We cannot believe this book has not come up yet throughout all of the podcasts that we have done. It is a true timeless masterpiece on human relations and generate a massive amount of value to its readers. This book's title "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie tells you what it's all about. This is essentially a book about creating connection with other people and building a network that allows you to succeed long term. In this day and age, network is a huge asset and this book is here to help you build it.
There are many lessons that can be applied to physiotherapy practice from this book. However, two stand out the most.
1. How to Connect with People and Build Therapeutic Alliance
In order to connect with people on a higher level, you have to become genuinely interested in them. This could be their life mission, their hobbies, their families or the issues they are going through. This is what every physiotherapist should try to achieve from the first assessment and throughout the course of the treatment plan. If you build effective connection with your patient, you will create a lifetime client. This patient will look to fulfill their rehab needs with you specifically and will likely refer friends and family to experience a great service.
To build effective therapeutic alliance according to Dale Carnegie, you have to smile, call the person by their name and be a good listener. Active listening leads to people revealing what their interests and goals are. This will allow you to drive the conversation by talking in other people's interests, which achieves the overarching goal of interaction - making the person feel important. That is the ultimate lesson from Dale Carnegie - during each interaction, make the person feel important and they will like you.
2. How to Lead Well Without Creating Resentment
Dale Carnegie provides us lessons on how to point the people you lead in the right direction. The number one lesson is to provide lots of praise and not criticize the person's mistakes directly. Everybody makes mistakes and presenting those mistakes in a way that softens the blow will motivate the person to correct them even more. Instead of giving orders for the other person to complete, you should ask questions and figure out exactly what went wrong and how to fix it. This is very applicable to clinic owners getting involved in certain patient and health professional confrontations. Clinic owners should not pick sides immediately but understand the situation from both points of view and ask the parties how they think the situation should be rectified. That is how Bonny O'Hare deals with those occurrences in her clinic and it is extremely effective. This can create a great reputation for your business and leave both parties feeling satisfied in a less-than-ideal situation.
How to Win Friends and Influence People is a great book that has lessons which every physiotherapist should read. It provides practical suggestions which are crucial in building relationships with people and bond those relationships into vast networks. After all, the human power is all in the connections we create around us. We hope that you enjoy this book from Rick Lau's recommendation!
