FOUNDATIONS OF success | Pocketmags.com

COPIED
7 mins

FOUNDATIONS OF success

Leadership consultant Marcus Haycock gives his four foundational principles of success for individuals, teams, and businesses

As a successful and aspiring medical aesthetics owner, practice manager, or employee, you’ll appreciate that the industry is rapidly changing. Intense competition, new consumer trends, and a shift to greater regulation present opportunities and challenges for you. Having worked in the medical aesthetics industry as a business consultant, manager, and leader, I fully understand the demands placed on everyone’s time.

Throughout my 30 years of corporate experience, I’ve always been passionate about coaching, training, and leading teams and individuals to achieve more than they ever thought possible. I now work as an associate director for a world-leading people development organisation specialising in leadership and management training.

When you become aware of this simple but compelling concept, you’ll achieve more in your work and personal life. Imagine getting an hour back each day and achieving more in less time. This is not a pipe dream but a tangible reality that can be yours if you apply the four foundations of success. By doing so, you can look forward to a more productive and fulfilling work and personal life, filled with the satisfaction of achieving your goals.

Let’s distil 65 years of people development experience into four foundational principles. These principles are not just fancy theories, but practical tools that will keep you on track to achieve more than you thought possible. You can trust in their effectiveness and start applying them with confidence, knowing that they are designed to equip you for success.

1. Clarity of destination

Every person, team, and organisation must establish their precise direction of travel. We are all on a journey in our lives, and when we are clear on the destination, we can eventually arrive there by combining the principles of the other three foundations. When we have a clear sense of direction, we develop a clear picture of success for ourselves, our team, and our business.

Paul Meyer, one of the founding fathers of the personal development industry, stated that success is goal-directed action. This clarity of destination empowers us, giving us a sense of control and confidence in our journey.

2. Clarity of purpose

The second foundational principle for success in business and life is having clarity of purpose. The highly popular management guru, Simon Sinek, discusses understanding your ‘why.’ He wrote two best-selling books on this subject that are worth reading. He is quoted as saying:

• “We don’t necessarily find happiness in our jobs every day, but we can feel fulfilled by our work every day if it makes us feel part of something bigger than ourselves.”

This sense of fulfilment inspires and motivates us to keep pushing forward.

COMMUNICATING YOUR ‘WHY’

Another critical point is that when you effectively communicate your why to others, you are likelier to create a strong connection with them. He also said:

• “People don’t buy what you do; people buy why you do it.”

To achieve success, you need a compelling motive and reason to drive you forward. Have you ever started something, a project, a hobby, or an activity only to discover that you didn’t quite finish or maintain interest? Often, if the reason or purpose is not compelling enough, we tend to lose enthusiasm and motivation.

If you manage and lead teams, it’s also critical that you communicate a compelling reason for taking a specific course of action. What is the bigger picture? How will this add meaning?

Having worked in pharmaceuticals and healthcare most of my life, I can relate to how well some companies communicate why they do what they do. I recall the time in the late 1990s when the pharmaceutical company I worked for launched a new drug for hospital consultants into a niche healthcare market that affected a small percentage of the UK population. My fatherin-law was suffering from a debilitating health condition. I felt empowered to act as a hospital sales specialist representative. I gained a strong sense of purpose to do whatever it took to indirectly assist my father-in-law through the healthcare system and ensure that this new drug was approved by the local hospital formulary where he received specialist care. I did this in record time, and it made me realise that intrinsic or internal motivation is more powerful and longer lasting than external motivation, such as recognition, awards, and financial bonuses. The drug in question made a big difference to my father-in-law’s quality of life, and it felt great to have made a small contribution to assisting his personal healthcare needs.

Never underestimate the power of identifying with your “why”. When you commit to anything, develop compelling reasons and motives to achieve the desired outcome.

3. Effective processes

Having established the direction you’re heading in and a compelling reason why you want to arrive at your destination, the next step is to ensure you have the proper process mapped out. This starts with goal setting. A paradigm shift occurred when

I understood that true success is not focusing on your end destination at all costs. Success is goal-directed action. This understanding helps us stay focused and determined in our journey.

You are successful if you have worthwhile goals and are progressing towards them. Understanding this concept is pivotal for maintaining motivation and resilience when roadblocks are put in your way. To quote Paul J. Meyer:

• “If you are not making the progress you would like and are capable of making, it is simply because your goals are not clearly defined.”

