A strong orthodontic practice depends on a motivated, accountable, and positive team—one that understands its goals, measures its performance, and maintains a culture that supports success every day.
By Roger P. Levin, DDS
The orthodontic team may be the most important aspect of practice success. Orthodontists drive production, but they can only drive it to the degree that the schedule has been properly constructed, analyzed, and carried out by the team. Orthodontists should be always thinking about how they can improve team performance and must work on it every day.
Three ways to improve team performance
Regardless of the team you have today, continual improvement is essential. The more you work on opportunities to help each individual reach their maximum potential and then galvanize those individuals into a cohesive positive team, the better your practice will perform and the more you will enjoy each day.
Principal #1: Create a culture of positivity
First, explain to the team that you are initiating a new culture. If you want people to know something you need to tell them and you need to tell them clearly and without any apology or embarrassment. Simply tell them that you are now working toward building a culture of positivity. You don’t need excuses. You don’t need to discuss past history of what was right or wrong. And you don’t need a long explanation. You, as a leader, are simply developing and implementing a culture of positivity.
One way to initiate the culture of positivity is to have something positive to say every day at your morning meeting (and if you do not have morning meetings, you’re missing one of the most important aspects of practice success). Start by bringing positive information, upbeat news, inspiration, anything that starts the day right. And then, for your monthly staff meetings, start by having everyone go around the room and say something positive that is happening in their lives. And finally, you as a doctor and the office manager, need to ramp up your enthusiasm. Be positive every single day all day no matter what.
Principal #2: Every team member needs to their numbers
Team members have different jobs, and each job has numerical measurements to determine if it is going well or not. Every team member should be assigned one to three measurements that they are responsible for and that are used to determine how they are performing. For example, a scheduling coordinator might have measurements around daily production goals, no-shows, or last-minute cancellations, and number of open or unfilled appointments. Each of these can have a specific measurement and that measurement needs to be assigned to and tracked by a team member. Then, the doctor and office manager can review the measurements to determine staff members’ overall performance.
Principal #3: Do not keep toxic team members
Periodically a practice will suffer from having a toxic team member. You can take all of the necessary steps to help this person change their negative attitude, but in my observation it rarely works. Once someone goes toxic, they usually need to be in a new environment.
A toxic team member will kill a culture of positivity and bring everyone on the team down to a lower level. Negativity is pervasive. It only takes one bad mood to bring down everyone in the office that day. Unfortunately, the only solution is to go through the pain and suffering of replacing this person. Don’t let one person kill what you’re trying to build.
Building a world-class team should be the goal of every orthodontic practice. You don’t need a team full of superstars to achieve it—you need a culture built on positivity, accountability, and consistency. When every team member understands their role, tracks their key measurements, and works within a positive and supportive environment, practice performance will improve. Eliminating negativity and maintaining daily enthusiasm from the doctor and office manager sets the tone for a team that performs at a high level and enjoys coming to work each day. OP
Photo: ID 73728918 © Jakub Jirsak | Dreamstime.com
Roger P. Levin, DDS is the CEO and founder of Levin Group, a leading practice management consulting firm that has worked with over 30,000 practices to increase production. A recognized expert on orthopractice management and marketing, he has written 67 books and over 4,000 articles and regularly presents seminars in the U.S. and around the world. To contact Levin or to join the 40,000 dental professionals who receive his Practice Production Tip of the Day, visit levingroup.com or email [email protected]
