Latest / Back in 10 / Episode 19: Chairside Manner Unfiltered

Transcript

Episode 19: Chairside Manner Unfiltered · Back in 10

• 0:00
  Chris Stone: All right.
• 0:00
  It's the Chairside Wizards in 3, 2, 1.
• 0:07
  Jen Steadman: Back in 10 is a podcast for dental leaders who do it all
• 0:11
  and need 10 minutes to themselves.
• 0:12
  Savanah Carlson: It's about real conversations, not curated ones, the
• 0:15
  kind that happen off the clock behind closed doors, and between the chaos of
• 0:19
  running a practice and running life.
• 0:22
  Jen Steadman: Hosted by Savannah Carlson and Jen Stedman, two women who've led,
• 0:27
  learned, and laughed through it all.
• 0:29
  Savanah Carlson: This show brings honest stories, leadership truths, and
• 0:32
  the occasional sassy take on what it really means to lead in dentistry today,
• 0:36
  Jen Steadman: because sometimes the best leadership happens when
• 0:40
  you step away for 10 minutes.
• 0:42
  Savanah Carlson: This is back in 10.
• 0:48
  Jen Steadman: Hey everyone.
• 0:51
  Welcome back to back in 10.
• 0:54
  I am Jen,
• 0:55
  Savanah Carlson: and I'm Savannah.
• 0:57
  Jen Steadman: So what we're gonna talk about today is our chair side manner.
• 1:02
  So whether that's our clinical team, our admin team, what that looks like, we can
• 1:07
  even, we'll have to see time-wise, right?
• 1:09
  But even.
• 1:11
  How as a leader we can talk to our team about their chairside manner.
• 1:15
  I think that would be kind of cool too,
• 1:17
  Savanah Carlson: is your attitude
• 1:18
  in check.
• 1:20
  Jen Steadman: Oh, yeah.
• 1:20
  Yeah.
• 1:21
  So I heard some things a few years ago that really stuck with me
• 1:25
  in that you really like when you walk through the threshold to that
• 1:30
  office, you have to leave everything.
• 1:33
  That happened.
• 1:34
  Personal life, even professional life.
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  Like leave it, leave it at the door, leave it away.
• 1:39
  Um, you can't bring that with you.
• 1:41
  And that's hard to do sometimes, right?
• 1:43
  But that affects how we act.
• 1:47
  It affects our tone, it affects how we communicate, uh, our prickliness I'll say.
• 1:54
  So it's important that you even have someone on your team that
• 1:57
  you can be, have like a, a buddy.
• 2:00
  Right.
• 2:01
  A little buddy system that I could go Savannah, I am, I'm having a
• 2:06
  day, it's snow Globe Day today.
• 2:09
  I cannot see through the blizzard that is happening outside of this office.
• 2:16
  And then Savannah knows that she's, she's gonna be there a little bit
• 2:19
  to support me today and then I'll do that for her when she needs it.
• 2:22
  Right.
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  Um, side note, we do that for each other anyways.
• 2:25
  Yeah, like that's like us literally
• 2:27
  every day, Jen.
• 2:31
  Yeah.
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  But wait, I know it was funny.
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  It was last night Jen and I were on, I mean, we were on FaceTime.
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  This was like the third time yesterday that this happened,
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  and her husband walks in.
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  Oh no.
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  This was the first time we were, we had not talked on the phone, but this is the
• 2:49
  first FaceTime and her husband walks in.
• 2:51
  She goes, I haven't seen, this is the first time I've seen Savannah all day.
• 2:54
  And he's like, that's shocking.
• 2:56
  Yep, yep.
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  Find your person.
• 2:59
  Yeah.
• 2:59
  You just, you just have to, right.
• 3:01
  And I, you were like, other than, other than Dom, you were the last person I
• 3:05
  talked to before I went to bed last night.
• 3:06
  You know, you just.
• 3:08
  But like, it's important to have someone on your team that you can go to and just
• 3:12
  say like, oh, I'm having, I'm having a day that they can help to support you
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  because you can't always be your best if you have all these other things going on.
• 3:23
  So it's important just to.
• 3:25
  Be able to have someone, and it doesn't mean you need to go into details, do
• 3:28
  not unload on that person because then they're gonna, might be in a bad mood,
• 3:32
  but just be there to support, right?
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  So that way when you are chairside or a patient's in front of you, that
• 3:38
  you have a positive tone, that you are not short or snippy with them,
• 3:44
  um, or rude or anything like that.
• 3:47
  And look, I know Savannah, I told you this before, there was an office
• 3:52
  that I worked at very briefly.
• 3:55
  Two days.
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  And two days was too long.
• 3:59
  Savanah Carlson: Tell the world, Jen, just tell them what their slogan was.
