R-E-S-P-E-C-T ... Spell it with Aretha and me

Later this week in Plano, Texas, Professional Dental Assisting 2009 will take place in conjunction with the OSAP (Organization for Safety and Asepsis Procedures) Annual Symposium. It will be a great time of learning and networking for dental assistants and their infection control peers.

One of the topics sure to come up (aside from infection control) is the subject of mutual respect in the dental office. Far too often I hear from dental assistants about rocky relationships they have in their offices ... whether it's with the doctor, hygienist, front office coordinator, or another assistant ... and the base root of the problem always seems to be a lack of understanding or respect. When Aretha Franklin belted out her famous song, "Respect," one of the lines says, "R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Find out what it means to me." In truth, respect means something different to each of us. We all want respect for our individual ideas, and we want room to be the individuals that we were created to be. We're all different, and we all have different ways of accomplishing tasks ... and those ways may not always mesh with others in the office.

An office can't succeed if co-workers are pulling the teamwork fabric apart. It's that simple. A house divided against itself cannot stand, and neither can a dental practice (or any other business, for that matter). What's the scariest part of all? It may take you (even though you feel like you've been wronged or disrespected) having the guts to go up to someone in your office and opening the door to communication and solving whatever problem there might be. Sometimes, you have to be the bigger person ... even if you don't want to be.

This week, see if you can be a little more forgiving if someone approaches a problem differently than you. Don't go into a huff and throw your hands up in the air saying, "I can't work with (INSERT NAME HERE) any more!" See if there's somewhere that you can budge a little to give someone else the room they need to be who they are. Maybe you'll find that, when you give a little respect, it'll come right back to you.