Archive for Dental Team Development
Practice Stress or Practice Peace
Posted by: | CommentsThe economic slowdown has created a general sense of insecurity and restlessness. It is often during the hardest times, rather than the most peaceful times that you find a purpose that gives you meaning. As dentists and business owners, purpose and peace must prevail. Albert Einstein once said of life, “It’s simple, but not easy.”
Every day brings a choice: to practice stress or to practice peace. Finding inner peace does not require hours of daily practice. You don’t have to stand on your head or sit in a meditative position. All it takes is a little willingness and common sense. Life is a precious gift to be savored, not an endless series of chores to complete while you complain about your “practice life.” Remember, your to-do list is immortal. It will live on long after you are gone.
It is impractical to believe that peace is some distant goal, attainable only by a few fortunate souls blessed with good genes, superior brain chemistry, plenty of money, or a calling to become a monk. Peace has not deserted even the craziest and busiest among us. The most basic fact about being human is that peace is our own true nature, our fundamental state of mind. There is a Buddhist saying that peace is like a sun that’s always shining in your heart. It’s just hidden behind clouds of fear, doubt, worry, and desire that continually orient you towards the past or future. The sun comes out only when you’re in the present moment.
The happiest and most productive people are passionate about life. They radiate an infectious enthusiasm that makes “business” a pleasure rather than a problem. Passion focuses your personal energy. Without purpose, energy tends to remain scattered. Periods of letting go are also critical to the creative process. The history of invention and discovery are filled with stories of people who work with enthusiasm, but can’t quite get to that “Aha!” The answer usually comes when they stop thinking and striving. Einstein had his greatest “Aha!” (related to his theory of relativity) while sailing on a boat one weekend after spending many fruitless weeks laboring in his study.
One workable strategy for maintaining peace (sometimes defined as productivity and profitability) over the long haul is to learn how to relax and take care of yourself. There are literally thousands of ways to relax. This week put aside an hour a day to relax in whatever you enjoy. You will find that instead of constricting the amount of time available for you to get things done, the day will seem to unfold in a more languorous, spacious way. The to-do list will still get done, and you will live to tell about it.
Learn to take care of yourself. Think of a person whom you love and respect. For the next week, each time you forget to take care of yourself, pretend that someone dear and precious lives inside you. Honor that person; treat them with all the respect they deserve. If you adopt this daily practice, little by little a strange and wonderful transformation will occur. You will remember how to be good to yourself. And you will experience how much more creative and productive you are when you know you are worthy of your own care and love.
Peace is not a distant goal. It is already within you. Release the sunlight of your spirit by learning to relax and take care of yourself. Practice peace – you’re worth it!
The Blessed Dental Staff Meeting
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Part 1 of 2
Several years ago Mike and I were discussing staff meetings and he suggested to me that if possible he would take the staff to lunch weekly. At the time I thought that it would be too often, and my attempt at weekly was not received as I anticipated. I am writing here to share my experience with this pearl of an idea with you as to the untold benefits that it can bring you and your practice.
After trying for weekly I asked my receptionist to schedule it as often as possible. Four years later we are now consistently doing this twice a month. We go to breakfast or lunch with each meal having a different advantage. We allow an hour for breakfast and one and a half hours for lunch. Lunch needs more time as we may not consistently be able to leave on time due to patient treatment.
Breakfast has distinct advantages over lunch that are important. We have our staff huddle for the day before we leave the office for this meal to be ready for the day. The major advantage of this meal time is that for the most part no member of the staff has had to receive any stress from a patient. This is a very important fact. The breakfast meeting allows for exchange that is not tainted with patient stress and their behavior. The breakfast time allows for personal exchange that is most important. These meals do not have an agenda related to business. For the most part we do not talk business as this is a time for socializing.
