EP003: Building a Happy and Efficient Team with Sachin Patel

Welcome to the Perfect Practice podcast where we share the most innovative strategies to help you build a successful functional medicine business, attract your ideal patients, serve your community, and get paid what you're worth. Each episode is packed with practical steps that you can take to immediately grow your influence and serve more people. Our mission is to share golden nuggets from successful practitioners, technology experts and innovators from around the world. Your host, Sachin Patel is a functional medicine success coach, international speaker and best selling author. He's calling in all his favors to bring this information to you so you can create your perfect practice.

Hello and welcome to Perfect Practice. I'm your host, Sachin Patel, and today I'm going to be discussing what I think is crucial to the success of your business. And that is building your team. Your team, not your employees, but your team is one of the most important determinants of your practice's success. Without your team, you can't carry out the mission. It's really, really important that you understand that this is a mission and nobody works for you. Everybody works for the mission. If you can lead with that attitude, then, then I think your practice is going to go to the next level. And here's a reality that you have to take into consideration, and that is that anyone in your office has the capability to make or break your practice. So no matter how good you are as a clinician, how awesome the rest of your staff is, one person could ruin the entire experience for your patients. So keep that in mind. It's critical, absolutely critical, that you bring on people into your team who share the same core values as you. Skills can be taught, but values cannot be taught. It's also important that the people on your team have a value, a similar value mindset as you do. Okay? They've got to be in the same financial mindset as you are. This is important as well, because if you're in one place and your team members are somewhere else, it's going to reflect when it comes time, you know, to working with your patients in the actual clinical and financial setting. You know, there's a financial reality to running your business. So your team must understand, very importantly, the value that your business delivers into your community. And also they have to understand the costs associated to running a business. You know, sometimes us providers might make it look easy, or sometimes our team members might not be aware of all the costs associated to running your business, the taxes that come with it, the stress that comes with it. There's also the emotional cost of running a business. I think it's Important that your team members kind of understand that side of it. Okay. You know, an entrepreneur is the person who takes pretty much all the risk. So as an entrepreneur, you know, sometimes, especially as our business becomes successful, we might feel guilty of the way our practice is set up. We might feel that there's a disproportionate distribution of resources between yourself and the team. Now, here's a reality that I want all of you to think about. As an entrepreneur, you took all the risk. So you took the risk of not making anything. You took the risk of losing everything. And you took the risk of believing in your vision and your mission and in the value that you deliver into your community to the point where you were willing to put it all on the line. And for many of you, there might be months or years where you've gone and haven't gotten paid. Your business hasn't turned a. A profit, but you took all that risk. So it's important that your team members also understand that. That you get paid last. And if they don't do their job the way they're supposed to, or if they don't play their role the way they're supposed to, then you pay that price. You know, they might still get paid either way, depending on how you compensate them. You know, one thing that's important to understand when bringing on team members is that they. There's more to know than what meets the eye. So never judge a book by its cover. And that goes both ways. You know, don't be overly excited until you get to know somebody really, really well. And some people will tell you that you really don't get to know someone until they're under the. Under a lot of pressure. Right? And that's when we get to see people's true colors, if you will. You know, one of the things that you want to do when you're bringing somebody onto your team is, is to actually consider strongly hiring somebody who's actually gone through your program, Somebody who truly understands the benefit and the value of what you have to offer to your clients. This will allow your entire team to actually fully embrace the vision. You know, if you can transform somebody's life, then guess what? I mean, why wouldn't they want to do that for somebody else? You know, that's a really, really powerful thing. And. And so the majority of people on our team have worked through our program and then decided that they wanted to work for us. A lot of people are really open to a second or new career, especially when they realize what you do and how Much joy you bring people and the value that you offer people. Many of these individuals will quit what they're doing gladly because they start to realize that what they were doing didn't align with their core values as much as what you have to offer. It's also something that will. They'll realize that their job was killing them or causing, you know, their catastrophic health issues. So it's almost our duty as practitioners to bring these people on because it'll bring them great joy, they'll bring great value to your team, and it'll help them with their health. You know, somebody who's invested in your program will have a much easier time supporting other people's decisions to invest in your program as well, you know, and somebody who hasn't gone through your program, you know, they can't genuinely recommend it. So if you've got team members that haven't gone through your process, that haven't been tested, that haven't had the sit down with the practitioner and their lifestyle and all those things dialed in, then I suggest that you do that. You know, your teammates should be living examples of the services that you offer. And it's not about where they're at right now. It's about how much they're trying to get where they want to go. Because, again, they've got a role model for your patients. You can't have somebody on your team who doesn't practice what your team preaches. So keep that in mind as well. Again, it's not the state of the person, it's the trajectory of that individual. So I find typically that when our teammates are able to share their stories, they build