July 2005

Passion for chiropractic

by Dr. Robert Schiffman

Those who have given service to this country know and understand leaders who could motivate troops to do extraordinary things, and leaders who couldn't get the troops to do much at all. Whenever I thought about these two things, I wondered what the difference was between successful and unsuccessful leaders, and whether that difference could be taught.

Those two questions have stayed with me for a long time. Over the past 25 years, I've worked with thousands of leaders and potential leaders worldwide. During that time, I've found that the difference between successful and unsuccessful chiropractic leaders is that the successful ones are able to engage in deep, human, emotional relationships with the people they lead, while the unsuccessful ones don't. It's as simple as that ‑‑ yet it's more complicated than you think.

You must have passion as a leader and you must also have compassion. Sometimes compassion can be a challenge as we see our patients in all kinds of terrible situations and conditions. What helps me to be more compassionate is the thought that I'm not there to judge, and I don't know where they have walked before they enter the office door. I'm there to minister in a spirit of love, caring, compassion and doing it all with passion.

Our actions of compassion touch many lives, especially when people are ill and vulnerable. It can take just holding the hand of someone who's crying or depressed or frightened, or just spending time and listening to his or her concerns. It's also the loving and compassionate atmosphere you create in your office as the chiropractic leader. These are the kinds of things many families remember. These attributes are what the people you lead will remember, and that's what helps to motivate them.

The power of those relationships have been demonstrated since the dawn of history. In all cultures, whenever people needed to do great things, it was necessary for a leader to gather them together and speak from the heart. In other words, deep, human, emotional relationships had to be constituted for great things to be accomplished.

It's absolutely true that successful chiropractic leaders must be motivated. If you're not motivated, you shouldn't be a leader. Can you transfer your motivation to others so they are as motivated as you are and can you translate that motivation into great results? These are the burning challenges in leadership. Great leaders successfully meet those challenges.

You transfer your motivation to others in three ways: by giving them information, making sense, and making your experience their experience (this is the most powerful). One way to make this happen is with the "defining moment" technique, where passion is the deciding factor. If you lack the passion for chiropractic, you won't have the motivation. If you're not motivated, you can't motivate, thus making you an unsuccessful chiropractic leader.

Motivation through the sharing of a leader's experience (where your experience becomes the people's experience) can be the most effective method of all, because when the DC's experience becomes the audience's experience, a deep sharing of emotions and ideas, a communing, can take place.

People generally learn in two ways ‑‑ through the intellect and through experience. In our school systems, the former predominates, but it's the latter that's most powerful in terms of inducing a deep sharing of emotions and ideas. Our experiences, which can be life's teachings, often lead us to profound awareness and purposeful action, breeding a passion for chiropractic. Look back at your schooling. What do you remember most, your book learning or your experiences, your interactions with teachers and students? In most cases, people say their experiences made the strongest impressions on them, that they remembered them long after book knowledge had faded.

This is where the defining moment comes in. Its function is simply to provide a communion of experience with you and the people you lead, so those people will be as motivated with passion as you are to meet the challenges you face. The process of developing a defining moment is simple, too. Put a particular experience of yours, a defining moment, into sharp focus, and then transmit that focused experience into the hearts of the audience so they feel the experience as theirs. Out of that shared feeling, they can be ardently motivated to take action for results. It's easy, and it's a game changer. If you don't get the defining moment right, it can backfire. In fact, you could wind up having people motivated against you. Remember to always stay motivated, and you will motivate others.

Keep your passion for chiropractic, and do not get weary in well doing.

(Studying under CS Gonstead ignited Dr. Robert Schiffman's passion for chiropractic. The Life University graduate's career accomplishments have won him much recognition, and he is one of the most sought‑after speakers in chiropractic today. Dr. Schiffman ‑‑ founder of the Get the Big Idea Seminars and Schiffman Solution Coaching Program ‑‑ continues to maintain one of the world's largest volume practices. Contact him by calling 877‑251‑0181, or visit online at www.getthebigidea.com)