5 Tips to Improve Your Dental Practice Staff

In today’s dental practices, it’s imperative to surround yourself with strong team members. They will be the difference between becoming successful or not. This is why building a strong team is vital in helping your practice meet its full potential.  But often, team members aren’t meeting your expectations. Instead of helping your practice flourish, they are holding your practice back. But how do you turn team member(s) into thriving ones who excel in their roles? Here are 5 ways to improve your dental practice staff.

1. Lead Through Guidance: Someone needs to take the lead.  Don’t sit back and expect the office manager or lead assistant to set the expectations for your practice.  Every employee needs guidance and direction in order to become successful.  Create and present job descriptions outlining clear expectations for each position within your practice.  Set aside time each month to have a one-on-one with each employee and offer positive and negative feedback outlining missed opportunities and how to improve.
2. Take Your Time When Hiring: When the time comes to add a new position or replace an employee, think about what you are looking for within this position and take your time filling it.  Most practices take the first qualified person who applies, not thinking how this new hire will affect the existing team members dynamic, or if this hire can be groomed into a future position. Developing and implementing hiring procedures will pay off in the long run. Ask potential candidates to be interviewed by another team members. This will assist in the selection process and open up communication within your team.
3. Invest in Your Team: The importance of investing in your team can’t be stressed enough. It’s important to invest time in training new, as well as, existing team members when implementing new policies and technology. Proper training will help your team members become more efficient in their roles, and make them more confident in their skills.  Happy employees make businesses thrive.
4. Raises Need to be Earned: Don’t give out raises just because it’s the right thing to do, as this sends a wrong message to your team.  Team members need to earn raises, not just receive them because it’s expected. During the review process, set measurable goals and expectations to better determine if a raise should be earned through performance.  Set clear expectations so all team members know exactly what it takes to earn a raise. Setting these expectations will motivate team members to excel in their roles.
5. Call it Like it is: Sometimes great ideas on paper don’t actually work out. When this happens, admit it and ask for input from each team member on what did and didn’t work.  Once a mistake has been identified, and a new procedure is in place, the team members can get back on track to becoming a great dental practice staff.

Making the right choices with your dental practice staff isn’t easy. You need a strong team behind you to help you reach your practice’s goals and objectives.  Follow these tips and soon your team members will be happier and more efficient as they work towards a common goal.

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