a deeper bond and deeper connection with the people that are going through our program. You know, nothing can really stop a passionate group of people that shares core values. It's amazing the transformation that can take place. You know, I just recently watched Elon Musk and his team, right? It's not just him designing the rockets, but I saw their rocket accelerate live. It went 0-20,000km an hour, which is like the most epic thing to see. But what really gave me goosebumps was when they showed the entire team cheering when the rocket went into, you know, outside the atmosphere. It was just amazing. And it just almost brought tears to my eye to think about what can happen when you have a group of people that are dedicated to the mission. Okay. No matter how much each person gets paid in that, in that, on that team, they all had the capability to make the program successful. And each and every one of them had the capability of making a mistake to cause that rocket to crash. So just keep that in mind as well. Everyone's role is extremely, extremely important. With that being said, you know, I always want you to compensate people. What's fair, I always want you and suggest to you to compensate people with some sort of bonus structure involved as well so that they're able to, you know, work a little bit harder, go that extra mile, which is usually a couple extra inches, and be rewarded for it. Okay. It's always great when people can grow with your business. So when you, when your business grows and you grow, your team should be growing with you. Okay. It's really, really important that you take your team on this ride. Everyone goes together, everyone rides on the bus together. And if you're planning to build out a team around yourself, you know, one of the first hires that I suggest, if it's not your spouse, that's usually the best hire. That was my first, I wouldn't even say hire because, you know, that's not the nature of our relationship. But the best person that I brought on my team was my spouse. And Deepa has just been phenomenal at helping me execute the mission and make it come to reality. And it's hard to find someone that you can trust more than your spouse. At least I hope that's the case for you if you're married. So bringing her on was a game changer for me because I could, you know, take a lot of things off my mental plate and delegate them to her. And I know they would get done. And I know that, you know, if she makes a mistake, it's going to impact us. So she's obviously not going to make a mistake. And that's not, you know, how she is. She's very attention to, detail oriented. So of course you want to bring someone on like that. But in hindsight, what I realized is I brought somebody on who was the perfect compliment to me. Somebody who, you know, looked at things from a different perspective than I did. And, you know, the last thing you want to do is have your first hire be somebody that thinks and looks at problems the same way you do. Because then you can make a lot of mistakes that way. But if you have somebody that comes in from a different perspective, a different opinion, then you could at least have a conversation around it. Now, if you can't hire your spouse, then the second person that I would hire would be a functional medicine trained coach. A functional medicine trained coach is going to be instrumental in your success. Now, if you can hire what I Call a hybrid coach, which is somebody who loves, you know, messaging, somebody who loves technology, somebody who loves marketing, somebody who loves nurturing and educating people as well as coaching, then this person can be a great asset because they can work on helping you build your practice and the infrastructure in your practice, as well as serving your clients. You know, there's two parts to this, this business. One is attracting people into the office, and then two is actually serving these individuals. And so if you could bring on a hybrid coach from, let's say, the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy or the Health Coaching Institute, you're going to be able to bring on somebody who has multiple skill sets. And that person is going to take a load off of your chest and enable you to actually be a clinician, be the. The whiz, be the entrepreneur that you need to be. Now, when you bring somebody on, their title is important because that represents their training, but what's really important is their personality and their ability to take action. So there's three main tests that I recommend, and really, there's a fourth one that we could add in here. The first one is a disc communication style. Now, I'll do a deep dive into some of these in future talks, but the disc communication style is huge because it tells me what this person's communication and behavior style is. The next one is a Colby A. The Colby A is a great test because it tells me what this person's action steps are going to be. So if I give this person instructions, are they going to look for facts? Are they going to execute the instructions that I give them? Are they going to come up with their own ideas, or are they going to look at the safety side of things? Or, you know, are they. Or are they going to poke holes in the strategy? So, you know, there's four different action sets, and that's important to understand as well, because you want to bring people on who complement your action sets. So part of getting to know other people from a personality perspective is really getting to know yourself. The third one is the Five Love Languages. This is a work by Gary Chapman. And what Gary Chapman realized that there's five different love languages. And. And so how we essentially compensate people varies depending on what their love language is. So my love language, for example, is physical touch and words of affirmation. You know, so a hug and a compliment for me go a long way. My wife, on the other hand, her love languages, we usually have two main love languages. Her love language is acts of service and quality time. So if I do the dishes and we get some time one on one to each other, then that's going to be very valuable to her. Okay, I can't buy her love. And so it's important to know this about your team members because it changes how you reward them. It, it allows you to fill these buckets that are more relevant to them. You know, it's always nice to pay people more, but that's not always what's going to make them happy. Sometimes you might pay somebody more and their performance might not change. What if all they wanted was a compliment? What if all they wanted was to be appreciated more? What if all they wanted was to learn from you and glean off of, you know, your knowledge and your wisdom? You know, these love languages are very important because it teaches you how to reward people