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Achieving Business Transformation through Mission, Vision, and Values with Scott Farmer, LYP Health Management: Show Notes & Transcript

Post | Jul 04, 2023

Welcome back to Marketing Smarts! From brand-building and marketing veterans Anne Candido and April Martini (that’s us) comes a podcast committed to cutting through all the confusing marketing BS so you can actually understand how to take action and change your business today. We deep-dive into topics most would gloss-over, infusing real-world examples from our combined 35+ years of corporate and agency experience. We tell it how it is so whether you are just starting out or have been in business awhile, you have the Marketing Smarts to immediately impact your business.

In this episode, we’re talking achieving business transformation through mission, vision, and values with Scott Farmer. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and your other favorite podcast spots – follow and leave a 5-star review if you’re exercising your Marketing Smarts!

  • Episode Summary & Player
  • Show Notes
  • Marketing Smarts Summary
  • Transcript

Marketing Smarts: Achieving Business Transformation through Mission, Vision, and Values with Scott Farmer, LYP Health Management

We spend a lot of time talking about how to put branding and marketing practices into action. We thought you’d appreciate hearing it from the other side of the table for a change! We’re excited to welcome on one of our clients to talk about how our collaborative work to evolve their mission, vision, and values has transformed his business. He’s Scott Farmer, and he’s the CEO of LYP Health Management. They’re a patient contact center focusing exclusively on healthcare and medical organizations. Let’s explore what worked well in this collaboration. This episode covers everything from business transformation to company culture. Here’s a small sample of what you will hear in this episode:

  • How do you achieve business transformation through mission, vision, and values?
  • When do you know you need to take on this work?
  • What does the process look like?
  • How do you introduce your new mission, vision, and values?
  • What can you learn from the process?
  • Should you do anything differently the next time?
  • How do Anne & April work through the process?
  • What should the reaction be from your team?

And as always, if you need help in building your Marketing Smarts, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at: ForthRight-People.com.

Check out the episode, show notes, and transcript below:

Show Notes

  • Achieving Business Transformation through Mission, Vision, and Values with Scott Farmer, LYP Health Management
    • [0:00] Welcome to Marketing Smarts
    • [0:30] Anne Candido, April Martini
    • [0:33] How do you achieve business transformation through mission, vision, and values?
    • [1:17] ForthRight People Resources
    • [1:53] Learn more about Scott on LinkedIn and LoveYourPatient.com
    • [2:57] Scott, let’s talk about the “why.” How did you even know you needed to take on this work?
    • [4:56] Let’s talk about the process. We started with a 3-day session bringing together all key stakeholders. This was obviously a huge investment of time and money. Why did you start here and how did that help shape the outcome?
    • [11:48] What did you learn about developing mission, vision, and values you think is critical for anyone to know who is taking on this work for their own business?
    • [12:36] Recruiting
    • [19:08] How have you introduced the new mission, vision, and values and what has been the reaction?
    • [25:06] Learn more about Sarah on LinkedIn and LoveYourPatient.com
    • [30:41] Do you want to stand out in your industry and get more sales? Show you’re different to attract and retain top talent? Build a brand that drives real business results? Grab your Brand Strategy Workbook at: https://forthright-people.com/brand-strategy
    • [31:25] What was surprising about the mission, vision, and values experience?
    • Marketing Smarts Moments

What is Marketing Smarts?

From brand-building and marketing veterans Anne Candido and April Martini comes a podcast committed to cutting through all the confusing marketing BS so you can actually understand how to take action and change your business today. They deep-dive into topics most would gloss-over, infusing real-world examples from their combined 35+ years of corporate and agency experience. They tell it how it is so whether you are just starting out or have been in business awhile, you have the Marketing Smarts to immediately impact your business.

How do I exercise my Marketing Smarts?

Thanks for listening to Marketing Smarts. Get in touch here to become a savvier marketer. 

Transcript

Please note: this transcript is not 100% accurate.

