Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

Every behaviour has a posi- tive intention All our actions and behaviours have at least one purpose – to achieve something that we val- ue and that benefits us in some way. Even a behaviour which others perceive to be manifestly antisocial, such as bullying an- other staff member, will have a positive intention of some sort for the person doing the behav- iour. NLP separates the inten- tion behind a behaviour from the behaviour itself, and asks for what purpose is the behaviour there? For example, a patient reacting angrily to a suggestion for treatment may actually be afraid, but unable to verbalise that feeling. If we can understand how and for what purpose someone is behaving in a particular way, it is possible to work with them to assist them to change their be- haviour into something more useful or desirable. We are not our behaviours; when we have a better choice of behaviour that also achieves that same over- all positive intention, we will take it. People are doing the best they can In any given situation, we will do the best we can at the time with what resources we have available to us. How often have you said to yourself, “If I’d known back then what I know now…”? The re- source of that knowledge was not available to you at that time, so whatever you did back then was done from a positive inten- tion, with the expectation of a particular outcome, and with what resources you did have at the time. A nervous patient is doing the best they can – by their next visit, their resources may have increased because of the care and understanding they were shown on their first visit. Your reality is yours alone Our perception of reality is not necessarily reality; however, it is our reality – everybody has a different way of mak- ing sense of their world. We pay attention to the aspects of the world which are of interest to us and ignore oth- ers or, in the words of the Paul Simon song, “A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.” In NLP terms, we would say, “the map is not the territory”. We carry a map in our minds of what we believe re- ality to be, but the real ter- ritory of our world is always far richer than our percep- tion. Our map depends on our own internal “filters” of values, beliefs and memories, and is completely personal to us. An anxious patient, a retired den- tal hygienist and a CQC inspec- tor visiting your practice will all have a completely different internal map, or perception, of your surgery as they will no- tice, and pay attention to, very different things. These ideas are some of the central principles and guiding philosophies of NLP, known as the operating beliefs, or ‘presuppositions’. They are called ‘presuppositions’ be- cause, as practitioners of the art and science of NLP, we pre-suppose them to be true and then act as if they are; effectively they are ethi- cal and ecological principles for life. Understanding NLP, and employing these princi- ples, will improve your com- munication skills and increase your success in every area of your life. DT ‘We carry a map in our minds of what we believe reality to be, but the real territory of our world is always far richer than our perception’ About the author Joanna Taylor is Practice Man- ager at John Tay- lor Dental Care in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. She is a Clinical Hypnotherapist, an NLP Master Practitioner and an INLPTA Certified Trainer. She provides courses and in-house training in communication skills, stress management and hypnosis for the dental team in addition to one-to-one coaching and therapy. For more information email joan- na@joanna-taylor.co.uk or visit www.joanna-taylor.co.uk 15FeatureFebruary 11-17, 2013United Kingdom Edition For more information or to place an order in the UK please call 0800 169 9692 or in Ireland please call +44 1438 245000 email sales.uk.csd@carestream.com or visit www.carestreamdental.co.uk © Carestream Dental Ltd., 2012. features of Cs r4 R4 Mobile Direct link to PIN pad Patient Check-in Kiosk Care Pathways Communicator Steritrak E-Forms Patient Journey On-line Appointment Booking Text Message and Email reminders Clinical Notes Appointment Book Digital X-Ray Managed Service Practice Accounts At the heart of your practice CSR4Clinical+ PracticeManagementSoftware Working with you NEW AutoPost NEW eForms CS R4 Clinical+ practice management software is constantly working to help your practice function as smoothly and efficiently as possible. 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