fit and I don't explore deeper. That's. There's sometimes where I'm. I'm not open to what their skill set would bring our team as it's more than just me and a couple people.

Yeah.

Because I am hiring people who are definitely different than I am. Whereas in the earlier stages I would have hired people that I just instantly connected to.

Exactly. Yeah. You need a balance on our teams for sure. Yeah. People who complement each other. Yin and yang kind of people. I think that works best. And funny, when we were initially hiring, when we open our practice, we hired two part time CAs, so one would work in the morning, one work in the afternoon. And I hired the woman who is completely opposite of me, who is super, you know, details and more introverted, more like black and white, by the book. And my husband hired the opposite of him who is more bubbly and upbeat and like it worked great.

Right.

And that was, that was.

And it's challenging sometimes. Right. It's not like, it's like, oh, this is challenging. We're not seeing the same things.

Yeah.

But it is great. It's kind of like marriage. Right. You end up marrying someone usually very opposite of you.

Exactly. But you work well together and you know, hence my husband. I own our practice together we are completely opposite, but we just click. It's awesome.

Yeah. Okay. I want to ask you one more question. So you said like your, your own has been with you for 17 years, which. That is amazing.

Yeah.

And if you think about how you two have grown, I'm sure in many, many capacities, both in your personal life and in your, your career lives together. Like what do you, when you reflect on that relationship and being able to grow together and stay together for that long, like what do you think are some of the nuggets you could help someone else see if they're trying to like, I would love to have someone that wanted to do decades with. Yeah, I know.

I know we're lucky. Well, number one, she's definitely an A player. She's the first one at the office every single day and the last to leave. She has her like pulse on the, on the, you know, statistics and the business all day, every day, even when she's at home and she's not supposed to be. And I'm like, you should be doing that. But I know she is. She buys into our core values and she always has, which is number one and our vision story. So she sees, you know, where we want to go into the future and she knows what success looks like and she's now helping us set our goals and pushing the team and it's awesome.

That's amazing.

Yeah, she's great. She's been to some immersions. I want to bring her back, but yeah, it's really great. Yeah.

Cool. Any last thoughts?

Well, I was going to talk about training because if you have true A players on your team, they, they want to be trained and mentored and they, they want to come to these immersions and they shouldn't think of it like, I gotta go to immersion, I've got to work this weekend. Like I love bringing my team because they get so much out of these weekends. They have so much energy after they're fired up and they like training at the office too. They don't. You know, obviously playing is nerve wracking for most people, but a true way player wants to role play, wants to train and wants to get better. So I'm also blessed with a team that loves to train and knows that Tuesday afternoon at 1 o' clock we train as a team and this is.

What we're training on and blessed. Yes. But also strategic about how you've got that for sure.

Yeah. We just make it part of who we are. Like when we hire, like we Monday or 12pm we have our team meeting, team training, 1pm Tuesday and our team just knows that's, that's part of it.

That's amazing.

Yeah.

And and also to your point, like the training piece you said 1pm Tuesdays, we're doing it.

Yeah.

For those of you listening that it doesn't live every single week for 30 to 60 minutes, whatever you're going to choose, like that would be a nugget from this is to realize part of having a players and keeping a players is to continue to pour in and everyone should share in a sense of like we can always get better. Right. And that's part of being an A player is.

Yeah. Training and developing your team, pouring into them. Because when you have people who've been with you for that long, you need to kind of get strategic in your, in your training too and space it up more. High level. Space it up for sure. Because boredom can happen too. And they're like, oh, God, we, you know, we're so good at this. We, you know, we do this so well. And I'm like, no, but how can we do it even better? So. Yep. Yeah.

Yeah. And whether it's TRP and we invite you to an immersion, which is always an open invitation for sure. Bringing a team team with you or getting to some of the philosophy seminars out there or different things that your team is going to get their cup filled for. Chiropractic is money well spent. So I'm going to echo what she said there about bringing them along for the ride. Yeah, it's imperative. Yeah.

That's fun. Like team dinners and.

Right.

All the excitement and meeting new people and our remarkable women this morning was. Was amazing. Good connection. Yeah. Yeah.

I always think, like, if we're not having fun, we're doing something wrong. Yeah.

And like, I mean, what more like, what profession is more fun than chiropractic? Right.

We have a good time.

Yeah, we do. Yeah.

Amazing. Okay, so if somebody's like, oh, first of all, if you're in Massachusetts, so if somebody locally is like, oh, I'd love to come shadow, I'm sure that's something that we love.

We love having students come shadow, for sure. And docs, we are in Westford, Mass, about 45 minutes from Boston.

Perfect. And then if they can find you, you have an email through TRP. What is it?

I do Dr. Carla at thermarkelpractice. We're on social media, Facebook, Instag.

Great.

Yeah. Soon to be on YouTube and soon to be doing even more. Yeah. All kinds of stuff.

Yeah.

This was fun. Yeah. Anytime you want me, I'm here. Okay.

And then we'll be stuck in the podcast.

Yeah.

All right, see you next time.

Yep.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Build you'd Remarkable Practice podcast. Remember, what the world needs now is chiropractic. And what chiropractic needs now is more successful chiropractors. If you like the podcast, please subscribe, share with your friends and leave us a review. And if you'd like to connect with us personally, please click the links in the show notes to schedule a call.