North Texas Dentistry Volume 6 Issue 1 | Page 28

IT TAKES A T E A M practice management by Bobby Haney, DDS Let’s talk about team. I get the feeling that a lot of practice owners understand the importance of treating their patients like stars but underestimate the importance of treating their team members with the same attitude. And that is a very costly mistake. To borrow a term from anatomy, your team is very much the peripheral nervous system of your practice. They carry out the signals from the CNS into all the areas of your business. And when they are not operating in healthy connection to the brain (you), then you will have problems functioning properly. 28 NORTH TEXAS DENTISTRY | www.northtexasdentistry.com TRAINING. A critical step in this process is training. You would think this would be obvious but I am amazed at the neglect I encounter in this area. All of your team members need to be thoroughly trained in whatever function they carry out. Assistants, hygienists, front office staff, and associates need to know everything that is expected of them and how to do it excellently. Practice leaders cannot just “expect” their team members to know what to do. They have to be shown in detail. And this is an ongoing process. Update training on a regular basis. And, please, do not neglect your new team members. Expecting a new employee to learn on the fly is a disaster waiting to happen.