Anne Candido 0:02
This is Marketing Smarts – a podcast committed to helping you become a savvier marketing leader, no matter your level. In each episode, we will dive into a relevant topic or challenge that marketing leaders are currently facing. We will also give you practical tools and applications that will help you put what you learn into practice today. And if you missed anything, don’t worry, we put worksheets on our website that summarize the key points. Now, let’s get to it. Welcome to Marketing Smarts! I am Anne Candido and I am April Martini. And today we’re going to do something a bit different. We spent a lot of time talking about how to action branding and marketing practices, but we thought he may appreciate hearing it from the other side of the table. So he brought on one of our clients to talk about how our collaboration worked together to evolve their mission, vision and values and how that has transformed his business. So 10 years to answer the big question many you always have, does this branding and marketing stuff really work? Or April

April Martini 1:00
and and just full of BS? Yes, right? Right. So now you don’t have to take our word for it. If you want more on the how how to build these tools, how to use these tools, more of the infrastructure, we’re not going to talk about that really specifically today. So we have all of that on our resource page, you can check for these topics you can search. So what we can’t say enough about though is how critical internal branding can be to shaping culture. And your internal branding specifically is defined by your mission, vision and values. So it’s critical that these things are inspired by the vibe or the personality that you want to create that’s going to attract and keep the right talent in order to deliver the desired business results. And that’s what we’re going to get into in our conversation

Anne Candido 1:46
today. Yep. So without further adieu, I’d like to welcome Scott Farmer, CEO of LYP Health Management to the podcast. Hi, Scott. Hey, how are ya? Good. Would you like to introduce yourself a little bit? Tell us a little bit about your business?

Scott Farmer 2:01
Sure. So my name is Scott farmer. And I serve as the lead or the CEO for LYP Health Management, we are healthcare exclusive BPO, meaning that we remove all of the administrative work phone calls from health care systems practices, and sort of answer those and provide patient scheduling services across all service lines that are out there that really allow our clinicians and Ma’s and our physicians to focus on the patients once they arrive in clinic for service. So we serve patients coast to coast and you know, we are really honored to be with you today.

Anne Candido 2:40
Good to have you. So with that, we’re gonna jump into achieving business transformation through mission vision values. And for our regular listeners, we’re going to do just a slightly different flow. But our goal is always the same. That’s to add value that inspires action. Alright, so to get this kicked off, Scott, let’s talk a little bit about the why to begin with, how did you even know you needed to take on this work of mission vision values.

Scott Farmer 3:04
So for me, it was a little easy only from the perspective that we were sort of prompted to stand up our own independent company and break away from an organization where we had a bad eight different organizations. So the timing of it was just super appropriate. And it allowed us to really focus on and think about who we want it to be, now that we’re sort of alone, right. And so the Access Center had been around for about eight and a half years as part of a larger organization. They lived in breed, you know, that mission, vision and the core values that they had. But as we really think about the patient experience, and really, we think about access, that’s very different than some of our clients needs as as it relates to it. So we knew we had to come up and identify as someone new, different, someone who really cares for these callers, you know, each day that they’re, they’re really calling so it was an easy transition to sort of get there. But that’s how that’s how we knew we had to do something different.

Anne Candido 4:14
Yeah, and I know from being part of the process from the very beginning, you have a very passionate group of people too, that are there they’re in there they’re really wanting to provide that service to so you guys stand out in a very unique way and that you have the people you have the talent, especially in those leadership positions that really want to make the company something special and that there is an I think that’s like a really core differentiating factor for you guys. And so when you were thinking about how you wanted to really like pull that in, and how to make that work for you like what was the like the thought process going on with you? How did you think to approach there really bring In everybody into this conversation.

Scott Farmer 5:03
Yeah, so I think the first thing that I’ll say, in all honesty, I was really scared to do this work as the person, you know, really responsible for setting the mission vision, core values and sort of our journey roadmap, I knew we only had one shot. To do it, this is not something that I could just bring a few people together in a conference room and whiteboard some stuff and come up with some pretty graphics, and then roll it out, and then realize that it’s not aligning to sort of the core of who our our folks are. So I’ve all in my career, I’ve always, you know, loved working in collaborative groups, because I think if sometimes we make mistakes, it’s a little bit easier to sort of fall that way, versus all by yourself. I mean, if I’m being perfectly honest. But I also having grown up in the contact center world, I think I’d also bring a unique background, from the point that I was the patient care associate on the phone or that agent on the phone, I’ve been a supervisory trainer. So I’ve had all of these roles. And there’s always unique sort of differences and experiences from those lenses that you really look at. So it was really important to me to assemble a group of people that represented, you know, our day to day frontline patient care associates, they’re doing this job day in and day out, all the way up through my executive leadership team that we had built. You know, as we came up as a standalone organization, I knew that I didn’t know how to do this work. And again, I knew that it was going to be a little scary. And so we you know, engage the experts, and, you know, engaged, forthright people to really help us with this. And, you know, I think that on the overall experience, like, you know, we were there three days, two and a half, three days, we did so much work and walked away, I was like, wow, where do we go from here. So it was still a process after we left, you know, from those three days, but the room was intense, it was palpable with passion. You know, our folks were, you know, talking about, you know, their commitment to creating, you know, the best experience for these callers, who are calling into their provider’s office. I mean, it was an incredible increase, incredible, you know, sort of process. And like I said, there’s no, I’ve had no training and this, the people that were around me, had probably participated very little. But we would not have been able to accomplish what we did without the expertise that we brought to the table to help us on the journey.

