Archive for Dental Practice Management Tips
Set S.M.A.R.T Goals For Performance Growth
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For many of us, it is the START that STOPS us from moving forward and achieving our objectives. When we look at a big project, we immediately feel intimidated. This “bigness” or “I don’t know where to begin” leads us to procrastinate taking action to make our goals a reality. I see this happening with many dentists in my work as THE DENTAL COACH©.
Raising the overall performance of your practice begins with developing the skills of the individuals. Set goals that address improvements in knowledge, skills, or behavior. The best goals are S.M.A.R.T. ones.
Below, are my definitions of a S.M.A.R.T goal.
- Specific – Define what needs to happen or how behavior should change.
- Measurable – How will you recognize success? Is it about task completion (i.e. cleaning up filing backlog), results (i.e. 10% increase in…) or behavior (observable change)?
- Action-oriented – The best goals challenge people and require that they do something new, at higher level, or in a new way.
- Realistic – Make sure the goal is achievable. Attending a seminar, or having a discussion, or reading about a new technique is realistic.
- Time-bound – Goals should have an element of time – frequency (do this daily/weekly), or deadline (do by 4-1).
Example: “Complete a minimum of ten past-due patient follow-up calls by phone each day for the next quarter.“ This is simple, yet it is still a S.M.A.R.T goal. Why? It meets all of the requirements: It is specific (“past-due patient calls”), measurable (daily), action-oriented (requires a change in behavior), realistic (ten per day is attainable), and time-bound (“each day for the next quarter”).
Hire Right – Target Performance to Identify the Right Person For Your Dental Team
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As the year 2012 begins, do these action steps to prepare for hiring the right person for your dental practice. You may not have to hire for a new position right now, but I guarantee that you will!
- Prepare for success. Review the list of interview questions you normally ask. Now, edit them to make them open-ended and focused on past performance. Make copies and place half a dozen copies in an Interview Guides file. Next time the need arises, you will be ready to interview on a few second’s notice.
- Target performance that matters to you. Think about the three most frequent problem situations that occur in your office. Write an interview question for each which begins, “Tell me about a time when you had to deal with [insert situation]. What did you do, and what was the outcome?”
Do This Now!
Place yourself in recruitment mode 24 x 7. If you are always on the lookout for good people, your pipeline will already be full of candidates the next time you have an opening. As you meet people in your daily life, think of who would be a great fit for your practice’s culture.
“Don’t waste time calculating your chances of success and failure. Just fix your aim and begin.” ~ Guan Yin Tzu
Right Hiring for the Dental Team
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How would you like to set yourself up for success in your dental practice? What kind of training have you had to help you to determine when to hire, how to interview, and who to invite into your dental practice? If you’re like most dentists, the answer is NONE! You have had no training on this! It’s true that the hiring process is overwhelming when caught short-handed.
It is much like treating a patient. First you determine the source of the pain, formulate your differential diagnosis, decide which treatment is most appropriate and put a prevention plan in place. Training in hiring – right hiring – helps you put a plan into action for your practice. It eliminates the stress of what to do, when to do it, and how to do it.
Over the next 2-3 months, I will offer over 40 positive ideas and insights to make the process of hiring the “right” people more structured, organized and easy to follow. These tips help you manage your staffing needs proactively, and give you and your team a plan for the future. While I’m not providing an exhaustive guide covering every aspect of right hiring like I do with my Dental Contact Coaching™ clients, I will share a foundation for your hiring road map. I will offer several step-by-step outlines for developing your treatment plan for right hiring.
I suggest that you have open discussions with your team and solicit ideas on staffing needs and specific position descriptions.
This upcoming series of posts focuses on the human side of business– the human resources of your practice. A study by the Kwasha Lipton Group, a division of Coopers & Lybrand, HPA, discovered that turnover can cost a company 75-150% of an employee’s salary. As THE DENTAL COACH© clients hire me, in part, to provide this information to help them hire right, manage more effectively, and reduce stress. The end result? Saving tens of thousands of dollars annually.
“The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.” – H. Norman Schwarzkopf, U.S. General
Ask yourself: What are the right things I need to do today? What is keeping me from doing them?
Problem Solve – As a Team – To Make Your Life Easier
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Don’t be on your deathbed, having squandered your one chance at life, full of regret because you pursued little distractions– instead of big dreams.
What problems do you have in your dental practice today? Who can help you solve them? Your team! The nice thing about teamwork is that you always have others on your side.
