Stay calm, cool, and collected: How dental office managers can gain control in stressful situations

If you’re the office manager of a dental office, you’ve dealt with numerous stressful and challenging situations. These often involve interactions with the team, patients, and dentists. Conflict is inevitable in the workplace and when it arises, how you deal with it can greatly affect performance and organization for the entire practice. Our responsibility is to make sure that the office runs smoothly, in addition to keeping the team and patients happy.

In times of duress, one of the biggest challenges for an office manager is dealing with emotions, which, if not kept in check, can wreak havoc on the practice. Here are some of the important tools you can use that will help you stay calm, collected, and focused when faced with a stressful situation or anunpleasant interaction with a patient or staff member.

Empathy—This is the ability to sense the feelings, needs, and views of others. The saying, “Put yourself in someone else’s shoes” is the basis of empathy. It is the most crucial tool to be equipped with when leading a team. It will keep your team happy because you show that you care about them and understand their needs as a person, not just for the work they represent. By being attentive to how others feel, you can act based on what’s appropriate, whether that means managing conflict, assuaging the patient’s fears, or controlling other stressful situations.

Self-awareness—Just like empathy is the ability to sense the feelings of others, self-awareness is the ability to know oneself. A leader who is self-aware is attuned to his or her emotions and is aware of how these feelings will affect others. Being self-aware enables someone to keep negative emotions such as anger, jealousy, and resentment in check. Instead of letting them get out of hand, you can see what’s causing them and how to do something constructive about them. So next time you’re having a bad day, take a breath and leave those negative feelings behind. Your team looks up to you and your mood can have a tremendous affect on others.

Presence—Being present or “staying in the moment” ties in self-awareness and empathy. It also allows you to remain unbiased about a situation. You are able to detect when something is “off” or if a situation requires a certain action. So when conflict arises, instead of getting caught up in your emotions, you are able to tackle any issue in the most effective and productive way. One way to practice presence is through reflection and meditation. Taking a few moments out of the day to reflect on what happened helps with understanding where your feelings come from, and meditating will help you becme calm and centered.

Source: http://www.dentistryiq.com/articles/2015/12/stay-calm-cool-and-collected-how-to-gain-control-in-stressful-situations-in-the-dental-practice.html

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