April Martini 7:44
Well, and we, of course, appreciate that. And I think from our and one of the things immediately that struck us was that you were and you just talked about this, you took a prime moment in time, and you just said we had to get it right, we had this one shot. And so often what we see happen is the opposite, right? Where people miss the opportunity, or they do what you said, which is getting a room and just kind of throw it together without a whole lot of intentionality. And I think it was very clear from the very beginning to us that you wanted to make sure that you got it right. And that passion that both you and Anna mentioned already in the room. I mean, you could feel there was a level of uncomfortableness, I would say across the board. For folks, they knew they were doing something that they weren’t used to and didn’t know how to do, but we’re willing to jump in. And then I think the big part of the process for us is and you said it didn’t end in that room is what comes after and not looking for those folks in the room to come to the solutions for us or to get to the decision by committee but to get enough input. And I think what was so valuable is your group came to the table ready to work and ready to work for three days. Yeah, which is a whole lot of time. And you could tell there was a lot of heart in that room. And so I think I remember one moment sitting there where you could feel that people were getting frustrated, and whatever we kind of called the timeout and said, Look, we’re not trying to solve it right here. We just need the inputs to then go off and come back with things. And that was a good sense of relief. But again, all of that came from the passion of the people in that room.

Scott Farmer 9:20
Well, but see, that’s the clarity that the expertise brings to the room, because had we not had you all in that room, we probably would have reached those, those sort of walls and those barriers where everyone would have really shut down and not participate in any longer to really do all of the refinement work that we did after we left the three day workshop. So

Anne Candido 9:41
yeah, and I think that’s one of the biggest learnings I have in that I’ve seen as we’ve done this work throughout is that it’s really hard to do this on yourself. Right because you’re so in it on a day to day basis. And a lot of times when people go outside of having the opportunity to kind of turn really be able to rebrand yourself. And however you want to be able to do that, because you weren’t taken a step away from the the parent ship, if you will, is there’s usually something that’s going on in the system that is sparking the need to really foundationally relook at the mission vision values, there’s usually like some sort of business challenge, there’s usually some sort of people challenge. So trying to develop mission vision values in that energy, at that place of energy, which may or may not be a good energy is a really hard thing to go do. Luckily, for Scott, you had a really great energy that was really pushing that forward. But I love what you said about the fact that there is somebody that needs to kind of come in and facilitate there is somebody who needs to kind of modulate into not have like the direct his stake in it, all right, because you can take that that 30,000 foot view, and you’re not, you’re not trying to align with any specific function, and there’s nothing really really in it for us except for to really bring this together in a way that benefits all of you. So I think it’s really interesting to think about maybe, you know, all the different reasons why this could come to the table and what what those wise could be because a lot of our listeners are probably like, well, I’m I don’t get the opportunity to rebrand all the time. But it is when you if you have one of those issues, if you have a people issue if you have a business challenge, and the internal branding is just not supporting the big initiatives or the big progress that you need to see. So I don’t know, Scott, if you have any perspective on that, as you started to kind of roll this out. Now, you know, how have you seen this transformation with the mission vision values? How used? How are you seeing that actually impact now? The culture, the business, the people? Like? How is it all starting to kind of come together for you?