Occasionally, I will bring issues that affect our team dynamics. Whenever you have group dynamics, you will have friction. It is inevitable that this occurs, and it is the handling of this problem that is important to your practice. You may have considerable different ages with your staff, and the problems at home do differ with age. Some of your staff may have teenagers at home, and some may have adult children who have left the nest only to return with their children and different stresses. It is good to become a supportive, interactive group with a concern for the mental and physical health of each member of the staff. The breakfast meeting facilitates this interaction if it is laced with honesty from each member. This is the essence of handling interpersonal friction. Life is hard and it is suffering as the first great truth of Buddha states to his followers. Keeping this fact in mind with the group dynamic is invaluable.
Sharing must be honest for this meeting to be of help to your group, and it may take some time before everyone feels safe to be honest. You will have to allow time for this process to happen, and it will. Do not try to force this issue; it will only make things worse and stress staff members.
See Part 2 Coming Soon!
Maximize Weekly Staff Meetings
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the goals of the Schuster Management Program is to teach your team to better define your practice systems, thereby enabling you to work in unison toward a common goal of success. Staff meetings not only allow opportunities for enhancing communication within your practice but they give your employees an environment of predictability and stability. A common comment we hear from our graduates is that after they have completed the Management Program, they are not certain what they should be working on during staff meeting times. The purpose of this article is to give you some suggestions and topics to ensure the success of your staff meetings for years to come!
1. Case Studies - Many of our clients have told us how much they have benefited by reviewing a completed case as a team. Questions such as, “What could we have done better relative to the patient’s treatment”, and “Clinically, what could we have done to improve the outcome?” are great customer service questions.
2. Recare Review - Once a month, the hygienist should report on the patients who were due for hygiene this month, who is accounted for and who is now missing in action. What is their strategy for contacting those patients and more importantly, why did they not respond to the retention efforts?
3. Structured Messages - This should be an ongoing project. You created a number of messages during your Management Program but your practice has an enormous opportunity to refine and create more as a team. Many offices only use structured messages for phone conversations but you can use these for virtually any face-to-face interaction. The format can be used to help with your pre-clinical interviews, chair-side education, and financial arrangement conversations.
4. Communication – Your ability to communicate your thoughts, feelings, ideas, values and beliefs are determined by how well your practice runs. We often limit ourselves by only thinking about how we communicate person to person. However, you might consider reviewing all of your printed materials to check for the consistency of the appearance and the message you are sending. Your web site, yellow page ad, signage, phone messages, collection calls, etc. should be evaluated on a consistent interval.
5. Career Development - The best practices hire and retain the best people as employees and are responding quickly to changing market conditions. The doctors are not satisfied with the status quo. They continually upgrade facilities, processes, and the skill of their employees. Many of my doctors lament about not having enough time to get trained on power point or digital photography. Why not send a team member?? Don’t forget to invest in talent and keep them intellectually challenged. Many of my best clients have mismanaged very talented team members by not investing in their development. Take time to plan out your employee’s career path so they continue to be renewed and recommitted to your practice.
The opportunities for creating the practice of your dreams are unprecedented. But so are the difficulties, for competition is more intense than ever. The critical success factor for your practice is the quality of your team. Authentic team members who are mature and committed will make your vision become a reality. However without meaningful staff meetings in place, your opportunities for success will be limited.
Fraud? In MY dental practice?!
Posted by: | CommentsSmall businesses are the most vulnerable to occupational fraud and abuse. According to a report by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, small organizations suffer higher median losses than large organizations. Based on its survey, which was conducted between January 2006 and February 2008, small business losses averaged $200,000. Check tampering and fraudulent billing were the most common small business fraud schemes.
Considering the potential losses, it behooves small-business owners to make the prevention of fraud a priority in their business. Though no business owner wants to feel it employs unscrupulous people, sometimes temptation or personal financial pressures can push even the hardest working, most trusted employee into perpetrating fraud.
The first step in preventing employee fraud is letting employees know you’re watching for it. Perception of detection is a very powerful deterrent. Create a way to let your team know that you are educated about the cash flow systems in your practice.
The Schuster Center has identified a few methods you can use to minimize your risk. Some methods seem common sense. But when taken into consideration with other preventive measures, they help fortify a business against fraudulent activity.
