Creating a Great Dental Team

8/14/2019 Creating a Great Dental Team

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PRACTICE INFORMATION RESOURCE

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1.BonisdBehind eective, satised employeesare rigorous processes. Thereore, it isworthwhile designing, checking anddocumenting the processes that helpyour business run smoothly.

Write protocols or everything: casescheduling, hygiene and saety, nancialmanagement, IT systems, marketing evencomplaint handling, stock checking andcar parking. This way, people are able to do

their jobs eectively rom day one just byollowing procedure (at least to start with).They will learn quicker, eel better andwork more productively.

2.NuuyouWeve all heard the maxim treat othersas you would like to be treated, andthis can have an important bearingon our proessional relationships. As ateam leader, instilling this virtue in your

colleagues can help you orm and nurturea team o happy, enthusiastic, eectivepeople. This will enable your colleagues towork together well, ultimately creating asuccessul dental practice requented bysatised patients.

3.CounicopnlyFailing to communicate properly with sta(and that means everyone at the practice)personally as well as proessionally is one

o the most common and most stickytraps that we can all into.

CREATING A

How are you really supposed

to build a great dental care

team? The process o creating

a proessional, happy, efcient

team rom a collection o

capable individuals has many

acets. This article presents the

Aquaresh Science Academy

top 10 practical, real-lie steps

to creating a great dental

care team, including how to

nurture your team and get

them emotionally engaged inthe practice, while giving them

room to operate eectively.

greatteam

IMPROVING YOUR DENTAL PRACTICE

thinsohinkbou

Specifc principles or nurturing your teamcan vary rom practice to practice, and withdierent situations and team dynamics.

However, a central set o values whichcan prove important in all proessionalteams include mutual respect, openness,honesty, integrity and trust.

I any one o these values disappears, then

the chances are that team dynamics willalter and eventually the team will ail tooperate eectively.

I each team member is encouraged to beaware o their own actions and to live bythese values as much as possible, you will bewell on the way to nurturing a satisfed andeective team.

Remember leading by example is one o themost eective tools at your disposal.

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On a daily basis: say hello, ask how peopleare and smile! Wait or people to answerin ull beore changing tack or addressingsomebody else obvious, but it can takesignicant eort to put everyone elsesinterests rst on a busy Monday morning.

Hold a team meeting once a month,plus less ormal weekly gatherings. Turno your phone, speak openly about allissues and ensure that everyone eels thattheyve had a proper chance to makesuggestions, give eedback and deal withtheir problems.

Not everyone is condent in a groupsituation. Sometimes youll need toprompt individuals appropriately. This

small eort on your part will be greatlyappreciated by those aected.

4.eoionlnnFar rom being a trite and outdatedprinciple, getting your colleagues toemotionally buy into their work and thedental practice is key to building a greatdental care team. Emotional engagementdoesnt mean that everyone has to bewilling to die or their team or the practice

nor does it involve a lot o shouting,hugging or crying. What it does meanhowever, is that to get the most out oyour team, you have to give them a reasonto believe in and care about their work andthe practice.

5.DlivconinulininUnless your practice actively keeps pacewith advancements in dentistry, yourprotocols, as well as stas skills can

rapidly become outmoded.

To ensure that patients are treated withbest practice (regarding both products andprotocols), plan or each sta member toundergo continuing medical education.The more enhanced their skills become,the more comprehensive, eective and

ecient your practice will be. This willalso show your colleagues that you arewilling to invest practice resources in theenhancement o their skills, which willempower your sta and instil a sense oachievement in them.

More capable sta who eel that they haveyour respect and trust will take on greaterresponsibilities, relieving pressure or thewhole team and giving you greater peace

o mind.

6.Donico-nA managing or senior partner in a dentistrypractice will, through experience andtraining, understand how to excel inalmost any role in the business. However,it is in the best interests o the practice ieveryone is allowed to do their job with aull sense o ownership and responsibility.I the senior partners are scrutinising everydetail and getting intimately involved inevery part o every job, the team is notgoing to fourish.

eoionlnn

Creating emotional engagement inyour team can be achieved in a numbero ways dont be araid to be creativeand remember that a happy teamequals an efcient team. Why dontyou try:

holding inormal sta gatheringsevery 810 weeks use this as anopportunity to congratulate yourteam and update them on theprogress o the practice

instilling a sense o ownership overspecifc projects and assigningappropriate levels o responsibilityor each team member

giving team members the opportunityto suggest ideas or the smoothrunning o the practice or ways toimprove practice processes

oering ree or reduced dental careor sta and their amily members

organising a practice outing orChristmas or a barbecue in thesummer time.
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Partners who pick over everyone elsesjobs, role and responsibilities might as welldo it themselves. Both you and the teamwill prosper in the long run i you ndgood people, train them appropriately andthen let them get on with their jobs. In

other words, trust your training.

