Your practice is a business, and managing a business means that, inevitably, you will have your fair share of difficult conversations. They may be with patients who have complaints or members of your team.

Here are some tips that can help you communicate more clearly the next time one of these challenging conversations takes place.

• Ask questions of the other person. Find out what is driving their actions or complaints by determining the real motives, needs, and concerns behind the behavior.
• Be patient, listen and take your time to comprehend the perspective of the other person.
• Listen until you think that you completely understand the point of view of the other person.
• Keep it equal. In short, consider the viewpoint of the other person to be just as valid and important as your own.
• Keep an open mind and stay calm. In fact, it is suggested to avoid having any difficult conversations until you have achieved a calm mental state. This will prevent you from speaking out rashly and, potentially, make an already stressful situation even worse.

To summarize, many of the techniques to help navigate these difficult conversations are about attitude. Focus less on what you are saying, and more on how it is being said and how you perceive the other individual involved. Changing your focus will make it easier the next time one of these situations happens.

Certain exercises such as role play can help you prepare for these challenging interactions. Communication training is just one of the services offered at Bryant Consultants.

Bryant Consultants provides services that can help you realize your vision, establish goals, and set processes in place to evolve your business or practice. Contact us by calling (877) 768-4799.

We provide consultation, training, and coaching to help improve the operations of your practice so that you can provide exceptional results to your patients. No office is out of reach for us; we will even come to you!