• 4:03
  Jen Steadman: We cater to cowards
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  Savanah Carlson: effing bananas.
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  That is so wild.
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  Jen Steadman: That's not one, that's not a good first impression.
• 4:13
  Right?
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  And essentially that means all of your patients that are gonna come to you
• 4:18
  are going to have a. Possible form of dental anxiety or haven't had good
• 4:24
  experiences in the past, or a complex.
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  Yeah, it's just, it's not attracting the right, the right clientele, I'll say.
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  And that's really difficult for your team to always be on like that.
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  Essentially.
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  They're not just a clinician, they're a therapist, and that's
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  where it gets really challenging.
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  Because you want them to have that good bedside mirror, but there's
• 4:49
  only so much that someone can take.
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  Everyone they had a reason to do it.
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  I'll say, right.
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  Clearly they had a reason, but it's important that you understand what.
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  Your slogans are what they mean for you, what they mean for your patients.
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  Um, but how that can affect your chairside manner.
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  Right.
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  And who you need to be for those patients when they're in the office.
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  So, you know, I'll, I'll go with that.
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  But I think Savannah, one of the things that I, as a, as a clinician,
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  as an assistant and hygienist that I always made sure that I did, was.
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  Know who my patients were.
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  So when we're talking about chairside manner, obviously we're not putting this
• 5:35
  directly into the patient ledger, right?
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  But the patient's notes a section that is not their ledger.
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  You can write things in there about, you know, what their last vacation
• 5:46
  was, or if their grandchild is, you know, graduating or there's
• 5:49
  a wedding or something like that.
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  Something that you can remember them too.
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  That definitely helps with your chairside manner and.
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  That patient's like, oh my gosh, you remembered that.
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  I didn't remember that.
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  My notes reminded me.
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  I remember patients would be, their attitudes would change when I talked to
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  them about things that we talked about in the past, and it made them happy.
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  Right.
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  Or I would put something in there.
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  Do not talk about X, Y, Z.
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  Yep.
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  I want them to have a good experience and I also want to be professional and have,
• 6:27
  you know, have a good rapport with them.
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  Savanah Carlson: It's also great to have a check-in with your doctor too.
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  Um, uh, and when I say that I would go directly to the doctor and
• 6:39
  ask for feedback on team members 'cause they're sitting chairside
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  with these team members all day.
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  Um, that would give me the opportunity to have conversations with.
• 6:51
  The team regarding their chairside manner.
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  Uh, so I thought that was very important to do.
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  And then when you have a doctor who is just cold as ice, that
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  is the hardest conversation to have as a practice administrator.
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  How do you warm up your doc so they don't come off as cruel and calculating
• 7:22
  side, uh, give them a shot of whiskey.
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  Give him a shot at ask.
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  Don't do that.
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  We can't have any drunk clinicians.
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  That's lawsuits.
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  No.
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  That I didn't take any laughing
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  Jen Steadman: gas or anything like that.
• 7:38
  No, do not.
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  You are never to be under the influence of anything.
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  While you are caring patients, caring for patients, you can be under the
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  influence of joy and happiness.
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  Have those emotions at the control, but do not have any.
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  Yes, you can be frustrated.
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  Um, it's really difficult and I think when you have a clinician that is
• 8:06
  cold and is not warm and inviting, you need to find out what makes them warm.
• 8:13
  And it's difficult to do, not physically, like, not in their gut.
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  I mean like what emotionally, what makes them happy, what makes them
• 8:22
  joyful, and figure out what that is.
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  And sometimes.
• 8:25
  You need to like get out of the office and go to lunch and have a conversation
• 8:28
  with them outside of that space.
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  They might have always been that way in the office, but are completely
• 8:35
  different out of the office.
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  I've seen that before too.
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  And that's an easier conversation to have 'cause you're like, dude, you are
• 8:42
  really fun to be around, but when I'm in the office, I don't wanna be around
• 8:47
  you and the patients don't either.
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  Right?
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  So it's, it's an easier conversation when you do that, but.
• 8:54
  I've, I've had some providers that I've had to sit down and talk to them
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  about their demeanor and ask them like, how would you want your mom or
• 9:06
  your sibling or your children to be treated when they're in the situation?
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  Especially if a patient is anxious, that's when you can't be cold.
• 9:15
  You need to be overly.
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  Chris Stone: Warm
• 9:18
  Jen Steadman: and supportive and there to help them.
• 9:20
  So it's just, again, everything's a conversation, but bring
• 9:23
  it back to your core values.
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  And if it doesn't work, then maybe they're on the wrong bus.
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  You know, it's, you need to bring everything back to why you're
• 9:32
  there and what your mission is, and what your values are.
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  And if it's not in alignment, that's okay.
• 9:37
  Now, if it's the, if it's the owner dentist,
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  Savanah Carlson: well we have another conversation that needs to be had.
