Breaking Up Is Hard to Do…
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It’s inevitable that team members move on. One of the difficult aspects of working with people is that people change. They change their goals, change where they live, change their stage of life.
How you respond to departing employees will impact the retention of the team members who remain, so follow my four tips to make an exit less painful and benefit from former dental practice employees.
- When an employee leaves, conduct an “Exit Interview.” Spend 15 minutes to ask them about what they most enjoyed while working in the office, the reasons they are leaving (there are usually several), and what they would suggest you do better in the future. Take notes and file them. When you notice consistent themes in exit interviews, take action to improve a condition of employment in your practice.
- Always speak in positive terms. Here’s an alert for you: If you are in charge, someone is always paying attention. If your treatment of those departing is consistent with how you treat everyone else, their trust in your leadership will grow.
- Give people choices. Even when an employee’s departure is involuntary, they deserve to be treated respectfully. You might give them the opportunity to resign first. Let them choose how they will say goodbye to their teammates. They will respect you for honoring them as a person.
- Nurture your alumni. Keep former employees on your e-mail newsletter and holiday card list so they are updated on your practice. Remember: former employees are a great source of future referrals – both employees and patients. Alumni can also be a source for emergency backup or extra hands for a special project. When the relationship and exit was done respectfully and professionally, they will be happy to hear from you and to help out.
Maintain A High-Integrity Environment
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There is so much in the news lately about the importance of integrity in institutions and business. The Golden Rule of treating people how you want to be treated, in many ways seems like a thing of our parent’s generation. We are all able to think of a time when we were treated without the proper respect. How did that make you feel? Is that the way you would want any of your team members to feel toward you or a coworker? No way!
Respect breeds respect. And if you don’t show respect to even one individual, you lose respect from all your team members. It is vitally important to show dignity and respect for each person you encounter and in all situations.
- Enforce appropriate standards. Treating people with respect is not only an important value – in the workplace, it is also the law! Do some research online to learn how to recognize and prevent harassment based on gender, sex, age, race and religion. Train everyone on your team to recognize and report inappropriate behavior. Make sure that all reporting is done in writing.
- Use Coach Ron’s “Publishing Test”. Not sure if yours or another’s actions could be viewed as inappropriate? Ask yourself: “Would I want this incident to be the subject of a newspaper article tomorrow morning?”
- Embrace diversity. Does your office reflect the cultural, racial, and age diversity of your community? People like to do business with others like them: so when hiring, draw from a diverse pool of talent. You send a more welcoming message to potential new patients. Bonus: a more diverse team will generate more ideas from different perspectives to help the business grow!
- Follow the Platinum Rule. Others have different needs and values than you. You show even more respect when you “Treat others as they would like to be treated.”
- Know that conflict is okay. Disagreements are inevitable when we encourage people to voice their opinion. Address them in an open and positive manner. To the contrary of what most people think, conflict often leads to better, more reasoned decisions.
“The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.” ~ H. Norman Schwarzkopf
There’s a story about a woman who gets to choose between Heaven and Hell. She visits Hell and finds a paradise of golfing, fine food, and the ultimate in pampering. Expecting even more of Heaven, she encounters a relatively boring lot of harp players. She chooses Hell; but on her return is greeted with fumes, fire and round-the-clock hard labor. Bewildered, she asks for explanation. “Yesterday,” she is told, “we were recruiting you. But now you’re just staff.”
Sound familiar? Far too often we woo the best people we can find and then gradually ease into taking them for granted. When that happens, your investment in those people is at risk.
You should pay at least as much attention to your tenured team members as you did when they were job candidates.
Here’s an action step that I use with my Dental Contact Coaching™ clients in regards to employee retention. They have benefited from this and I know you will, too!
- Keep the value fresh and visible. On a regular basis, change something to make the employment environment better – simplify a process, add a benefit, upgrade equipment, cross-train for backup, even add a plant. Each time, “market” the upgrade at your next meeting. Discussion keeps the positive at the forefront of people’s thinking.
Four Tips On How to Retain Dental Employees
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Retaining dental employees is more cost-effective and all-around better for the practice than having to hire a new one. Keeping in mind that your staff is your biggest asset, follow my four tips to retain dental employees. I promise that this will take little time, but will provide a huge benefit.
- Re-recruit annually. At the end of the year, meet with every team member for a moment. Shake their hand warmly, look them straight in the eye, and say “I am really happy that you are part of our team. Your being here makes a positive difference.”
- Hold an annual performance review with everyone. Spend part of that time discussing what’s ahead for them. Even if not much is changing, a focus on the future keeps team members connected to you because they are reminded that you care.
- Ask and learn. Sit down with your valued team members and ask each one “How likely are you to still be working here two years from now?” If the answer is anything but a solid “very likely,” then ask “what would change that for you?”
