Handling members of the team who decline the Covid-19 vaccination

Despite the lack of clarity, confusion and threats of the ‘green book’ some of the dental profession have been lucky enough to have great GP practices and vaccinations have begun.

This is great news, but as always with every piece of great news there are differences of opinion, and practice staff are discussing their personal choices and feelings (perhaps the last time was the Brexit vote) about the vaccine and sharing their opinions, and in my opinion, it is dangerous territory.

We do not want to see team members falling out at any time and especially now.

What every single one of us has to remember is that we all have our own personal reasons for saying yes or no.

At one end we have team members who are vulnerable or caring for vulnerable members of their family. They are understandably frightened and have been very worried for almost a year now.

At the other end, we have team members who for varied reasons have declined. The reasons why?

Quite frankly it is none of our business! It is however a time to remind ourselves that we do not know what goes on behind closed doors.

What we need to stop is the ‘calling out’ of team members in practice, team members being made to feel guilty/uneducated/irresponsible. Some are being inundated with questions as to why they have declined. It is not acceptable and has to stop.

Yes, we are all entitled to our opinions, but no team member should ever be called out by another over any opinion they do or do not share.

This is deeply personal to all of us.

Let’s keep our team members calm, a harmonious working environment is very important to everyone’s mental health.

Laura

P.S.
In case you are wondering I am going to be having the vaccine. Also, I was elated that my 85-year-old Grandad had his first jab last week. We miss him so very much.

Remembering Emma John

There once stood a young 20 something in a conference venue, literally standing there, nervous and completely out of her comfort zone as she was about to present to an audience for one of the first times in her new career.

A beautiful soul saw her, felt her worry, embraced her, took her by the arm and stuck with her for the rest of the day.

These two ladies had not met before but it was the start of a lovely friendship.

I was the not so young 20 something and the lady that saw me was Emma John.

If you had the fortune to meet Emma you will be able to imagine her that day walking over to me. She knew my name and hugged me so tight. She scooped me up and took me with her for the day, we were speaking at the same conference in the same session that afternoon.

Her energy, her smile her positiveness.

That day a friendship began.

Emma was my dental big sister. I can’t tell you how supportive she has been to me over the years since. She always answered the phone, she always answered my emails, she always listened and gave awesome advice.

Some years ago Emma joined Horton as a consultant and even when that didn’t work out, our friendship was not affected.

During one of the hardest times of growing my business Emma gave me her opinion, advice I needed, that altered the course my business forever. It was not easy for her to say those words that day but she did, as that was Emma. She wouldn’t pay lip service. Emma was an amazing lady, such fun, so very kind but always honest.

I will never forget her happiness for me when I told her I was pregnant in January 2016. That’s right, Emma was in my very small circle of trust as I was hiding my pregnancy from the dental world. She was ecstatic for me to become a Mum. Emma had so many roles in life but being a Mum she told me was the best one of all.

On yet another phone call Emma helped me after a horrendous labour and tough recovery to keep my chin up and crack on – she knew I could do it and so I did.

Over the last few years Emma has continued to keep her positive upbeat mindset whilst battling ill health and continuing to be a wonderful mum, wife, employer, business owner (and every other role she delivered with such style and grace).

I was absolutely shocked to learn yesterday of Emma’s passing. I assumed she would beat this.

There are not enough words to describe Emma, but if you knew her you know just how special Emma John was to us in the profession. I know there will be an out pouring of love for Emma and rightly so.

I will never forget Emma, that is my promise to her.

She taught me to always check out the room, see who needs support, to approach them and support them not only on that day but forever afterwards too.

No-one was alone when Emma was nearby.

My deepest condolences go to her children, husband Rhod, and the Absolute team.

Remembering Emma John. Always.

Zoom etiquette going into 2021

(other platforms are available 😀)

I have made no bones about moving some elements of my consultancy into virtual training in 2019. This was fundamentally clear to anyone who saw me on webinars and Facebook Lives in March and April 2020 with many commenting and asking ‘where did you get your banner?’. Many where asking how quickly did I have that? My answer being that I had already bought the banner with an explanation as to why.

Initially we were forgiving of the ‘backgrounds’ online, even enjoying the sneak peak into houses we had not seen before, focusing more on the book shelves, clutter and style of our colleagues instead of what they were saying.

In May 2020 I even discovered an ‘enhance your appearance’ setting in the video setting of Zoom. So that was why I looked better on my brand new Macbook rather than my 10-year-old iMac! Quite frankly it saved me a fortune as I was considering buying a new iMac thinking the webcam alone was well worth the upgrade!

Hopefully by now those of you holding online events have a banner (rather than the image you can import into Zoom that gives you a funny looking head), a professional background (no beds please), ‘enhance your appearance’ button on, our ‘see yourself’ turned off. That is my new fav!

