Private Practice Success Newsletter

June 2008, by Lynn Grodzki, LCSW, MCC (Master Certified Coach)
www.privatepracticesuccess.com

During the past dozen years I have individually coached hundreds of business owners -- many of them therapists in private practice. The coaching conversation often starts with a list of goals that a client wants to achieve. But the conversation soon shifts as we explore not just the needs and goals of the business, but the beliefs and attitudes of the business owner. As we therapists know, who you are determines what you do.

As a result, I find myself coaching the “who” as much as I coach the “what.” My colleague Jackie Nagel says it best: “I have learned that if you build a successful person, he or she will, in turn, build a successful business.”

As our economy undergoes a downturn, healing professionals are facing a new set of stressors. Coaching the “who” means helping them tap into reserves of resilience, determination, and courage. As these qualities emerge, they become willing to take necessary actions much more easily.

“Committing yourself is a way of finding out who you are.” (Robert Terwilliger)

By coaching the "who," I often see major shifts occur in a single coaching session: Old ways of operating a practice can be put aside in favor of a new, more efficient and effective strategy. A life-long introvert can suddenly decide to take steps to become more public with greater ease. A senior therapist can reclaim her passion and stay invested in her practice.

It all starts with accepting who you are today and then deciding who you are willing to become tomorrow – so that your practice can change and adapt to reflect the best of you!

Small business ownership is an intense learning environment. The emotional process that small business ownership incites is similar to purification: like a boiling pot of water, your private practice may stir up aspects of your personality that are unresolved. The day-to-day process of closely relating to your business will bring up everything—irrational thoughts, deeply held negative beliefs, areas of your vulnerability—everything and anything unlike the cool, rational, business-like attitude you would want to embody, for the purpose of your healing.

It’s time to work on the "who" as well as the "what." Time to change yourself, in the service of changing your business. Here’s an example of how this plays out in my office.

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” (Eleanor Roosevelt)

Alison is a social worker in private practice in Illinois who has built a decent practice over the past dozen years. Now she says she dreams of quitting. She wants more clients and more money, but also says she is tired much of the time and feeling resentful of how hard she works with only moderate financial results. Her family depends on her income and cutting back on her client load is not an option. As she tells me some of her ideas to build her practice, one thing becomes clear.

Alison is right: she is working much harder than she needs to. She spends too much unpaid time at the office returning client phone calls that become unbilled mini-sessions, calling insurance companies to find out plan details (that her clients could do), and writing overly detailed treatment reports. Her lack of boundaries is eating up precious time. Before she can find the energy to take steps towards her goals, she needs to address her work habits.

“Could you set limits on your phone calls and the extent of your note taking?” I ask, testing the waters.

Alison sighs audibly. “I know, I know, I have thought of this before, but I just can’t limit myself in these ways. I care a lot about my work and my clients and this is how I show my caring. That’s just who I am.”

This is my signal that it’s time to work on the “who” of the practice – to address Alison’s own beliefs that may be keeping her stuck. “In your perception, when does caring become caretaking?” I wonder aloud.

Alison thinks about this. “I think you are onto something. My family calls me the world’s biggest caretaker. I am always going the extra mile and doing for others, to the point of feeling exhausted and even resentful. Do you think that is what is playing out here too?”

I throw the question back to her, because her answer is the one that counts. “What do you think? If you determine this is caretaking, is that who you want to be as a business owner?”

"Don't follow your dreams; chase them." (Richard Dumb)

Alison shifts into an “ah-ha” moment as she connects her caretaking behaviors at work to her feelings of exhaustion and resentment with her practice. The caretaking/exhaustion connection is such a familiar theme that it makes her cringe. She didn't realize that it was playing out at work too, she says. She is ready to change and says she can see her "future self" as caring about her clients but treating them more mutually, with a better balance.

Her decision to change herself creates a series of obvious actions. Alison actually gets excited about the clear path for cutting back on phone calls, automating her notes, and having more energy. Now we are on the road to the “what” -- making a list of actions and strategies, because she had the courage to face the “who” -- a long-held belief that was keeping her stuck.

Here is an exercise from my Workbook that can help you to unhook from your practice and stay centered within yourself this month.

Exercise: Reclaiming Yourself

1. What is most important to me in my life? What am I doing to honor this each day?
2. What meaning and purpose do I ascribe to what is happening to me? What is the most personally compassionate or generous meaning I can make out of this for myself?
3. How do I express my creativity? When was the last time I engaged in this activity?
4. What does my intuitive sense suggest that I need to do, be, or think right now?
5. What spiritual practices do I need to include each day to keep me grounded and calm?
6. How can I be more loving to myself when I am under stress? What will I commit to do this month on a daily basis? What is my monthly plan for enhancing a stronger sense of self?

Presentations

June 13: "Defining and Refining Your Intuitive Skills"
Washington,D.C: International Coaching Federation Metro Chapter
Register online: http://www.icfmetrodc.com/ccc-sched.phtml

Summer School

Teleclasses won't start up until Fall, but if you want an individual session or two to help you through the Summer doldrums, I am doing some short-term, strong-start coaching in person and by phone. Let's target one goal for you to accomplish in 45 days. See my website for coaching logistics and fees, or email me at: lynn@privatepracticesuccess.com to set up Summer short-term sessions!

LYNN'S NEW eBOOK is on sale now! Only $19.95! Order at the website or click on the book:

Private Practice SOS: Solutions and Strategies for an Up and Down Market. An eBook By Lynn Grodzki It's a tough market out there! You don't need to face the future of private practice alone. Here is a lifeline -- my solutions to the difficult economic challenges we all must respond to today. This eBook is my newest thinking and offers you specific tips and ideas to help you create demand for your services while you minimize your costs. Learn the strategies to higher profits in today's recessionary market. Click on the eBook, order it, and get an immediate download to read on your computer or print out.

Books by Lynn Grodzki, published by WW Norton. To order, click on each book.

	The Business and Practice of Coaching By Lynn Grodzki and Wendy Allen (2005) Reviewed by author Richard Leider as "Nothing less than a radical rethinking of the essentials of building a coaching practice. A must read for all coaches, master and novice alike."
	Building Your Ideal Private Practice By Lynn Grodzki (2000) The best-selling guide to what you need to do and who you need to be in order to have a highly profitable, personally satisfying private practice. Often called the "private practice bible" this book has become a resource for tens of thousands of your colleagues.
	The New Private Practice:Therapist-Coaches Share Stories, Strategies and Advice Edited by Lynn Grodzki (2002) A groundbreaking look at the profession of coaching through the eyes of 16 successful therapist-coaches who tell you how to become a coach, what to charge, and show you how they coach their clients.
	12 Months to Your Ideal Private Practice: A Workbook By Lynn Grodzki (2003) This planned, motivational workbook will help you build the practice you desire. The workbook incorporates fresh ideas, new exercises, further skill sets and much more to give you a direct experience of being carefully coached by Lynn, month-by-month, for a full year.

More next time,

lynn@privatepracticesuccess.com
See the website for additional articles, information about individual coaching, and upcoming classes.