I have 4 kids age 10 and under, and they do a ton of activities – baseball, golf, gymnastics, basketball, football, soccer.
Not all the things at the same time mind you, but there’s certainly some overlap from season to season.
(And I absolutely love it. I coach the majority of their teams, and I even convinced Susan to co-coach a softball team with me this year – our 6 y/o and 4.5 y/o will be playing together. I can’t wait to see what kinda excitement and marital growth opportunities this entails…)
With so many activities, sometimes two of them conflict with each other. And that’s exactly what happened recently when one of my sons had a basketball game at the same time as a Golf tournament.
We discussed pros and cons, commitments, what his options were, etc. We talked about it a few times over several days, and it led to a number of healthy conversations as he weighed his options.
At some point, this thought struck me:
It’s the most normal thing in the world to teach our children how to think – choose which activities to do, make healthy food choices, how to spend their money.
Yet as adults, there are times when we need to be taught how to think as well.
Think about the patients coming into your office today. Many of them have never stepped foot in a practice like yours. They’ve never had a consult. Never had to consider the implications – health, financial, lifestyle – of having one of your procedures.
They simply don’t have a strong framework for this particular decision. Why would they? They’ve never needed to.
And as educators and advocates for your patients, your job goes beyond simply giving them information and hoping they can arrange it properly for themselves. Your role is to teach your prospective patients how to think.
How to weigh the benefits of your procedure vs. the risks of staying where they are…
How to consider the investment and why it’s worth so much more than the few dollars they will pay…
How to prioritize different factors when choosing a surgeon (hint: Price isn’t even on the Top 10 list)…
And it’s easy to think the best way to do this is by giving people more information. But this can and often does backfire.
In our coaching programs, we rail against the idea that “more = better” when it comes to education. Piling information onto someone is like giving them stacks and stacks of tools and saying, “Here! Now figure out which ones you need to assemble this Ikea bookshelf.”
When they’re much better off if you tell them, “Hey, you see this hex key and adjustable wrench? This is what you need. You can do the whole assembly with these 2 tools.”
People don’t need more information. They need the right information – presented in the proper context – which provides clarity.
If we want our children to think properly, it’s our responsibility to teach them how to do it. Same goes for your patients.
Teach your prospects how to think today, and reap the rewards as you fill your surgery schedule.
– Coach Troy