How To Lead Your Employees With Confidence

Hi, welcome to the Pelvibiz podcast. Are you a pelvic health PT or ot? Struggling to start your own practice? This podcast helps pelvic health PTs and OTs get out of debt, gain the income they desire, be able to treat patients without insurance restraints, and learn how to create time freedom for yourself and your family. I'm your host, Dr. Kelly Alhui, founder of Ortho Pelvic Physical Therapy, Pelvic health Business grower and Pelvi Biz. Over the last two years, I went from a solo entrepreneur to a seven person team in counting. I'm here to help provide a clear path to grow your pelvic health business as fast as possible so that you can gain the time freedom, decrease debt.

Increase income and live the life that you desire.

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I'm your host, Kellie Elihui. Today we're gonna talk about leadership. Many people ask me, how do you create a team and get the team to do what the overall vision is without having to nag them? And I think that's very important. And I think it comes down to leadership. Leadership is what we don't get many courses on or many trainings on. We don't get that. And so leadership can come natural for some people and, and other people it can become very, very hard to lead because they have to let go, they have to rely on other people. And a lot of times that's very scary to let go kind of of your baby and you know, have other people do the task, especially when they're not as good at it at first and you kind of have to watch them struggle. But that is what makes a good leader. And I think the first question is, number one, how do you become a leader? For me, I know in Pelvibiz we have a Pelvibiz ladder and you start at the bottom where you're like at Wannabe and then you are kind of treating one to seven patients a week and you're a solar provider. And then you start to go up the pyramid and you start to hire. And then once you start to hire after that, then you start to really lead because you start to have people do tasks that you were once doing. And I think really being a good leader is the people that have actually started at the bottom, at the wannabes and then have built their way and have gone through all those different levels to then know kind of what it takes to get to that top. Right? And because you've been doing the task or were doing the task, it allows you to understand and know what it's like to do that task or really sympathize with people that are doing that task or how to even analyze it and make that task better, you know, and so I think that's really important is starting at the bottom, going through all the phases, doing all the things. And overall it's going to give you a different perspective shift when it comes to leadership and how to actually lead. And I always say this, I heard this a while back, though I don't know who said it. But leaders stay at the top of the ship and lead the ship. They don't ever go to the bottom of the boat. Okay, leaders do not go to the bottom of the boat. So what am I talking about? That basically leaders don't go and do like where they're calling patients or something. That's a lower level task that you're paying an admin or a manager to do because you have to keep your focused and lead the ship, make sure you don't hit something, make sure you don't get in this crazy amount of hurricane or whatever it may be. Okay? So you've got to lead the ship. Not to say that you can never do that because sometimes there is a point and I'll get to that in a minute. But a lot of times you've got to keep your head above the water and not go underneath the water, because once you go underneath the water, the ship will start to sink. And I think that's very important, that saying, these are my tasks and these are the only tasks that, that I'm going to do. I'm going to stick with this and really kind of being firm on that and not just throwing yourself into situations to where if an admin was out, then you go in for them, or if a manager's out, you go in for them. Or if pts out, so many of us decide say, oh yeah, let me just put myself in. That's no problem. Well, that is a problem because when you put yourself in, there goes your energy, there goes your basic routines that actually keep you going based on all the other tasks that you have to do. And then it really starts putting you behind. And it's not that it's just an inconvenience, convenience. It's that it actually will start draining energy out of you. It will, whether or not you notice it at the time or not, it will start sucking your energy. And once your energy starts going, because remember, you're the captain, everyone else's energy typically starts to go then too. So you've got to find ways as a leader to constantly be able to keep lifting yourself up and surround yourself with positivity so that you can keep your eye on the prize and keep the ship going. So what are some ways that I do that? I do that by having my routine. And I think routines are very important. So what I do in the morning is I wake up, I drink a full glass of water with charcoal in the morning, and then right after that I go right into this green powder that I drink another full glass. So I have to drink two glasses. Then what I do, and this is before I touch my phone, okay, do not wake up and touch your phone because we all get sucked into Instagram, TikTok and all the things. Okay? Then what I do is I go for a walk. And I go for a walk with my dog, Lulu. Sometimes she wants to walk, sometimes she doesn't. I push her in the stroller, if not. And I do that for probably it can be anywhere. I don't time it, I don't put a time on it. Maybe 30 minutes to 45 minutes, depending on the loop that I'm doing for the day. And then I come back, then I take my vitamins and then I eat breakfast. Okay, So I eat breakfast. Once I've done that, then after that, that's when I can start solving problems. So I typically wake up around 7:30, and then I probably start work around 9 o'. Clock. And that is kind of my routine to be able to reset and get ready for all the crazy waves that are going to be coming at me that day or all the problems. Because there's always a lot as a leader. You're solving problems 24, 7 all the time. I probably solve, honestly 40 problems at least a day. You know, whether or not it's in people's businesses or whether or not it's an orthopelvics business, I'm always, always problem solving. So if you don't help yourself first, my autoimmune issue, that's gonna flare up, right? Like