Are you lacking in fellow feeling at the moment? Are you feeling inclined to agree with French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre when he said, “Hell is other people”? If so, Area Manager, Gary Nelson, has some words of advice for you.
Recently, I saw this post/question on social media: “What are you starting to like less and less the older you get?” After a wry smile, I passed over the post and paid no further attention to it, as I must admit my interest in social media these days is virtually zero, other than the things that I choose to pay attention to.
As the weeks have progressed, I have been hearing more and more about this post from the dental teams I have visited, to the point where I went back to have a look at it for myself. As you may now have guessed from the title of this blog, there were 999 comments below the post and the number one answer to the question was: PEOPLE.
‘Work’ came in second place, but the most popular response, loud and clear was ‘people’.
And it’s no surprise to me that the number one issue in the discussions I have been having with practice owners and managers over the past month or so is about People. Sadly, all too often it’s accompanied by one of the following adjectives: – aggressive, angry, irked, rude, intolerant, nasty, frustrated, uncompromising people.
So, people (that’s all of us as individuals) seem to be a problem in the world at present. As we navigate through these current choppy waters, the ‘Empathy and Sympathy Tank’ as I call it, is pretty much running on empty at this point for a lot of people.
However, where there are problems there are almost always solutions. So, what can you do to help yourself and your team?
One solution I can suggest is, to start to try to replenish the “Empathy and Sympathy Tank”.
Start with understanding why people (yep, that means all of us again) behave in certain ways. Why we as individuals react, interact, and communicate in certain ways.
I have always been a huge fan of understanding me, understanding myself, my strengths, my blind spots, and my many weaknesses. I personally like MYERS BRIGGS as a tool for doing that, and the great news is you and your team can do a quick assessment free online. Just visit www.16personalities.com. There are, of course, other brands available.
So, my quick win solution to people (as I do love quick win solutions) and refilling the Empathy Tank is this – Better Understanding of the ‘Why?’.
I do hope this helps, and that you complete the test and go on to find your own unique 4 letter code and that the “Empathy Tank” for many people begins to fill once again.