What do you see?

Timely question?  Perhaps.  Depends on what you are looking for.

Whether looking desperately for something specific or just star-gazing, we always looking…for something, or someone.  To do what?  To be what?

What we often find is the same ole, same ole.  We cannot see what is not there.  Or is there more to the story.  Are we failing to see what is there, no matter how hared we look?  Ah, that’s more like it.

The fact is, we literally ‘see’ what we program ourselves to see.  We are the determiners of what we see.  We see the world as it appears on our own personal radar scope, not as some series of random events that just occur in our life.

If you are missing something.  If you “just aren’t getting it”.  Or that others around you, similar to you in training and background, are  living the life you wish you had.  Stop.  Look.  Listen.  At yourself!  What are you experiencing?  Joy..hope..sorrow..loss..sense of failure..want..(and on and on).  Whatever it is, you are creating it.  Not the world.  The great “They” that exists outside of yourself doesn’t exist in the form you think it does.

Don’t like what you see?  Then do something else.  Put something new on your radar scope.  Look for what is missing in your life and go find it.  Create it.  Don’t wait for it to suddenly appear.  Make something happen by making that plan and putting it into action.  Step by step by step.  That’s how you really begin to see.

 

Motivation and Insight – Overated?

Perhaps they are.  Motivation is (or could be) a fleeting glimpse of an imagined desire coupled with fear or love as a causative agent.  Insight is an awareness of past thinking that suddenly appears.

Are either of these words change agents?  We think they are.  We say, “I need to get motivated NOW!”  Or, “I’ve got to get a handle on it!” .  Nice ideas; both statements are reflections of conscious thought that suggests intended action.  But that’s all they are.  Intentions!… you know, the road that we so often pave with wishes and desires.

When we make these ‘suggestions’ we mistakenly hold the belief that our thinking will necessarily create the condition for change…”I think, therefore I’m now motivated.”  Has change occurred?  No!  And it’s not going to occur if something else doesn’t happen.

Just Do It!  Nike said it best.  Start by doing… the ‘next thing’, whatever that may be.  Whatever needs doing.  Whatever you want, desire, or change…just begin.  Taking action changes things.  Taking action in ways that run counter to your normal ways of doing things will produce positive results.  Call it ‘getting out of your comfort zone’, ‘pushing the envelope’,…whatever.  Taking action creates change.

If you and I wait for inspiration or motivation to always, “prime the pump of change”, we will, most often, be pumping a dry well.  Taking action is the best way to “prime our pump”.

 

Staff/Team Development for Dental Offices

How important is  Staff Development?  Relegate it to an ‘I’ll-worry-about-that-later’ mind-set and watch your patients disappear.  You and your staff are a team.  Each member plays an integral part in making your practice succeed.  If a  teammate forgets her role but but plays a different one instead, her actions become a distraction.  When a member doesn’t know their role – “er, what do I do now!” – you stop what you are doing to focus on ‘their problem’.  Productivity suffers.  And your practice gets smaller.

All systems will fail.  Even strong, well-thought out  office and patient management systems will fail.  It’s the nature of things.  Damage control and righting the ship isn’t just the captain’s (dentist) responsibility.  It’s the OM, the RDH, the chair-side assistants as well.   Everybody on your team drives your success (and theirs).

How do you react when things go awry?  Get aggitated, steamed,or unsettled when things don’t go right?  Can you rely on your staff to shift roles, play a different game for the day in order to serve your case load?  If your staff has an ongoing training program that focuses on teamwork and personal responsibility, you will. 

Staff training and development is an ongoing process.  There are no ‘quick fixes’ nor are there systems that operate on their own. Mastery of your dental practice includes both clinical skills and emotional intelligence.  Each competency will support and drive the other.  When they do, watch your practice soar!