Nine Minutes on Monday is a leadership book by James Robbins, a consultant and motivational speaker. Robbins believes that if you take nine minutes every Monday morning to ask yourself nine important leadership questions, then you can become a drastically improved manager. Using the basic principles of motivation, respect and caring, Robbins provides an approach to management that is effective and unique. By beginning with the fundamentals, the author is able to develop is formula throughout the book and provides plenty of examples of individuals who have obtained success by following his principles. The goal is to help transform your leadership abilities by slowly
implementing small steps. Let’s take a look at some key ones.
Minute 1: Take Genuine Interest in Employees
As a clinic owner or leader, it is crucial to develop a strong relationship with your staff. Robbins remarks that caring is one aspect of leadership which has been neglected throughout the years. According to Robbins, a survey of over 90,000 employees found that the number-one driver of employee engagement was senior management taking genuine interest in the employees as an individual. If you, as an owner, demonstrate that you care about your employees, they will reciprocate by trusting you and allowing you to have an influence on them. As a manager, Robbins notes that it can be easy to get into the mindset of constantly needing and wanting, but by demonstrating that you care, your employees will be more engaged. Some easy ways of caring include taking an interest in what Robbins calls the vital statistics of your employees. For each of your employees, you as a clinic owner/manager should know the name of their spouse or partner, their children’s names and a major hobby of theirs. This shows employees that you have a legitimate interest in their lives and care about them.
Minute 2: Provide Weekly Feedback
Being a manager means that you are in charge of leading your employees to ensure the success of your company. According to Robbins, feedback is one of the most important tools that a manager can use but often it is not used nearly enough. Robbins notes that your employees crave feedback as they want to know how they are doing and where they can be doing better. But as individuals often lack the ability to evaluate their own performance effectively, they need clear and specific goals from management to lead them. If you, as a clinic owner, are unable to provide effective and timely feedback, then employees will tend to have their self-motivation erode and become insecure about their performance. Feedback is information that should be given to your staff frequently, whether it is positive or negative. Either way, your employees will know where they stand. In a clinic, you are able to utilize key performance indicators to identify how your employees are doing. By giving your staff concrete goals that can be measured numerically, they can objectively gauge their performance and make adjustments as necessary.
These were a couple of lessons found in Nine Minutes on Monday and we, at PT Business Corner, would like to thank Judy Boivin of Lifemark Health for recommending it. Give it a read and let us know what you think!
