As another year drifts to a close, many of us are lamenting how quickly it has passed. The days of perpetual busyness leave little time to savor the successes or to step back to assess the possibilities. Often the moments we have are spent on the run dashing from one patient to the next, one project to the next, one crisis to the next. With a familiar sigh at the end of the day, the week, the month, and now the year, the common refrain is heard, “Where did the time go?”

However, standing at the dawn of a New Year means that 12 months and 365 days await, and there is no time like the present to commit to making the most of every waking moment in 2012. I don’t suggest packing more work hours on to your day or more patients into your schedule. What I want you to consider is carving out 15 minutes a day and two hours a month to increase your production – without working harder or longer. I want you to improve your patient retention – without giving away your dentistry. I want you to energize and enhance your team without handing over control of the practice. And, above all else, I want you to reduce your stress – without the use of chemical relaxants.

Daily and monthly business meetings are among the most cost effective practice improvement techniques you could implement in 2012…provided that you make the commitment to actually hold a meeting rather than hold court. Dentists and teams will often claim that their meetings don’t work. The reason, according to the team, the doctor is doing all the talking – directing actually – and the team is not encouraged to offer input. Conversely, the doctor will claim meetings never work because they turn into group gripe sessions or, on the flip side, no one participates.

Typically these meetings have either no agenda or an agenda that is handed out during the meeting, or staff are not expected to report on their specific areas of responsibility, or the doctor feels he/she has to report to the staff, or the staff feel this is the one time they have the doctor captive and will not release him/her until they’ve had their say. Indeed, those meetings are grossly inefficient and counter productive. There is a better way.

Beginning in 2012, commit to take 15 minutes to make the most of every day in the coming year.

Here’s how:

1. The scheduling coordinator distributes copies of the daily schedule and the next two day’s schedules to every member of the team.

2. Make personal notes regarding each patient, including births, deaths, marriages, patients they have referred, etc.

3. Note the amount of scheduled production for the day. Identify patients with unused insurance benefits.

4. Identify those patients that have outstanding balances/financial conditions that could affect treatment scheduled for that day.

5. The doctor and clinical staff identify where in the schedule emergency patients should be placed.

6. The clinical assistant evaluates the doctor’s schedule to determine where potential traffic flow problems might occur and if additional assistance will be needed for specific procedures.

7. The hygienist reviews individual patient charts for periodontal therapy that should be discussed as well as any unscheduled treatment plans that can be reinforced with the patients.

A team that plans…usually WINS!
Sally

Appreciation and gratitude given with sincerity, are priceless to the employee and don’t cost you a dime.

This holiday season, start a new tradition in your office. Sit down and write a personal note to each of your employees. Think about their contribution to the success of the practice and share that with them. The note can be simple and straightforward but must be completely sincere. During the staff holiday gathering hand it to the staff member with a sincere “Thank you.”

If you are giving holiday gifts, establish a budget. The gifts don’t need to be expensive but they should reflect that employee’s individual likes or interests. Gifts purchased en masse, such as those crates of oranges, are often viewed as meaningless tokens of obligation rather than genuine expressions of appreciation. Certainly giving gifts that are personalized takes time and thought but mean much more to the employee and the cost is less likely to sour your festive spirit.

For example, consider the following:

Give a rose for each year of employment on the employee’s anniversary.

Send a handwritten letter to the employee’s home

regarding their accomplishments and value to the practice.

Treat the team to the movies and snacks.

Create an “above and beyond the call of duty” award.

Pay dues to auxiliary professional organizations for the employee.

Schedule planning meetings off site at the zoo or a museum

and allow time for the team to enjoy the excursion.

Give extra paid vacation time between Christmas and New Year’s.

Encourage all staff to catch each other going above and beyond.

Share those “acts of excellence” with the doctor and the team.

Make this holiday special!

Are you doing something special with your team this holiday? Share your ideas here…

Ah yes, the holidays are upon us. They should be the opportunity for doctor and staff to celebrate another successful year as a thriving and productive team. They should provide the chance for the group, which has carefully monitored the systems, to plan a celebration that the practice can afford and the entire team, including the doctor, can enjoy. And a round, bearded man in a red suit should soar through the moonlit night bringing gifts to all and to all a good night.

Unfortunately, what should be seldom is. December is often the most stressful month of the year and it’s not just because you’re busy checking the list of who’s naughty and who’s nice. Production looks as bleak as mid winter.

Doctors, meanwhile, are feeling added pressure. It’s the time of year in which you are expected to show appreciation to your team members. Scrape your pockets, dig under the seat cushions, and hand over a chunk of cash. It may feel like a pound of flesh, but at least you’ve fulfilled your obligation. This is no easy undertaking. Like Santa’s overflowing bag of goods, many have to stuff a year’s worth of thanks into one single gift, hence the pressure to make it really, really special – more zeros than you can begin to afford.

But you have it all planned out. You’ll treat them to a nice lunch, maybe order something in from the sub shop down the street. You’ll put on the red hat, maybe throw in a little “Ho, Ho, Ho,” And you’ll hand each individual employee their very special bonus gift. You can see the looks on their faces now, each one carefully opens the envelope and examines the amount written on that nice, fat bonus check. Yes, siree, Santa Claus has come to town. And you should be numero uno boss in their eyes … for about the next 30 seconds.

Unfortunately the reception to your outpouring of generosity is more likely to feel like someone just let Frosty the Snowman in. Even if you do it up big with limousines and expensive dinners and gifts, showing appreciation once a year will cost you far more than if you would step back and take time each day to recognize the work of your team.