Scott Farmer 11:44
Yeah, so, you know, a couple, you know, things I would say is that, you know, I think I was in a fortunate position, because we were sort of like a brand new company, you know, forming sort of our identity. And I often think about, you know, previous places that I’ve worked, where, you know, we had a mission vision, we had value statements, but we never really talked about them, we would live them, we would sort of referenced them a little bit. But it wasn’t in the unique DNA, it wasn’t an everyday conversation, right. So one of the things that we have been intentional in doing this is our DNA. So as we looked at, you know, our mission vision, our five core values, these things are threaded from our recruiting efforts to the way that we talk in recruiting ads, to the way that we actually conduct our interviews, to the way that we conduct meetings, you know, we get centered on the mission, vision, core values and our, you know, executive level meetings all the time. And we reference them back on a daily basis, just today, we had a situation where, you know, we were just talking about a career development plan for someone, and we were talking about two of our core values around being part of the inner circle and that were made to serve, does this person align, you know, and to these core values. So we’re, we’re very consistent and intentional in the way we look at these things. And I think, you know, one of the things that took us about two months, I think, to finally get everything rolled out. But again, we did that on purpose. So I was able to record Town Hall, you know, we run a virtual organization, I have associates that sit in 38 Different states across the country across all time zones. So we we did a sort of a leading introductory sort of video. And then over five weeks, we rolled out our core one core value every week, so that we could focus on that single core value for five days, before we ever rolled out the next one. We loaded these core value trainings into our LMS systems. So we did, you know, sort of assessment checks that you were really understanding how to connect, and you know, what the core values meant. And then we ended up I think, at the very end, sending everyone a little gift, which was a, you know, it was little that was a mouse pad that has all of our core values that are right there in our employee space. And so they can see them, you know, during every interaction that they’re having as they work, you know, with our patients and clients. But we spend time this is not something that we just, you know, sort of did for three days and it just jotted down and hung pretty pictures in the building. I mean, we spend a lot of time you know, all week long, you know, focus back in on who we are. This is who we are.

April Martini 14:49
Yeah, I think that’s another one of the key pivotal moments and areas of focus is you can develop the best mission vision values in the world, but If you don’t have an activation plan and approach that you actually then go and implement with intention the way you did, it does become just a piece of paper, or it becomes wall art that after a little while, nobody notices anymore. And so one of the big things that we focus on in general, but also with this exercise with clients is that people need to see something seven to 10 times in order to start to internalize it and remember it. When you’re doing mission vision values, I think one of the super smart things that you guys did was take the five weeks, and do one value at a time, because then people can see each one, seven to 10 times, and then it starts to build on itself, where sometimes it’s like, well, at the worst case, it’s here’s the piece of paper that has our mission, vision values. But other pitfalls are things like we’re going to roll it all out at once. And even if you have several touch points, it’s too much for people to understand and connect with. And I love the way that you talk about it as your DNA. Because that’s exactly right. The Home Run is when you start hearing people use this language in everyday language within the company, that’s when you know that you’ve gotten it right because it’s starting to take hold, and people have been able to internalize it appropriately. And then I also think the fact that you are intentional about different ways in for people. That’s another really smart thing, because some of us learn from hearing some of us learn from seeing some of us like to have the thing, whether it’s a mouse pad, or whatever. And so you kind of covered the gamut, which is another important piece to making sure that the activation is meaningful for people.

Scott Farmer 16:35
Yeah, one of the other things too, just to mention is we did communicate formally to our clients, you know, our new mission, vision or value statements. So we’re all really marching to the same sheet of music. And it’s just been very helpful. Again, as we lead our client conversations, those are all led with centering around, oh, IPS, mission, vision, core values, before we start actually getting into the session, that you have a little surprise for you today. Oh, male. Yeah, so as we really allow the core values to settle. So we didn’t really finish that until it was really the first of the year. So it took us really through December. And then we were, you know, talking and all those sorts of things in January and February. But we reassembled a brand new committee to focus on our employee rewards and recognition. Two of the huge components that our employees identified that, you know, are important, you know, from their lens to really look at is we’re going to be doing a quarterly core value awards, and there’s a $2,500 Cash Pool that they’re in. And then we also have annual core value Awards, where each individual I think, can get up to $500. It’s all again, it’s just speaks to, you know, their level of commitment that these things have really risen to the level that they are. And I think it’s just super exciting.

Anne Candido 18:09
Well, that’s a huge testimonial to the reaction that your people are having towards this, and just how necessary it is to have something like that, that’s very tangible, that people can then internalize and be able then to figure out how to live it. So I think not only in all the different ways that you executed it from having your town halls to having the actual things, but also reinforcing it through the reward system. So it comes back around full circle, that people start to really understand what it means to live these. And then, of course, I know Scott, and we know you very well that you also live these like this as a part of the way that you operate too. So maybe you could speak a little bit more to that, like, since you’ve gotten these, this new mission vision values, how is your specific leadership style changed or been modified in order to be able to really support this?

