Divas Take on Las Vegas

We just returned from a team building trip to Las Vegas. Here is a run down of our activities.......

Wednesday, November 9th-We touched down in Las Vegas and headed to our hotel, Planet Hollywood-right in the center of the strip.

Thursday, November 10th-"Movie Stars for the Day"

Off to New Patients Inc. to film video clips for our website. They rolled out the red carpet for us

with a spread of refreshments and a make-up artist to "glam us up" for the shoot. After many out takes and bloopers we finished filming with very professional results. NPI will do the editing and we will soon be able to view the finished product!

  

That evening we celebrated by going to dinner and the "O" Cirque du Soleil show at the beautiful Bellagio Hotel. The show was amazing and was one of the highlights of our trip.

November 11th & 12th-Madow Brother's TBSE("the best seminar ever")

Friday and Saturday we attended a fun, practice management, team building and inspirational seminar at Planet Hollywood. The Madow's encourage you to "dress up" in crazy attire, so we wore our Dental Diva shirts and pink boa's!

Saturday evening was our final night in Vegas so we walked the strip, toured some hotels and had dinner. Sunday morning we left for home all pumped up as a team and ready to implement all the good tips we received. It was so nice to get out of the office and re-energize ourselves so we could come home and give our best to our patients and one another. We are so thankful to have such a great doctor to work for who truly appreciates her team and includes us in these fun outings.

Is it time to "up the team morale" at your office?

Morale is defined as "the state of the spirits of a person or group as exhibited by confidence, cheerfulness, discipline, and willingness to perform assigned tasks." Whether you would define your team as having good morale or bad, is up to you. 

We recently had a great staff meeting with our Paragon Program consultant, Hope.  The Paragon Program just celebrated 25 years of dental consulting as one of "America's Profitability Experts."  Every other month we meet with our consultant to discuss our numbers to ensure we're on track to meeting our financial goals for the year. 

After discussing our goals, our consultant suggested that we participate in a team-building exercise that we found to be very beneficial and boosted everyone's self-confidence.  She asked us a series of questions and each of us wrote our own responses on a piece of paper. After everyone was finished writing their lists, we took turns reading them aloud.  

These were the questions:
* What are the top 10 things that you would tell your patients about the doctor that you  work for?
*What are the top 10 things that you would tell your patients about the team member seated to your right?
*What are the top 10 things about your team/office that make you awesome?

This exercise can benefit any team and bring you closer together.  We work with each other on a daily basis, and some may even say we spend more time with each other more than we do with our own spouses!  I hope we never take each other for granted.  It's important to verbalize the importance and significance of each team member.  Most of us don't go around announcing to the world why we're wonderful.  But team members need to hear it from your doctor as well as each other.  Your doctor needs to hear why you appreciate them, and your patients need to hear great things about everyone.  Brag each other up!  It's important to enjoy your time spent at work and those you work with. 

Some of you may be thinking that, "She has no clue - I could never get along with the people I work with."  And it very well may be true that there may be a specific team member(s) that you find it difficult to get along with.  So what?  We've all been there at one time or another - why are you letting that spoil your team's positive morale? Why are we expecting that person to change when we are the one's who can change our own attitudes and actions towards that person to produce a positive outcome?   It's a proven fact that laughter and cheerfulness are contagious.  If you start making the changes your team needs to "up the morale,"  you may just find that others will follow closely behind.  

 

Exciting Announcements!!!

Wow, have we been busy!  Time flies when you're having fun.  Amber and I have been working with several extern dental assisting students from local schools, and time has gotten away from us. 

In case any of you were wondering, YES, I passed my state board exam and have been licensed as an EFDA (expanded functions dental assistant) for the past few months.  I love being a dental assistant and being an EFDA allows me to love my job even more by having more responsibilities.  I owe a huge "Thank You" to Dr. Cockley for allowing me to continue my education and for placing her confidence in me. 

  

Our other EFDA, Amber, is also very excited to announce that she's going to me a "Mommy" for the first time!  She will be having a beautiful baby girl early next year. Do I even need to mention that we're all very excited for her?  Our closely-knit office of eight women will spoil her rotten.  Congratulations Amber!     

It's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day things that we do at work, but I encourage you to find something to get excited about!  What's going on in your office that's special right now?  If you can't think of anything - maybe you should be the one to start the excitement.  Bring in a home-made treat to share, an inspirational article, or maybe it's something as simple as writing a note to your team members letting them know why you appreciate them.  Don't forget to let your patients in on the fun and share your excitement.  

                                                           

Work Hard.......Play Harder!

"Our minds need relaxation and give way unless we mix with work a little play"  -Molier

We just returned from Longboat Key Florida this week where we combined continuing education with some fun with our doctor and dental team.  We came back to work feeling refreshed and closer as a team and we wanted to share some of our trip with you.

