The Ripple Effect

[Anonymous]

**THIS IS A TEXT-ONLY VERSION OF THE JUNE ESSENTIALS. FOR THE FULL VERSION, DOWNLOAD THE ATTACHED FILE.**

My two sons used to enjoy the game of tossing pebbles into the lake we would visit near our home in Tennessee. Ripples on still water are amazing as to how far they travel. Your success, or lack of it, is the result of your ripple effect. Your actions and your thoughts go out into your world and create an effect that goes and goes. Success is a ripple effect. Think about your own ripple effect.

As I observe dental teams, I am often concerned about the snide comments made in the Huddle, at the front desk, in the sterilization area or in the Dr’s office about the patients. Comments you make about your patients, even behind closed doors create ripple effects. If your comments are disrespectful, condescending or cutting – even if the person is not present – your comments cut into the Law of Attraction. Think The SECRET. This famous best seller, like many others before and after, tells us that thoughts and ideas attract thoughts like themselves. If you are “dissing” your patients, the universe, God, or whatever you believe is beyond us mere mortals, gives you back a lack of patients.

Team members share with me that they are concerned with the lack of appreciation for the PPO, Medicaid, (you fill in the blank), kind of patients. Dental staff are attracted to HEALTHCARE (notice the last four letters) because they generally care about people, without discrimination. They often learn discrimination from the ripple effect of the words from the office manager, the dentist, the hygienist. Then, unfortunately, the other ripple effect is that your team gets to play the game with you and “dis” their patients-those who don’t floss, those who don’t pay, those who _____. If you as a leader, office manager, dentist or team member send out those resentful thoughts, your ripple effect will be fewer patients and loss of respect from those who hear your comments.

Years ago one of dentistry’s famous speakers, Naomi Rhode, gave the hygienists in her ADA audience sage words that still hold true today. She said,
“Every patient is hurting in their life somehow or some way. Our job is to help them heal with our ears, our hearts and our medicine. The medicine alone is not all there is to healing.”
Powerful words of wisdom.

What if you took each patient and looked at them with new eyes. Picture them as a person who wants the VERY same things out of life that you do. Each patient that comes to you wants to be loved, to be healthy, and to be wealthy. Say to yourself, at a human level, this person is just like me or as the saying goes, “We are all God’s children.” They want compassion, care and concern. Yes, they may, at this moment, have a different idea about their teeth, flossing, or paying a bill, but underneath they are all human with the same desires for success, health and happiness.

What if you celebrated and thanked God, (or whoever it is you thank), for the great opportunity you have to serve and heal every patient on your schedule today. What if every morning at the Huddle you spoke ONLY words of SUCCESS and edited out any negative comments about any patient or the production? The patients who come in that day will get the message. Your ripple effect can change how they refer and how they return.

Can I ask for one more ripple effect? What if you took time to think healing and kind thoughts about each person on the team? This is not a request to accept poor performance. (Check out my article, The Corrosive Impact of Accepting Mediocrity on my website’s Articles page http://www.drevenstedt.com/articles.html ). However, every person on your team has some place in their life where things aren’t working so well. They are juggling their job and for most of them; full time house upkeep and child care responsibilities as well as parental aging challenges for some. Money is tight. If you speak kindly and uplifting about each one of them to other staff, your office manager, your partner, your patients, your ripple effect will be surprising.

Staff members tell me that they hate it when the dentist or office manager “roasts” another staff member with them. They have NO power to make any difference in what you are saying AND it gives them negative thoughts to chew on about their co-worker. If you CHOOSE to keep the staff member you are “dissing,” then keep any negative comments or thoughts to yourself and do not share with co-workers. Share your upset or concern with the actual person or the office manager.

Re-Charge your uplifting, caring and healing outlook by feeding your ripple effect with positive comments. Try one of these at your next Huddle:
• Successful practices think and speak success.
• We cultivate an attitude of friendship to each other and to EVERY patient.
• I/we look for the positive side of every patient and we acknowledge what we find.
• I/we expect the BEST from ourselves and from our patients.

Try it for 30 Huddles/days and see what changes in your ripple effect.

        

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