Do we know how to be good leaders?

Today saw me enjoying my family time, cycling with the kids and ignoring work. My 13 year old son decided our route and planned the timing and picnic. He delegated duties to all of us to make this happen and asked for advice and support when he needed it. He took the time to show his 7 year old sister how to peel a carrot. It was a fabulous outing and a lovely picnic.

He used a combination of authoritative, participative and delegating styles and allowed free reign when he knew others had the better knowledge. The boy is a natural born leader though I may be a little biased as his (extremely proud) mother.

And it made me look at myself as a clinician being a leader. You can be the most skilled, natural clinician but not be a good leader. Leading involves reading others and developing the workforce. It means taking responsibility for the good and bad that happens, and recognising a need to change. It means blending and developing good leadership skills to get the best out of everyone. And it means being able to hear criticism and take it on board. Not easy.

The main styles of leading are:

Authoritive: - you go and do what I say and then bring it back for me to sign off.
Participant: - let's work together to find the best solution and way forward
Delegation - you go and find out this while I do something else

I believe we need to have a good understanding of all three styles and recognise when to use which to develop as a leader. I also believe that as dental folks we tend to lean heavily towards being autocratic and authoritative. It fits in with our training and how we work as a clinician. It fits in less well with how we work as a team and the modern dental environment. Developing our leadership skills can lead to greater job satisfaction and increased revenue.

There is a simple survey link here that will let you see what kind of leader you tend to be. Then it is a case of learning how to blend your leadership approaches to get the best out of your team. Harder than it sounds.

http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/survstyl.html

And one last thing while you are here..............

My role as a preventative health advisor has grown a lot in the last 15 years. I discuss diet, lifestyle, exercise, stress, smoking, diabetes risk and now, according to this clip http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-13806007 we should be discussing STD and the risks with patients too. Initially I thought 'Really?!?' but when you think about it, it is as good a time as any.

My only concern is, as with most of the advice I offer, the patient has to be ready to hear the message and receive the support. So how do we discuss all of this and remember to care for their oral health too in whatever time frame you work to in practice.

Again (I am in danger of sounding like a broken record) we all need to move towards the team working as a unit with the nurses gathering and imparting as much information as possible in the practice. This not only gives more value to the patients but also gives value to the team members.

Devils advocate hat on now, the issue I  have with extending our care to cover more general health issues, is that we need good information and understanding of a subject to be able to offer the right support, information and advice to our patients.

And so it comes down to training again. My husband often jokes when I say I don't know about something "you mean they DIDN'T cover that in the hygiene course?!" It is a reference to just how much we do understand about general health and lifestyle and the effects in the oral cavity. I have to be honest and say, apart from some amazing photos of herpes on a tongue; STDs were not featured heavily on our training programme.

http://www2a.cdc.gov/stdtraining/self-study/default.asp this is the closest I have found to a course we could do as dental professionals.

I feel that while it is commendable and desirable for us to deliver as much health care support as possible we must remember the mantra of the GDC that we should only carry out treatment and provide advice that we feel confident and competent to do and is within our scope of practice.

Rainy days and Sundays - a chance to catch up

With Talking Points a fading but everlasting memory of something quite fantastic in my life, I am  back in clinic the majority of my working week from now until August. I have missed the interaction with my patients and find it therapeutic to be back caring in that form.

Never switching off from my consulting, I have an update day with a team from an ongoing consultancy and a fun training and development day with a new team in the mix too.

It is safe to say I am officially Chairing the Hygienist and Therapist Symposium at the Dentistry Show 2012 and have lots to discuss and plan this week. Exciting plans, innovations and speakers in the pipeline. Will be giving you the insider information when I can.

And....so so excited to say, I am making my first trip to Wimbledon! Tuesday 28 Ladies quarter final day (unless the rain delays play then maybe some men quarter final too). There is a celebration going on and I am lucky enough to be party to it. I will look forward to reporting on it to you. Something new and exciting to discuss.

Today it has poured continually here, stopping all play at this household and at Queens. It has allowed me to catch up on all my articles and invoices which makes for a tidy mind and desktop.

I have been doing a series of lectures for Dhru Shah on his expanding website http://www.dentinaltubules.com/MhariCoxon4 is week one with another 3 following and hopefully tying together to offer you something useful. I am amalgamating my writings from the past 4 years now and separating them into sections. It is now conceivable that I have the makings of a book here. Maybe another rainy Sunday will see me finish it.