The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, had the right idea. Everybody deserves to be shown respect. In the perpetual quest to retain quality staff and motivate them to achieve peak performance, showing respect for your employees and appreciation for a job well done can yield more benefits than many doctors realize.

Of course, the employee has to have a healthy dose of self-respect and a sincere desire to achieve top performance. Given that, consider implementing these practical and effective staff motivators.

1. Tell the employee that they did a great job. Make it a point to recognize at least one employee every day for something they did that you considered excellent. This is so simple, not to mention cheap. But you would be surprised how few dentists actually practice this policy.

2. Treat your employees as people and recognize that they have responsibilities beyond your practice. In other words, doctor, remember they do have lives.

3. Create a climate of openness where staff can come to you to address issues that could affect performance. An open door policy fuels a feeling of teamwork and a commitment to addressing problems rather than just sweeping them under the autoclave.

4. Explain the rules of the game. Give staff a copy of the performance review that you use to evaluate and monitor their performance.

5. Accompany every raise with a letter explaining why the employee was deserving of the increase.

6. Challenge staff to work at their best by giving them rewarding responsibilities.

7. Provide opportunities for continuing education opportunities, and encourage them to participate in professional organizations. This will benefit both you and the employee.

8. Encourage employees to express their opinions and offer solutions to office challenges. Staff commit to those decisions they help reach.

If you use the above steps as a guideline for how you respect your employee’s performance, I’m sure you’ll find that none of your staff will ever be singing the blues!