DENTSPLY Friadent News

Working together as equals

11-12-2008 | DENTSPLY Friadent is training customers as presenters.

The success of an implantology presentation does depend partly on the content but also more on the rhetorical ability and the personal competence of the presenter. Over the past two years the DENTSPLY Friadent Personal Performance Program (p3), something unique in the dental industry, has been so successful in training ten young implantologists from among the company's own customers that the company has now decided to repeat the p3 program this year with new participants.  

Many well-established and well-known members of the dental profession from Germany and other countries experienced the exciting debut presentations of their young colleagues in implantology at this year's 13th DENTSPLY Friadent World Symposium in Berlin. Even a congress attendee from another field commented: "I am extremely impressed by the quality of the presentations. As an outsider to the field I could still follow them in full even with the, in some cases, complex descriptions of problems and the specialized jargon. They were well-structured, with good visual aids and very well presented." This praise, which is also confirmed by the feedback forms completed by the dental audience, could scarcely be bettered.

Dr. Marcel Ender from the Department of Clinical Research and Education at DENTSPLY Friadent in Mannheim was very pleased with the success of the program: "It was a risk to decide on a two-year program, but it is now clear that we made the right decision." Dr. Ender, who was responsible for the planning, organization and implementation of the p3 program, still recalls the initial phases of the project two and a half years ago: "As an implant manufacturer we have always found it important to support and promote science and research. This also includes communicating the successes of our products based on trials, studies and clinical work in a very professional manner to dentists. Our marketing people have always reported back to us on the high-quality work of their customers, who in many cases do have speaking ability, but had not yet considered acting as a presenter. So why not work on developing the potential of our customers in the field of presentations?" 

As a result the marketing department and the Department for Clinical Research and Education at DENTSPLY Friadent developed their own training program for presenters. They were well aware of the communication requirements for continuing dental education in everyday work in the dental practice and on the international podiums. However, when they implemented the specialized communications program they decided to work together with a communications professional. The program was developed with the 1st German Institute for Rhetoric and Communication, based in Bornheim/Bonn, Berlin and London. The program started in September 2006 in Tuscany with a six-part series of workshops over days with a small group of selected participants. Communications trainer Gabriele Zienterra: "In the p3 program we focus on rhetoric and communications. This means that participants learn the instruments of successful rhetoric, apply them to their own activities and train themselves. Examples include building up speech structures, applying the voice, language and gestures, and selecting the correct style. The field of communications covers speech and presentation techniques along with personality analyses to ensure an authentic presentation to the audience." In addition to the group sessions, all participants received individual coaching to initiate a process of continuing personal development. Practical skills such as dental photography and the creation of PowerPoint presentations were also part of the program.

Potential p3 candidates – they are selected by the company – will have a strong background in science along with comprehensive theoretical and clinical experience with DENTSPLY Friadent implant systems  and will be prepared to invest some of their professional and private time. One of the participants recalls: "The special part of p3 was its combination of training workshop and event. For example, we practiced extempore speaking at one workshop or tried our hand at cooking with top chef Stefan Neugebauer of the "Schwarzen Hahn" in Deidesheim at another workshop. These unusual events were a major reason in knitting us together into a network of friendships and associations that now extends beyond our work with p3."

To the question of what obligations to DENTSPLY Friadent are incurred by participants in the program, Ender answered: "We regard the p3 program as an investment in the future. However, like any other type of similar training, there are a few ground rules that we agreed beforehand with the participants. Our basic aim was to work together as equals, at the same level. This means that we offer participants in the p3 program a high-quality training program to be able to work constructively with them into the future." The next series of p3 workshops started in September 2008.