Love & Orthodontics
  • Love & Orthodontics
  • Online Courses
  • Enroll
  • Love & Ortho Blog
  • Love & Orthodontics
  • Online Courses
  • Enroll
  • Love & Ortho Blog

The Affliction of Approval Addiction

3/8/2018

0 Comments

 
PictureBusiness and management skills are not taught at all at most dental schools.
Boy!  Dental school didn’t give me any direction on being responsible for employees, staffing, HR, hiring and firing!  How about you?

Maybe dental school taught you how to work with a chair-side dental assistant. 

Maybe.

Maybe dental school gave you some direction on training a chair-side assistant. 

Maybe.


Then there is the part about staffing - the search, the interviewing, the choosing, the hiring...  Any direction on that in dental school?  Not in mine.

And the part about staff coming to you with their beefs, their worries.  Didn’t learn about that in dental school.

You, likely,  as most of us dentists, are approval addicted.  You want everyone to like you - patients, staff, community… You learn at meetings that you can take your staff out for “bonding” and fun, take them to dental meetings and CE.    

Of course you find some nice people to work with you.  Because dentists are usually very nice to everyone (but not as nice to themselves), the staff actually like you. 

You might wonder sometimes if your team members like each other, but as long as you keep being nice to them, making them happy - hopefully they’ll take care of things for you.  


Step back for a moment and think about all of this.  Does it sound a bit like being a parent?  Your children have their moments with each other too.  They bicker, make up, fuss, and come to you too.  Can you just hear the, “Mommy/Daddy, she’s ‘looking’ at me.”  It starts in toddlerhood.  How about,, “Can I get that?  Can I  have one?”  Or, “Can I go to the mall / movie / out to eat…?”

I am not my staff’s parent.  

I can give them love through the opportunity to carry out the vision of the practice, of loving each other, patients, parents, and all.

The answers lie in systems.  Your job as the business owner is to develop and utilize systems which every single employee utilizes as well.  In systems, each position is clear.  All responsibilities and expectations are clear.  They can be followed.  

You have the responsibility to be the keeper of the flame - the vision of your business.  Your job is to define that vision in systems.  Your job is to hire and keep only staff who share the vision, because it fits their vision for themselves, and they work toward your practice’s vision.  That vision, based in love for each and every person is indeed a flame, burning bright. 

As you and your team carry out the systems, your mission is successful, your business grows, to love and care more, and for more, and you can enjoy the patients, the staff, the days.  


I am not my staff’s friend. 
I am their mentor, their light, their guide. 
I am to love them through our shared vision.
I am responsible for guiding and growing the vision, which brings love to them and everyone who is part of the practice. 

It’s all about loving.  But not about doing everything to
be loved.  


Keep your eye on the vision, on the systems, on your purpose. Your courage in that will bring love to all. 

I am not my staff’s friend, nor am I their parent.

I create the system; they carry out the system.    
They contribute greatly to the improvement of the system.

We share love together.

The point where you show love to your staff is where you enable them to do a great job through carrying out the systems that fulfill the vision of love in your practice, not “giving” them stuff, attention, experiences, etc. to try to make them happy. (Like everything in life, we always want to be given more and more, and  there is no end, no satiation for very long.)

Here’s your answer:  It’s the old Chinese saying, “If you want a man to eat for a day, give him a fish.  If you want him to eat for a lifetime,  teach him how how to fish.”

Give your staff priceless lifetime skills.  This is love. 

​Give yourself a great life too.


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Dr Chris Baker

    America's most-trusted teacher of orthodontic continuing education, Dr. Chris Baker has practiced and taught for more than 30 years, and is a current or former faculty member of three U.S. dental schools.  She is a pediatric dentist, author, blogger, dental practice consultant, and mentor.  Dr. Chris is also Past President and Senior Instructor of the American Orthodontic Society.  She is based in Texas, USA, but lectures around the world.

    Categories

    All
    Abu Dhabi To Texas
    Dental Practice Freedom
    Life & Home
    L & O TV
    Orthodontics
    Pediatric Dentistry
    REAL Brief

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016

    RSS Feed

    Text and images
    © 2023 Dr Chris Baker