I'm not gonna have energy. And so I've got to be able to give energy to myself before I start giving it to all my other people that need me. And guys, this lesson for me, like, this was something that I did not do probably for the first two years in business. I did not Give myself any kind of self love or self care because I truly believed that it was going to take away from business and that I was going to fail if I put any self care in into myself. So now I'm kind of making up for that. And the fact that, you know, I really take care of myself now I'm very aware of of where my threshold is and when I can push it and when I need to pull back. And I've been able to do that because of these routines that I've started to create. And when I create these routines, it then starts giving me a more awareness because when you do the same task you start to be like, oh yeah, I didn't feel that. Oh yeah, now I'm feeling this. And also it makes me have energy, it makes me even have more energy. Like I'm naturally I have energy but it just gives me the energy to do the thing and run two companies. So I never thought I'd be able to do that. But because these habits I'm now able to handle more thrown at me because my body's more resilient and I'm more resilient. So true leaders. This is why a lot of times you'll see like, you know, many these people that own these multi billion and million dollar companies, they're like really fit. It's because they take care of themselves because they have to, no matter if they want to or not, they have to take care of themselves to be able to handle what's going to be thrown at them for that day. So you've got to create habits that's actually going to create you to be a better leader. Okay. Now that being said, there are times when I just feel that the energy is down. Actually this past week we had stuff happen with family members in the clinic and it just brought the energy down. And then also we had people with COVID and there was a case where basically everyone called out that day and it really left me with my hands kind of tied behind my back because I normally don't do the calling, the patients looking at the calendar, all this kind of stuff to complete a task. And I really was flying blind. And it made me analyze, going, you know what, I really haven't been doing those tasks and I need to get back into that just in case something like this happens. But I am not backup. I'm not backup. A backup, A backup. I'm just not. And so I'm not putting myself in that situation. So what happens if this is a question for you guys, think about this what happens if, you know, your admin calls out, your manager calls out, PT has Covid. Like, what happens in that scenario? Are you putting yourself in all those rules, roles? What is it? Are you taking on one of those roles? What's going to happen? Or are you devising a system on the back end that no matter what, if someone calls out that this stuff will be taken care of? It may not be taken care of right away, but maybe, you know, two, three, four hours later, things will be solved. Okay, for me, I realized I needed better systems. I thought my systems were really good. But when these scenarios like this come up, it makes me tweak the system even more, saying, you know what? I've got to be a better leader and lead the ship to make the systems better. So after this stuff happens, then I can be like, okay, I can see a clearer path of what needs to happen based on the reality of actually what happened, if that makes sense. And then I can guide my people to say, okay, we need this in place. We need this in place. And we need this in place so that this is a fail safe if no one is in the office. And then that way again, you don't have to go to the bottom of the boat to try to steer it. You can stay up top and keep steering the thing. And also when that happens, it creates lots of chaos and anxiety for people and stress for people. So how you as a leader can help build your team up, I think that's really an important point here, is rebuilding the team up when things get crazy. Maybe your numbers were sucking in clinic and everyone's morale's down. Maybe someone feels that they couldn't help solve this patient's problem and that kind of is discouraging. I don't know, things come up. Maybe they're having family issues and they're just feeling down. What are you going to do to build the team? And I think as a leader, you have to have community and get people to come together. And when people come together, then that's when the energy gets higher. So for us, we have meetings once a week. We have meetings that every single time we meet we tried to do a fun activity that's not talking about numbers. Okay. And if the numbers are always down and you're constantly saying, numbers suck this week, number suck this week, number suck this week. Do you think that's going to be really uplifting for the PT or OT or pta? No. They're going to feel like no matter what I do, they these numbers are always going to suck, and they're going to feel worn down by that. So what are other ways that we can help build people up? That's what true leaders do. They build other people to become leaders. So other ways is teach your crew on, like, elevate them. Whether or not that's in a practical sense when it comes to pelvic health. Elevate them even from a business perspective. Like, people that work with me, I really teach them business. I teach them how to run a business because they see everything that I do, all the odds and ends and how I tweak things based on how numbers are going or based on how the clinic's running, whatever it is. So they're actually getting business training as well with me. Give them mentorship, whatever that may look like for them. Also be compassionate towards them. I think being really giving and give, give, give. I can tell you this. I give my employees a lot. I really, really give them a lot. I give them, I think, more than they expect. Because I believe that if you're very giving to people, it truly, it just feels good. Number one, it just feels good to give to people. And B, like, I don't have to then sit there and hound my people to do things because they're way more willing to do it because I over give. I literally over give. And that's just, I guess, how I work. But I truly feel that that does help with leadership if you are more compassionate towards them. Oh, you can't come in today because this is happening. Okay, fine, no problem. Just come in this next day. If you're more flexible with that, the more that