They Fight Film - Those
people you see with white teeth -
The Sydney
Morning Herald - Jan 15, 1923
Editorial :
Unlike my last editorial on
Acupunture and Dentistry , this month is a brief out about
acupressure and our own dentistry. Acupressure is (a blend of "acupuncture" and "pressure") is a
complementary medicine technique derived from acupuncture. In
acupressure physical pressure is applied to acupuncture points by
the hand, elbow, or with various devices.
Dentistry and acupressure have
again been of a wonderful relationship in china. Acupressure uses
points along the acupuncture meridians. These are channels along
which energy flows, according to Chinese medical theory. By pressing
on these points, you can affect the balance of this energy which, in
turn, effects all the systems of the body.
Incorporating Acupressure in
pain elimination has been a great aid in dental practices in china
and will surly help you to in your practice. Incorporating
acupressure to eliminate all the business pains in your practice is
this edition of dental follicle.
Dr Bhavna Doshiis an international lecturer, who has worked
extensively with the National Media including Extreme
Makeover UK. She is the CEO of Dental WEALTH
Builder, which primarily focuses on Practice
Productivity, Cost-Effective Marketing and Growth
Strategies.
You’ve probably noticed how birds of a feather in the wild
tend to flock together. They migrate at the same time and
have similar characteristics in their daily activities. They
do this to keep warm, for protection and they experience
safety in numbers. Now before you start wondering what this
has to do with dentistry, let me tell you many similar
characteristics should be found within our practices. We
should be fostering the same unity and togetherness in our
teams.
Huddle for Productivity.
We call our staff a “team”, but how far have we gone to
make it perform like a true team? Regular team meetings or
“huddles” are a way of producing uncommon results. The kind
of results which will lead to satisfied healthy patients,
productive happy staff and allow you to generate the kind of
revenues you desire.
There are certain advantages which can be enjoyed by the
entire practice if we understand what we are trying to
achieve:
• Huddling together on a regular basis ensures that we
communicate regularly. This may sound bizarre, but how often
do you get the opportunity within a hectic working day to
mention small points which, may not bother anyone else but
are important to any one individual in the team? Just think
how detrimental it can be if that small point escalates to a
greater concern. One unhappy team member is enough to place
cracks in an otherwise cohesive team.
• Regular meetings can maintain team spirit on an all time
high. It makes sure we are keeping the spirit of our
practices alive. Think how football teams or Olympic
athletes spur each other on to success. I’m not saying we
adopt the Mexican wave, but we need spirit!! This is a vital
element of any practice to bring about success through a
cohesive high spirited team. It forms the real essence of a
team – not just a random terminology!
• In any meeting of any nature, we will all agree that two
heads are better than one. Especially if the end goal is the
same. In the same manner, if all team meetings ensure that
everyone gets to voice an opinion, an idea or some level of
contribution, then you will be able to establish a truly
effective meeting. In fact this is one of the many ways of
ensuring your team feel appreciated and valued. They will
feel they have some part to play in the success of the
practice. It will help to develop responsibility and
ownership of their role in the practice. This factor in team
motivation lies above financial rewards. This is because
once the financial rewards stop, so does the positive
behaviour!!
• Team meetings or regular “huddles” fosters connection. It
also outlines is a particular team member does not form part
of that connection. In which case, it might be necessary for
that team member to seek a different path in life from that
of your team.
In order to make team meeting the most effective, they
should ideally occur on a regular basis. However, some
dentists may think once a month is enough. They are
incorrect. In order to keep the meetings effective, they
must occur daily. Effective communication can only occur
with daily, weekly and monthly meetings. This way you and
your team will have a great pulse on your practice. Any
barriers or obstacles will be rectified immediately,
producing a highly effective result for you. Otherwise,
things will get left to the bottom of the pile, as a low
priority job. And we all know what happens to those
jobs…………….
What should be involved at
huddle times?
Morning Meetings:
- These set the pace for the day. It ensures that you and
your team will have a good smooth day.
- You can iron out any problems; situations which have not
worked the way you want them to.
