Natural Law of Cooperation

Life is full of what I call natural laws. The natural laws of human behavior are similar to natural laws in physics and nature. Gravity for example, is a natural law. What goes up must come down. In life, if you attempt to violate a natural law, there are consequences. You don’t break the natural law. It breaks you. The same applies with natural laws of human behavior.

So here is a critically important natural law of human behavior. It is what I call the Law of Cooperation. It says that someone needs to be the partner with whom that patient can work to get what he or she wants. In other words, someone needs to cooperate with the patient to be on his or her side to help facilitate a solution to whatever the problem or desire might be.

Sounds simple, right? WRONG!

Too often, there are huge barriers that stand in the way of abiding by the Law of Cooperation. Here are just a few:

Obstacles:

• Thinking that it is all about the teeth. It is easy to get trapped into thinking that dentistry is about teeth! No so. What patients want is a solution to their total problems, not just their dental problems.

• Lack of listening: Do you really hear what your patients are saying? Or do you just cut to the chase to go after whatever the diagnosis indicates that the patient “needs?” Remember, we all do what we want to do, but not necessarily what we need to do.

• TELLING instead of ASKING. Telling the patients what we have to offer instead of first asking them what they are looking for only leads to frustration and low acceptance.

The True Test:
If you want to know if you are abiding by the Law of Compensation, just ask yourself, “Am I helping the patient get what he wants, or am I just trying to get him to do what I want him to do.”

Cooperation starts with mutual understanding. If you literally feel like you are sitting on the same side of the table with your patient helping her get what she wants, they you are abiding by the Law of Cooperation.

For the most up-to-date skills to help every team member achieve the highest level of case acceptance, make the “Total Immersion” course by the Total Patient Service Institute part of your 2011 continuing education plan. For dates and locations, go to www.TotalPatientService.com