COVID and Covey in the Dental Office

How are you and your team getting through COVID in the dental office? I mean REALLY IN THE MIDDLE OF A PANDEMIC? Are you experiencing the lull in your schedule six months post COVID?

Why is it some offices we serve are closing days in October and November and some are completely full with business as usual?

Stephen Covey’s, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, focuses on the human relationship while understanding human behavior. These habits provide clarity in and for your audience. Although these habits are relational, he says IT MUST START WITH YOURSELF.

Using COVEY to get through COVID in the dental office

Habit 1. Be Proactive

• How many of you out there planned LAST MARCH AND APRIL for today? Or, did you focus on immediate needs?

Habit 2. Begin with the end in mind

• What is your goal through this pandemic? Have you reverse engineered to get there? Did you think of this last March? If you did, what did you do about it last March?

Habit 3. Put first things first

• Back in March, were you panicked or calm? Where are you today? Still panicked? What is the most important thing to act upon now?

These three habits, 1-3 are dependent as Covey describes. They are introspective.

Habit 4. Seek first to understand, then be understood

• Way back, last March, did you happen to try to understand the craziness of a pandemic? Did you act upon the near future (October and November) to try to understand the impact this may have on your business? Did you stop long enough to “HEAR,” really hear? Or did you ignore and just provide opinions? Once one stops long enough to listen is when that person is ready to really hear.

Habit 5. Think win-win

• Our brains are programmed for war! I win, you lose. A great example of this is sports. One wins, one loses. This concept permeates throughout our lives – IF WE LET IT. How can we approach situations to win/win? Think about that. How can we approach October and November for a win-win? Can we provide dialogue for our hygiene team to offer another prophy to those overdue recare patients who look like it will take 4 hours to clean their teeth? Offered effectively, patients generally will very willingly return and pay for another appointment to get them back to health.
  
  How does this relate to win-win? The patient wins/ better health. The hygienist wins/better patient care. The office wins/fuller chairs. The antithesis of this is – say very little clinically to the patient while thinking – I will never get all this build-up off, but I will work really hard, begrudgingly, not accomplishing a potential health state for the patient. Who wins? NO ONE. This is a win lose scenario. 

Habit 6. Synergize 

• Covey says the energy rises using habits 4 and 5! This is results oriented positive energy. It is win/win. It is mutually agreed upon end in mind! A disciplined process. How disciplined were you last March? Did you have the end in mind….. October and November hygiene?

Covey calls habits 4,5 and 6 Interdependent or involving you and others

Habit 7. Sharpen the Saw

• One area Covey focuses is to be strong in the hard moments. This predicates this habit. He says growth, or sharpen the saw, occurs when you are able to contribute to others regularly. He uses 4 dimensions; Physical, social/emotional, mental and spiritual. Self-evaluate. How well do you participate in improvements in these areas?

Moving forward,  how can you use these habits?

• With yourself
• With your team
• With your patients
• With your family
• With your relationships

Give is a call after reading this, let's talk about how to use these tools in your dental office to overcome COVID . This resource paired with a great coach, is a recipe for success.