Class 3: Internal Support
Introduction to Managing People
This course will focus on the internal support of a dental office. Managing a dental team is important as a leader in the dental office. Working with others is important and a good skill to improve. When working on patients and delegating work it is important to have trust in your team. This trust is built and taught, and therefore can be affected by the leader. Ethics and attitude of the leader is important and can trickle down to staff. Topics will review the economics of the team have predictable results. The philosophy of the team should fit for long-term success. The team's relationships will change. Excellent team building will result in ultimately excellent service of dentistry.
Team Economics
As in many small businesses, the leader of the team is the CEO, COO, and CFO. As a dentist you are also generating the main source of income of the practice. A dentist cannot do this alone, so it is imporant to be profficient at delegating. At times the office manager can take part in the roles of the CEO, CFO, or COO. The responsibility is on the dentist to ensure the work is done and properly, however it is not possible or likely that the dentist can do by themselves. For instance, you need to be able to move to different rooms while performing a dental procedure which leaves little time for managing other important business during this time. Multi-tasking can be helpful to ensure that the office runs smoothly. There are also multiple ways to structure the workflow to ensure that the dentist checks hygiene in a timely manner while also ensuring dentist's operatories are running smoothly.
Team Philosophy
Working as a team, all members should have the same practice philosophy. For instance as an associate for the first 2-3 years after dental school you might learn an exponential amount of information. Much of this information can be learned from a mentor or owner in the practice. For a long-lasting associateship to work it is important to have a congruent team philosophy - otherwise this might cause friction in the relationships with the other staff and owner.
Team huddles can be an opportunity to continue a similar team philosophy and talk about the office goals and visions. It can also be a great opportunity to review patient health histories and anticipate future problems. Weekly it can be beneficial to have an hour meeting to talk about what has happened. "Depart daily and withdraw weekly." Other team-building opportunities are to go to dental CE conventions. It can be a chance to see staff outside of the normal routine.
As an associate your relationship with staff can be different than the relationship between the owner and staff. If you have a position as an associate with the intention of transitioning to ownership it is important to look at the current practice philosophy and be conscious of the contract.
Teamwork with Specialists
Having the team create connections with the specialists. To facilitate this interaction meeting with the specialists as a general dentist can be useful for patient care. Communication between both teams is important. Being able to educate your team is important in allowing them to grow professionally which in turn improves your office. One way to educate your dental staff is by having a staff sharing relationship. This team sharing relationship can also be used between different dental offices. Your staff can strengthens your office reputation.
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Teamwork for Patients
A team-based approach to improve patient-dentist communication can be seen through:
1) Staff building trust from the first interactions. Keep in mind that patients will interact with the staff prior to the dentist. Non-verbal communication can be important as well when patients are walking through the office. A smile can go a long way.
2) Practice patient scenarios with the team. This will improve their communication as a team.
3) Play on staff strengths and put staff in areas that they are strong in. For example a staff member that is particularly warm and friendly on the phone might be great to take new patient phone calls.
4) A happy staff will be friendly to patients. Keep the staff happy and develop a good relationship with each staff member.
5) Treat patients ethically and your staff will trust your dentistry. Act generally in an ethical manner and staff will trust you.
Management of the Team
There are multiple ways to manage the dental team. A morning huddle is an important way to organize for the day. Staff meetings are also important and can be done 1-2 times per month. At these meetings it is good to share the practice values. The specific goals (production, collection, remakes) should reflect your overall practice values. It is important to have the staff focus during these meetings so rules such as no cell phones might be a good idea. These meetings are not a gripe section - this should be done as a private meeting. A number of rules for the staff meetings can be helpful to make the meetings more productive. A well written office manual can have these rules and should not be revised more than annually.
As an associate, you should be flexible and work to understand the workflows of the practice. This means being a good team-member. Initially, it is good to know what is expected and the job description / contract / employee manual is typically where you can find this information. As an associate you should try to meet the expectations of the practice, however if there is an issue with the expected job description that you didn't see prior to accepting the position then you should talk with the owner or office manager / team leader. The dental assistant might need help. As an associate helping the assistant will communicate that you understand that their time is valuable. Your boss can be a mentor, however as a new associate an experienced dental assistant can be invaluable mentor as well. Dental skills will grow within the first 3 years. You should look at your dental team as a resource.
