|
|
Creating a Caring Environment for Patients and Staff
Dentistry is tough! It’s tough on the body. It’s tough on the mind. And, it’s tough on the emotions. Still, there are little things that each office member can do to re-apply the glue that holds you all together as a team.
Here are some thoughts:
Start each day looking forward to the wonderful things that will happen rather than bringing up the problems of yesterday.
It’s true that all people are motivated by two major drives. We all try to get away from things that bring us pain and we try to move toward things that bring us pleasure. Yet, many people will dwell on the problems of the past. By doing so, they drag the past into the present and make some problem a definite part of the future. Challenges will always be with us today and tomorrow. Why would anyone bring the problems of yesterday into today, making the pile even bigger? Usually, those people thrive on griping and they really drag down the potential of the office and its wonderful staff. When we look forward to the best of today, quite often the best things happen if we give them a chance!
Staff members often ask, "What do we do with the day’s problems?" I have to answer, "Deal with them the best you can on the day that they happen.” Someone on the staff take responsibility for discharging the handling of the core issue of the problem. And at a future meeting, that person reports back their success. In this way, only one member of the staff has to deal with the issue, not the entire staff. The hardest part of this approach is to let that person really deal with the issue on the part of the entire staff.
Find a way to compliment something about each person you meet.
Compliments are needed by everyone, especially when people are afraid. Believe it or not, when people hit the dental office they are usually afraid. They don’t like discomfort. They don’t like to lose control of their bodies. And, most of them don’t like to have to pay for dentistry. The best communicators in our field use the very subtle technique of complimenting their patients. When we find something genuinely positive about a patient or co-worker (even the doctor), that person will quite often be able to forget a current problem in his or her life if he or she is complimented. This kind of temporary distraction is always appreciated, as many of us are very critical of ourselves and our weight, our hair, our clothes or our attitudes. When someone finds something very positive about us, that act tends to neutralize some of our own self-defeating thoughts.
Don’t be afraid to care.
Nowadays many of us are afraid to touch people. This no-touch attitude has spread to include the way that we treat the members of our own family. Witness the husband who tells his wife that he loves her as he’s walking out the door, rather than holding his arms around her and planting a big wet one right on her lips. Most women prefer the "big wet one." Many men do too.
I guess the no-touch attitude has happened because of incidents of inappropriate touching. I see school teachers with students of all ages who would love to be hugged and shown some of the affection missing from their own family relationships. But quite often teachers refuse to touch for fear of lawsuits. Once again, this is another example of how we have allowed the fear of something take control of our logical minds.
When in practice, my staff and I started each day with a hug. A full frontal hug became an expression of the family feeling that had evolved as our staff emotionally cemented itself together day after day. So, I have a new and positive rule for you to try: Touching! It’s ok. For many people it is truly the passing of emotional life from one person to another. You can’t do that from a distance. It must be heart to heart. We are there in the dental setting to do so much more than just fill holes in teeth or make teeth whiter.
We are there to help people deal with their emotional lives. Now this is your assignment: Give an unexpected hug to someone and watch them smile. The smile lets you know that you have touched their emotional center. This act really can change people’s lives. It is one of the little things you do together that makes lives change.
|
|