I you have done everything to nurtureyour sta which, crucially, includesgiving them sucient room to operate you will nd them both capable andwilling when the pressure is on. Thisproportionate balance o responsibilityrees you to lead the team condently,rather than coax it along.

7.moivndviwGive your sta something to work towardsby setting realistic objectives and goalsin consultation with them. For newemployees and those in training, theirull job description is a useul benchmarkagainst which to monitor progress.

Just 05 minutes once every 4months spent reviewing and discussingcompetencies achieved and areas to ocuson will motivate new employees, while

reinorcing your vision or the business andtheir role within it.

This can be supplemented in the uture,and or more experienced personnel, withbiannual perormance reviews whichshould be conducted in a manner andsetting conducive to candid discussion.Set the agenda or the meeting andprovide clear, objective eedback whichwill help shape your employees progressand oster an atmosphere o opencommunication and trust.

8.asknxpFor larger, multi-unction practicesincorporating bread and butter amilywork in addition to specialist orthodonticand cosmetic work, a specialist consultant

can help build or reshape a team that suitsyour needs.

Your management sta may havesucient expertise between them, butwith high workloads and the pressures orunning a busy dental practice, it couldpay dividends to invest in the advice o anindependent consultant with the time toshape your practice to its growing needs.

9.DlinsoluionsIt may seem obvious, yet dealing insolutions rather than problems can provedicult or any team, in both personal andproessional matters. I team membersare encouraged to think outside the boxand voice possible solutions in times ouncertainty then a much more positive,can-do attitude is ostered. It is the signo a successul team when people arechallenged to think around an issue ratherthan panic and look or someone to blame.

In addition, i youve got good people onyour team and youve equipped them

thinsohinkbou

Asking or thoughts and opinionson the business in general beyondtheir individual perormance andresponsibility encourages sta toshare ownership o the practice andthereore deepen their commitmentto it.

Remember to share the ups anddowns with sta members too.

Everyone needs eedback and achance to work on improving theirskills as well as enjoy the ortunes othe business.


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with all the tools they need to do a goodjob, there is no reason why the solutionsthey suggest wont be spot on. I youvealso made the eort to make your teammembers eel involved in the solutionsnot problems ethic, there is even more

chance that they will eel empoweredto approach you with innovative andeective solutions. This ethic will makeeveryones lie easier and help to build aneven more successul dental practice.

10.ChckyouldshipTo lead anyone, you need to takethem somewhere specic. Growingthe business and treating patientswell is taken as read. Sta will want to

understand your vision and values; theyneed to know what sort o practice theywork in here we do it like this becauseo these reasons and at our practicethe patients always get treated this waybecause o this and so on.

Leading is not simply about nding outwhere everyones going anyway and thenrunning to the ront, or leading by noiserather than action. We all know peoplewho lead only because they are the mostexperienced, loudest or most condent.

Leadership in the dental practice, as wellas other businesses, is not about beingthese things but about using the skillsovertly and appropriately.

A leader must instil his or her own senseo direction and values in the team.Otherwise talented and/or motivatedpeople will wander o looking orinspiration and reward elsewhere.

You dont need to be dictatorial or

uncompromising on your goals eventhough this approach might appear towork in the short term but you doneed to explain how and why you makedecisions and make your team eelinvolved in the running o the practice.

equipyou

Find out what your sta need andprovide it. This could be new tools,computers, a better coee machine,new whiteboard pens even a morein-depth briefng or a social event.

I the environment is clean, wellappointed, up to date, comortableand proessional, your practice willrun more eectively.

Continual investment in the besttraining, equipment and support orsta gives you the reedom to expectprofciency and high productivityin return.

FuhinfoionAquareshScienceAcademy.com houses a wealth o materials and resources designed tohelp you and your team unction as an eective dental care unit. Explore our PracticeFocus and Patient Focus sections or a range o useul resources.

Creating a Great Dental Team

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