You Set The Mood
Recently some of my classmates from elementary school have been sharing their old classroom pictures. The first picture is of a classroom of happy third graders. Notice their happy smiling faces. Mrs. Morrison was the teacher and she made coming to school each morning an adventure. As I recall there was a lot of enthusiasm in the classroom for learning. One look at Mrs. Morrison’s face and you can see why I learned so much the year I was in her class.
Now take a look at some of the same kids, just one year later. I was struck with the change in countenace in just a year. Gone are the happy faces and the look of enthusiasm. I don’t think that the level of learning would have been the same. The picture could have been titled, “Hard Times at Jefferson Elementary. A look at the stern face of the teacher pretty much tells the story.
As you look at the pictures, visualize which picture would more closely resemble your staff picture. An observation that I frequently heard during my years of private practice was that my mood effected the entire office. As much as I hated to admit it, I knew that I was largely responsible for setting the office mood. And as my gut feelings about how the levels of learning in the two classroom pictured above differed, researchers have found that happiness has an effect on productivity in the work place. In an article published by Forbes , Jessica Pryce-Jones, author of Happiness at Work and CEO of iOpener, confirms my assumptions.
“Happiness at work is closely correlated with greater performance and productivity as well as greater energy, better reviews, faster promotion, higher income, better health and increased happiness with life. So it’s good for organizations and individuals, too.”
In her research, Pryce-Jones and her team found that “the happiest employees are 180% more energized than their less content colleagues, 155% happier with their jobs, 150% happier with life, 108% more engaged and 50% more motivated. Most staggeringly, they are 50% more productive too.”
She also found that the least happy workers reported spending 40% of their week doing what they’re there to do, compared with happy workers, who reported spending 80% of their week on work-related tasks. In other words, the happiest workers put in four days of real work compared to two days of real work of the less happy workers. Additionally she found that happiest employees take 66% less sick leave than their less happy counterparts.
So as you can see it is the best interest of you and your bottom line to create a happy mood in your practice. If you are not seeing enough smiles in your office, call DentistCEO for a free consultation. You and your staff will be glad you did.
