Active Listening & Empathy (Dental Confidence and Connection Course)

So, a quick comment or two about active listening and empathy. Most of us, when we are in a conversation, we will go to the default mode of listening when we attempt to respond. You know, we're preparing our answer already in our heads and getting ready to... Oh yeah, I remember a couple of years ago we used to have this and that and had so much fun with kids and blah blah blah, you know. So, as we're having this conversation, we're wanting a response. Listening in conversation, we're going to respond as opposed to listening actively. Which, if we shift that image just a little bit, active listening is listening in context to understand. It's listening to people's desire to put ourselves in the other person's position. So that we can seek to understand their perspective, their perceptions. Seeking first to understand, you know, what I'm using in our studies material, which is wonderful. It's really, really critical when we're in active listening mode. So, I encourage you, as you're meeting with a patient, talking to a team member, whatever the interaction that's happening, you know, that's going on, when someone else is speaking, you should be listening with the intent to understand. This validates them and they can recognize us. You know, often times, eye contact with them, as opposed to, you know, clicking on the chart for us to ask. It's kind of one of the things we make the most of our time. If we're making eye contact and facing them as opposed to, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. You know, if we're actually facing them in eye contact, this active listening is able to go so far, go so far. Re-establishing and developing and firming up that connection with our patients, which again, allows us to share our confidence, develops trust, fosters competence, the perception of confidence in our patients, and then empowers their choice, because they trust us, because they're connected with us. Their choice is important. Now we also, as we're having these conversations, actively, we need to do our best to experience empathy, natural empathy, not something that's going to come across as disingenuous. So many patients have come in and they've had a negative experience, a horrible experience, a terrible experience with some other provider. And you may not know that. And they may not say anything about it. And I'm not saying any other providers have created terrible experiences. The dentistry is stressful. I mean, how many of you dentists have had weeping on the ground, teeth extractions and implants? Probably most of you have had some of those. But how many of you have had an awful, terrible, horrible experience at a dental office as a patient? It happens. And again, it's not because the people in the dental office. It's generally just because of the processes that go with it. So as we're seeking to understand, and we're empathetically, actively, actively listening, empathetically, empathetically, with empathy, actively listening to our patients, we're again connecting more deeply and able then to yield a stronger bond, which allows deeper communication so that they can then empower to move forward with their choice. But make sure that this empathy is not fake. It needs to be genuine and authentic. And if you have difficulty, not that you're going to emote or broadcast empathy, but if you're honestly seeking and desiring to understand why an individual may feel the way that they feel, that empathy, you know, whether you say, oh, I've been there. I know exactly how you feel, or not. As you're seeking to allow them to feel the way that they feel without making a judgment, then that's definitely, at least, the secret. So active listening. Actively engaged in seeking to understand rather than just listening to respond. Empathy is a long-way communication connection, which is a collaborative, empowering choice for our patients.