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808: Sharpen Your Vision: Defining Your Core Values – Part 3 – Robyn Theisen

To continue the series on sharpening your vision, Kirk Behrendt brings back Robyn Theisen, one of ACT’s amazing coaches, with a framework to help you define, establish, and carry out your core values. It is one of the most important things you will ever do as a business owner — so let's do it right! To learn the third step to becoming happier at work, listen to Episode 808 of The Best Practices Show!

Learn More About Robyn:

Learn More About ACT Dental:

More Helpful Links for a Better Practice & a Better Life:

Episode Resources:

Main Takeaways:

  • Establishing core values will help you attract the right people to your practice.
  • It is up to the leader to develop and maintain core values. Lead by example.
  • Your team culture will improve when you establish clear core values.
  • All business decisions can be filtered through your core values.
  • Core values are verbs, not nouns. Make them actionable.
  • Have core values alive in the halls, not just on the walls.
  • Let your core values bake for at least a year.

Quotes:

“Having an established set of values really helps you to find the right people. It also differentiates you from the practice. So, retaining those people within this employment market and this environment has been a game-changer for a lot of practices. In addition to that, from a patient perspective, it allows you to really define your practice and attract the right patients too. They are attracted to the values, and they see the difference when they walk in. So, attracting and retaining patients is a big part of that as well.” (1:15—1:48) -Robyn

“[Your core values is] your barometer to hiring, firing, what works, what doesn't work, what our business decisions are — everything. When you have a team that is centered around those same values, it really makes things so much easier.” (4:01—4:13) -Robyn

“There are a few different categories of [core values]. So, core values are the non-negotiables. Those are the things that when you look at your teammates, when you're hiring, firing, making business decisions, these are the values that are non-negotiable. They have to show up. That is why they're called core. Now, there are a few other categories of things that you work through as you're really defining your core values to make sure that they don't fall into another category. One would be permission to play. Those are minimal behavior standards. It's nothing that differentiates you from the practice — it's the minimal to even apply for the job. An example of that may be having respect for others or agreeing to not steal money from people. Those would be very minimal, basic standards, and they're called permission to play.” (4:43—5:39) -Robyn

“[Another core values category is] accidental core values. These are traits that show up, and they're not necessarily by design — it's more so by happenstance. So, an accidental value may be that everybody lives in the same community in your dental practice, or that you have all women that work at your practice. Those would be accidental. They don't have to be in order for you to be a part of that. They're a trait that showed up, and it's on an accidental level.” (6:08—6:39) -Robyn

“[Another core values category] is aspirational. These are when you're the leader and you may have a core value that you wanted to put down, but you realize that it's really not something that you live by or is 100% in your practice — it's something that you aspire to be. That would be an aspirational value. If, as a leader, you look at yourself and think, ‘I'm not quite there,’ that could go in the aspirational value portion, and we can work towards that. You're not quite there. An example of that would be, we always see people [say], ‘Time is really important to us.’ And if you're a practice that frequently runs behind, that's an aspirational value. That may be where you want to get to, but it hasn't quite happened yet.” (6:42—7:24) -Robyn

“We talk about core values as verbs. So, there's an action piece to this. As we're working with doctors through this, many times, they come up with a word, and that word may mean something to them. But it doesn't necessarily tell the team member what's expected of them. So, further defining that and making it an action is a really important part to letting your team members know what behavior is acceptable, giving clarity to that. And it really does help you to eliminate some of that micromanaging when your team members know exactly what's expected of them by creating your core values into verbs.” (8:19—8:55) -Robyn

“There is a great Simon Sinek video that I send to a lot of my doctors to have them watch, and he talks about the core values as verbs. One of the examples that he gives is that a lot of people will put “honesty” as one of their core values. Well, I think we all pretty much think we're honest people. When you change that to “always tell the truth”, that's a different action, and a different result comes from that when we're challenging ourselves with the core values and, ‘Are we living these? Do they come alive every day in our practice?’” (8:56—9:28) -Robyn

“[Developing your core values] is not a democratic thing where you ask everybody, ‘What do you guys think? What do you guys think?’ This is primarily led by the person who created the business because you're going to have a hard time trying to keep everybody happy about what your values are if it's not truly the fabric of what makes you happy at work.” (9:50—10:07) -Kirk

“I think one thing that becomes tricky with practices is that when you're looking at the core values, what I see doctors do a lot is start talking about how you interact with patients only. And there is an element to that. There is also an element — it's how we interact as a team. So, some of that, like treating patients with respect — yes, absolutely. How does that also mean how we show up and work with each other as a team member? So, it's about an internal piece, not always about the patients, and how you weave that into it to make it both, and to make it very specific to how we are as people and how we interact as team members.” (12:50—13:29) -Robyn

“What I always say, and I borrowed it from somebody else, is you’ve got to let [your core values] bake for about a year. It's one of those things that you put into play, and then you're like, ‘Is this real?’ because you'll change a few of the words, you'll leave one out, or you'll combine some. So, you’ve got to let the process bake for about a year before you go, ‘That's it. I think we're there.’ You can't move too quickly.” (14:24—14:47) -Kirk