Give up thinking you have to be so smart and omniscient. You create an environment of openness and sharing by inviting team members to be a part of problem solving.
The teams who do this – the ones who discuss the “who, what, and how” — foster productive problem-solving communication.
Turn Conflict into Opportunities
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We dentists like to avoid conflict at all costs. It seems to be built into our DNA.
God forbid when we have an upset patient to deal with; an employee to discipline or a change that won’t be received favorably by the team. We simply avoid the conflict. We hate conflict.
Hello! With any type of team, conflict comes with the territory. You’re just going to have to deal with it!
You can resolve conflict through:
- Bargaining
- Voting
- Research
- Third-party mediation
But you can’t ignore it. When you, as the Dental CEO, begin to understand how conflict can be an opening to problem resolution, it will forge higher-quality outcomes for you.
I am going to share with you two extremely valuable tools to enable you to turn any conflict into an opportunity:
- Have available your written set of core values.
- Have a written vision statement.
Now what that means, is that you must take the time to think these out, write them down and then share with your team. Through these 2 documents, you will have the solutions to all of your conflicts.
Guaranteed.
Period.
Hold Annual Retreats
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As we approach the end of the year, this is an opportune time for you to strategically set aside a full day of planning for you and your team.
I hear many dentists tell me that this kind of planning is just a horrific waste of time.
What a huge mistake they are making in their thinking.
With an annual day of planning, there are opportunities to plan for the next year. Invite each team member to be a part of the agenda and to be responsible for one element of the retreat’s success. Hold your retreat off-site and keep it informal. A clearly written annual plan, developed with everyone’s input, will cause your practice numbers to take off! (You can check out my Annual Goal Review as a special PDF for free.)
I’d love to hear from you about how you do your annual planning. What are some of the keys to your success in laying out your 2012?
Use Multiple Internal Communication Channels
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In the diverse workplaces of today, leaders must use as many tools as possible to communicate and connect with team members.
Videotape and audio tape training, e-mail bulletin boards, newsletters, text messages, whiteboards and mini-management meetings are effective communication techniques.
The overall concept: When you keep the message simple and fresh, people feel informed and linked.
Here’s the simplest tool: talk to people. Here’s the toughest action to take: listen to them. But that’s for another post….
Take Field Trips
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Identify successful dental practices and other businesses that you admire. Who gives the most excellent service? How do they do it? What ideas can you take away?
New ideas can be life-changing. Sometimes all you need is just one more good idea. A lot of people have quit, when they were only a few steps from success.
My action step for you is to go out and look for some new ideas!!
Nothing is more powerful for your future than being a gatherer of good ideas and information. That’s called doing your homework.
So, how do you do this? Spend an afternoon with your entire team somewhere you admire. (Yes, this can be at the Ritz). Help yourself and your team experience first-hand what good service is really like. I promise this may be one of the best continuing-education investments you make for the entire year!
Here is a thought from Demming: “It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.” Remember — If nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies.
You Can’t Thank Me Enough
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Have you ever been thanked too much? This may seem like a ridiculous question, yet a large percentage of employees, friends, family or referral sources never feel recognized.
In fact, even a large percentage of Dental CEOs and other managers never feel recognized either. Unfortunately few get thanked anymore and few feel appreciated.
Here are a few simple tips to creating your Thank You for referrals program:
- Make it fun to do and that alone will make it easy.
- Create an annual budget for “thanking” people.
- Engage your team.
- Insist that this is a priority expectation for all on the team.
- Brainstorm and then implement a simple system that works effortlessly.
- Be specific in what acknowledgement will be offered for referral #1, #2, #3 and so on.
- Be persistent and consistent…ALL the time, never miss a chance to thank people.
- Assign one person to be the Referral Gifting Champion.
- ALWAYS find time to say “Thank You”.
- Above all, personalize!
Now, what will you do with this information and by when? Thanksgiving is just around the corner and could be a great time to implement your attitude of gratitude.
Make it Easy for People to Work With You
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How wonderful are you? How accommodating are you in meeting other’s needs? How often are you inconsiderate? How considerate are you of other people’s time?
When you live with the attitude: “The answer is ‘YES’, now what is the question?” you set yourself up for success.
When you are interested, rather than interesting, more patients come to your dental practice. They perceive their needs are met and know you care.
Action item: Do an in-office survey and find out what your patients believe about you. After reading the results, answer this question: How easy is it for patients to work with my dental practice?
