The MOST Important Skill that Drives Treatment Outcomes

 I had a conversation once with a guy who had MULTIPLE PhDs who was complaining about how stupid people were.

He said something along the lines of... 

'Why do people not listen to what I say? I'm the one with three PhDs. I'm the expert. And yet people would rather listen to someone on social media?'

As a communication coach, it was pretty obvious to me why no one listened to him.

Because he held himself with an air of superiority everywhere he went. He liked to talk about his education and how much of an expert he was. And by default, people should listen to him.

Except the problem was... nobody did. 

As he was talking, I just smiled politely and kept my thoughts to myself. 

It was pretty clear to me unless he changed the way he communicated, his unfortunate circumstances would continue. 

Now here's the thing - as clinicians, we do hold authority in the field we studied. However, this doesn't automatically mean the patient is going to buy in to everything you say. 

In fact, most people could give two shits about whether you have a Bachelor, Masters of PhD in your field. The only thing they care about is whether they like you and whether that trust is going to help them get better.

That's it.

This is why when it comes to treatment outcomes, the most important predictor we have is the therapeutic alliance. That is...

Does the patient trust you?

Does the patient believe you can get them better?

Do they feel safe in your hands?

If you want to watch the video explanation, hit that button below! If not, continue reading.

 You see, if the therapeutic alliance is the most important factor in treatment success, then shouldn't we actually be spending more time developing the skill that leads to this?

I can see you nodding your head, so I shall nod along.

One of the skills that clinicians NEED to develop is the ability to be persuasive. As you can see in the video, I talk about persuasion as your ability to influence the person in front of you to do what you need them to do.

Because the truth is, not every patient has their own best interests in mind. Remember the acute disc patient who asked you to 'put the disc back in' so he could go back to work in 2 hours?

Exactly. 

At the same time, persuasion is an objective skill. If you do not have the ETHICS behind it, you could run into very murky territory...

Like selling treatment programs based on faulty clinical rationale.

Or making dubious claims about your clinical methodology. 

First - in your heart, you must be clear with yourself WHY you are treating your patients. Is it because you want to make money as the KEY priority? 

Or is it because you want to improve the life of the person FIRST?

If you put money first, care second - sadly you will join a list of phony clinicians who put profit above care.

If you put care first, money second, congratulations, you'll join a list of clinicians who put care above profit... which eventually leads to VERY high profit margins.

To learn more about persuasion, you might want to start here, where I show you 3 easy ways to build rapport with patients.

So if your treatment outcomes aren't where you want it to be, but you already spend a lot of time on your clinical skill, then the missing link will be your ability to gain trust and persuade the patient.

Till next time...

Wishing you success,
Phil