647: How to Say NO! - Robyn Theisen - a podcast by ACT Dental

How to Say NO!

Episode #647 with Robyn Theisen

Saying no can be hard — but it’s not as hard as you think! If you have a hard time saying no, don't miss this episode. Kirk Behrendt brings back Robyn Theisen, one of ACT’s amazing coaches, to share how to have the conversation in a clear, effective, and non-emotional way. Start saying yes to saying no! To learn how, listen to Episode 647 of The Best Practices Show!

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Main Takeaways:

Say no to things you know you should say no to.

“No” can be a non-emotional conversation.

Set clear boundaries and expectations.

Saying no isn't as scary as you think.

Get good at being clear, not nice.

Quotes:

“I find, mostly, that people don't know how to have the conversation. That's the hardest part, is that people or leaders interpret [saying no] as it's going to have to be challenging or emotional or difficult. If you handle the conversations correctly and have the right pieces in place to be very clear about your expectations to begin with, I find they're easier to have.” (2:22—2:47) -Robyn

“You, as a dentist, have to get things going in your life, so you say yes to a lot of things. If you look at the early years of your practice, a yes was a good thing. Yes to patients, ‘Yes, I'll do this. Yes, I'll do that.’ Yes, yes, yes, yes. Well, the yes creates a lot of activity. And then, there's a certain point in your career where yes doesn't provide any more value. Yes just makes you more miserable. The new word that you have to use is “no”, because no keeps it all in a container. If you say yes to everything, you're never home, you have every PPO on the planet, you're seeing every patient, you're saying yes to every team member request, every patient request, and you take all these on as your own burdens, and you're miserable.” (3:34—4:14) -Kirk

“Expectations minus reality equals conflict. This is so true in the no versus yes. Are the expectations clear and allow you to either go down the yes or the no path based on the expectations that you've set up? That is one of the first things when I'm met with a challenge or something that I'm going to say no to, was I clear with how I set it up to begin with? And from a team member perspective, am I clear to everybody so that that expectation is set for everybody on the...

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