FEATURES
A BETTER PRACTICE
Five tips for leading your team Roger P. Levin, DDS
Q
HOW CAN I MANAGE MY TEAM SO THAT THE PRACTICE RUNS MORE SMOOTHLY?
A
As a profession, dentistry remains steadfastly focused on high-quality clinical care. Nevertheless, a dentist must manage team members successfully so that the practice can provide outstanding care to patients efficiently. Management involves leading a group of diverse people who have varied personalities and skills to accomplish both clinical and nonclinical duties. Adding to the complexity of the challenge, dentists spend the majority of their days caring for patients. Any time they spend on administrative tasks subtracts from their time chair side. Consequently, running a dental practice requires specific leadership qualities and activities. The following 5 leadership skills will help dentists effectively guide their teams. 1. ESTABLISH A PROFESSIONAL WORK ENVIRONMENT
Employees typically emulate their leader’s behavior, whether positive or negative. When dentists act unprofessionally, they give team members permission to behave in a similar manner. Responsible leaders, though, recognize that they must consistently be the kind of staff member they are asking others to be. For example, if team members complain about a particularly difficult patient, the dentist needs
to redirect the conversation to how important customer service is, no matter which patient is in the chair or on the phone. Rather than chastising individuals for thinking or behaving a certain way, the leader should coach them on how to overcome a particular frustration. 2. EXPRESS EMPATHY
People lead complex lives. An assistant may have awoken to find that his or her children came down with the flu, the dog escaped the backyard, and the car wouldn’t start. This scenario represents an unusually unpleasant morning, but dentists need to understand that these types of difficulties can and do happen. When a team member is struggling, a little compassion makes it easier to shift that person’s focus back to practice performance. 3. PROVIDE STRUCTURED FEEDBACK
All staff member positions in a dental practice should have a written job description so that expectations are clear. Dentists should develop a list of 6 to 10 key areas to measure, with targets for each. Reviews should be conducted on a consistent basis (usually once a year) in a structured meeting between the dentist and the employee. It is the practice leader’s responsibility to maintain awareness of how staff members are performing and to provide accurate direction. These meetings are not about criticism but about guiding and mentoring team members to perform at consistently high levels.
4. SHOW APPRECIATION
In addition to regularly scheduled reviews, inspiring leaders go out of their way to express gratitude for a job well done. Providing a quick compliment to team members is an easy way to create and spread goodwill throughout the office. Dentists should promptly recognize those who finish a task quickly, deliver excellent customer service, or simply complete a difficult activity with a positive attitude. 5. DELEGATE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE
Dentists should strive to spend 98% of their time caring for patients during official work hours when patients are scheduled; during this time, all nonclinical duties should be delegated to other team members. Morning meetings should be held before the first patient is seen. These brief gatherings enable the dentist to share essential information with the team without interrupting patient appointments. Other, longer staff meetings should be held during nonpatient hours as well. With the proper systems in place, delegation will allow the staff to work efficiently and take ownership of their roles in contributing to practice success. Once all team members have achieved a high level of expertise and independence, the practice will operate at peak performance. AN EMPOWERED TEAM IS A POWERFUL TEAM
The above list of leaders’ responsibilities to their personnel is not exhaustive. However,
JADA 146(2) http://jada.ada.org
February 2015 139
FEATURES
addressing these items first will enable the dentist to quickly initiate improved performance. Through the management techniques outlined here, practice owners will keep team members
140 JADA 146(2) http://jada.ada.org
motivated and boost morale while improving operations. n http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.adaj.2014.12.003
Dr. Levin is the founder and chief executive officer, Levin Group, 10 New Plant Court, Owings Mills, MD 21117, e-mail [email protected]. Address correspondence to Dr. Levin.
Copyright ª 2015 American Dental Association. All rights reserved.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or official policies of the American Dental Association.
February 2015
A BETTER PRACTICE
Five tips for leading your team Roger P. Levin, DDS
Q
HOW CAN I MANAGE MY TEAM SO THAT THE PRACTICE RUNS MORE SMOOTHLY?
A
As a profession, dentistry remains steadfastly focused on high-quality clinical care. Nevertheless, a dentist must manage team members successfully so that the practice can provide outstanding care to patients efficiently. Management involves leading a group of diverse people who have varied personalities and skills to accomplish both clinical and nonclinical duties. Adding to the complexity of the challenge, dentists spend the majority of their days caring for patients. Any time they spend on administrative tasks subtracts from their time chair side. Consequently, running a dental practice requires specific leadership qualities and activities. The following 5 leadership skills will help dentists effectively guide their teams. 1. ESTABLISH A PROFESSIONAL WORK ENVIRONMENT
Employees typically emulate their leader’s behavior, whether positive or negative. When dentists act unprofessionally, they give team members permission to behave in a similar manner. Responsible leaders, though, recognize that they must consistently be the kind of staff member they are asking others to be. For example, if team members complain about a particularly difficult patient, the dentist needs
to redirect the conversation to how important customer service is, no matter which patient is in the chair or on the phone. Rather than chastising individuals for thinking or behaving a certain way, the leader should coach them on how to overcome a particular frustration. 2. EXPRESS EMPATHY
People lead complex lives. An assistant may have awoken to find that his or her children came down with the flu, the dog escaped the backyard, and the car wouldn’t start. This scenario represents an unusually unpleasant morning, but dentists need to understand that these types of difficulties can and do happen. When a team member is struggling, a little compassion makes it easier to shift that person’s focus back to practice performance. 3. PROVIDE STRUCTURED FEEDBACK
All staff member positions in a dental practice should have a written job description so that expectations are clear. Dentists should develop a list of 6 to 10 key areas to measure, with targets for each. Reviews should be conducted on a consistent basis (usually once a year) in a structured meeting between the dentist and the employee. It is the practice leader’s responsibility to maintain awareness of how staff members are performing and to provide accurate direction. These meetings are not about criticism but about guiding and mentoring team members to perform at consistently high levels.
4. SHOW APPRECIATION
In addition to regularly scheduled reviews, inspiring leaders go out of their way to express gratitude for a job well done. Providing a quick compliment to team members is an easy way to create and spread goodwill throughout the office. Dentists should promptly recognize those who finish a task quickly, deliver excellent customer service, or simply complete a difficult activity with a positive attitude. 5. DELEGATE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE
Dentists should strive to spend 98% of their time caring for patients during official work hours when patients are scheduled; during this time, all nonclinical duties should be delegated to other team members. Morning meetings should be held before the first patient is seen. These brief gatherings enable the dentist to share essential information with the team without interrupting patient appointments. Other, longer staff meetings should be held during nonpatient hours as well. With the proper systems in place, delegation will allow the staff to work efficiently and take ownership of their roles in contributing to practice success. Once all team members have achieved a high level of expertise and independence, the practice will operate at peak performance. AN EMPOWERED TEAM IS A POWERFUL TEAM
The above list of leaders’ responsibilities to their personnel is not exhaustive. However,
JADA 146(2) http://jada.ada.org
February 2015 139
FEATURES
addressing these items first will enable the dentist to quickly initiate improved performance. Through the management techniques outlined here, practice owners will keep team members
140 JADA 146(2) http://jada.ada.org
motivated and boost morale while improving operations. n http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.adaj.2014.12.003
Dr. Levin is the founder and chief executive officer, Levin Group, 10 New Plant Court, Owings Mills, MD 21117, e-mail [email protected]. Address correspondence to Dr. Levin.
Copyright ª 2015 American Dental Association. All rights reserved.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or official policies of the American Dental Association.
February 2015