Every morning we attended the Paragon Program's Growth and Profitability seminar. We received great tips on practice management for the whole team as well as products and systems to implement in our practice. We enjoyed guest speaker,Vittorio Borgia, General Manager of Eddie Merlot's in Columbus, Ohio. He stressed the importance of customer service and truly loving what you do.  

The Paragon Program was celebrating their 25th year, so our team participated in a sand sculpture competition where the theme was anything 1986.

 

Our sculpture was from the movie Crocodile Dundee.                  Pecan Sandie Awards were given to all  

We enjoyed great meals together and lot's of shopping in St. Armands Circle. We hammed it up for the camera and got really good group shots.

The last night of our trip Paragon Program hosted a party and all of us went back to 1986! Many of the offices performed skits and we danced the night away.

Getting out of the office and spending some quality time together really makes us appreciate the wonderful people we work with individually and as a group. If you can't take a trip, do something simple- like dinner and get connected with each other. It's so important that we take time for ourselves every once in a while and get refreshed so we can always give our patients our best!

Continuing Education "Do"s & "Don't"s

We returned recently from The Paragon Program's Super Workshop Academy in Ohio. This two day program was geared towards dentists, office managers and dental assistants.

Gina and I were interviewed in the human resources section of the Office Manger Academy. They asked us questions about why we try to go above and beyond, how to be a great dental assistant and how to interview/hire exceptional team members.
Gina was also part of a panel discussion on innovative ideas, continuing education, the value of dental assistants and technology in
the Dental Assisting Academy. We came back with some fresh new ideas and goals to put into practice in our office. Unfortunately, there were some disturbing things we observed in the Dental Assisting Academy that we thought would be a great blog topic.

"Do"s & "Don't"s of Continuing Education 

"Do"s:

• Show up early so that you can find a good seat
• Pay attention to speaker
• Take brief notes-think about what you can apply to yourself or your practice
• Talk to your doctor and dental team about what you learned and how it can benefit your office
• Network with other assistants you meet
• Dress for success! Dress conservatively and look respectable. 

"Don't"s:

• (These are things we actually saw!)

• Don't pull out a mirror and start plucking your eyebrows
• Do crossword puzzles
• Check your Facebook feed 
• Talk out loud during session
• Sleep with your head down on the desk
• Text your friends
• Dress provocatively, showing too much skin or cleavage. 
• Drink excessively or get drunk at dinners or events that may be held during evening hours. 

Having your doctor  include you in continuing education courses is a real privilege. Most of these course are not free. They involve traveling to locations outside your city/state which requires lodging/food expenses. We encourage assistants who want to take their careers "to the next level" to use these continuing education courses as a way to better yourself , your team and your practice. Even if you have been to a similar course, it's always possible to take away new "pearls".

We have shown our doctor that we want to learn  and she has given us the opportunity to travel all over the U.S. and learn from leaders in the dental field.  When you are at a continuing education course, it's important to remember that you're still "on-the-clock" and you are always representing your doctor and your practice. If you take take your position seriously and pursue your career, your doctor will see you as an asset and will be more inclined to include you in future educational opportunities.

Fun Whitening Products To Try

Check these out!  Chic-Flic TOGO Teeth Whitening & Lip Gloss Plumper Pen.  The Chic-Flic TOGO Pen is a unique dual-sided tooth whitener and lip-gloss plumper all-in- one. It comes with a  built-in mirror and mini LED lights.

Whiter Image TOGO Teeth Whitening Pen

with a brush-on applicator, it is a convenient way to whiten your teeth without messy strips or trays. Our office has found these products very valuable for marketing, give-aways, fundraisers and for our personal use.

Check out their website or Facebook page for more info on these and other products at http://www.whiterimagedental.com/. 
     

Treatment Planning 101-Formal Consult

You have prepared your treatment plan folder and are now ready for the formal consult with your patient. If you have a designated room for consultations that's great, but if you don't the operatory is fine-just have an extra chair available in case your patient has brought someone with them.

*One of the first things to remember when presenting treatment is to sit knee-to-knee and have good eye contact with your patient.

* Explain the problems your doctor has found and how they will be addressed. Go over the doctor's plan for the patient and sequence of appointments. Remember not to use dental jargon-speak in terms they will understand or you will lose them.

*Ask patient if they have any questions/concerns.

*Give an "estimate" of total treatment costs and have them go over definite financial arrangements with your financial coordinator at the end of the consultation.

*If your patient is ready to proceed-schedule their first appointment. Prepare them for what that appointment will entail.

*If patient is not ready to proceed-ask if you can make a follow-up call in a few days to answer any questions. This will give them some time to digest what you have presented and they may be ready to proceed.

If you have never presented treatment plans to your patients, we realize this may seem intimidating.  We always encourage you to stretch yourself and grow by taking on other responsibilities in the office like composing and presenting treatment plans to your patient.  We applaud those of you who are already doing so in your office.  Remember - this requires teamwork and excellent communication between you and your doctor in order to be successful!