- Understand if any patients have treatment that has been
recommended but not booked into your diary for the
procedure. Highlight these patients and plan to talk to them
about it.
- Make sure you are all feeling good and that there are no
problems which may affect anyone’s performance.
- Plan who is going to be where and at what times.
- Highlight patients with any outstanding payments.
- Highlight any spaces and availabilities in your
appointment diaries. You all need to plan to fill these
spaces in advance.
- Discuss who you will be requesting referrals from.
- Discuss who you will be requesting testimonials from.
- Talk about personality matches.
- Provide a better understanding of the day for everyone. It
will allow you to engineer the appointment diary better for
productivity.
. Evening Meetings:
- How effective was the day?
- Sort out any problems immediately.
- Prepare for the next day.
- Keep team spirit high.
Weekly Meetings:
- Discuss how to improve customer service.
- Understand your targets and goals.
- Plan for the following two weeks.
- Role playing for various situations.
- Team training.
Monthly Meetings:
- Understand our targets. Where you are now and where you
want to get to? Discuss how you are going to achieve this.
- Engineer diary for productivity and less stressful working
days.
- Themed pre-planned meetings on various aspects of
dentistry.
- Marketing agendas. How your team can help?
- Team Training.
These meetings can be done to whatever level you would like
to. Usually the daily meetings are no longer than 30
minutes. However, it is advisable to have longer weekly and
monthly meetings.
These huddles will really help your practice to become a
single unity and true teamwork will prevail. It allows you
to truly direct the practice towards your vision of success.
And you can do this with the help of every member of your
team.
True leadership can nurture an effective, stable and
productive team. Well thought-out and structured team
meetings are tools you can use to facilitate your
leadership. It is advisable to rotate the person in charge
of and moderating the meeting. This encourages real
responsibility.
Tips to effective meetings:
1. Plan in advance. Design your meetings before they occur.
2. Set up a reward system whereby a team member has the
opportunity to “win” something. It will create a greater
willingness to participate in practice activities.
3. Start off slow try weekly meetings first. Then upgrade to
incorporate daily meetings.
4. Give everyone an opportunity to name a theme or to denote
the type of training needed. Remember team participation is
critical.
5. Start on time, end on time. No excuses!
6. Regularly review effectiveness of meetings and whether
they should be altered in any way.
7. Remember you want peak performance from every single team
member.
8. Your team should be told why a particular topic is
important to the development of the practice. Otherwise,
they will not be able to understand why you want something
done in a particular way.
9. Always have time for your team.
Your mission is to create like minded individuals which are
leaders in their own right. These “mini” leaders can then be
lead effectively by you to greater heights. This is the
secret of successful practices.
Summary
What kind of flock are you nurturing – a scrappy “couldn’t
be bothered” breed or a sophisticated, highly defined and
strategic alliance of team spirit? It is all dependent upon
your leadership and what you want from your business.
As a special Dental WEALTH Builder launch gift, I have
packaged together a “7 Gift” compilation, one of which
is “The Top Ten Biggest Advertising Mistakes in
Dentistry” manual. To obtain your FREE gifts please go
to
www.dentalwealthbuilder.com and sign in for
these Gifts.
The American Dental
Association (ADA) disputes many of the health claims made in
Mark Hyman's February 20th post, "Mercury: How to Get This
Lethal Poison Out of Your Body."The author's
characterization of dental amalgam is factually inaccurate.
Dental amalgam, made by combining elemental mercury with
other metals such as silver, copper and tin, has been used
effectively by dentists to fill cavities for more than a
century. Dental amalgam is the most thoroughly researched
and tested restorative material among all those in use.
After reviewing hundreds of scientific studies, the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in July 2009 decided not
to place any restriction on the use of dental amalgam and
categorized dental amalgam as a class II medical device.
This designation places dental amalgam in the same class as
gold and tooth-colored composite dental fillings. In
addition, the FDA noted that clinical studies have not
established a causal link between dental amalgam and adverse
health effects in adults and children age six and older.
The ADA encourages patients to talk to their dentists about
the treatment options so they can make educated decisions
regarding their dental care.
