Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists Bulletin Summer 2019 - 57

Staff Report

Time Management for a More
Efficient and Effective Practice
schedule this afternoon. It will be close to 20
minutes before we're able to take you back
for your visit. Would you like to wait, or do you
need to run any errands?"

In a busy orthodontic practice, two goals are
essential: (1) increased effectiveness and (2)
increased productivity.

Ms. Carol A. Eaton
Eaton Consulting, Fresno, CA

Although we are all given the same 24 hours in
each day, how well you choose to spend that time
can make a huge difference in accomplishing
tasks, making more of an impact on the practice
and your team, and allowing more free time for
training, improved communications with patients
and parents, team building, and personal empowerment.
At the end of the day, we all want to feel that our
time, energy, and skills have been put to good
use. And for owners/managers of a practice, production is key; however, "Money can be remade;
time once spent is gone and can't be recaptured."
Let's focus on the time issue!
1. Time Issues: The Number One Complaint in
Dentistry

2. 24 Hours Each Day
Your personal feelings, beliefs, emotions, actions,
and reactions to time have a great impact on how
well you spend your daily allotment of hours.

▫▫ How do you personally deal with time?
▫▫ What good time management habits do you
have?

▫▫ What bad habits keep you from using time
wisely?

3. Your Personality and Time Management

▫▫ Are you a time martyr? "Never enough

▫▫

Primary complaints include:

▫▫ Being seen late for a scheduled appointment,
▫▫ Not informing a patient/parent of time delay,

▫▫

and

▫▫ Not being given the opportunity to reschedule.

Communication and the correct verbal skills can
defuse issues of time delays. Examples of good
communication:

▫▫ "Mrs. Jones, thank you for arriving early for

▫▫

Summer 2019

PCSO Bulletin

Britney's appointment. I'll let our orthodontic
assistants know you have arrived, and we will
see if we can take you back a bit earlier."
"Hi Courtney, I was getting worried about you
since your appointment was scheduled for 10
minutes ago. I'll let our orthodontic assistants
know you are here and see what we can still
do today for you. There might be a need to
adjust the procedure and adapt the time left
for today."
"It's good to see you, David. I wanted to let
you know we've had some changes with our

▫▫

time"-these people-pleasers fill their commitments to others instead of focusing on
what's important to them.
Are you a wild procrastinator? Fueled by
adrenaline or paralyzed by indecision, these
people work against the clock, down to the
wire.
Are you an underestimator? "This will only
take a minute"-these people get lost in an
activity; commitments get postponed because
they can't accurately gauge their time.
Are you a do-it-all? The productive "busy bee"
overschedules to get as much done in quantity versus quality; they can feel frazzled and
unfulfilled, unable to be in the moment.
Are you the commitment-phobe? "Flaky" or
"free-spirited," these types want to play it by
ear before committing to anything because
of the fear of being locked into a schedule;
they keep an open schedule in case something
better comes along.

Which one, or combination, of these do you relate
to? How can this information either help or hinder you with managing time and your commitments at work?
The reality is that we work in an industry that
caters to people, and people can quickly cause

Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists Bulletin Summer 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists Bulletin Summer 2019