Scott Farmer 19:02
I think it’s challenged us to pacifically around setting our sights on horizon where we talk about, you know, really innovative solutions, to rise to the occasion of our vision to be the most sought after thought leaders in the healthcare services industry. That’s a big, that’s a big undertaking. And so, you know, we’ve really realized around maybe even personal development and might be in terms of the way that you leverage sort of your network of people that you surround yourselves with, that it’s going to take some heavy lifting to really meet those words, right. And so it’s really challenged us to talk different, think different, we meet differently, you know, we sometimes were checked, you know, which is awesome, because we’ve got this open environment where someone will be like, Well, wait a minute now, are you are you really being transparent here are you really, you know, talking, you know, with respect so, I just love you know, really seeing how everything is Just sort of taken, you know, CLI steps forward, you know, just as we’ve got all this stuff out?

April Martini 20:04
Well, and I think what happens when you move to more of where you guys are now, which is more of the maintenance mode, it’s that it allows people to do what you just said, which is pushed back in a way that is respectful, but also somewhat objective, because you’ve started using these tools as metrics across the organization. And so it’s a lot easier to say like, in your example of the personnel situation, is this person living these two values? That’s a more objective way to evaluate versus you can get into like, well, so and so doesn’t like this person, or is this my personal bias that’s coming in here, what’s going on in the situation, or if that person that raises their hand in the room is technically not the highest level in the conversation, and they’re checking someone that’s technically above them, that eliminates all of that levels, the playing field and allows all of you to move things forward, but also in a way that people can get on board with because you’ve all aligned that this is how we operate now and from now on.

Scott Farmer 21:09
Right. Right. Well, and we’ve also, just to that point, we’ve added the five core values to our annual performance evaluation. So that’s part of your sort of merit, you know, consideration, all of that. Whereas none of that was was part of that, you know, previously. So.

Anne Candido 21:29
Yeah, and I think the reason why this is worked as well as it has is because grinding back to one of the earlier questions, you did bring the people into the room to have the discussion to begin with. So I think people really felt heard, they felt understood they felt listened to. And I think those are some of your personal brand characteristics that really shine through on this process is that people just felt just honored to be considered, and to be part of that room in order to be like, you guys care what I have to say. So then you kind of built an ambassador’s right. So they now have, are able to go in, they’re able to take this to to their people, because you are very spread out. And so it’s a very hard organization to manage communication and messaging through because it is so virtual. And I know a lot of our other clients and our listeners have the same issue. They’re like, how do I establish culture, through all of these, like phone lines, and zoom calls and emails and those sorts of things. And I think what you’ve done really speaks to that. And it’s because you put the right people in the room to begin with. Now, that doesn’t mean that they got to make the decisions, because then you took the team and you made it smaller, and you brought those right people in the room in order to make decisions. But you everybody felt heard, and they felt part of the process. So can you speak a little bit more to like, how that whole thing has worked to actually like then transcend these messages all across your virtual network?

Scott Farmer 22:56
Yeah, I think, you know, one of the things that we did, which I thought was super cool, as Sara, you know, sort of orchestrated each of the core value videos, one of the things that we challenged that larger team with is we wanted them to participate in the video. But we wanted them to get into the core value video that spoke to them sort of allowed us that really kind of was in their heart the most. And so as those core values went out, those videos went out, our staff has seen their peers, right, they’re talking about the experience and talking about what that core value specifically means to them. So that was a huge, huge win, because we could have read, I could have went and just read the script and sit the video out, but it never would have had the meaning that it did when the actual group, the people who had done all of the work and had been working on this, you know, really, you know, sort of exude when the videos were released. Other things that we’ve been doing Sarah’s done a great job and creating some of these, you know, sort of, what do you call routines or force zooms, where we have one that set up where it looks like a big credenzas behind you, and there’s a picture frame that’s back there on the credenza. And numbers of people will rotate various pictures of our core values in that frame. So it’s ready to face even when you get on, you know, certain phone calls, and things like that. So, I mean, what else can you think of,

Sarah Baker 24:24
we just rolled this out. Part of our reward and recognition program is that peers can award high fives to each other for just doing what you’re supposed to be doing. But it’s an update to your team’s background. And so every time you get a new recognition, it adds to picture grain behind you. And so you have all these high fives growing behind you. And so kind of a cool recognition like hey, great job. And yeah, we’ve been working on Shoot, I think it came 20 In the last two hours, and it’s crazy.