“Your first version — we talk about progress, not perfection. They aren't meant to be perfect, at first. You have a starting place, and they may change over time. As you really start to work through them with your team and have team members come and go, it helps you to solidify those things as they're in action and you see them at work.” (14:50—15:09) -Robyn

“We talked about attracting and retaining the right people. [Core values] also set an expectation. I remember when I applied for my role at ACT Dental. The first thing I had to do was send in a video talking about how the core values resonated with me — and it did. I knew from the beginning what the expectation was of me and if that was going to fit with me or not. That starts with the hiring process if I'm applying to the job. So, it does set expectations for how you are as an individual and how we interact as a team, which I think is a really important piece to set from the very beginning.” (15:21—15:56) -Robyn

“[Having core values] builds trust within the team. We know what to expect of each other. So, if our core values are out there, we know what it is and we trust each other to follow through with those, it helps us to address conflicts when it comes up. If we've all agreed to this, we know what our core values are. And if there is some misalignment there, it becomes an easier conversation to have together when we know what our purpose is together, and we know what our core values are, and what we've all agreed to.” (16:01—16:27) -Robyn

“How it starts is looking at, first, if you pick your top two or three team members and if you can find what makes them, former or current, great for your practice. What are the qualities that they share that showed up in all of them that were really great for your practice, and reasons why they really worked for you and resonated with you as a team member? So, starting with that. Start with the positive. Pick a few. That helps you to start narrowing down what the core values are because it's going to show up in those types of people.” (22:36—23:09) -Robyn

“The next step is the anti-core values. You choose two or three people that didn't work out. Why didn't they work out? What is the opposite of what you were looking for that made you part ways with them? That helps you to also define a little bit more of like, ‘Okay, what are the core values, and what am I wanting to steer absolutely away from?’ So, there is that. Then, the third part is running it through the leadership. If you are a solo practitioner, it's running it through yourself. Can you look in the mirror and say, ‘I do all of these things, and I live this on a daily basis. This is really who I am, and I can stand in front of my team and share this because this is me’? That is a really important part of that, is being able to run it through you and your leadership team.” (23:11—24:00) -Robyn

“I'm here to say, firsthand, all you need is people that are your people, and everything changes.” (25:01—25:07) -Kirk

“That leadership component is really important to make sure that you are living [your core values] every day. I think too, the mistake of having them be — we write them down and having them alive on the walls, not in the halls. So, making sure that we live those every day with our meeting structure and what we encourage teams to do. That's the first place we start, is recognizing our core values and making sure that they stay alive within the practice. They are the filter for everything. As I am talking with doctors, and there may be team issues or decisions that they're making, my first question is typically, ‘Does it align with your core values? Are they a core values fit?’ That's really where everything starts from. It's a filter. So, it gives you some clarity on what's really important.” (26:14—26:59) -Robyn

“All roads lead back to your core values. So, as simple as that might sound, you're going to get all these things come your way as a dentist or as a leader, and you have to pass them through the filter of, ‘Do they fit my values?’” (27:15—27:28) -Kirk

“I'll tell you, [your core values] will become tested on one side of things — the bad things. There are going to be bad things that you're going to be like, ‘This is messy. I can't believe it,’ and you're going to have to really stand behind your values — even if it hurts, even if you lose money, even if you lose an amazing team member who's an unbelievable producer and you think it could set you back. In the long run, it's going to propel you so much forward. And I never believed that early in my career. I was so afraid to stand behind my values because we’d take a step back financially or talent wise. How silly is that? Once you step forward, you're going to see everybody else step forward, and it always gets better. So, it is truly the filter.” (27:32—28:23) -Kirk

“It makes the hard decisions easier when you have set [your core values] and you establish them. Your team is watching. [Are you] going to be congruent with what [your] values are? So, it's a tool to make those hard decisions easier if you're going to stay true to them and have them be the beacon for your practice.” (29:13—29:34) -Robyn

“We spend 30% of our lives at this place called work. Why wouldn't you like to enjoy the people that you work with? Well, the key to that is core values.” (29:40—29:50) -Kirk

Snippets:

0:00 Introduction.

0:57 Why defining your core values is important.

4:37 Core values, explained.

8:10 Core values are verbs, not nouns.

12:46 It isn't just about patients.

14:15 Let your core values bake.

15:10 How core values affect team culture.

22:19 How to define your core values.

26:07 Final takeaways.

Robyn Theisen Bio:

Robyn Theisen brings an entire life and legacy of dental experience to the team and every team with which she works as the daughter and sister of dentists. With almost 20 years of experience in dentistry, her roles ranged from practice management to operations at Patterson Dental to coaching teams. Robyn’s passion is empowering teams to realize that they can dramatically impact the lives of the people they serve by implementing skills and systems to remove barriers to life-changing dental treatment. She has done it for decades and does it every day with dental teams.

Outside of coaching, she enjoys time with her husband, Rob, and two daughters, Emerson and Ruby. She loves traveling, music, fitness, and cheering on the Michigan State Spartans.
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