{"id":1077,"date":"2023-05-01T07:03:59","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T07:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.practicesolutionsinc.net\/blog\/?p=1077"},"modified":"2023-05-01T12:13:43","modified_gmt":"2023-05-01T12:13:43","slug":"stop-walking-eggshells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.practicesolutionsinc.net\/blog\/2023\/05\/stop-walking-eggshells\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop Walking On Eggshells!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I have the privilege of working with dental teams nationwide to help them co-create a happier, healthier, and higher performing culture.\u00a0 There are so many moving parts in a routine dental practice\u2019s day. The schedule, among other things, doesn\u2019t always happen as planned.\u00a0 There are even some days when it feels as if the wheels may have fallen off.\u00a0 We need to as a team be able openly discuss what is working and what is not.\u00a0 The obstacles are the eggshells that get in the way.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FR0yk4EOzh4\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>What are eggshells?\u00a0 Eggshells are the fragile feelings that arise when we try to resolve a conflict with another.\u00a0 These fragile feelings are a result of what we perceive based on our past personal experiences and not necessarily the other person\u2019s intent.\u00a0 Some of the fragile feelings I am referring to are fear, anger, judgment, retaliation, desire to be liked, insecurity, nothing changes, peer pressure, hurt feelings, disrespect, it\u2019s not nice, or it&#8217;s not my problem.<\/p>\n<p>These eggshells stop many of us from addressing the elephants (the unstated issues or concerns) in the room.\u00a0 We create barriers between each other by laying our eggshells all around ourselves and worrying about stepping on those that others have laid around themselves.\u00a0 We believe if we talk about what is not working or what is a problem or a concern we will step on their eggshells.\u00a0 Almost everything becomes too uncomfortable or off-limits to discuss.\u00a0 So, we don\u2019t!\u00a0 Instead, we just keep everything inside to avoid the eggshells and the practice culture deteriorates.\u00a0 The chance to make good things happen, (better results, better relationships, and more responsibility) disappears.\u00a0 What appears instead is a herd of elephants.\u00a0 Everyone knows they are there and yet no one will talk about them for fear of stepping on an eggshell.<\/p>\n<p>The problem is, if we don&#8217;t discuss the issues as they happen, they don&#8217;t go away.\u00a0 Instead, the issues become elephants and the herd continues to grow until it takes over the entire practice.\u00a0 We end up tiptoeing around each other\u2019s eggshells and pretending the elephants don\u2019t exist.\u00a0 Or gossip grows out of frustration.\u00a0 Communication between team members becomes emotionally charged.\u00a0 The conflicts continue to grow; resolution becomes almost impossible.\u00a0 The practice culture becomes stressful and negative.\u00a0 This emotional stress and negative environment can drive even the best of team members to leave the practice!<\/p>\n<p>To overcome the eggshells, we need to first acknowledge they exist.\u00a0 Have a team meeting to talk about the eggshells in the office.\u00a0 Have each team member identify which eggshells they surround themselves with most often.\u00a0 I recently held a team meeting where each team member identified their eggshells.\u00a0 There was a variety of answers; desire to be liked, hurt feelings, judgment, criticism, retaliation, and nothing ever changes.\u00a0 They differ for each team member because of their past experiences.<\/p>\n<p>Once the eggshells have been identified, discuss the importance of talking about issues as they happen regardless of their existence.\u00a0 This proactive communication helps to prevent and remove the elephants from the room.\u00a0 Reinforce the message; we are all working together towards the same goal of a healthy, happy, and high performing practice culture.\u00a0 To accomplish this, we must give each other a break and believe that our other team members\u2019 intents are good.\u00a0 We need to talk about the issues even if talking about issues creates eggshells like hurt feelings, judgment, or criticism.<\/p>\n<p>We need to stop assuming we know what someone meant by their actions or words or the way they said something.\u00a0 Sometimes even what they say or the words they use can mean something different than what we believe them to mean.\u00a0 Approach with care and concern to help relieve tension and avoid defensiveness.\u00a0 Respectfully ask questions until you understand the other person\u2019s true intent.\u00a0 Here are two questions I recommend based on issue.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I am not quite sure what you mean, please tell me more.<\/li>\n<li>I am not quite sure what happened, please tell me more.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Once we understand each other\u2019s intent our trust grows, and it becomes easier to talk about the issues and resolve conflict.\u00a0 Resolving conflict as it occurs will help to prevent elephants and promote a happy, healthy, high performing team environment.<\/p>\n<p>Be a good egg; approach and be approachable!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have the privilege of working with dental teams nationwide to help them co-create a happier, healthier, and higher performing culture.\u00a0 There are so many moving parts in a routine dental practice\u2019s day. The schedule, among other things, doesn\u2019t always happen as planned.\u00a0 There are even some days when it feels as if the wheels [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,215,19,20,21,22,23,194,204,191,32,39,41,42,192,48,51,52,53,217,195,1],"tags":[63,68,70,73,76,84,88,89,93,96,101,121,140,144,146,149,160,166,170],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Stop Walking On Eggshells! - Practice Solutions Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.practicesolutionsinc.net\/blog\/2023\/05\/stop-walking-eggshells\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stop Walking On Eggshells! - Practice Solutions Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I have the privilege of working with dental teams nationwide to help them co-create a happier, healthier, and higher performing culture.\u00a0 There are so many moving parts in a routine dental practice\u2019s day. 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