Most businesses discover over time that while the majority of their knowledgeable employees are "getting their jobs done", they aren't necessarily contributing to the company's bottom line! What's the missing ingredient? The intangible aspect of human character, known as emotional intelligence (EQ). EQ gives human beings an "edge" over its counterpart IQ, by providing individuals with an instinctive power to "connect" with others.

Those blessed with a high level of EQ have a keen sense of awareness of their own feelings, as well as other people's feelings. They sustain their intelligence by dedicating themselves to seek to understand another person's point of view without judgment. While individuals with IQ might be more intelligent, they endlessly struggle to understand their own feelings (let alone someone else's). EQ'ers on the other hand, are naturally programmed to "tune in to" what other people perceive as important, for they recognize this understanding is the shortest and most sustainable path to building trustworthy relationships with clients and associates.

Whether its through their attentive observation, enlightened introspection, keen listening skills or mastery of communication, EQ'ers know how to leverage even the most basic level of knowledge to increase sales and secure profitability.

Securing the right-fit does not imply that all hires have to have the same personality. Quite the contrary! The goal here is to seek somewhat unique attributes - providing they are complimentary to the group as a whole.

Ideally, it would be nice to seek individuals who see the business owners' side of things and think the way they think to encourage simultaneous modeling of behavior. While optimism is encouraged, it should never be used as a "hope-maker" for change in personality. The fact remains that human beings cannot be permanently re-sculpted to serve another person's needs. A more prudent move would be to replace your chisel with a broad stroke paintbrush in an effort to "blend" unique temperaments for the "greater good". Read this chapter and discover the four dimensions of personalities that make individuals unique and how to blend strengths to enhance team harmony and practice growth.

The Smart-Hire™ process ensures the best match and a seamless transition, by identifying the specific characteristics the practice is seeking for the position it is trying to fill. It is best to assign a hiring coordinator to facilitate the hiring process. The hiring coordinator can work directly with placement agencies or place an ad themselves, as well as respond and screen applicants to ensure that the best candidates advance through several stages of interviewing. Of utmost importance, the hiring coordinator ensures new hires are fully informed about the expectations of the position they are applying for which avoids miscommunications and disappointments for all parties concerned.

Employees have an intrinsic need to feel that their personal contribution is as important as the work they perform. Employees are looking for trust, hope, and a sense of worth. When you recognize and value your team for their effort and loyalty to your practice, they automatically feel more connected to the organization's vision which strengthens their commitment to "go the distance", regardless of unforeseen obstacles along the way.

Leaders and managers can effectively direct the output of their people by reflecting value in those they employ. Value can always be communicated in remuneration, but a far more effective means would require spoken or written words or facial expressions demonstrating your appreciation. Make it a point to inject a daily dose of value into those who have earned it (or those capable of achieving it), and you'll build "relationship-capital" in your people - your company's greatest asset for practice growth!

Do the math and you'll find that a temporary loss in revenue (for a day or even a week) is far less costly than "lost opportunity" from employee stagnation.

Likewise, don't be dissuaded from the time investment required for training a new hire for fear of potential turnover. Sure, you'll be taking a risk; but the true risk is not the trained employee who may leave, but rather the untrained employee who stays!

This chapter helps business owners implement structure for training by emphasizing the importance of defining essential components for each assigned job, and by providing objectives that produce measurable outcomes. Ultimately, trainers will be encouraged to use a format with a timeline for monitoring all stages of training to increase accountability through performance competency.

The only difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of, and response to failure. Considering failure is far more common than success, there should be more training in failure than success! This chapter helps individuals become more confident in handling failure by encouraging them to look the prospect of failure in the eye, in search of a better outcome. The question here is not if individuals will ever have problems, but rather how they will handle them when they do.

Of course, one's resilience to "bounce-back" after they experienced failure is essential to this process. The strength of one's resilience is predicated upon two key factors: (1) their willingness to take ownership for what didn't go well and, (2) their insistence to figure out what needs to happen in the future to ensure an improved outcome is obtained.

An organization's openness to feedback provides innumerable opportunities to strengthen loyalty and improve service. Smart businesses intuitively see failure as journey full of opportunity, rather than one problem that needs to be solved.

As Henry Ford once said: "Failure is only an opportunity to more intelligently begin again!"

The process of goal setting forces individuals to determine what they want out of life and helps them create a plan to achieve it. While most people have dreams and aspirations, they don't necessarily have measurable, time-based goals in writing.

Goal achievers are so ambitious, that they not only resolve to hit their target and achieve their goals; they create new opportunities after they accomplish their goals, by raising the bar and dreaming an even bigger goal!

This chapter guides leaders, managers and personnel into a seven-step process for goal attainment, while defining the 7 most important activity reports in trend-casting.

Accomplishing what it is we want in life is no small task. It takes discipline, commitment and determination to achieve goals. Do not be dispirited by the foreseeable timeline or get caught up in excuses that may stagnate forward movement. As Mark Twain once said, "Twenty years from now, you'll be more disappointed in the things you didn't do, rather than the ones you did!"

Decide who you want to become, what you want to achieve and when you want to achieve it. Prioritize your goals, track your progress and celebrate your success with those who count the most - the people who help you reach your goals - your TeamFirst™!