- Foster pride. When a team member does something outstanding, send a letter home telling their family what a great job their [mom, spouse, son/daughter] is doing, and how important they are to your team.
“There’s no limit to what can be achieved if you’re willing to share the credit.” ~ Wilson Wyatt, Sr.
Educate your team to what each line item means and how it impacts the practice profitability. This ensures that you will grow a successful dental practice and have a stronger “buy-in” from your employees.
Follow these 4 tips and action steps to engage Open Book Management into your dental practice:
- Consult with your accountant to develop financial statements that are easy to read and organized.
- Bring in your accountant or CPA to read and review your financial statements for a Lunch and Learn with your team members on a quarterly basis.
- Begin tracking important practice numbers each month and share their significance with every member of your team. Examples include: production, collection, collection percentage, hourly production for the hygienist and the doctor, treatment recommended vs. treatment accepted and the associated percentage, amount of broken appointment time, and the impact on practice income.
- Develop solutions to reducing overhead and increasing production so that profitability can be shared.
“Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes
How much have you shared with your team regarding your practice numbers? What do they know about your financial and operating statements? When did you last discuss the profitability of your business?
Too many dental practices operate under the philosophy that these numbers are a secret to be held only by the doctor. Failure to share key financial information misses a huge opportunity to get everyone involved in growing a profitable business and dental practice.
The best way to ensure the success of your dental practice is to teach everyone from your Appointment Coordinator to Chairside Assistant how to read the company’s financial statements and discover how their individual function contributes to the profitability of the dental practice. Educate your team to what each line item means and how it impacts the practice profitability.
Why do this?
- This provides employees an opportunity to make better decisions and can lead to explosive growth.
- It implies that you trust your team, you believe they are capable of understanding the “business of business” and that you have faith in their commitment to the success of the practice.
In a previous blog post, I suggested that you train every member of the team to sell themselves and the practice to their customer—the patient.
Here are my four tips on how to do so.
- Enroll in a sales training program. Every member of your team benefits. This program should include learning how to sell/recommend needed dentistry, asking for referrals, and how to deliver service excellence as perceived by the patient.
- Role-play “asking for referrals” at every staff meeting. Spend a few moments acting out a situation for how to ask for referrals; include all staff members.
- Visit a Ritz-Carlton or other 5-star hotel with your team so that everyone understands what true quality service feels like. Hold a team meeting to discover ways you can duplicate such service.
- Provide business cards for each team member and encourage them to share the cards with others in their community, i.e. at the grocery store, library, school, and church or synagogue.
“Don’t aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally.” ~ David Frost
You know the importance of these regular meetings—you know that it will increase profitability in your dental office, too. So how can you hold them effectively and efficiently without adding more stress?
- Develop progress reporting. A team member will provide a report to the team stating accomplishments, obstacles overcome, results and requests for support for their respective projects.
- Create a specific agenda for your Morning Huddles and stick to a start and end time.
- Raise your standards. Expect every team member to be prepared to actively participate.
- Hold team meetings during regularly scheduled production time. Pre-block them on the schedule on a set day and time. Treat these as a patient appointment and do not re-schedule or miss them.
Job Title: Dental Hygienist and Ambassador
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As a Dental CEO, how well have you combined the talents of individuals into a team? Research shows that people who work on teams are happier in their jobs, produce higher quality work and increase customer satisfaction. People need other people around them to achieve the goal of growing the dental practice.
Make all employees an Ambassador to your dental office.
Successful dental practices make selling everyone’s job. Selling is about being a positive Ambassador for the practice, both in and out of the office. Every member of the team is selling themselves and the practice to their customer—the patient. It is through marketing the benefits found in your dental practice that the business grows while generating the profits to compensate the doctor and team.
Action step: List and review every type of service you provide, ie: Cosmetic Whitening or Invisi-lign. Once you have the list, answer these two questions:
- What will your team do to let your patient base know what you have to offer?
- How will you measure your efforts as a team?
“Soft skills” are the most valuable and most undervalued in your practice. Certainly, clinical skills are important; but your staff is already taught in their school training. It is up to you, the Dental CEO, to instruct and train on those “soft skills”.
- Invite guest speakers to a team meeting. Think about bringing in a business coach or customer service trainer—they don’t have to be related to the dental industry. In fact, it’s better if they’re not! They will bring a fresh perspective to issues facing your dental team.
- Do a Google search for course information at local colleges. What unique courses can you offer as an educational benefit to your team that will improve their “soft skills”? Look at courses in the Business, Management and Hospitality sections.
- Reward staff members who voluntarily add continuing education to their career potential by giving them gift cards for dinner and a movie. When other staff members see this, they will be encouraged to do so themselves. Post this new benefit on your team bulletin board and newsletter.
“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” ~ Confucius
