Is technology making patients impatient - The Dentist Experience

My son is studying in Mysore and we were looking for a dentist for him.   So we called our family dentist in Bangalore and got a good reference.  The first visit was quite satisfactory including the ease of parking at his clinic so I also fixed myself for the yearly check up at Mysore instead of Bangalore.

On the appointment date we happily reached the clinic on time (thanks to zero traffic and enough parking space).  The doctor was not in, so we got ourselves settled nicely in the air-conditioned waiting area with bunch of magazines and newspapers.  After few minutes my son asked the receptionist about the time the doctor is expected.  She said that usually he comes by this time but she was not sure why the doctor is late today and she was not able to reach him on his mobile.

My son pulled out his smartphone and I thought he is going to post an update on his facebook page "@ dentist…" with some pictures of him sitting in the clinic or the reception area but he was sending a text to the dentist asking when will he reach.  After few minutes when there was no reply he looked little impatient and he again pulled out his smartphone and this time opened his facebook page asking his friends if they knew any other dentist in that area.  While waiting for the response from his friends he googled on dentists in that area with ratings of 4.5 and above. He then stepped out and called just dial to get details of dentists with similar ratings from their database. He then compared the replies from his friends, google data and just dial data (mobility and analytics in action). He then came to me and said,  Dad there are 2 dentist equally good available nearby and can we check if they are available instead of waiting ?

With the data he shared I too was tempted to look for an alternate but I went into a comparison of a similar experience with my Dad when we use to visit our family dentist Dr.Gokhale in Mumbai.  There was no air-conditioned waiting area or a receptionist to receive us at that time.  Instead of air-condition there was a hamaara bajaj fan which over the years had changed from white color to yellow and then brown with built in music of bearings with every oscillation.  The compounder (derived from the word compound which means a composite of many) was a compound of multiple roles viz. care taker of the clinic, cleaner of doctor’s car, assistant to the doctor, receptionist etc.  There were no magazines or newspapers that Dr. Gokhale would subscribe for the patients except the one’s that he would get from his free conferences. The same set of magazines were there till he went to the next free conference or till the white papers turned yellow with edges torn from all sides. Yet at that time patients were not impatient with no smartphones, no facebook, no just dial, no google…

So I was thinking is technology  making the patients impatient ?

Besides technology what else do you think is making the patients impatient ?

What about our customers who we may loose like the dentist in Mysore may have lost his customer for not keeping in communication thru his channel – the receptionist in this case ?

Beyond "item number" what do you see in Chulbul Pandey ?

After reading the reviews of Dabangg 2 I also hit the screens with no major expectation and just to have a light evening / some fun seeing Chulbul Pandey.  To my surprise I could see many subtle leadership messages that I would like to share and may be after reading this you too may look at Chulbul Pandey beyond "Item Number"

1. The first one was when he asks Rajo who is tied up preparing lunch in kitchen to get his shirt and then get his comb and then get his belt and so on. Rajo without any question fulfills all his demands. He then calls her and tells her that "Aap hamari biwi hain gulam nahin" you are my wife and not a slave. Now a leader can reflect and see if he is asking his team members to do things that the leader should do it himself and let the team continue working on their planned tasks. Is the leader in some way treating them as "gulam" slaves ?

2. During one of the conversation with his father Chulbul Pandey shares the dream he had last night where he respectfully saves his father. His father says that he was contended with the respect that his son had given him in his day to day interaction but he is overwhelmed if his son is respecting him even in his dreams.  Now a leader can reflect and see whether his team respects him not only in day to day interaction but even in their dreams and if not what he needs to start doing ?

3. Chulbul Pandey inherits a police station where most of the policemen have no motivation and are cribbing about the system/situation but he motivates them so much that they join him in the fight with Bacha Bhaiya and gang. Now a leader can reflect on no matter what kind of team he inherits he can motivate and drive them to deliver results.

4. At one point Chulbul Pandey's father asks him to not take panga (head on) with Bacha Bhaiya and he replies that if he has to serve in police then he will have to do that else he will resign from the job of a police inspector. Now a leader can reflect to see that whatever role he is performing should be performed with full integrity and there should not be any compromise.

5. There are many tense and pressure situations by the goons in the movie where the team of Chulbul is almost on the verge of giving in but chulbul diffuses those situations with humor and gets his team to focus on the job. Now a leader can reflect and see whether he brings in humor at work and helps diffuse situations.

6. Chulbul's brother Makhi who had a very bad past wanted to also rise like Chulbul and one day he comes with great aspiration asking Chulbul to give him an opportunity. Chulbul gives him the required support and encouragement. Now a leader can reflect on situations where a non performer has been given an opportunity to bounce back.

7. One day Rajo wants to go for shopping with Chulbul but he was all set to leave for work. Initially Chulbul says that he has to go for work but then he agrees to go for shopping. Now a leader can reflect how much he takes care of his near and dear ones when they ask for his time.  While leaders will always have lots and lots of work but it is equally important to take care of their near and dear ones.

Hope you enjoyed reading this 7 leadership messages but there could be many more....do reflect on Chulbul Pandey and share if you see any more messages.

You are on leave but you don't leave...

Does one not think about work while on leave ?

Does one stay completely with the reason for which leave is taken like taking a break or taking care of personal things ?

Does one feel guilty about thinking about work while on leave ?

These are some of the questions that most people today find themselves caught with when they take leave. They are on leave but don't leave the work.

This was not the same 10 to 15 years ago when people would not be interrupted both physically or mentally about work once they go on leave.  Possibly it was  because there were not so many smartphones, tablets, web conferencing and availability of internet everywhere. Infact during my recent trip to Hawaii I saw that Sheraton Hotel had a huge internet cafe for their guests right in the lobby with printing and teleconference facility. So besides our own smartphone and other devices the environment also pulling us to work.

If this is the situation then it may be worthwhile considering new work options while employees go on leave as per the recent Survey done by CISCO.

They found that employees would like to work from home for few days in summer by connecting few hours every day.  The Cisco study showed that it is a common tendency among workers to be in a conference or video call while on vacation (37 percent), at a professional function (34 percent) or while travelling in the car (27 percent).


Bringing in this flexiblity is creating mutual benefits as the technological tools now allow employees to go on holiday with peace of mind, while keeping an eye on the job and not feel guilty about not being on vacation and not being on work.

Many employees may not want a complete vacation away from work but would love options like casual dress code (35 percent), flexible time (26 percent), telecommuting or working from home (23 percent), early close hours on Fridays (16 percent) and reimbursement for mobile charges while on vacation.

However the HR policies of most of the companies today do not have the above components and I think it will be worthwhile to look at them given that it will help in productivity on one side and employee satisfaction on other side (When they are on leave they don't mind to not leave)

What do you think and especially if you are in HR function I would be keen to know your views and may be this can become a new year resolution on HR policy changes ?