Enriching the Lives of Dental Leaders

Enriching the Lives of Dental Leaders

ask sharyn

Why Should I Praise Them?

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Dear Sharyn

I don’t see the point of telling employees they’re doing a good job every time they do something right. They’re supposed to do a good job. Why should I keep praising them for things they should know how to do?

Dr. K, Illinois

Dear Dr K

You’re feeling cranky about constantly saying, “good job” to your employees. But “good job” is what you say to a puppy or a child you’re potty training, it’s not what you say to adults to acknowledge their good performance. Stop patting them on the head and instead start giving reinforcing feedback. The purpose of reinforcing feedback is to acknowledge that a behavior got good results. It’s not about pleasing you – it’s about motivating the employee to repeat an action because it had a positive effect for the practice. Instead of saying “good job” say, “I saw you do X and I noticed what an impact that had for the patient/team/practice. Because it had such a great result, let’s do that more often.” This type of statement encourages the employee become more self-motivated employee and you get to say something more interesting than “good job.”

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Every month I get questions from dentists all over the country. I started “Ask Sharyn” to create a space to answer these questions.

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Inspired Us to Dream Bigger, and it Works

“As an Office Manager, I’ve seen a great difference in my practice since starting with Sharyn. Three years ago our staff was in turmoil with a lot of infighting and gossip and some jealousy directed towards me.

I had given up because everything I did was judged. Now I have learned to have more one-to-one communication and by being more vulnerable with individuals I found my leadership voice. As a team, we’re all focused on the same goals.

Last year, in August we produced $88,000. This year we’re on track to produce $111,000 this month. I know it’s because we learned how to follow through with patients and communicate our expectations while building our systems.

Sharyn has gotten us out of our comfort zone and inspired us to dream bigger and it works.”

–Sharon St Pierre, Sperbeck Dental Care

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