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  Or you have a conversation where you hit the road, Jack.
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  Jen Steadman: Yeah.
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  Like an internal conversation with, yeah.
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  Is this, is this really what I signed on for?
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  Savanah Carlson: No.
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  No.
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  So use your tools that you have in your tool, your communication toolbox to
• 10:05
  have these conversations with your team, with your doctor, even with yourself.
• 10:12
  You gotta reflect on yourself, especially if you are in that conference room
• 10:15
  for four hours straight, talking about $50,000 treatment plans, $120,000
• 10:24
  treatment plans, four on x, ortho the whole kit and caboodle by number four.
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  You're gonna be tired.
• 10:34
  You might be a little cranky yourself, so there needs to be a good amount, a healthy
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  amount of self-reflection when it comes to your own chairside manner as well.
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  And for your admin team,
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  they're on the phone quite a bit during the day answering some tough
• 10:54
  questions, mainly about insurance.
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  Uh, I would say 80% of the calls that I took while I was a patient coordinator.
• 11:03
  Was about, is my insurance gonna cover it?
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  When you get asked that 80 times in one day, you can feel your
• 11:09
  patients really getting thin.
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  So take that break that you need, take 10, listen to back in 10 for some comedy
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  and some reminders on you got this, you are good chairside and can have.
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  Pleasant positive conversations even when faced with negativity.
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  Jen Steadman: Mm-hmm.
• 11:33
  Yeah.
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  And if you find that you're getting asked the same questions all the time,
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  is there something else that you can do to help to alleviate some of those?
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  So maybe it's a conversation when they're in the office.
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  Maybe it's, you need to send them some information or more education, just
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  patient education about their insurance.
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  Make a pamphlet that you can give to them that, and it's not gonna be
• 11:56
  specific for every single, um, you know, every single treatment, but it's good.
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  Just gonna give them some overall understanding about
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  what insurance is, right?
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  That was the example that you used.
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  So just think about other ways that.
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  Can help you during the day so that way you have more patience.
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  And I'll say, this is one thing that I found, like I felt like I ended up using
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  all of my patients during the day at work.
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  And when I came home I had very little for the people that deserved it the most.
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  And that's a really tough pill to swallow.
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  So sometimes it's not just you.
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  Sometimes it's.
• 12:38
  Where you are.
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  Right?
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  So think about that too.
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  'cause it's important to make sure that you do have that bedside
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  manner and you do have that patience for patience for the patients.
• 12:49
  Um, but you also need to go home at the end of the day and have that patience for
• 12:54
  the people that you love and care about.
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  So yeah, just keep that in mind.
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  Keep that in mind.
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  And for me, I'll say I had to make a change to make sure that
• 13:01
  I had the patience for the ones that I loved and cared about.
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  Savanah Carlson: And that's okay too.
• 13:06
  I, Jen, I feel this so hard.
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  I had to have a conversation with my ex-husband, um, about after my workday.
• 13:19
  It was, there was one point when I was managing that, it was
• 13:23
  just, oh, the stress was just.
• 13:25
  Debilitating.
• 13:26
  It was awful.
• 13:28
  And I remember coming home and just being a complete bitch.
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  I was just, I was awful.
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  I was awful.
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  So we decided that, you know, I would take the drive home to decompress,
• 13:39
  but for the first 15 minutes that I walked in the door, like I just needed,
• 13:45
  I needed silence in my own space.
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  Not driving from A to B, but like I, before I could even.
• 13:53
  Talk to him.
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  I had to, you know, go use the bathroom, go my ch on, take off my
• 13:58
  frigging bra at the end of the day, just gimme that 15 minutes that I need.
• 14:03
  Yes.
• 14:04
  And then I'm able to just let it go.
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  Sometimes we just need to have also those, those conversations
• 14:11
  with our families of like.
• 14:13
  Mommy had a really long day.
• 14:14
  Just give her five minutes, let her use the bathroom.
• 14:17
  Yep.
• 14:17
  And we're gonna have a great dinner and we're gonna play
• 14:19
  a board game after dinner.
• 14:20
  Yeah.
• 14:20
  Like something as simple as that, and recognizing that you
• 14:25
  need that time for yourself too.
• 14:27
  Mm-hmm.
• 14:28
  Yeah.
• 14:29
  Mm-hmm.
• 14:29
  Oh, we could go on about that.
• 14:31
  Mm-hmm.
• 14:31
  Because now it brings in a whole other challenge if you work from home, girl.
• 14:35
  I know.
• 14:36
  Well, I mean.
• 14:37
  Yeah.
• 14:37
  At least if I didn't wanna wear it, I didn't have to.
• 14:40
  So,
• 14:41
  Jen Steadman: you know, like it it.
