We are a group of Dental Consultants who offer, improved practice morale; a happier, more profitable patient base;and improved home life; increased collections. (And yes, our average is 35% in year one.)

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

What is your state of mind?

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The mindset you enter your day with can help you or hinder you. Do you want a challenge? Or do  you think that failure defines who you are? Do you pick the hardest puzzle on the table, even if you might not be able to do it, because at least you'll learn something new? 

I have recently been reading this book called, "Mindset, the New Psychology of Success." The author discusses how there are two types of mindsets. One is a fixed mind set and one is a growth mindset. 

A fixed mindset leaves you were you are. You don't believe you will grow and your confidence and abilities are linked to being on the top. Your intelligence is a predetermined thing and you cannot change it. 

A growth mindset believes that you can change and move forward no matter what your intelligence is because effort can increase intelligence and ability.  The author quotes Robert Sternberg, "the present day guru of intelligence, writes that the major factor in whether people achieve expertise, "is not in some fixed prior ability, but purposeful engagement." 
Take this short quiz to determine what type of mindset you have, decide if mostly agree or disagree with each statement (Pge 12):

1.     “Your intelligence is something very basic about you that you can’t change very much.“

2.     “You can learn new things, but you can’t really change how intelligent you are.”

3.     “No matter how much intelligence you have, you can always change it quite a bit.“

4.     “You can always substantially change how intelligent you are. “





Mindset is related to not only what you believe about intelligence but also your personality and character. Answer these statements whether you mostly agree or mostly disagree with each one.



1.” You are a certain kind of person, and there is not much that can be done to really change that.”

2. “No matter what kind of person you are, you can always change substantially.”

3. You can do things differently, but the important parts of who you are can’t really be changed.”

4. “you can always change basic things about the kind of person you are.”



In the first set of questions 1 and 2 are individuals who have more of a fixed-mindset. Where questions 3 and 4 are of the growth mindset. In the second set of questions 1 and 3 are the fixed mind-set questions and 2 and 4 reflect the growth mindset. 

Check back next Monday's blog on a further in-depth look of the mindsets.


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Monday, March 18, 2013

Staff Culture

Does your staff struggle to get along? Do they talk about each other, picker and gossip? Have you had enough of this behavior in your office? Try this exercise a teacher did with her students in order to show the importance of treating people without respect. And that adults can bully just as much as our kids. 

A teacher in New York was teaching her class about bullying and gave them the following exercise to perform. She had the children take a piece of paper and told them to crumple it up, stamp on it and really mess it up but do not rip it. Then she had them unfold the paper, smooth it out and look at how scarred and dirty is was. 

She then told them to tell it they’re sorry. Now even though they said they were sorry and tried to fix the paper, she pointed out all the scars they left behind. And that those scars will never go away no matter how hard they tried to fix it. 

That is what happens when a child bully’s another child, they may say they’re sorry but the scars are there forever. The looks on the faces of the children in the classroom told her the message hit home. Pass it on or better yet, if you're a parent or a teacher, do it with your child/children.

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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

The Team




 This weekend I enjoyed a baseball game with my children. While I was sitting their enjoying the game it reminded me of the importance of a team. The hitter, takes a step forward and powers the ball out to outfield. This is the key to the one on second to run. The team moves around the bases and through communication brings everyone home to score the point.  If the communication stops or someone doesn't know the code, than the team breaks down. 

In the office it is the same idea. A team works together for a common goal in order to win. When communication breaks down or someone stops completing their job everyone around the office loses. It takes everyone to play the game correctly to help support and to reach the common goal. 

If your office has forgotten this, maybe it's time for a little friendly baseball game. When your back at the office have a meeting about what members learned or enjoyed and how these same tactics can be used in the office. 
                              To move forward in business means to have a strong team behind you.

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Monday, March 11, 2013

Setting the Standard

It is easy to become a boss that throws things around, yells at employees at the slightest wrong doing, or the boss that grumbles in the back but doesn't get a different result from employees. So, how do you become a demanding boss without destroying relationships?

Be open-tell employees what you expect from them. Don't move around what you want and don't expect that your employees can read your mind.

Be specific-if you want the phone answered by the third ring than you need to say that. Don't tell someone you want want it picked up around the third ring, because around could be two or five.

Be firm-when your employees don't live up to the expectation you have set, make sure you take care of the problem right away. Don't allow employees to not follow things you want done over and over. When directions are given and not followed be firm on what you plan to do to fix the situation.

Be clear-muddling the problem won't help solve the problem.


Sunday, March 10, 2013

6WS

 Hard work today, will change tomorrow
I have been working on building strong social networks for Salt Dental company. It takes hard work everyday to keep these things moving forward. Just one day of slacking and your twitter account falls to the bottom.


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Monday, March 4, 2013

A Quick Get You Back on Track Activity

This is a quick activity I did one time at a teaching professional development that is a great way to, "throw" away the bad and bring in the good.


Throw it away
Take and give your staff several pieces of paper.  Have them take 2-3 minutes and write down all of the things in the office they are unhappy about. 

Next, have them put them into piles, which ones they control and which ones they can't control.

Have your staff wad up all of the complaints they can't control and move around the room giving them an opportunity to make a basket. If you want, a little treat can be rewarded to those that make the basket to increase the overall fun of this activity. 

Then take 2-3 minutes and have staff in small groups focus on one change they can today that would fix one of the items in their control. 

This activity isn't going to fix all of your office problems, but it will help staff to get back on track and focus on what they can't change instead of spending time in the lunch room focused on what they can't. 


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