Supporting your owner can involve understanding the costs of materials or operatory time. If you tell the owner that you are trying to learn an new skill and you understand that you will be slower at first with the procedure might allow a beneficial conversation. This will allow open communication with the owner and provide understanding that in the future you hope to have increased revenue for the owner for providing a service that you wouldn't have been able to provide before. It is important to not hurry through procedures - this can have worse effects or decrease income due to more remakes. As an associate you should have a positive attitude. Like any staff member, if they are not wanting to work at the office it is best to work at another office where they will be more happy.
How do you build relationships? One on one interactions will show you care. Know what is happening with your dental team. Being a good listener can show you care.
Staff salaries depend on how much they produce. Sometimes personalities can be essential to the office and provide the glue to keeping good staff. Some staff have great personalities that bring in patients. These staff might be paid more - some of these qualities can't be quantitatively measured. It is good for staff to have goals every 6 months and have these be tied to the bonus. Staff appreciate bonuses during the holidays. Staff that are paid hourly are a variable not fixed cost. Most associates are not independent contracts as outlined by the IRS standards.
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Communication
Communication between staff is important. Having staff communicate well to patients is also important. To ensure that staff are improving their communications skills, team building exercises can help. Staff can help build patient trust prior to the dentist presenting the treatment plan. "Listen first, speak last." Don't need to give patients a complete treatment plan the first appointment. You can provide to the patient at the second visit.
Creating patients into cheerleaders is a great practice builder. Creating office systems to increase the likelihood for this to happen can help by using scripts and practicing these with your team. Trust is important and team members deserve to have a safe work environment. It is a dentist's role as a leader to ensure that there is a safe work environment. This could be an angry staff or angry patient. Avoid negative impressions with simple eye contact greeting. Practicing this can improve the delivery to the patient or staff member.
Workplace Culture
Knowing staff personalities can help understand how the relationships will form. Personality testing can allow staff to understand each other. Some personality inventory types are Meyers Briggs (scientifically disproven), Hogan, MMPI, and Big Five Inventory. Personality descriptions will help you learn about yourselves as well. Communicating your values - even in a breakroom - is important to allow staff members to understand the values of your practice.
Office design can change how one feels about the environment. For instance glass can show transparency and round/curved walls can be more comfortable.
Additional ADA resources:
2. ADA Guidelines for Practice Success
3. A Dentist's Guide to the Law
Personality Inventory Test!
Take the Big Five Inventory below. The personality test is anonymous and your scores will be added to the class average personality chart. There are 50 questions and make sure to hit submit after you finish the questions. Please answer honestly so we can see what type of personality your class has!
Scoring your personality
Extraversion/Extroversion: Energy derived from social interactions.
High score means you seek excitement and adventure, make friends easily, speak without thinking, and enjoy being active with others.
Low score means you have a hard time introducing yourself, feel tired after socializing, avoid large groups, and are more reserved.
Agreeableness
High score means you are caring/honest, interested in people, and believe the best about others.
Low score means you are stubborn, self-centered, and have less compassion for others.
Conscientiousness:
High score means you like things in order, come prepared, are goal-driven, and persistent.
Low score means that you are less organized, complete tasks in a less structured manner, do things last minute, and are more impulsive.
Neuroticism
High score means you feel vulnerable/insecure, get stressed more easily, and have mood swings.
Low score means you are calm in stressful situations, more optimistic, and have a more stable mood.
Openness
High score means you enjoy trying new things, enjoy being creative, have a good imagination, and are willing to consider new/different ideas.
Low score means you prefer the familiar, avoid change, and are more traditional in your thinking.
Here is a graph of the class average personality:
Self-Assessment
Please use this self-assessment tool to see your understanding of the material. Click on the answer that you feel is the best. If you choose the incorrect answer you can use the arrow on the upper left or click "try again" to go back to the question.