Anne Candido 25:05
Yeah, that’s awesome. Hey, Sarah, why don’t you introduce yourself real quick?

Sarah Baker 25:10
I’m Sarah Baker. And I’m the director of marketing and communications here at li P. And when I first came on to LYP, Scott gave me the task of rolling out our core values, and really integrating them into a new corporate culture here, where everyone feels included, and everyone feels heard. And it’s been a really fun process,

April Martini 25:37
it was a prime time to have you come on, because I think a lot of the activation stuff in this ongoing stuff, which I think can sometimes be the hardest part, right, because you have the momentum of, alright, we’re gonna build them. And then we do the whole rollout, we activate them. And then it’s like, well, what comes after. So to have someone in a role where that really is, and you do a lot of other things. So I’m not trying to say this is your only job I know full well, it’s not your only job. But as a big part of what you do to have someone really being the cheerleader for that, but also the one that keeps things rolling. That’s another big part of this process. And I think the more that you can come up with creative ways, I think you guys are a great example of continuing to innovate around this. So whether it’s that group of people that you said now, or coming up with new ideas, or things like the high five, the creative integration in the background behind you, I mean, it just reinvigorates the energy over and over again. And I think that in and of itself is living into your mission and vision and values, because that is that passion that we’ve been talking about since the beginning of this conversation coming to life again and again, in the organization.

Anne Candido 26:45
Yeah, because everybody’s part of the inner circle. Yeah, there we go. See, I keep coming back around. What we know, too, that it can be very overwhelming, because I mean, we felt it even in the initial session, because when people are starting to think mission, vision values that are like, I’m going to change everything, like I’m going to change all of my stuff that I do all my like, stuff that you know, it’s it’s in my signature, I mean, whatever it all is, and it starts becoming very, very overwhelming for folks. So Scott, can you speak a little bit to how you kind of help people manage through that? And where are you guys right now in that stage of the overwhelm? Has people started to hit a really they’ve shift to Okay, now we are we’re kind of cruising along? Or do you still find yourself kind of battling the overwhelming anxiety of the change?

Scott Farmer 27:26
No, I think that we were overwhelmed prior to the rollout. Because it was, there was so much work was being done, and everybody was so hyped and pumped. And you know, there was just lots of emotions, you know, as you all saw that we were sort of in the room. But once we sort of left a bigger group, and as you referenced, you know, we kind of had a smaller group just to kind of clean some things up. It wasn’t recreating anything, because we already had all of the framework, ready to go. But like one of this, I was talking to Sarah about this today. And I tell people about this. One of the most exciting pieces about this journey was working on the iconology. Like, I wouldn’t even have thought of that, right? So I visually can go down the hallway, and I see the heart knowing that that means we give our all all the time. I may not remember all of the words below it, but I know exactly what it’s referencing. Right. And so it was so cool, then to start coming back to saying, Okay, now remember, when we use the word innovation, what do you think about this? We set our sights on the horizon, you would see people’s eyes go like, Oh, yeah, you know, I really. And then we throw up like the graphic behind. And I mean, it was just, I think from that, that time, once things really started getting finalized, everybody was really ready to go. And then I think the way that we rolled it out over that five week period, and didn’t really push it all at once, that all work to our advantage. So I think that we’re really reaping the benefits. I mean, from the front end, the way that we like I said before, the way that we recruit the way that we interview, the way that we hire, I mean, I’ve reduced our turnover, down to 55% in the first 90 days, and that was running 120. So, again, we’re intentional in these conversations, because, you know, if you’re not made to serve, if you don’t want to have a conversation with passion and integrity, and you know, sort of that caring tone, Hey, it’s okay. But this is not the role for you. Right. And so we’re we’re, we’re really able to, you know, kind of go through all of that without making lots of investments, you know, in sort of the recruiting side, but yeah, I think I think we’re in a good place right now.

April Martini 29:42
When you hit on, you know, at the very beginning of this and introduced the question of does this really work? And one of the things that people ask us is can you tie it back to business results, right, and so I think that reduction or in the turnover, I was gonna say no the opposite way. And the reduction of people and turnover is huge. And it speaks to exactly what you just said there. There is work to be done at the beginning. And we’re not here to say that it’s not intensive. And it’s not in addition to your every day. But what I think you’re hearing in the reflection that we’re now having in the in the conversation, looking back, and where we are, is that the benefits far outweigh those moments of quote, unquote, pain in putting the hard work and effort and the blood, sweat and tears into getting it right, because now you are, I wouldn’t say you’re on cruise control, because you are doing a lot to proactively manage this, but you’re reaping the benefits of having done that work in the first place. Right.

