Last week, you completed an inventory of your year by reviewing where you’ve been, where you’re at, and most of all where you’re going. Now, it’s time for a different type of inventory and we’re going to have a little fun with it.
I’m talking about the inventory of you – all the things that make you special and that make what you do possible to help improve the lives of patients.
Every day I receive Practice Focus Training Activities from teams across the country where they report on their progress and development. In one of those practice focuses there’s an activity where each team member shares stories of patients whose lives they have impacted. One part, in particular, asks about patients who didn’t say yes initially but eventually return to accept treatment after the problem has worsened.
Something similar happens every day in your life. You have patients you can influence to make a proactive decision for themselves instead of waiting until it’s too late when the state of their mouths goes from bad to worse.
The point of this activity is not solely about the patients themselves. It is more about establishing belief, building confidence, and elevating value in your own mind.
And that goes for the minds of every team member because you all carry the responsibility to motivate your patients to move, to act, to decide, and to get healthy. When you do this effectively, your patients benefit immensely.
On the flip side, if you didn’t encourage them enough, if you stop short of proper truth telling, if you skip the complete education, or if you didn’t make it important enough at the time, then the patient’s failure is your failure too.
The other advantage of this activity is that it brings to the top of each team member’s mind several stories that they then have available to share with other patients to help make their point, prove the importance of acting now, and help them avoid the consequences of inaction.
Often that’s all a patient needs to know, that someone else also experienced something similar to what they are right now and they made the decision to be proactive with their health.
This is an example of something you have in your inventory that you can use to help your patients be successful.
All month long we’re going to be talking about these enchanting spells, the tricks up your sleeve, and all the magical ways that you can help more patients overcome their fears in order to achieve optimal health.
Since it is October, we’ll be playing along with the Month of Halloween to make it even more interesting and entertaining.
Besides, who doesn’t like special potions, tricks and treats, spells, and hexes. Of course, the first rule is you’ve got to believe in your power in order to be able to use it. Then, it’s just a matter of executing it precisely.
So, prepare yourself as we immerse in a world only we can understand. Because you are the influencers, the magic makers, the witches and wizards of dentistry. If you are reading this then there is one commonality (among many) that will give your confidence as we break open the spell book…
You use your forces for good! Each day you are presented with opportunities to change people’s lives. What could be more worthwhile than that!
So, before we dive in to any new tricks and spells, let’s take a quick inventory of you and your practice to identify all of the ways you can better encourage patients…
What do you think makes you special?
How do you influence patients now?
Why do you think patients trust you?
What makes the magic happen in your practice?
It’s important to embrace the things that make you unique, acknowledge what makes you exceptional, and be aware of the things you do differently in your practice. These make up your inventory of what you can use to help even more patients.
Answer these questions to unearth all of the magic at your disposal. Then next week we’ll ready the cauldron for even more enchanted potions to brew.
