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In this episode, Barbara and Dr. Frendhel Fejeran discuss:

*What’s the root cause of having low team morale in the medical field?
*How can you face challenges and be more optimistic about it?
*How can you avoid burnout in the workplace?

Key Takeaways:

“Every day, you’ll come across challenges, but it’s to prepare you for tomorrow. So if you look at every day as a training day to prepare you for a brighter tomorrow, that should keep you going.”

Connect with Dr. Frendhel Fejeran

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frendhel.fejeran/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myfitmind_for_balance/

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter:   https://twitter.com/DrBarbaraHales
Facebook:   https/www.facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: https://www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email:   halesgangb@aol.com

YouTube: https://www.Youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION: (166)

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors.

I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, and today we have with us a very interesting person by the name of Frendhel Fejeran.  Welcome to the show.

Dr. Frendhel Fejeran: Thank you so much, Dr. Barbara, I’m so excited to be here. I appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Friendhel helps dental employers who struggle with sustaining high team morale, positive culture and energy with tired, exhausted employees. We certainly know how that goes. What solutions do you have to resolve this struggle?

Understanding the Root Cause of Low Team Morale

Dr. Frendhel Fejeran: Yes, I love it. Thank you so much for asking. And there’s so many parts to this answer. One, you definitely have to understand where it’s coming from, like, what is the cause of this type of energy, you know? And sometimes it could be a collective thing, or it could be a team-related thing, or it could even be something that’s individually related. So we have to get to the bottom of it. And so you need to find out what is causing it.

Secondly, once you have all that information, you be able to sit down, assess and really look at each employee that you have. Really see what is going on in their personal life. Maybe it’s something at work that is causing them to feel exhausted, overwhelmed. What is it? And then create a devisive plan, custom made, I like to say, towards each individual, and cater to it. And so by doing that, that will help alleviate the stress levels, it will bring up the team morale. That’s definitely the first part, right?

Also, what’s really important to some of the causes of feeling stress or having a bad energy in the office and low team morale is coming from the top, from the doctors, you know, like, what is it that they’re doing that or they’re not doing that may have caused it? Are you guys having team huddles, are we doing anything to show our team that we appreciate them? Are we listening to them when they bring up their issues and challenges? Are we listening to them, but not only listening to them, are we really trying to make a change? And so those are some of the things I want to help teams do.

Help doctors do that because doctors, they’re patient forward, right? They are occupied helping patients from beginning to end. So you need that person, that extra help to tell the doctors, have a bird’s eye view of the entire practice. See the need, be a coach, right? Be a coach to all the team, to all the employees. And so by having that type of service, by the time to see what’s going on and to develop a plan that will work for the Office, for the individual, that will definitely help keep things, help keep the team morale up. So that’s some of the solutions. I know that was a very loaded question. I could probably talk for hours on how to do each of those things, Barbara.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Do you do site visits to speak to them on a personal level?

Building Trust

Dr. Frendhel Fejeran: Yes. So we would just, I would do site visits, but mostly virtual. So I would make appointments, get online, just like we’re doing right now on Zoom, and really building the rapport first, talk about work, talk about personal goals, and just really get to the bottom of it, ask them the questions that will empower them to get answers for them, to find the answers for themselves.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Are they honest with you, or is it hard for them to open up?

Dr. Frendhel Fejeran: You know, I’ve been blessed. I thank God for the type of energy that I have, and I’ve been able to help people open up, and if they’re not ready during that first meet with me, it’s all good. Then we’ll keep things more surface level, keep questions surface level, and then we just continue to build. I’m not here to force anything out of anyone, and until an individual is ready to open up, and until they admit and realize that they do want the help, that is the time where they’re going to get it, get the things that they need, the strategies that they need, the concepts and methods that they need, and really apply it. So it does take time. That’s why it can’t be done in one session or one sitting. It’s a continuous basis. So every couple of weeks we touch base.

Dr. Barbara Hales: When you take the job on, how long is it for?

Dr. Frendhel Fejeran: It really depends on the the employer. I am not huge yet. That’s the goal here is to help more teams. So I work with two offices, and I’m glad that with one of them, I get to meet them on first, it’s like three months with the team. First it’s like once every month with the team, like a collective and then individually, a couple times a month.

Dr. Barbara Hales: How did you start with this? I mean, how did you get involved in this? What is your backstory?

Background and Passion for Positivity

Dr. Frendhel Fejeran: I’ve been in the dental field, next year will be 20 years. I’ve started off as a dental assistant for 15 years, and the last 4 years, I’ve been helping out with management for an office. And what I’ve learned by working with doctors from different upbringing, different understandings and perspective, working with them, working with women, providers, assistants, doctors, hygienists, people, because we see people all day, it just really gave me the love to bring positivity to the workplace, to the people that I encounter. And so, because that’s always been my life mission is just to be a lighter energy. I demand it actually in a team that I work with, especially that I’m older now in my career, I want to make sure that my work environment is going to bring peace to my team.

