CAD/CAM international magazine of digital dentistry

I 39 practice management _ communication I CAD/CAM 3_2012 munication desired for most official communica- tion. Staff records, patient records, to-do lists, etc. aretypicallyallinawrittenformatbecausetheycan thenbetracked.Sowhatdoyouwanttokeepinthis type of format? You want to write down anything that you want to be able to refer back to at a later date. A not-so-typical form that you may want to consider using is writing down what occurred in meetings with office staff. This will allow you to look back at what was discussed, what items are outstanding, and what you should expect at an upcoming meeting. None of our memories is per- fectandwritingthingsdownisahugehelpinkeep- ing records and helping your practice to run more smoothly. Bodylanguage The third type of communication (and possibly the most important) is what your body language/ appearance and that of your staff says. While not explicit,whatyourbodysayscanhaveahugeeffect on how people perceive you, what people think of whatyousay,andevenwhetherpeoplebelievewhat you’re saying to them. There isn’t much to be said aboutbodylanguageotherthantobeawareofhow you’re coming across to others and whether there isanythingthatyou’redoingthatyoucouldchange that would make you appear more genuine, ap- proachable, honest, or any other quality that you wish to demonstrate. In terms of appearance, do you seem approachable and trustworthy? Do you presentyourselfinaprofessionalmanner?Doother people think that you come across as someone to respect? These are all questions that you can ask yourselfthatdealwithyourbodylanguageandhow you present yourself to other people. This matters in all of the interactions that you make—with your staff, clients and partners. _Collaborating Now that you’re aware of the different types of methods of communicating, there is one more area in which they can be applied that can result in huge changesinyourbusiness:collaborationwithothers. Whenmostpeoplethinkofcollaboratingandwork- ing together, they think internally. Most will think about working together with their family or with theirofficestaff.Veryfewthinkabouthowtheycan collaborate with others outside of their immediate circle.Yet,thistypeofcollaborationcanhaveahuge impact on your business. Throughout business his- tory, companies have collaborated in order to come up with big ideas and profitable ventures. Think about Sirius Radio; that’s a company that knows collaboration. It only really took off after collabo- rating with car companies and having the system installed into cars before they left the sales floor. By working together, participating car companies got a new gadget to use to entice buyers to pur- chase their vehicles and Sirius Radio got access to a brand new market that proved to be extremely profitable. Collaborating and communicating go hand in hand. If you’re lacking in how you communicate with others, your ability to collaborate with others will also be lacking. Collaboration is all about work- ing together with others to generate returns that aregreaterthanwhateitherpartycouldproduceon itsown.Therearemanycollaborationopportunities for your practice. One of the most common exam- ples is collaborating with other dentists using cir- cularreferralsystems.Thiscanresultinhugereturns for your practice, simply because you were able to collaborate with someone else. Think of other ways youcouldcollaborateinyourindustry.Howcanyou work with someone and mutually help each other in a way that neither could do on their own? Most of the biggest innovations in the world arose from some form of collaboration, so this is definitely something that you want to think about. _Conclusion Always be aware of how you’re communicating with other people and always be looking for op- portunities to collaborate. Simply being aware can do wonders, as you can change things that aren’t working, enhance things that are, and generally make your practice more efficient both internally and in the image that is presented to the outside world. Decide what you want to communicate as your brand and start doing it!_ Shane Hebel is currently a student studying Finance and Accounting at the Schulich School of Business.He is a sales and marketing executive for My Dental Hub.He is involved in a number of organisations that promote collaboration,connectivity and education,including Impact Entrepreneurship Group,Standard International and,of course,My Dental Buddies. shane@mydentalhub.com www.about.me/shane.hebel www.linkedin.com/in/shanehebel www.twitter.com/shane_hebel _about the author CAD/CAM