CEREC Doctors

Loyalty


My favorite time of the year is coming to an end this weekend. Every year I look forward to March Madness and the Final Four. This past week has been not been great for me from a basketball fan standpoint. I'm a Purdue Boilermaker through and through (and trust me, it's hard sometimes!). This week the Purdue coach, Matt Painter, was almost 'wooed' away from Purdue to the Missouri Tigers. This would have been a disaster for the Purdue program. Over the last five years, he has built one of the most consistently solid programs in basketball.

So why did he almost leave? The answer is commitment. He felt that Purdue wasn't committed to building a solid program. All his assistant coaches were leaving because they weren't being taken care of.

If you've ever listened to Imtiaz Manji speak, he makes a point to tell us all that 'loyalty is a myth.' I agree with this completely. Sometimes it's not about the money; it's about how you are treated.

Take note of that when you are dealing with your staff and your patients. When a staff member leaves, is it because they were offered more money to take a job elsewhere? When a patient leaves, is it because there is a dentist down the street who is cheaper? This definitely happens, but I would venture a guess and say that most of all, it's because they are unhappy with the way they were treated.

In the end, Matt Painter is staying at Purdue. They offered a commitment to him to stay. However, it was almost too late. Don't make a late commitment to your staff and patients. Treat them in a way that makes them feel that they are a part of something. Why? Because loyalty is a myth.