On Saturday 16th June, Dr John Perry and I were the keynote speakers at a unique Conference run in the spectacular Polish National Football Stadium in Poland. Organised by the OBODA Group, the Conference introduced Mental Toughness to around 200 senior people from the Dental profession in Poland.
Other speakers included Mariusz Oboda, CEO for the OBODA group, Sylwia Ryback and Ewa Stellmach, AQR partners in Poland.
Two important themes emerged during the day.
Firstly the need for Mental Toughness amongst Dental professionals. Their work is challenging and subject to a great range of stressors – not least that few clients want to see them but often have to see them. The work can also be physically demanding. Technology and the need to stay up to date with new treatments and approaches are other factors.
So the focus was on performance, well-being and agility.
Secondly, and interestingly, they were also concerned to learn how to manage and work with their clients who would see the Dentists interventions are threatening and frightening. Understanding why people respond in this way and what the dentist can do to manage this – starting with understanding why these responses occurred – was a major point of discussion.
Together they formed the focus of their interest. All understood these were key issues in developing successful practices.
We are beginning to see this kind of understanding from professionals all over the world – and it was pretty impressive to see this level of interest. As one delegate noted – Its no longer enough to be technically competent. This is assumed. The experience is as important – for the client and the dentist.
Was it a success? By Monday afternoon, more than twenty had confirmed attendance on a mental toughness development programme.
Impressively well organised, one knock out feature was the presence of a Graphic Recorder who produced images of our presentations as we delivered them so that delegates could photograph them and take away an aide-memoire. An example is shown above.
For more information about Mental Toughness, MTQPlus and its applications contact headoffice@aqr.co.uk
