The following is a guest post by Ken Runkle, America’s Profitability Expert™ of Paragon Management, Inc.. If you are interested in guest posting for Dental Heroes, please sign up here.

Editors note: Due to the size of this post, I’ve broken it into two pieces. Part II will be published later this week…stay tuned…

Maximize Productivity and Minimize Problems

Are you tired of employee problems negatively impacting your practice? Your employees help power your practice. They have the potential to bring you great success or suck the life out of you and your practice. If you do not understand how to deal with people long-term, you will not be successful in the business of dentistry.

With proven strategies in place to maximize your staff’s productivity and minimize their problems, you create opportunities for peak practice performance and success. Without comprehensive and pre-emptive strategies for managing, leading and coaching your employees, you open the door to serious problems that may threaten the very existence of your practice.

Over the last twenty-five years of working with all sizes and types of dental practices, I’ve learned nine staff strategies found in the most successful practices we serve throughout the United States. When these strategies are in place, employees tend to thrive. When these strategies are absent, chaos and confusion sneak in.

1. Establish Written Standards

A professionally written Human Resource Manual is no longer optional. Without a manual covering all essentials related to employee issues, your practice is at risk.

It is critical that your practice have both a comprehensive and legally precise Human Resource Manual. We highly recommend utilizing a professional firm specializing in developing Human Resource Manuals for dental practices in your state. Each state has its own unique set of employee rules and regulations and it’s important to be in full compliance in order to minimize potential risk. Our management consulting firm recommends and helps purchase the highly-regarded Bent Ericksen manual for all of the practices we serve because of their diligence in ensuring the manual is thorough and in compliance with every law.

Regardless of the firm you choose, we do not recommend that you attempt to compile your own manual. Leave it to the legal experts. A good manual will protect you from liabilities ranging from unemployment to frivolous lawsuits. Your staff will thank you and your lawyer will rest easy.

2. Communicate Clear Expectations

It is not enough to let your staff know that you want “excellence” or “professionalism” or “good customer service.” You must communicate in detail exactly what it looks like to meet your expectations. And, you must repeat your clear expectations over and over again on a consistent basis even after they are fully implemented.

Over the last few years, we have noticed a substantial increase in the number of practices scripting out phone greetings and responses to keep the front desk in line with the clear expectations of the doctor. We’ve also noticed more and more successful practices taking their staff through role-playing exercises to ensure patient interactions represent the vision of the practice.

On the clinical end, we are seeing choreography established for every aspect of the dental process. Ranging from how a doctor prefers to receive instruments to a complete step-by-step walk-through of each and every procedure, doctors are not only sharing expectations, but also showing expectations.

As the leader of the practice, it is your responsibility to communicate clear and detailed expectations for every aspect of your practice. You do not have the right to be frustrated by staff members who do not meet your expectations if they were not clearly communicated.

3. Provide a Taste of the Experience You Want to Create

Effective communication is often best accomplished in the context of experience. As many times as you may have been told as a child to finish your dinner because there were starving kids in Africa, it probably never really settled in unless and until you tasted and smelled starvation in person.

In the same way, if you want to provide a five-star experience for your patients, your staff must experience what that looks like and feels like. Once during an in-office consultation, I conducted a quick survey of staff members. When asked to name a restaurant that provides a five-star experience, many of the staff members named Bob Evans. The doctor was stunned. No offense to Bob Evans, but I’m not sure they are in five-star territory.

You can waste hours talking about creating a special patient experience, but one trip to a five-star hotel, restaurant or resort will move them quickly from head knowledge to complete understanding.

4. Insist Life Issues Do Not Impact Performance

Every person on your staff brings life issues into their practice role. Whether it’s a family issue, financial issue, or other personal problem, they exist in your practice.

It is your responsibility, as the leader of the staff, to clearly communicate with your staff that although they may be dealing with difficult personal issues, their situation cannot affect their attitude, patient focus, performance or productivity. They must learn to park their problems at the door and not let them crowd over into the practice.

It is also important that you are aware of any issues that have the potential to impact work productivity and performance. If you have an employee who has a mother with stage-four cancer, you may have to make adjustments to help her cope during this difficult season in her life. Keep your ears and eyes open. Establishing an open door policy allows your staff the freedom to share difficult circumstances with you, providing you opportunity to stay on top of personal issues affecting your staff.

Your Thoughts

Do any of Ken’s strategies really resonate with you? Have you struggled with any of these in particular? Please share in a comment below.

Stay Tuned

Stay tuned to discover 5 more staff strategies that work in Part II of this post later this week…

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