Covid19 has taught us many lessons and I would like to share my top 3.
# 1 – Why can’t people drive? Around me, people’s driving skills have gotten a lot worse than normal – what’s up with that? I am at a loss to explain this, but it is irritating to say the least.
# 2 – Relationships have never been more important – this is true in our personal lives as well as our team members in the practice. When something as stressful as Covid 19 occurs, it strengthens our ties with one another, and it forces us to see our lives from a different perspective. When stressed like this, we strip away our wants and concentrate on our needs. This is basic human behavior – google Maslow’s hierarchy of needs for more information.
# 3 – Communication is the key – in your practice, your patients and team members are under stress whether they realize it or not. Due to that stress, they may not communicate as clearly as they should or their reactions to things may be more dramatic or different than usual. This was the case last week when I was onsite at a client’s office. When the treatment plan was presented to a patient, this patient went off on the coordinator. She did not do anything to warrant that reaction, but the patient was not acting like she normally had in the past. I involved myself in the conversation and after we openly discussed her fears, it had nothing to do with her dental needs but the stress of the unknown. During lunch I shared this conversation with the team and asked them about how they were handling their stress. Much to the surprise of the doctor, everyone opened up and started sharing their personal thoughts and feelings. Now they have added some time during their morning huddle to check on everyone and encourage one another even more than they did before. This team is using their stress and this time to become even stronger.
Please reach out if you would like to chat about this or other issues. You are not alone facing all the challenges of owning or managing a practice.