they're actually going to be willing to work with you. It's almost just like respect, right? The more respect you give them, the more respect that you'll actually get back as well. Okay. So I think giving is also a really good quality when it comes to leadership. I think that's very important. So, yeah, I mean, what else makes a good leader? Just being able to hear people and listen. Listen to people, listen to your staff, listen and hear feedback that they are giving you and truly take that in. So it may be around time off. It may be this feedback, you know, it may be how things are running, it may be, like how schedules are set up. It may be how feedback that even the patients are maybe giving the PT all that you've got to listen and take that in and not go on the defense and be like, wait, wait, wait. But no, no, no, listen, because there's a reason why they're saying that. And Then good leaders let them come up with a solution. Because us, as leaders, we try to solve the problem, but in reality, if they know the problem, then they should also be able to figure out the solution. So let your people give you. So say, okay, this is a problem. Okay, what do you think we should do to find the solution to this? Or what is the solution to this? Let them talk. Okay? And then you, in the back of your head, have ideas, but use their ideas and your ideas, and together then you can have this great impact because you all now are kind of on the same page. And it's not just you thinking, okay, this is the way it's going to be, or this is how it's going to be. And maybe that's not the right answer. So I think that also makes a good leader is a good listener. Also one more thing. Another thing is I think things should be caught and not taught. Ed Milette says this a lot, and I think this is actually important when things are caught. What I mean by that is they see and watch you as the leader slash owner of the clinic or of whatever company. Right? So when I go into the clinic, I'm not just standing around shooting the crap with anyone. I'm literally doing task. And I'm doing tasks to get things done to help them. So when I walk into clinic, I'm like, hey, do we have, you know, this stuff on the call log? Okay, what can I do to help you? Okay, I'll get in there and do that task. Now you're probably thinking, Kelly, you just said, don't go to the bottom of the boat and do these other tasks. Yes, that's true. But there's sometimes we have to show the team how things should be done. Okay. I don't go in there and expect to do that every single day. And it's not my responsibility to do that, but I do do it to help kind of guide and show if I need to do, like a reset or if I hired a new trainee and they need to see how things work, I will literally do all the sales calls then that day. Or I will, you know, do training with them. Like, I will do certain things to show them how it's done. I'm not afraid to get my feet dirty and maybe fail at something or do a task that I haven't done in a while. You should be able to do that on the whim. Okay. Same thing with my pts. If they are not feeling comfortable, maybe let's just say with like, a male patient, then I'll Co treat with them so that they can get their feet wet. But I lead them to show them how that they can actually treat this male patient really effectively as I'm in the room with them. So I co treat with them or there's just a patient that, you know is really not getting better and we've hit all the walls that we think, okay, pull me in so that we can together, two heads are better than one, help guide this patient better and get better outcomes. So there's things and there's times where you can put yourself in, but don't put yourself in all the time and don't put yourself in to then take over that person's task. I'm taking over the task for them for that moment because I'm teaching, okay. I'm indirectly teaching whether or not they're watching me or not. That's where the caught. Where they catch. They catch me doing it. Not taught. And they're just watching. They're observing what I'm doing because I want them to see, you know, what it's like to be a leader and what it takes. So I think that's another, you know, lead by example and be fearless. That's huge. Fearless is huge. You've got to have some like, bam, I'm going to get after this. You know, like, that's what it's got to be when you're a leader. So. And don't be afraid to let other people fail. It's going to happen. It's going to like be like, oh, it's going to be cringe worthy for you. Yes. But you've got to let people do the task and let go. Just let go and release the control that you think that you have. Okay. Because if you can't do that, then you truly cannot be a leader. You just can't. And you don't want to be the person that's hounding people over task. Do this task and do this task and do this task. No, develop systems, leaders. Develop systems so that it's A, B, C, D, E, F. You can create a checklist. And Sally knows that she should be doing the task because she has a checklist and she has videos on it. So no matter what, all you have to say is, okay, great, all these tasks are done. Is that correct? Yes. Because now everything's really clear, it's really laid out and you can let go of the control rather than being like, oh, I just told Sally to do this task to Sally. Did you do this task? And asking her over and over and over again. No one likes to be micromanaged. No one. So that is not a good leader. When you are micromanaging, A, you don't have the brain power for that, and B, people are going to start to be resentful of you because you are over them like a mom, like, hey, is this done yet? Is this done yet? No, no, no. That's not how that works. Create systems. Let the systems work. If the systems don't work, put yourself back in, figure out why they don't work, you know, for the day or something to analyze it, take yourself back out and then recreate the system. Okay, so I have to say, at Orthopelvic, we have really good systems because I've tweaked it. We've all tweaked it a lot. And I've just really been able to listen and hear people out to create these systems to be, you know, where they work pretty effectively. So hopefully you guys took some lessons today on leadership and how to lead a team, whether or not you're hiring an admin or whether or not you're hiring an ot, pta, pt, whatever it may be. But when you start to not do all the tasks, you got to become a leader. So get after it today, guys. Bye. Bye.

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