Practice advice
Brid Hendron explains how values affect your working life and, how understanding
your values and those of your colleagues, can contribute to a happier workplace
T
he word value is frequently heard in dentistry and usually applies to the concept of ‘value for money’ or ‘added value’ in terms of patient
experience. Discussions involving our personal values as individuals or collec- tive values as teams, are less common, reflecting the fact that personal value is a complex and highly emotive subject. The purpose of this article is to stimu-
late curiosity about personal values and the powerful influence they exert on our professional interactions. To scientific and practical minded dental
professionals, exploring ‘our personal values’ may seem more fitting in spiritual reflection or deep conversation than within a dental magazine. In reality however we cannot opt to leave home without our personal values, nor do we remove our values when we put on a dental tunic. Our values are woven into the very fabric
of our being, make us who we are, define us and we cannot opt to leave them aside in different contexts.
What are our values? Our values are a set of principles (an individual blueprint) which we consider to be highly important in the life we lead, and these can vary greatly from individual to individual. There are also a huge range of possible values, for example, honesty, success, joy, knowledge and creativity. Values have such breadth they cannot be defined in a single sentence. The following are generally accepted to be true about our values: • They are the things we consider more important than all others
• They define who we are. • They emanate to others who we are as a person and what we stand for
• We are attracted to those who share our values
ues
• They provide our motivation in life • They empower our decision making • Respecting our values leads to fulfilment • Rejecting our values leads to desolation and a sense of loss
• Having our values dismissed or mocked will often result in hurt, grief or even rage
• We frequently presume others share our values until they demonstrate otherwise.
How might they impact on our professional life? “We set no special value on the posses- sion of a virtue until we perceive that it is entirely lacking in our adversary.” – Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human. Our values are not dispatched as a
single thought, word or deed, although they undoubtedly impact on all of these. In our daily work as professionals, we are very conscious of our thoughts, words and deeds. Our values, on the other hand, are much more unconscious and, frequently, we may not be aware of a particular personal value until a patient or team member either inadvertently or deliber- ately treads on it.
Clinical example A new patient attends an emergency appointment in severe pain with a fifteen minute slot before lunch. Irrevers- ible pulpitis is diagnosed, options are discussed. The patient is keen to keep the tooth and the decision whether to dress or extripate arises. The dentist is aware the time avail-
able is insufficient to extripate and is acutely aware of the knock on effect for the team. However, he holds a high value on a thorough approach/diligence and decides to proceed. He consequently runs ı0 minutes into lunch. The patient (who holds a high value on organisation and efficiency) seems satisfied after treatment and quickly establishes when they should return, before leaving without much further discourse. The dental nurse (who holds a high
value around gratitude) is horrified that the patient left without as much as a thank you and spends what remains of the lunch hour and much of the afternoon furious. At this point she has decided she doesn’t
like the patient – this is a very human tendency since the patient displayed a blatant disregard for a fundamental value the nurse is hardwired to respect. She may not consciously recognise the clash has occurred on a value level and resort to a more superficial behavioural explanation such as the patient is ‘rude’. The dentist then inadvertently adds fuel
Continued » Ireland’s Dental magazine 23
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