Sidekick - Volume 1, 2020 - 31

The 5 Cs of Managing Change and
Integrating Technology
Part One in a Two-Part Series
By Cathy Jameson, Founder and Speaker, Jameson
Management
It's easy to agree that technology is changing almost every
aspect of our lives-the way we live, work and play. In this first
article of a 2-part series, we will explore the first three of five C's
of managing change and integrating technology in the practice:
clarity, communication and competency. In dentistry, technology
can save time, increase revenue and improve efficiency and
effectiveness. Unfortunately, all too often dental teams suffer from
metathesiophobia, the fear of change. Yet, successful integration
depends a lot upon your team's openness and adaptability as well
as your leadership. Managing change is critical for you to enjoy a
positive return on your investment and your patients can enjoy the
benefits of a healthy smile.
C is for Clarity
It's important to have clarity on what technology to add to your
practice. Don't be distracted by something new and shiny. Instead,
choose technology that will help accomplish three things:
1. Enhance your ability to deliver exceptional patient care:
technology should improve clinical outcomes, save time or save
patients money.
2. Improve your relationships with patients: technology should
make it easier to communicate, educate, motivate and enable
patients to get care.
3. Increase treatment acceptance: technology should make it
easier for patients to accept the treatment you recommend.
It's also important to have clarity on the change cycle. When
change is introduced to your team, they may experience
loss, doubt and discomfort. Then with training, they will move
to discovery, understanding and integration. Managing and
integrating change is a process and everyone goes through the
cycle at their own speed.
C is for Communication
Once the technology is acquired, develop a plan with your team,
so it's clearly communicated to all, and a strategy to integrate it
into the practice's processes and systems. It's important to create
an environment where questions are welcomed, concerns are
addressed, and conversations are safe. Because integrating
technology successfully into the practice is a process that takes
time, communicating with the team is not a one-time event.
The other part of communication is communicating with patients.
Your team's enthusiasm and value for the technology will influence
how patients value the technology and treatment. It's important

to give your team the words to use, so they can introduce the
technology to patients and answer any questions they have-
with enthusiasm.
C is for Competency
If you are going to invest in technology, it's important that you
invest in training so your team is competent in their ability to
use it and to communicate the benefits and value to patients.
Training should be an ongoing commitment. Systems should be
put into place so all the practice technology can be introduced
to and understood by new team members. It's helpful to find a
team member who is an advocate for the technology-who has
discovered its benefits, understands how to use and talk about
it to patients, and is excited about integrating it into the practice
systems, to lead the training efforts. And you can often lean on the
manufacturer or sales representative to assist with team training.
For example, Henry Schein not only sells the technology but can
also provide the support system and training needed to ensure that
your team embraces and manages the change so the transition and
implementation are easy and seamless.
In this first article of a two-part series, we discussed how clarity,
communication and competency are critical to successfully
integrating technology into your practice. In the second article in
this series, we'll look at the final two Cs-consistency and cost.
To view the full article, email PDSContactCenter@carecredit.
com or call 800-859-9975. To contact Jameson Management for
information on their services, call 877-369-5558.
This content is subject to change without notice and offered for
informational use only. You are urged to consult with your individual
business, financial, legal, tax and/or other advisors with respect to any
information presented. Synchrony and any of its affiliates, including
CareCredit (collectively, "Synchrony"), makes no representations or
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Sidekick | Vol. 1 2020 | 31
Sidekick - Volume 1, 2020

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