20 Dec 2022  •  Blog, Mental Health  •  3min read By  • Gary Nelson

Thinking like a Community – or a Dental Practice?

Area Manager, Gary Nelson muses on the need for a sense of community to return to the workplace.

These past few weeks and months I have observed many times the importance of community and belonging.

We find ourselves living in a world still trying desperately to recover from multiple tremors and in the last while, social interaction has been hammered, one to one connection has been damaged and communities have been affected.

First, Covid hammered it when we all had to stay indoors on multiple occasions. Now it’s the cost-of-living crisis battering it as people are less likely to go out. These things are affecting our mental health, often without us realising it.

It hit home one night whilst I was out for a walk in my nearby park.

When I walk I always do so in silence, no headphones or air pods or anything like that. I want to see and hear the world around me and, to be fair, I wouldn’t know what to do with those little air pod things.

In just one walk in the park, I witnessed six little communities.

  1. The Bowling Green and the gatherings within it, for men of a certain age.
  2. The Outdoor Yoga, largely women of a certain age bracket.
  3. The Tai Chi community practising outdoors, all over retirement age.
  4. The Running Club, a mish mash of ages coming together.
  5. The local Football Club just starting pre-season.
  6. A Brass Band practising, again a broad spectrum of ages.

It was genuinely nice to see, people coming together in a range of ways.

It got me thinking, have many businesses, through no fault of their own lost their sense of community and are now just a sterile place of work?

Is Community Spirit missing from the 9-5 workplace?

We find ourselves in a world where there seems to be a shortage of employees in every sector. It is certainly the case in dentistry and healthcare. Could the new secret to success be focussing harder than ever to ensure your business has that real community feel, or better still, IS a community?

A community feel promotes a sense of belonging, a common purpose. Team members support each other and the place has a fun feel to it.

People are certainly in need of some enjoyment in their lives right now.

The business that wins on the above front are more likely to retain their team, whereas the business that is lacking it, is for certain going to continue the staff churn.

It cannot be easy running a dental business at present, one to one connections and communications have been affected by Covid protocols.

My question is this – What are you doing today to be a better Community, supporting each other, delivering a sense of purpose, a sense of belonging and importantly having some fun, all of which lead to better mental state and better mental health.

What is that old saying – ‘The team that plays together stays together’

Think Community.

Get me started with Medenta Patient Finance