June 2005
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In This Issue
-- Who is Draining Your Office Productivity?
-- This Month's Dental Folktale
-- How to Fight Gossip
-- Get Your Act Together
-- Godspeed and Toodle-Oo

Greetings!

This month, we ask, "What have your patients decided about you before you say your first word to them?"

This Month's Dental Folktale
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There is an old folktale about a man who went about town slandering the town's wise man.

After seeing how he hurt the wise man so much, he decided one day to visit the wise man's home and asked for forgiveness. The wise man, recognizing that this man did not realize the seriousness of his wrongdoing, told him that he would forgive him on one condition. The condition was that the slanderer would go home, take a feather pillow from his house, rip it up, and scatter the feathers to the wind.

"Then," said the wise man, "I want you to return to my house." Though bewildered by this weird request, the man was pleased to be forgiven with such an easy pardon. He quickly cut up the pillow, scattered the feathers, and returned to the wise man's home. "Am I now forgiven?" he asked. But the wise man was not through. The wise man said, "I have just one more task for you, and if you complete this task, you are surely forgiven. Now return and gather up all the feathers."

The slanderer replied, "But sir that is impossible, for the wind has surely scattered them by now." "Exactly," said the wise man. "And though you may sincerely wish to undo the evil you have done, it is as impossible to rebuild the damage you have created by your words as it is to recover the feathers. Your words are out there in the world, spreading hate, even as we speak."

How to Fight Gossip
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The best way to fight gossip is not to participate. When you feel the urge to gossip, pay a compliment instead.

"Tact" has been defined as rubbing out another's mistake instead of rubbing it in. I once sent an email to Chris Kammer in which I called another speaker "goofy." In his reply, Chris deleted this one word from what I had written about his friend, the other speaker. Chris didn't want to rub my mistake in because Chris is the personification of "Class!"

Get Your Act Together
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Patients make judgements about how you and your team interact with each other, and even how you dress. Too often, we allow ourselves to become sloppy, with wrinkled scrubs, dirty shoes, or dingy t-shirts underneath our scrubs. We might not even notice, but our patients do.

We just listened to Janice Hurley's audio CD, "Creating an Office Dress Code." Janice and Dr. Jeff have the same kind of down-to-earth, real world rapport that Lorraine and I do. More importantly, they explained exactly how to profit from simple changes in how we present ourselves.

Janice even explains how to confront a staff member dressing inappropriately. That's about as real as it gets.

Janice doesn't know me or that I'm writing this. The first thing I would tell her if I did speak to her is to raise her price. I want you to get her stuff before she does. Visit her site now and get the "Creating an Office Dress Code" CD that she's practically giving away.

How to Create an Office Dress Code

Godspeed and Toodle-Oo
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On behalf of Lorraine Hollett, Ginny Hegarty, and Ernest and Julio Gallo, I am sincerely yours,

Pat

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