and how to emotionally compensate them as well. Now the fourth one I would recommend is the Chronotype quiz. There's a quiz that's done by Michael. Bruce is a sleep expert and basically he divides people into four different chronotypes. And these chronotypes are important because it helps you in understanding what when people are going to do their best work. So if somebody is a lion, they're usually going to do their best work in the morning, whereas if somebody is a wolf, they're probably going to do their best work later in the evening. Knowing that is critical because you wouldn't want the lion working later in the evening and you wouldn't want the wolf working early in the mornings because that's not going to be their best output. Knowing this has been game changing for us because we're able to then set expectations for our teammates. And everyone works when they're performing at their very best. And them knowing this about themselves helps them organize their day and structure their day much more effectively. So these four things can be very critical in identifying the best personality types to hire. And again, you want to bring on people that complement you. You don't want to hire the same person as yourself because that could turn into, you know, a big mistake. And that's been many people's experiences. They bring on people who think just like them and it can backfire. So, you know, just keep in mind that you're only as good as your team and your team is super important. I don't call any of them my employees. Nobody works for me. They work for the mission and they work for our clients. Very important for you to realize that your business is going to be community facing. And it's important that you know these individuals also have a good impression and relationship with the community because they're going to be representing your brand. So just keep that in mind as well. It's not just who they are when they show up at your office, it's who they are when they leave your office. That's very important as well. So a great litmus test to know that, you know, you're bringing on good talent or that you're a good place that people want to work for is essentially, you know, does your team enjoy working there? Because if they enjoy working there and other people see that, then they're going to want to come work for you as well. So one of the things that I look for in my inbox on a weekly basis is requests from other people wanting to come work for us. Because what that tells me, especially if they're patients, which oftentimes they are, what that tells me is my teammates love working in our practice. They love what they do. They exude happiness. And who doesn't want that happiness doing fulfilled work? So keep that in mind. You know, you should be getting periodic emails from, hopefully patients of yours that want to come work for you. That's a good litmus test. If you're getting a couple of those a month, then keep doing what you're doing. You're on the right track. If you're not getting any of those, then maybe you got to start wondering about, you know, is your team happy? Because if they're not happy, then it's not. It's going to come through as well. If they're happy, it's going to come through and you're going to start getting requests from people who want to come and work for you. Now, one thing to also realize is that the classic org board way of organizing your business has changed dramatically. Okay. It's very difficult, you know, to have the same business principles this day and age because so much has changed in that period of time. One thing I suggest is that you can't hire people to do every element of your business, nor do you want to. You know, this day and age you might want to outsource certain things as well. So take a look at your business and understand which roles are rules that are necessary to have somebody working full time in. And that could be a coach, that could be a front desk person, or an office manager or a clinician, depending on how big your practice is. But you might not need a full time technology person. These are things that you could potentially outsource. So look to that as well. Don't try to build a team that can Fulfill all of your needs. Oftentimes it's less expensive, you know, to actually outsource some of these things to other teams. Now, how you do that is a whole different conversation. But you can't expect your team to do everything. You and you. And I don't expect you to do everything either. So it's important that you learn when and what to outsource. When it comes to technology, you typically want to work with people that have worked in the same space in the same industry. So if you're a functional medicine practitioner, you probably want to work with a web developer or a copywriter or, you know, a graphics person who's worked in your industry because they understand who to work with. And, you know, the people that we coach, we give them the exact names of the people that we work with because we don't want them spinning their wheels. We want them getting an immediate return on that investment and as little back and forth as possible. If you're wondering, you know, who to hire and how to hire and when to hire, what I suggest is that you should know enough about what you're outsourcing to know if you're getting ripped off or not. That's pretty much it. I don't need to know how to change my oil, but I do need to know if I'm getting ripped off, if somebody else is changing my oil. That would be a really, really simple example. So what I'm going to suggest is that you try these four different quizzes and scores that I mentioned, the Disc communication style, the Colby A and the five Love languages, as well as learn your chronotype, and use this to only to understand yourself, not only, but also to understand your team a little bit better. Your team is huge, super important if you're going to build the right team. You know, you want to assemble the right people, put them in the right roles, where they shine, where they work best at, where they complement each other, and realize that anyone on this mission can make the mission move forward or make the mission move backwards. Try to hire people that have worked with you, people who have been through your process, people who understand the value that you add into people's lives. And if you do that, then more and more people are going to want to work with you. More and more talent is going to want to work with you. So with that being said, I hope this helps. I hope this gives you some insights on who to bring on board, how to bring these people on board and assemble the right team so you can have some amazing outcomes and help people feel our absolute best. So with that, with much love and gratitude, this is Sachin Patel. Make it an amazing day. Thank you.