Very often people come to me and say they want to increase their profits by 10 per cent. My response is always the same: what do you think you need to do to achieve that goal?
The mistake that many people make here is to adopt the default position that says we need to increase our profits by 10 per cent; therefore we all need to work harder by 10 per cent. The problem is of course that ‘working harder’ very rarely produces a lasting change. This is because it simply isn’t physically possible to sustain such a high intensity of work for an indefinite amount of time. Either you will burn yourself out, or you will find yourself slipping steadily back to your normal working speed and you will be left wondering why your profits are starting to fall.
One very useful tool here can be to set yourself a target so outrageous and so provocative that it requires you to completely change your way of looking at the problem. Ask yourself: what do I need to do to increase my salary by 100 per cent? Even more importantly still: what would my team members need to do to achieve a pay rise of 100 per cent?
Remember it’s not about working harder – it’s about working smarter. Consider for example, what would you expect to receive in terms of improved performance to justify such a pay rise? What would you expect to receive in terms of improved behaviour? Of course the 100 per cent pay rise question is complete and utter fantasy, but it can be a useful tool for helping you to take a step back and look again at how your practice operates. Questions such as these can also help you to think about what potential your employees might have when they are set free to become exactly what they are worth.
And don’t just think this sort of thinking applies only to business owners. If you’re reading this and you want to earn the sort of salary you think you deserve, take a step back for a moment and consider what you think you need to do to achieve that goal. Chances are if you approach your employer and just ask for a pay rise then in almost all cases their response will be to tell you to work harder, work faster, and see more patients. But we already know that this just doesn’t work. A better approach then might be to ask, ‘What would have to happen for me to earn the salary that I desire?’ Though the figure you want to earn could well be unattainable in your current situation, the thought processes that you and your employer would have to go through to even come close to achieving this target are an important step in realising your full potential. As Oliver Wendell Holmes Senior once said: ‘A mind, once expanded by a new idea, never returns to its original
dimensions.’