Editor's Letter

• Editor's Letter (55.7 KB)

Leadership is the potential to influence coworkers in a dynamic way—to move them toward a healthier, more productive form of practice. On days when everything seems to go wrong, including misunderstandings, missteps, and mayhem, you can make a choice to rise above the fray.

It’s not easy. It takes remaining conscious when everyone else is on autopilot. When coworkers seem to be sleepwalking through a terrible day, you can choose to stay in the moment. You can opt to remain pleasant when everyone else’s mood goes south. You can decide to respond to a difficult client with compassion. You can smile when the rest of the team looks like harried holiday travelers. Simply put, you can choose happy!

Let’s look at what gets in our way.

The Danger of Being Reactive, Not Proactive
If you and your team members are like most people, you find yourselves reacting, rather than planning, for the client surges that periodically flood our clinics and hospitals.
You know those days. They start off with a full appointment book, and then the phone starts ringing. Every client seems to have an emergency. Patience deteriorates. Tempers flare. It’s easy to feel powerless, but it doesn’t have to be this way.

Surfing the Client Surge (Successfully)
This issue, we want to help you manage the ebb and flow of practice life more effectively. Learn to find your rhythm so you can ride the waves of those intense days in the same way master surfers do. Their secret? They know they can’t control the waves, only their response to them.

So now, I’m going to leave you with journal in hand. Sit back, put your feet up, peruse these pages, and learn some new skills. You owe it to your team. You owe it to your patients and your clients. You owe it to yourself!

Sincerely,

Kathy Ruby, PhD
Editor in Chief