Scott Farmer 30:39
Great. I’d agree with that.

Anne Candido 30:41
When you’re thinking about reflecting back upon all the work now that you’ve done in order to develop your mission vision values, what do you think is critical for anyone who is going to take this on for themselves and their own business? What do you think that they really need to know like to prepare themselves for this effort? Maybe some of the things that surprised you, or maybe some of the things that you’re like, Oh, you just be prepared for this? Because it’s going to come up? So what kind of advice can you give others?

Scott Farmer 31:07
Like I said, In the beginning, for me, it was scary, because I kind of felt like, I just had one shot at this. And I knew that there was a lot of pieces, I didn’t know what all of those pieces were. But I’ve encouraged, you know, folks to, you know, engage with folks like you who have the expertise and taking us through the journey. That was that was huge, I knew that I had a whole organization to set a tone for for hundreds of people to connect with. And I wanted them to feel good about the place that they’re spending lots of time, you know, with, you know, an organization that does care for them. And, you know, that’s the read through, you know, who we are with our core values. And then I, I didn’t really know how to execute this virtually, I mean, that was always sort of like that big kahuna that was sitting on my shoulder thinking, like, if you had everybody in the building, you know, it’d be a lot easier to do all the rah rah stuff, bring some food trucks out, you know, in the parking lot, and, you know, do all of that. But I had to accommodate this for the hundreds of people that we have sitting in 38 Different states, and I wanted them just to be as excited as we are in Cincinnati, as they need to be in Nashville, Phoenix, Albuquerque, or Seattle, right. So those, those were some of the biggest things that I would just challenge people to think about. I would never assemble a group with managers and directors and executives and not have your frontline people who are really at the heart of the organization. They’re not having a seat at the table, they need more seats at the table than the others, right. So I would encourage people to really think about that. And again, we were intentional with the money that we invested in this. People might be thinking like, oh, you know, this is a lot of money. And it really wasn’t a lot of money. I mean, it did cost us. But we couldn’t have done it, you know, without the way that we chose to do if that makes sense.

April Martini 33:16
Yeah, I mean, I, I think, the overwhelm that you speak to, and we actually have a current client going through this process right now. And I’m at the point with them where Scott, you and I were last fall, I guess, where we were rolling out the activation plan, right. And we’re sitting across from each other at the table. And I can see like, just sitting back and the eyes getting big.

Scott Farmer 33:40
like ours did, right? Yeah, exactly. And

April Martini 33:43
I and so it’s very fresh in my mind with you, but also for that instance of as long as you keep taking the next step. And that’s exactly what I said to them the other day, and I appreciate everything you say about having a partner. But that is our belief, too. There are some times where we feel like because our model is coach train do right. So there are plenty of opportunities for situations where we just some of it, and then we hand it off. And you know, and we had that training with you guys. But there are other parts where you do need to lean into the experts and allow them to do the heavy lifting. And I think one of the things we got into and the reason it works so well is we balance that very well. So when there were moments of overwhelm, you could lean into us to assist more. And we could help you do that heavy lifting when it was like, Hey, we got this and we don’t necessarily need you in the middle of our business anymore. We’re happy to step back. But I do appreciate the whole point about I couldn’t have seen this another way and it was an investment and you know, we we we had to do it. So we had to lean in and we did lean in and that’s the encouragement that we constantly give, especially in those moments where you’re like, they’re like, I don’t even know how we’re gonna get all this done. And like I do, we’re going to do step one, we’re going to do the first thing I’m talking about today, and we’re gonna pause all this other stuff, we’re gonna put it away and then we’ll go to the next thing and then we’ll go to the next thing. And so mapping all of that out out and having the roadmap and then not getting panicky and when it when the rubber starts to meet the road because I think that’s another really emotional point for people where they’re like, we’re actually doing this now we built it, we invested in it, but now we’re gonna put it out there. And that’s a whole nother level of anxiety.

Scott Farmer 35:15
That one of my favorite moments is when we were in the 3d workshop, and we were, the team was super, super, super passionate, and and was sitting on the side and she just stood up, she goes, I got to take this over. She could really redirect and calm about 20 people down. Do you remember talking about the guy that kept saying empathy? Empathy? Empathy?