And so because of that passion, I find myself always, when I see a team in need, team member in need, I make myself available. See what’s going on, check in. They tend to come to me for advice, and I’m always there to teach them what I’ve learned, right? It’s all what I’ve learned, and I’m just paying it forward. And by doing this on my own personal level, and at my work, I’m like, I can help many more people. And so I saw the need for it. And so that’s what made me develop this and hopefully more practices will see the need, more doctors will see the need for it. I know that there are a lot of marketing companies out there, not marketing companies by itself, but consulting companies. If you were to look at the breakdown of what they do offer, which is all wonderful things, how to build your business, how to get more patients or clients, how to do your practice management, how to market your office, but nothing solely devoted to the individual, and if the individual can find a sense of accomplishment in their personal life, they will be able to bring their best performance to work.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Did you find that when you were working in the doctor’s office that you or the people around you were disrespected?

Challenges and Solutions in the Dental Field

Dr. Frendhel Fejeran: In the beginning of my career, so as I was new, because I went through different offices, not too many, the only reason why I would leave is because I relocated. But I’ve encountered team. Like when I was a dental assistant, I felt like I was in, like when I was a brand new dental assistant in a brand new office, helping a brand new dentist, no one was there to help me. I did not feel any kind of team work at all. I felt like I was in boot camp for like months. I would cry every day. And that is not a place where people need to be at work. That is not the type of workplace that we need. And so I felt it firsthand. I’ve had patients that can be rude. So I’ve learned a lot from them.

I’ve worked with individuals that didn’t want to be at work, so they always brought this energy that was toxic to a workplace. And so I’ve seen it, I feel like I’ve seen it all like in the matter of 20 years. And I know what I want. And I know there are bosses out there, managers out there that know what they want, to help their team thrive, and what they don’t want is for people to feel burnt out, overwhelmed, a bad energy, low team morale. That’s what we don’t want.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Of course. The fact of the matter is that health professionals really are working this on the same side as you are. Because with unhappy professionals, you are going to have a big problem with retention for staff, and you don’t want to have people constantly swinging through the door and having to find new people to work as your employees and have to then go over your routines and your systems, and have to constantly be training new people. If you can retain the people that you have and everybody is happy, it just makes for a much more successful practice.

Dr. Frendhel Fejeran: Yes, I couldn’t agree more, Dr. Barbara. 100% yes. I’m working with an office right now that has had quite the turnover, but it’s all circumstantial. However, couple of the reasons why people will leave is because feeling overwhelmed. But then they come to find out it’s because they are not managing the stress in their mind when it comes to their personal life. So if people can just learn how to manage stress, find the coping mechanism, like mechanisms to whatever it is that they need help with, that will help them feel confident in the job that they have. Help them manage the work you stress, right? Will help with the retention. And when they believe in themselves, they’ll stick around. There are some instances where they are like, this is not for me, like, I’m trying, but did you really try? Or are you really giving up? You know what I mean. So, yeah, it’s definitely important to keep people. It helps.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Yes, do you suggest meditation or yoga, pilates? What is it that you suggest to get them to de-stress?

Implementing Stress Management Techniques

Dr. Frendhel Fejeran: One, we have to talk about it. What is it that’s really stressing you out? Do you have a goal? So let’s say there’s a goal, right? And then, okay, so this is your goal. We’ll make it a SMART goal, right? I don’t know if our listeners are, I think everyone knows what a SMART goal is, right? It’s Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound. So we sit and make a goal, and then we look at what’s happening in your day. How can we manage your tasks in such a way that will lead you and align you to your goal? Because sometimes, oftentimes, people will have something in their mind to reach, and then if things are coming their way, like curveballs, and they don’t know how to manage it, that would bring stress to your day. So it’s like, how do you manage curveballs in line with your agenda? Like, how can we integrate it into your agenda in helping you reach these goals? And a lot of it is perspective too.

Another way too, it’s really a mental game, Dr. Barbara. One of the things I really stress on is really having a fit mind is with that mental toughness, it comes perspective, right? A growth mindset is understanding that everything that you encounter, everyone you meet, everything that you experience is for your benefit. There’s so many lessons to be learned. So if you keep that in mind, no matter what kind of energy comes your way, you’re going to say to yourself, you know what? What am I going to learn from this person? What am I going to learn by this like, you know, energy? How can it serve me the best me possible? So it’s really just, that would be the first thing, Dr. Barbara. That’s the first thing that I would always touch on is your mental gain and how you perceive things.

Dr. Barbara Hales: At this point, I would like to ask you to give us two tips for our listeners that they could implement right away to keep from getting burnt out or reverse that process, to get them happier and feel more adjusted in and looking forward to going to work.

Practical Tips for Avoiding Burnout

Dr. Frendhel Fejeran: So first tip is to find someone that you trust and talk about work with the intent of gaining something positive from this talk. Sometimes you just have to de-stress and vent it out. And then secondly, know that every day is training day. Again, it’s a mental game. Every day, you’re going to come across challenges, but it’s to prepare you for tomorrow. So if you look at every day as a training day, to prepare you for a brighter tomorrow, that should keep you going, and you need to believe in that.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, I think those are two good tips and listeners, I hope that you can implement them if you find yourself in this rough patch now. Thank you so much for being with us today, and you know I will let our listeners know that someone like you can help them.

Dr. Frendhel Fejeran: Appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me, Dr. Barbara. I really appreciate your podcast. Thank you so much.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Okay, this has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Till next time.