But what about the huge heap of lovely dental folk attending these meetings?

I work alongside many other trainers and representatives and have been met with many questions of late that start with ‘how do you handle….?’

If you know me you will not find it surprising to know that I have requirements if you are online with me. I now stipulate these requirements for two reasons:

1. I have fallen victim myself
2. Manners are everything

So, here is my Zoom 2020 etiquette list, designed to support the army of dental trainers and representatives who are doing a grand job in difficult circumstances, and to refocus the profession with the etiquette that we should provide face to face:

 

1. If you have had to register do not share the link with anyone, it really messes the registration limits for an event and can stop you gaining ECPD. Everyone needs to register themselves.

 

2. Be on time – at least two minutes early, logged on and ready.

 

3. If it is a video conference rather than a phone call conference everyone has to have their video on. You would not turn your back to a presenter in your practice and turning the video off is the online equivalent.

 

I welcome any attendee to put themselves in the shoes of a presenter. Even seasoned pro’s can become nervous on a stage. But the one thing they know is that as soon as they start the crowd will give them energy and they will soon find their flow.

Now imagine that you have to deliver this training into a lifeless webcam to a screen of black horizontal rectangles. You are making their life very difficult. We are missing the smiling faces in front of us.

If this is a study club or CPD event we also need to know you are really there.

I and many others will now remove delegates from the meeting if your video is off.

4. If you have been asked to mute stay muted, do not unmute and talk to the presenter unless asked to do so at the right time.

 

Likewise, if we want you to be unmuted please do not mute yourself.

 

Use headphones if it is a large / group call to limit feedback. There is always one person who has their sound on maximum, do not let it be you. We can see who it is and do not want to call you out in the training and ask you to turn the sound down, we would rather you save face.

A general rule of thumb is:

• Webinar – stay muted
• Team training lecture – stay muted
• Team training interactive – unmute

 

5. Do not join multiple people to one smart phone – it is not good and we can’t see you or hear you.

 

6. Do not eat your lunch / dinner / snack directly over the webcam. It is not a great look, we do not like to see your tonsils, and it is very off putting to see a person stuff a baguette into their mouth like a starving lion, then witness the spillage and the mop up!

 

7. Do not use your phone / PM people in the meeting or send emails. Again, we can see you. It is just rude.

 

8. Be there. A great statement from the book Fish. ‘Be there – actively listen, be involved, participate.’

 

9. If you need to ‘pop out’ then be a dear and please leave the meeting and re-join when you are ready to fully participate. You could even excuse yourself by private messaging the host.

 

10. If this an ECPD event then you need to arrive on time that means before the start time to ensure you can claim the full ECPD. You also need to stay until the end. And leave at the end yourself! Do not rely on us to close the meeting – we are waiting to see who is really ‘there’.

 

11. Think of questions as you are listening. Everyone should have one question to ask when it gets to the Q&A. This shows respect.

 

12. Thank the presenter at the end by group message or by voice. It means a lot, and they will want to come back and do it again for you.

 

13. Do complete the feedback form promptly. It is important to us and not just a tick in the box exercise.

 

14. Dress to impress. Sitting on the sofa in your PJs is not acceptable so do not do it.

It is distracting and no-one will thank you for it. It is not cool. Please wash and dress for the event.

Now you may be a dental representative or trainer who’s wondering ‘so how do you this Laura?’ The answer is simple – advance communication.

I will liaise with the manager, lead or owner before the training to confirm the outcomes and time frames.

 

On this call / Zoom I confirm with them:

 

1. When they will receive the Zoom details for the session e.g. the day before or use this link from today as it is set to repeat.

 

2. When I will start the meeting e.g. 09:58 for a 10:00 start.

 

3. I will allow a maximum of 3 minutes before I start so the latest I will begin is 10:03. Everyone needs to be not only on by then, but have their video and sound on. If they are muted and video is off / focusing on the ceiling I shall remove them.

 

4. Everyone is to have a pen and paper to take notes and this includes questions for the Q&A slot.

 

5. A link for the feedback form will be given 5 minutes before the end for them to complete immediately.

 

Finally, I ask:

• Does this sound ok / achievable?
• Will anyone require a test Zoom meeting with the PM / leader / Owner prior to our session?

I have been fortunate enough to work with so many practices in the last few months and delivering training online – thank you all for your professionalism.

It has meant a lot to me and gives me energy to provide you with great online training sessions.

Wishing you all successful meeting in the future!

Laura

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

90 day dental day 6, handling objections and costs

Here is my final day, day 6!

Handling objections with patients and presenting costs.

To watch my first video, day 4 click here

To watch my 2nd video day 5 click here