Self-doubt anyone?

Are you feeling self-doubt? Or questioning every decision you make?

Too much self-doubt will enable you from taking care of you, your staff, your patients and your practice. If you wake up in the morning worried about the results of a decision you made or if it takes you days to determine the appropriate course you might be undermining your leadership power.   

It might be time to turn it around. It can be difficult to make determinations for the organization. Sometimes as leaders we are forced into making a decision without all the facts. It could be a patient who doesn't give you all the information upfront or an employee who misinforms you. No matter the situation when making decisions we need to demonstrate a certain level of confidence to succeed.

Confidence comes from knowing the right questions to ask yourself when you are in the middle of a situation. Here are five questions to help guide you to the right answers:

1.     Are you doing it for the good of the patient and your office?

2.     Do you have a clear vision and plan of action?

3.     Is there a better way that would result in a more positive outcome?

4.     Do you have support?

5.     Have you consulted the research or other professionals on the matter?

You may not need to ask yourself every question in every situation. However, these five questions can help guide you when making more difficult decisions for your practice.  

For more information please visit us at www.saltdpm.com and follow our blog at http://saltdentalpracticemanagement.blogspot.com/

 

Practice how you want to play

Week after week you practice making your office stronger, better, and more of a team. Or you practice driving your employees into the ground, negativity runs the group and your office stays stagnate. However, your before game practice is how your going to play the game.

My youngest son is on a swim team. Every week, four days a week they get in the pool and swim up and down the lanes on the short course. But in May the short course becomes the long course. However, we have so many kids on the team, that there is no room to turn the lanes to a long course. Last weekend we had our first meet. Our team really struggled. Even though the distance they were swimming was the exact same they have swam a thousand times, it was different and they had never practiced on a long course. It was sad to sit on the side lines and watch them struggle to do something, we as parents knew they could do.  But they had never practiced on this type of course.

The time to try something new isn't when the patient is seated in the chair. By the time the patient gets in the chair you should have practiced this event a thousand times before. For example, if your front desk is working on how they answer the phone, have them role play different scenarios with other teammates. If you are planning on telling a difficult patient they need to pay 1000.00 dollars before they can continue, then your office manager needs to practice how that is going to sound. They should have questions they think the patient might ask and practice there responses.

Moving Forward

 Richard Carlson says, “You are what you practice most.” If you and your team practice time management, respect to everyone, and solid patient procedures from the first time a patient steps into your office all the way to when they check out, you will build the practice you want. Chris Corrigan, "Alive in the process of Art," says, "what happens when we are confronted with a huge question, for which the answers are unknown? What happens when things shift in ways that we have never trained for? What do we do then?If you have trained as a martial artist or as an athlete, you will know that only with practice can you be ready to face the unexpected and create a good outcome." When you practice you will win.

Ask yourself what can your office become if you begin to practice something better today?

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