How Are You Feeding Your Team?

We had dinner with friends the other night at a favorite local restaurant. Courtney, our server, was thoughtful and enthusiastic in helping us select menu items to share at our table. At the end of the meal we complimented her on her service and her excellent suggestions. “They feed us well here,” she replied. “It’s easy to recommend what they prepare.”

What a great endorsement!

Notice our server did not say she was thoroughly briefed on the food. She didn’t just listen to a detailed explanation of the ingredients in it. She tasted it. She experienced the food. Now I am not suggesting you cook for your dental team or order fancy meals. But the conversation did make me think about what we can do in dentistry to generate the kind of confidence, professionalism, and enthusiasm we heard from Courtney that night. How do you “feed” your team the knowledge and perspective they need to enthusiastically endorse what you do?

Shameless self-promoting plug here: You can join us for a two-day program for dentists and their teams in November. It’s called “A Team Approach to Whole Health Dentistry   . . . Expanding the Standard of Care”. Click here to learn more.

But if you can’t join us in November, here is a simple exercise you can use to generate new learning in your practice.

Patient Review Process

This exercise not only provides information, but it also generates enthusiasm. It engages everyone in the group in an experience of learning together.

• Instead of telling your team how you do dentistry, what if you sat around a table with photos, models, radiographs, and chart notes on a new patient and explored together what you know about that new person. Anyone who has interacted with them from the initial phone call through the first appointment can share what they learned about the person. Each person is an expert in their own sphere.
• Next, look at whatever records you have gathered. Pass them around. Ask everyone what they see. What looks healthy? Not so healthy? No wrong answers. No diagnosis, just observations. After others have spoken, the doctor can say what he or she sees, and what possibilities there are for treatment.
• Finally, encourage everyone to ask questions about the treatment recommendations. If you can create an environment safe enough for all questions to be raised and discussed without judgement or criticism, this is where real learning happens. Encourage all questions. Why this and not that? Would this be an option? What are the risks and benefits of one treatment over another? Why is the fee so high? What if the patient doesn’t want that? Is it something that has to be done right now?

This exercise is just one example of how you can create a livley environment to learn about any subject in your practice. My sense of what is often called the “family dinner” for employees in a restaurant is that to be effective, there must be room for authentic, honest feedback about the foods on the menu. Differing opinions, open questions, and a lot of “Wow, that’s amazing!” Your team meetings can have all of those qualities.

Untapped Potential

I hope you will join us in Seattle this November 4-5^th for “A Team Approach to Whole Health Dentistry.” This workshop is for dentists and team members who want to incorporate new learning about health into old systems. It is for those who have a sense that more is possible in dentistry and who need supportive strategies for the next steps. The energy in the room is palpable when people come together who truly care about their work. The laughter. The din of the conversations in exercises as people share experiences and ideas, putting their heads together in creative conversations. The excitement!

I am so convinced that there is more we can do in dentistry to impact the health of our patients! There is so much untapped potential, for us and for our patients. We can go beyond the same old teaching points and learn to connect in a way that has a profound influence on how our patients think about their health. And in the process, we can find new meaning and fulfillment in our work.

We can all be well fed!

Come join with others who have found ways to make a bigger difference through their work, and who still want to learn more! Click here to register before August 31^st and get an early bird discounted rate!