How do good businesses become great? That is the subject of Jim Collins’ best-selling book "Good to Great". Although written about large companies, the book discusses many lessons that apply to dental practices as well.
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THE RIGHT TEAM
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The author opens by explaining that businesses that go from good to great tend to focus on getting the right people "on the bus" and putting them in the right seats. Certainly, one of the main functions in dental practices is to secure the proper dental team.
There are problems in team-building, but some practices seem to figure them out and thrive. In fact, most practices producing in the top 10 percentile of the profession tend to have a very strong core set of team members. In this case, I refer to "core" not as the entire team, but as to a functional group of team members who tend to be good at their jobs and remain with the practice.
Unfortunately, many practices are unlikely ever to have a perfect long-term team. I will caution dentists reading this who think they have a perfect long-term team that the team may, in fact, be operating far below its potential. This doesnot mean that the team does not have the ability to grow, but rather that the dentist has reached a level of comfort with this long-term team and has not focused on increasing practice productivity.
The Core Team Theory is based on having highly skilled team members remain with the practice for a long period.
The practice always must focus on acquiring and growing several team members who are skilled at their jobs in different positions. In many cases, these positions include an office manager, front desk coordinator and dental assistant. It is a benefit to have a strong, long-term hygienist who is able to focus on increasing patient case acceptance and ancillary services, but you have the benefit of a licensing process that filters the applicants. Growing and developing skilled team members can be accomplished through a concept I have termed the "Core Team Theory."
The Core Team Theory, as applied to dentistry, is based on having highly skilled team members remain with the practice for a long period. In some cases, a set of people simply stays with the practice more because of luck than because of team-building. In the ideal situation, several people are trained in each position. If one staff member transitions out of the practice, there is another to act as the core team member and train the replacement. No practice, however, can afford leaving such an important process to chance. For every practice that has chanced on a long-term team, a dozen others are experiencing chaotic turnover.
The Core Team Theory allows for the fact that there will be turnover in the practice. To achieve the benefits of the Core Team Theory, the goal is not for the entire team to remain with the practice. Instead, the core team is in place to bring staff members into the practice, indoctrinate them into the culture, convey the skills required to do the job and demonstrate the daily operations of the office. In this way, the practice does not suffer significantly because of turnover. New team members are able to become part of the core team, thanks to outstanding on-the-job training.
One additional requirement of the Core Team Theory is that the dentists in these practices continue to motivate the members of the core team to improve consistently. They are not simply satisfied that the team stays with the practice day after day; continual improvement is the objective. This is achieved through excellent leadership, consistent communication from the doctor to the team and ongoing external continuing education. It is almost an unwritten expectation that the core team members will continue to improve their skills. In most cases, they find enhancement of skills and additional education to be a motivating factor to remain with the practice over the long term.
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BENEFITS OF THE CORE TEAM
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A core team creates an outstanding environment for any dental practice. Somehow, the doctor has communicated the vision, mission and general goals of the practice to the team. The team members are talented enough to excel in their jobs. Over time, they take tremendous pressure and stress off the doctor by accepting an increasing amount of responsibility. These practices are able to continue to grow, owing to the doctor’s ability to delegate responsibilities to other people rather than doing everything himself or herself. As the practice grows, the stress level does not increase and the office remains a positive and fun environment.
On the basis of my experience, I cannot say there is one guaranteed method of building a core team. A key element is getting the right people on the bus and putting them in the right seats. Other contributions can be bonus systems, small presents to the team as a thank-you, group vacations or a combination of these. While I have not found any one leadership methodology that ensures success of the core team concept, the implementation of systems that encourage core team growth is consistently effective in retaining satisfied staff members.
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SUMMARY
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Core teams should be created deliberately and systematically by the practice, rather than left to chance. The ultimate benefit of a core team is that it allows a practice to reach the highest percentiles of production at a low level of stress, without having to maintain all team members indefinitely. The core team acts as the training organization in all aspects of a new team member’s experience in the practice, giving that person the best opportunity to become part of the core team.
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THE RIGHT TEAM
BENEFITS OF THE CORE...
