North Texas Dentistry Volume 5 Issue 2 | Page 29

Acquiring and improving team-building skills should continue throughout your career, but the techniques discussed here will get you off to a great start. You can’t expect staff members to perform well or enjoy their work if your practice’s administrative protocols are haphazard and plagued by bottlenecks. Implement efficient new systems with step-by-step documentation so team members can readily learn what they must do and then do it consistently. 4. Without proper training, team members’ performance will inevitably fall short of its potential… and discontent may well arise. Effective training will pay for itself, especially if you include a significant amount of role-playing using scripts to guide team members through all common interactions with patients and others. Design step-by-step management systems. 5. practice management Though you should give positive feedback and encouragement throughout the day, schedule formal reviews once or twice a year. These are occasions for reviewing not only what team members are doing for the practice but also what you can do for them in the way of job satisfaction and career development. 7. Establish a comprehensive training program, including scripts based on system documentation. Give team members constructive performance reviews. 6. Hold effective meetings. Use time-limited, agenda-driven Daily Business Meetings™ to prepare the team for the day and remind them of what the practice is all about (vision, goals and targets). Reserve brainstorming, troubleshooting, training sessions and other larger issues for your Monthly Business Reviews™. Dr. Roger Levin is a third-generation general dentist and the Chairman and CEO of Levin Group, Inc., the largest dental practice management and marketing firm in North America. As a leading authority on dental practice management and marketing, he has developed the scientific systems-based consulting method that will increase practice production and profitability, while lowering stress. Dr. Levin has authored 65 books and more than 3,700 articles. He presents 100 seminars per year worldwide. www.northtexasdentistry.com | NORTH TEXAS DENTISTRY 29