• 14:44
  There you go.
• 14:44
  But it's amazing though because like you talk about the stress and everything too.
• 14:49
  It affects you not just mentally, but physically, like, yeah, me
• 14:52
  personally, I gained a lot of weight.
• 14:55
  I gained a lot of weight and I'm working to get that off.
• 14:58
  Right.
• 14:59
  I just.
• 14:59
  I told Savannah and the wizard before this that I, I have lost a fair
• 15:04
  amount of weight and just decided to chop my hair off in celebration.
• 15:08
  So hit it, girl.
• 15:10
  It's important that you sit down and you take the time to reflect on where you
• 15:16
  are, who you are, and who you want to be.
• 15:20
  And that goes with chairside manner that goes with life that
• 15:24
  goes, we got really deep today.
• 15:26
  Savanah Carlson: Basically, if your chairside manner sucks, go take your bra
• 15:31
  off for 10 minutes and you'll feel great.
• 15:34
  Jen Steadman: My girls know when, sorry, when my bra is off the door
• 15:38
  between my side and my in-laws side of our house, zoo is closed
• 15:43
  and a discussion.
• 15:44
  The door does not open until the girls have been uplifted.
• 15:50
  Savanah Carlson: Damn.
• 15:51
  At this point in my life I don't even give a poop anymore.
• 15:54
  My slider is wide open with the, the, it's wide open.
• 15:58
  Anyone could walk.
• 15:59
  I mean, not that anyone's gonna walk through my yard 'cause
• 16:01
  it's a massive private yard.
• 16:03
  I don't, I mean, someone could walk by and at this point in life, I don't care.
• 16:07
  I don't, yeah, I think it's a
• 16:08
  Jen Steadman: rando.
• 16:09
  I don't really
• 16:09
  Savanah Carlson: care.
• 16:10
  Jen Steadman: But no, ask about the in-laws.
• 16:12
  You wouldn't have walked around with.
• 16:14
  No bra on with your in-laws under the same roof?
• 16:17
  No.
• 16:17
  I can't imagine.
• 16:18
  Probably
• 16:19
  Savanah Carlson: not.
• 16:19
  No.
• 16:19
  Jen Steadman: Yeah, see, it's just
• 16:20
  Savanah Carlson: different.
• 16:21
  Jen Steadman: It depends
• 16:22
  Savanah Carlson: how, I mean, I really liked my ex-husband's parents, so like.
• 16:27
  They were so cool.
• 16:29
  I loved them.
• 16:30
  Like I still talk to them and I'm friendly with them.
• 16:32
  I, yeah, I love them.
• 16:33
  So, I mean, maybe I,
• 16:36
  Jen Steadman: I love my in-laws too, but you don't need to see me
• 16:39
  with, with my girls a flopping.
• 16:41
  I fed two babies with these boobies.
• 16:42
  No thank you.
• 16:44
  Savanah Carlson: Do they sag night and load?
• 16:47
  Do they wobble to and fro?
• 16:49
  Chris Stone: Wow.
• 16:50
  Wow.
• 16:52
  You know, and
• 16:55
  Savanah Carlson: like a continental, continental.
• 16:58
  Chris Stone: I'll tell you what, in tribute to to the late
• 17:01
  Ozzy Osborne, we have gone off the rails on the crazy train.
• 17:05
  Jen Steadman: And on that note, we are gonna clock out
• 17:08
  for the day because we are.
• 17:12
  Take our brass off.
• 17:13
  Yep.
• 17:13
  And, um, our bedside manner might be questionable.
• 17:17
  So,
• 17:18
  Savanah Carlson: hey, I'm okay with kooky crazy bedside manner
• 17:22
  as, as long as you're happy.
• 17:25
  Yeah.
• 17:26
  And
• 17:29
  Jen Steadman: sounds good.
• 17:29
  Well, everyone have a wonderful day and we hope that, uh, you had a nice
• 17:34
  little, uh, break with us today.
• 17:37
  Go, go take care of yourself.
• 17:42
  Savanah Carlson: You know what I mean?
• 17:44
  Speaker 5: Thanks for spending a few minutes with us on back in 10, if
• 17:47
  something made you laugh, nod or feel a little more human, share it with a friend
• 17:52
  and make sure that you're subscribed.
• 17:54
  You can also follow us on Instagram at Back in
• 17:56
  Savanah Carlson: 10 Pod for more behind the scenes updates
• 17:59
  Speaker 5: and probably a little chaos.
• 18:02
  We're not here to have it all figured out.
• 18:04
  We are just here to tell you the things that we wish someone had told us.
• 18:08
  And remind you that leadership doesn't have to be perfect,
• 18:12
  Savanah Carlson: just real.
• 18:14
  Speaker 5: We'll be back in 10 in.