practice management
Staff
Headaches
What’s the Right Medicine?
by Bethany Petty, MA, MS
Over half of the meetings I have with dentists begin and end with staff
issues. The issues range from lack of effort to insubordination to stealing
office funds. Here are some simple tips to implement in your practice
tomorrow:
Clear expectations.
Ensure that every team member has a clear job description. Don’t worry. You do not have to create all of these on
your own. Instead, let each individual employee craft her
own list of responsibilities, and then arrange a team
meeting to review the team’s work. Add to, delete,
and edit their responsibilities in that team meeting, and then use their job descriptions as
accountability.
Emotional connection.
Your team ultimately needs to know that you
care. It can be a simple and genuine word of
encouragement or it can be quality time spent
with them. No matter how bad the day or month
gets, take the time to emotionally connect with
and support your team.
Remove sour apples.
If you are lucky enough to have Negative Nancy on
your team, then begin the correction and removal
process tomorrow. Either immediately terminate her or
schedule a performance review with her and clearly indicate all of the changes that you need to see in her. After
documenting the conversation and having her sign the
document, monitor her carefully. If she continues to
make negative mistakes, fire her. She will ultimately
spoil all of your other excellent employees and
make life miserable for you in the process.
18 NORTH TEXAS DENTISTRY | www.northtexasdentistry.com
Accountability.
Employees work best in an office where accountability is dependable. That means correcting mistakes
when you see them. Professionally and promptly pull
your team members aside when they make a mistake.
Point out their mistake(s) and show them the correct way.
Keep in mind, for every critique you make, you need to
provide two encouragements. The best way to do this
is to sandwich your correction in between two genuine appreciations for that employee.