Contact us today!        Telephone: (808) 878-8384        Email: info@rosencoaching.com        Current Maui Time: 2:19 AM
  Printable version

Testimonials

Bryan Baker, D.C.

- Rome, Italy

Wow, it's hard to know where to start. I've only been working with Russ for 9 or 10 months, but virtually everything about work...and life...has changed in that time...changed for the better. Patients are referring family and friends much more frequently than before, patients are continuing care after pain relief...and my girlfriend keeps asking "Who are you and what did you do with that jerk that used to live in your body?"

I've been in practice for 13 years and had covered procedural issues and technique issues fairly well already. I had been through 2 practice management groups with less than stellar results and with an overall sense frustration. I felt that I did not fit well within the model the gurus were teaching and that I would have to compromise my principles in order to apply their recomendations. Russ has never suggested anything that I felt was in any way offensive or less than 100% truthful and ethical.

I currently work in an orthopedic clinic in a European country. The clinic is reimbursed by the government's socialized health care system. This relationship places severe legal restrictions on my ability to implement "normal" marketing and patient education strategies. For example, I'm not allowed to distribute any patient education literature. And the front desk/administration is not under my control. Given this situation, there is no way that a "normal" management company would have been able to assist me. For these and other reasons, I was immediately attracted to Russ' individualized approach to coaching.

But Russ' talents run far beyond simply individualizing procedures to your situation. He has an uncanny ability to meet you wherever you are...in whatever paradigm you are currently living...and to relate to you at that level until you express an interest in moving to the next lesson in life. Nobody wants to be told what to do. But vitually everyone is searching for the best way to move forward in life, love and work. Russ does not tell you how you should work. Instead, he assists you in sorting through how you want to spend your life and then he invites you to perceive that the possibility exists to spend your life the way you want. If you become open to other options, he assists you in exploring them and in removing the blockages that are keeping you from attaining those desires.

Because of the limits on marketing strategies available in my particular situation, the only viable approach really was for me to become more attractive to patients so that they would want to stay and refer...novel approach. I learned a great deal just by observing how Russ treated me and how it made me feel. I attempted to basically mirror that in my interactions with patients and the results have been no less than astounding.

Your situation will most certainly be different from mine. But a concept that was very helpful to me was to evaluate honestly the differences between how I perceived me and how others (patients, friends, family) perceived me. I am one of the cursed who graduated with a high gpa and have always prided myself in being honest and straightforward in my patient interactions. It irritated me no end thinking that I could be much more successful if I were willing to "play the games" that I saw less intelligent/more successful docs playing.

With careful and honest evaluation, it became clear that many patients did not appreciate my frank and honest discourse with them regarding their condition and their care. I was applyng the "Golden Rule" of treating them the way that I would like to be treated. Problem is that not everybody wants to be treated the way I want to be treated. Instead, many perceived me as somewhat cold and uncaring.

Those same patients were a consistent source of frustration for me because it seemed like they really were just searching for someone to complain to and that they had no honest interest in improving their condition. Often it seemed that they were even attempting to blame their condition on me and to make their problem my responsibility. By processing the situation and communicating to them in my rational/thinking/results-oriented manner, I was frustrating the situation. By offering empathy and compassion first, they became much more capable of listening to what I had to say.

Consistently applying Russ' principles in LAASR communication dissolved the conflicts. It allows me to consistently demonstrate compassion and concern about them and that allows them to be more open to listening to me. My relationships with patients rapidly changed from friction-laced interactions to compassionate exchanges. The same people who would have previously left my office with a negative impression now go home and tell all their friends how wonderful the experience was and that they should come see me too. The same concepts have seaped over to my relationships with family and friends...and it just keeps getting better.

I could go on and on with specific examples, but it all boils down to Russ' primary tenet...the one thing that all offices have in common are PEOPLE. If we discover and change the things that are blocking folks from having extraordinary experiences in our office, big yellow page ads just aren't necessary and the day gets much more enjoyable for the doc.

Now my biggest problem is that the clinic's 2006 production in the first 8 months exceeded the full year of 2005...and the socialized system here is placing budget constraints on the growth. But if you gotta have a problem...that one ain't bad. My advice to whoever is reading...life is too short and it should be fun...JUST CALL RUSS and get on with it!