If you do not have clearly defined goals, human beings become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia. Research by Norton and Kaplan in their book Balanced Scorecard highlights that 50% of the average employee’s time is spent on non-productive work. This statistic is shocking; however, knowing this is the case, if you find yourself not mapping out daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals, the opportunity for you to improve is immense. This is where foundation number three, “Process,” comes into its element.

DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE PERSONAL SYSTEM

The most successful people develop an effective personal system. They know where they are heading, have a compelling reason to reach their ideal destination, and can map out specific milestones and check-ins to ensure they are still on track and heading in the right direction. Each check-in milestone can be a particular goal – when reached, this powers more optimistic and resilient behaviour. Over time, we become focused on achieving our goals, celebrating these micro wins, and keeping a log of them, which drives a powerful success motivation loop.

If these concepts are new to you, fear not. It takes time and practice to become proficient at goal setting, and previous life experiences may have held us back due to negative conditioning, which has created doubt in our minds. Applying the principles of practical goal setting and developing a compelling process and system helps recondition your mindset for success. Spaced repetition over weeks and months creates stronger neural connections in your brain, helping you maintain this positive momentum.

James Clear, in his book Atomic Habits, mentions:

• “We don’t rise to the level of our goals; we fall to the level of our systems.” 

With a structured process or roadmap, you ensure that your ideal destination will become a reality, sometimes sooner than you had initially thought.

4. Continuous progress

The final foundational principle is Progress, or the “Slight Edge”, as we term it. Alot has been written about this principle, and there are numerous examples of how embedding a continual improvement philosophy into daily work or personal activities can result in transformational results. The English Rugby Team, led by Sir Clive Woodward, transformed their performance by adopting the Slight Edge concept. It aggregates marginal gains, which means “breaking everything down and then improving it by 1%”.

THE CONCEPT OF KAIZEN

The Japanese have a word for continual improvement that they apply to the manufacturing process within their industries. The word ‘kaizen’ means ‘improvement’ or ‘to improve’.

To make this article more relevant and practical, I want to pose the following questions as food for thought. In your practice, how can you make a 1% improvement in these areas and keep up this momentum over the weeks and months ahead to tap into the law of marginal improvement gains?

• Planning

• Organisation setting

• Prioritising communication

• Delegation

• Time management

• People management.

CONCLUSION

In summary, remember these four critical foundational principles and apply them in your work and personal life, and you’ll be surprised at the positive impact this can have. Reading an article is just the beginning to pique interest; creating lasting change could mean reaching out for further support.

For readers of Aesthetic Medicine, we are offering two free places on Marcus Haycock's Foundations of Success workshop. Click here for more info. 

REFERENCES

• Sinek, S. (2009). Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. Penguin.

• Norton, D.P., & Kaplan, R.S. (1996). The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action. Harvard Business Review Press.

• Clear, J. (2018). Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. Avery.

• Brailsford, D. (2010). The Aggregation of Marginal Gains. British Cycling.

• Imai, M. (1986). Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success. McGraw-Hill Education.

