Being an attention-seeker has a bad name in the world. But I think society is wrong about this. “Society” is very confused and has got the wrong end of the stick about a lot of things, and therefore you should be on high alert for too much nonsense from societal norms drifting into your business culture. I subscribe to what Earl Nightingale said: “If you don’t have a good model for success, just look at what everybody else is doing and do the opposite.”

So. Let me give you the truth about attention-seeking for an entrepreneurial independent practice owner. Every single problem in your business exists because something has been starved of attention. You go to pay your bills at the end of the month and some statements have been filed as invoices, some invoices have been duplicated and counted twice, some credits have been added as invoices, and the credits that you are due from suppliers are not even being requested and tracked consistently. Why? Because of a lack of attention. It’s being neglected, pure and simple. People going through the motions without paying the necessary amount of attention to get something done right.

An even bigger example: ALL unhappy, pissed-off, grizzly client situations are a result of a lack of attention being paid to them and what they need. There is no one on your team in the patient’s corner, fighting for them, making sure they get the attention they need. So what happens is the client has to do the attention-seeking for themselves, which is usually unpleasant to deal with and always unprofitable if you’re in the habit of turning hopeful clients into disappointed ‘never-to-return / never-to-refer’ clients.

I tell my team, with as much clarity as possible, what their job is and what the purpose is. With specifics. And I tell them it’s their job to be an attention-seeker and make sure that those tasks and responsibilities get the attention that is needed. I want EVERY member on my team kicking up a stink EVERY time they see us not giving someone or something the attention it needs.

I don’t want a team full of people who shrug their shoulders, walk past problems, ignore issues, or do a half-assed job because they think it’s someone else’s responsibility to check things are up to standard. Why would I ever want that?! I never want anyone on my team to feel it’s not their place to raise an issue. This whole ‘it’s not my place’ bullshit is what I mean by societal norms that have no place in your business. A business exists to solve problems for other people. And how do problems get solved? By someone being bothered enough to move heaven and earth to fix it and make sure it gets done in the right way.

I NEED every single person on my team relentlessly making sure every problem they see is getting enough attention from ideally THEM or if they need help, another team member or owner as needed to get the thing sorted. Don’t be wreckless, don’t trample all over people, don’t shout or scream or lose your composure, don’t be nasty. But DO use all your creativity, your people skills, your personality and your strengths to make sure the thing gets the attention it needs to GET THE DESIRED RESULT.

On our original core values poster, the Be Passionate & Determined poster had a big index finger pointing straight at you with the words “Responsible Means YOU have the ability to respond. YOU CAN HELP!” Thinking about it, rather than ‘you can help’, it would be better if it said “We are all depending on YOU to solve the problem.”

As the owner, that’s what you and I spend our days doing – attention seeking. Not seeking attention for ourselves, but seeking attention for the things that need attention in the business. The trick is to teach all of your team to be attention seekers. Why? Because attention-seekers are problem-solvers. Attention seekers don’t half-solve a problem. They grab hold of it and solve it completely. They think ahead five steps and think of knock-on effects, and the things that need communicated, and things that need tracked and checked. And they give attention to it all. That is what solving a problem looks like.