"Our mindset...how we think about something is what creates the stress in our life!"

 

~ Judy Kay Mausolf!"


 

About Judy Kay
Judy Kay's expertise is helping others get happier and more successful! She coaches dentists and their teams how to become better leaders, work together better and deliver service with more passion and fun which ultimately result in growing their practice.
Her approach is different.  Instead of focusing on what you are doing wrong, Judy Kay focuses first on what you're doing right, encourages the positive that's already there, and then replaces the negative habits with actions that will help make the biggest difference for your practice!
  
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Judy Kay Mausolf

612-701-4922
  
 
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Where is Judy Kay!
  
2015
January 22-23, 2015, Houston, TX
January 24-25, 2015, Atlanta, GA
February 19-20, 2015, Middletown, OH
February 26-27, 2015, Chicago, IL
March 20, 2015, Walnut Creek, CA
April 23-25, 2015, St. Paul, MN
May 5, 2015, Edina, MN
May 7-8, 2015, San Antonio, TX
May 27-28,2015, The Woodlands, TX
June 5-7, 2015, Portland, OR
June 11, 2015, Seattle, WA
June 25-26, 2015, Naples, NY
July 16, 2015, Burnsville, MN
July 30, 2015, Durham, NC
August 7, 2015, Mt Pleasant, MI
August 11-12, 2015, Puyallup, WA
August 14-23, 2015, Sonoma, CA
August 28-30, 2015, Nashville, TN
September 10-11, 2015, Hoboken, NJ
September 14, 2015, Overland Park, KS
September, 19, 2015, Las Vegas, NV
September 22-23, 2015, Pearland, TX
September 25, 2015, Champaign, IL
October 2-3, 2015, Washington, DC
October 7-8, 2015, Bemidji, MN
October 15-16, 2015, Rockwall, TX
October 20, 2015, Woodinville, WA
October 23, 2015, Fort Lauderdale, FL
November 3-4, 2015, Washington, DC
November 9-10, 2015, Raleigh, NC
2016
January 21, 2016, Denver, CO
January 27-31, 2016, Boston, MA
March 5, 2016, Memphis, TN
March 11, 2016, Slidell, LA
March 17-18, 2016, Vancouver, BC
April 6-9, 2016, San Francisco, CA
April 16, 2016, New Orleans, LA
May 5, 2016, Toronto, Ontario
May 20, 2016, St. Louis, MO
May 28, 2016, San Antonio, TX
June 10-12, 2016, Santa Fe, NM
October 20-23, 2016, Denver, CO
November 4, 2016, Detroit, MI
2017
February 23-25, 2017, Chicago, IL
September 2015 
Top 5 Reasons Team Members Disengage!

 

Last summer I wrote a series of news letters on how to get your team engaged.  What I didn't cover was why team members get disengaged in the first place.  Many team members start out as highly engaged team members!  They are:
 

  • Happy to come to work and passionate about their career
  • Connected and loyal to the practice
  • Proud to share with the world where they worked
  • In essence your best walking billboard
  • Excited to learn new things to drive long term success
  • Measuring their success based on the team and practice success

 

Than some things start happening often and the team member slowly changes over time.  In some cases rapidly changes.  The things I am referring are things that they perceive as stressful.  Stress is the leading cause for disengaging. 

 

This month is dedicated to learning about the 5 top stress makers and how to remove them from your office culture!

 

Interview with Dr Howard Farran on how to create a happier and healthier work culture!   
 
Inspiration

 

The top 5 stresses that cause team members to disengage are:

 

  • Schedule is a nightmare
  • Move at Mach 10 speed
  • Kicking the dog
  • Lack of value and appreciation
  • No foreseeable change in the future

 

This month we will focus on the schedule is a nightmare!  In most cases the doctor(s) and scheduling coordinator do not deviously set out to cram the schedule.  It is usually the result of trying to schedule to meet overhead/lower insurance reimbursement, more patients wanting to get in than appointments available or emergency patients.


 
Often times appointment times are lessened to accommodate these concerns.  The problem is in most cases the expectations for what needs to be accomplished during the appointment are not reduced.  If you try to squeeze a 60 minute appointment into a 40 or 50 minute time slot you will run over.  Not unlike trying to pour a 6 ounce glass into a 4 ounce glass.  The provider of the appointment feels stressed because they know they will either run over and make the next patient wait or get in trouble for not completing all of the appointment expectations.  If this becomes their normal schedule they will eventually disengage, disconnect and stop trying.  If you want your team to stay engaged you can't expect them to consistently do the impossible.

 

The emergency patient.  There will be times when you will need to fit a patient in to accommodate their emergency.  (It is important to establish standards for what constitutes and emergency in your practice.  Always error on the patient's side.) If it is not an emergency, schedule the patient when there is adequate appointment time.   Inform the patient you will put them on your VIP list and call them with any changes in the schedule. 

 

It is very helpful to discuss at the morning huddle the best times to work in an emergency.  If you do need to fit in an emergency patient; triage the situation and utilize the team if possible. Define the have to haves and let go of nice to haves.  Do only what is needed to get the patient out of discomfort and reschedule them for treatment.  In some cases the only way to resolve the emergency is to perform the treatment that day.  Explain to the patient you will work them in around scheduled patients.  Emergency patients are seen after scheduled patients.  In rare occasions it may be necessary to reduce the amount of treatment on a scheduled patient to accommodate the emergency patient.  Always ask permission from the scheduled patient first by explaining there has been an emergency before reducing their treatment.

 

Scheduling to meet overhead/lower insurance reimbursement not appointment needs.  This is the scheduling nightmare that undermines a team member's level of engagement the most.  What often happens is the practice lessens the appointment time to fit the reimbursement level without lessening the appointment expectations.  We are in essence expecting our team members to just work harder and faster to make up the difference.  In most cases the appointment time was already filled to capacity with appointment expectations before the time reduction.   


 

If this is the expectation for your team members...don't be surprised when they either check out and quit or even worse check out and stay!   After all, if it is impossible there is no hope and no reason for them to keep trying!

 

I do understand that it is necessary to be able to cover overhead and lower insurance reimbursement.  However, instead of expecting the team to do the impossible evaluate the appointment times allotted.  Schedule adequate time for the have to haves and let go of the nice to haves.  If you still don't have adequate time to accommodate have to haves...add more time. 

 

The frustration for many dentists is they strive to deliver exceptional care and service yet receive only minimal reimbursement.  Exceptional service takes time and people which costs money.  Therefore, we can only deliver service at a level that we can realistically afford.  Which means we work at a level that the team we can afford can accommodate.  It's time to evaluate the value of being a participating provider for an insurance when it no longer covers the adequate time needed to deliver your desired level of care and service. 

 

We can remove scheduling nightmare stresses when we schedule accordingly to meet the combined needs of our patients, our practice and our team!  It's a win for everyone that results in raising job satisfaction, patient service and the bottom line!   

 

 

Contact Judy Kay  today if you would like to learn how she can help you build a cohesive team that  support each other and the practice, become better leaders, and deliver service with more passion and fun!