Anne Candido 35:41
Yeah, yeah, I know exactly. You’re talking about like, because that was like, we just met you. And I was like, do I do this? Do I not do this? I’m like, I’m going for it. Because otherwise, this thing’s gonna go off the rails quickly.

Scott Farmer 35:53
Yeah, it’s good.

Anne Candido 35:55
That’s kind of how we kicked off or, you know, or awesome collaboration. And, and I also wanted to make the point to, because I think throughout this whole process, it’s got the the reason why this work again, as well as it is because you were very open to where you guys are and where you wanted to be. Right. And you were very open to what that look like, and you weren’t harboring or holding any kind of like false expectations or false like realities of like, okay, well, we’re not exactly where we want to be, we have a bunch of passionate people, very talented people, it’s not cohesive, it’s not getting, you know, keeping the butts in the seats, I’m just not seeing what I want to go see. And so you were able to take a very open look at that and be in not only what I can use his ego, like you were able to suppress the ego part of like, what it might feel like for a CEO to look at it and say, I need to change this, I want this to transform, I want this outcome, this this future state that I don’t currently have, and be able to go along on the journey. And I thought that you were very engaged. And you were very open to the whole entire journey, which I think also made everybody else engaged and open. Again, it’s about being the model, the leader needs to be the model in this process. If the leader is going to be very holding everything back and not wanting to really like go there, then the opportunities to really develop a mission vision values, that’s going to make your your company transform like yours has is just not going to be there. So I also had to say that because I thought that was really critical. And the whole process, being able to, to move the way it did, as well as you holding other people accountable. So you gave roles and responsibilities. But then you held people accountable. And you made sure, hey, we were supposed to get this done. Now, we’re going to put this in place, I need you to come back to this is that part of your performance review. So you integrated into every single piece, so people knew it was important. Yes, another thing that we see in this work, sometimes it falls off, it’s like, we will say it you said the pretty pictures on the walls, we all say it, but we don’t live it. And you really, really made everybody live it and you integrate it into every single touch point you could so people didn’t live it.

Scott Farmer 38:01
I think if you know, if people are listening, I sort of equated this way I feel called to this role. I feel called to the work that I do. That’s why I’m I’m really that passionate about it, you know, kind of growing up in call centers, and you know, all those sorts of things. I knew that once I got into this health care world, this was exactly what I had learned, you know, the 20 years prior, you know, to me coming here, because I think we would all agree healthcare is complicated, it’s difficult, why does it take for calls for you to get a hold of your doctor. So I felt I felt a higher sort of responsibility, I guess, to really try to articulate that this work that we all do all of these hundreds of folks that work for Li p, this is not transactional work, I gotta make it different than transactional work. And that’s the beauty, I think of what we saw. In the 3-day session. Even though people were a little nervous, they didn’t feel they were qualified to be there, which was, you know, sort of, you know, cute, to be quite honest. One of the biggest contributors, that really helped us, you know, really molded and shaped who we are now. So I think if you’re just, you know, gonna go through a mission vision value rewrite, and it’s just the task that you have, it’s probably not the right task for you to, to really work on. I think you got to, you’ve got to have that passion in yourself, to understand what this cultural transformation is, you’re going to do whether you get to rewrite all of your values, or even if you just get to add pretty icons to that. I mean, that is transformational, all by itself, without really doing anything, right. But I’m proud of what we’re doing. You know, we we just launched our new website, or we’re getting ready to and so our mission vision, core values will be front and center for anytime anybody goes to our website Like to see who we are. And like I said before, I mean, we’re, we’re super proud to live and breathe these things.

Anne Candido 40:06
No, I think that’s a fantastic way to really wrap this up. And I’ll just ask God, is there anything else that you want to share that we didn’t have a chance to touch on? And obviously let people know where they can find you. You mentioned the website, but give some people some some ways to channel into you guys.

Scott Farmer 40:23
Yep, so we’re on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram at @LYPHealthManagement so you can connect with us there. So the website is LoveYourPatient.com

Anne Candido 40:34
Awesome, awesome. Scott. This has been so fantastic. And Sarah, great to have you as well. I’m really hoping that this case study will show how you when you intentionally build your mission vision values, it can really transform your business, and with that we will say go and exercise your Marketing Smarts!

April Martini 40:53
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