This article appears in September 2024

Go to Page View
This article appears in...
September 2024
Go to Page View
Welcome to the September issue of Aesthetic Medicine Magazine
After a refreshing summer break, we’re thrilled to
Meet the experts
The Aesthetic Medicine editorial board’s clinical expertise and diverse range of specialities help ensure the magazine meets the needs of the readers. In this issue, we have received guidance from the following members:
HOT OFF THE PRESS
Study highlights AI’s potential in clinical settings Researchers
Injecting knowledge
Editorial assistant Michelle Duffield reached out to industry professionals to hear their opinions on the importance of hands-on training in aesthetics
Trend Spotlight: Laser highlighting
Editorial assistant Michelle Duffield talks to Dr Zoya Awan about the latest hair bleaching technique to appear on social media
PREPARING THE SKIN AND PROMOTING HEALING
Why peri-procedural skincare is big in the US – and growing in the UK 1,2
OUT & ABOUT
The Ardour Clinic invited guests, including editor Anna Dobbie, to celebrate, educate and rejuvenate, as well as enjoy a bespoke mini treatment. Accompanied by a delicious grazing board and champagne,
Aesthetic Medicine North
The North’s leading trade show for aesthetic professionals is back for 2024
A world of Clinical Education
Aesthetic Medicine extends its clinical education to two days for AM North 2024, with injectable live demos and medical-only workshops coming to Manchester this autumn
MAXIMISING THE VALUE OF YOUR PRACTICE
Here are Verilo’s top strategies to maximise the saleability of your practice
THE BENEFITS OF SYNTHETIC EXOSOMES
Dr Brendan Khong explains how adding exosomes has benefited his practice
SHOW PREVIEW
We round up the products, treatments, offers and new launches you will find at AM North 2024
Time after TIME
Editor Anna Dobbie visits Dr Manav and Yogeeta Bawa at their new location in Woodford to understand their ethos and discover the secret of working with your spouse
The Princess and the PRP
Regenerative expert, nurse Claudia McGloin answers all your burning questions
Male ANDROGENETIC ALOPECIA
Over the past decade there has been an increase in demand for hair regrowth treatments. Androgenic alopecia (AGA) is one of the main causes of hair loss and accounts for 80% of t
FIVE KEY ASPECTS TO AESTHETIC BUSINESS SUCCESS
With a legacy spanning almost three decades, Hamilton Fraser has been insuring aesthetic practitioners and clinics throughout the evolution of the sector. A key part of the company’s ethos is supporti
CELL OPTIMISATION: skin
Dr Mayoni Gooneratne explores cell optimisation and its role in skin rejuvenation
TRACELESS WEIGHTLESS moisture
Simone Shoffman, head of education at Healthxchange, answers questions on Obagi Hydrate Light Weightless Gel Cream
THE RISK OF non-surgical rhinoplasties
Dr Juliah Tbarani O’Shea considers whether using a cannula is safer than a needle
THE BENEFITS OF Pharmacists in aesthetics
Holly Armstrong looks at the integral role of pharmacists in aesthetic medicine
THE EVOLUTION OF EDUCATION
Harley Academy’s Dr Marcus Mehta sheds light on why staying updated is crucial to providing the best patient care
STOPPING sexual harassment
Croner senior business development manager Nick Babington explains how the Worker Protection Act 2023 will safeguard against sexual harassment
THE IMPORTANCE OF NUTRITION IN SKINCARE
When treating the skin, it is crucial to prioritise nutrition, both internal and topical
Illuminating LED
Dr Patrick Treacy, a renowned f igure in aesthetic medicine, is celebrated for his innovative contributions to LED therapy. He developed award-winning procedures like the Dublin Lift and the PLUS Tech
THE SMART WAY TO MANAGE FINANCE
The long-term benefits of providing financial options with 0% interest
RETINOID REGUL ATIONS
The umbrella term ‘retinoids’ refers to compounds of both natural, biologically active forms of vitamin A (retinol, retinal, and retinoic acid) as well as synthetic analogues of adapalene. This holy g
Treatment review: SERENITY AND STRENGTH HOLISTIC STRESS MASTERY
Editor Anna Dobbie visits Anna Miller at Ardour Clinic to target her stress
Treatment review: SPA AFTERNOON AND COLONIC HYDROTHERAPY
Editor Anna Dobbie had a relaxing afternoon of treatments at Angel Clinics’ Aesthetics Wellness, including a session on the Angel of Water
High-tech facials: SKINSTORM FACIAL AT LAMURE AESTHETIC CLINIC
Contributing reporter Kezia Parkins went to Lamure Aesthetic Clinic to experience her first Skinstorm Facial
PRODUCT NEWS
Supplier of aesthetic products, 4T Medical, has announced the UK launch of Eve, a multi-platform aesthetic device developed and manufactured in South Korea. The Eve integrates four technologies: hydra
Are you thriving or struggling?
Business coach Amy Gordon offers advice to clinic owners, whether business is good or bad
7 common insurance mistakes
Hands up if you read the small print. Whether it’s agreeing to terms and conditions or accepting cookie notifications, many of us are guilty of not fully reading the wording before clicking ‘accept’
Mental health in the workplace
David Banaghan, co-founder and interim chief executive at Occupop1 looks at how to make the workplace a safe place to discuss mental health issues
FOUNDATIONS OF success
Leadership consultant Marcus Haycock gives his four foundational principles of success for individuals, teams, and businesses
ASK Alex
“Where do I distribute educational information and content for patients?”
Looking for back issues?
Browse the Archive >

Previous Article Next Article