First and foremost, hire the right employees. Conduct background checks for people handling inventory and money. Check past employment, criminal convictions, references, and education and certifications. Remember to always get the written consent of candidates before doing research since many federal and state laws govern the gathering of such information.
Maintain strong internal controls. Have checks and balances in place. For example, you don’t want a signatory on the bank account balancing the checkbook. If that employee can write checks on the account, they can reconcile the bankbook and would be free to manipulate the check register.
Make sure expenditures are approved. For every expense, the doctor should approve it. The doctor will ensure that the expenses are valid, while your accounts payable officer will run the math.
Monitor cash situations. If you don’t have a petty cash control policy/system, you should consider writing one.
Balance your accounts receivables daily. If you do not know how to do this, get the training.
Conduct surprise audits. Catching an employee off guard could be your best bet in discovering fraud. The key is that an employee generally doesn’t know what’s coming and won’t have the time to change the records to hide the fraud. If you suspect it, hire a professional auditor. Using sampling and analysis techniques, auditors can quickly examine invoices in detail, including invoice numbers, to whom payments were made, when payments were made, and quickly determine those that are suspicious.
We heard of a practice with an employee that actually created a phony dental supply company, submitted invoices to the accounts payable officer (doctor’s spouse) and then sent the payment to a P.O. box! A surprise audit also can uncover duplicate invoice amounts and duplicate invoice numbers, both of which can be red flags for possible wrongdoing.
Create a fraud policy. Simply inform employees during employee orientation, training programs, memorandums, or other communication, that fraud is not tolerated. Be sure to inform employees of the actions you will take if you suspect or determine that fraud has been committed.
Enforce mandatory vacations. Our clients have found that if their employees don’t take time off, they may be afraid to go on vacation because someone may notice that something is not right. Requiring employees to take time off can aid in the prevention of fraud.
–For help with dental practice management, dental case presentation, hygiene as a profit center, business plans for the dental practice, dental continuing education seminars and more, go to www.SchusterCenter.com or call 1-800-288-9393
Dental Practice Followership
Posted by: | CommentsDentist – Being a good leader requires good followers!
At first glance, Followership seems to be the antithesis of Leadership. In sharp contrast to leadership, there is a dearth of writing on the art of following. The superhighway is replaced by the dirt track. While some authors make reference to it in their writings on leadership, relatively few have focused on the follower as a key player in successful leadership.
Developing an adequate definition of a “follower” is made difficult because the concept is seen as trivial, obvious and lacking substance. The words “minion”, “subjection”, “underling”, may come to mind when conceptualizing followership. The following definition draws on the thoughts of R. Kelley (not to be confused with the singer), a major contributor to the literature on the role of the follower.
“A follower is one who pursues a course of action in common with a leader to achieve an organizational goal. Effective followers make an active decision to contribute towards the achievement of the goals and demonstrate enthusiasm, intelligence, self-reliance and the ability to work with others in pursuit of the goal. Effective followers recognize the authority of the leader and limitations this imposes on their own actions, consider all issues on their merits, make their own decisions, hold their own values, speak their minds and hold themselves accountable for the consequences for their actions.”
In other words, effective followers, given the necessary information and room to move, can be trusted to take independent action to achieve a specific objective, subject to their receiving ongoing assistance and support to resolve issues beyond their spheres of competence and influence and to their receiving recognition for the work they are doing. It is important to note that while the behavior of the followers may be seen to be simply doing as they are told, their actions are the result of independent thought and decision making and would have been seen the same in the absence of the direction from the leader.
Followers actively evaluate their leaders and in many cases find their performance below par. Often it is the limitations imposed by a leader that stops the follower from performing at their best. From the follower’s viewpoint, effective leaders embrace them as partners and are influenced by their words and actions. Effective followers choose to follow a good leader (regardless of whether their participation in the team is a matter of choice) and accept all the consequences of that decision. In exchange, followers want their leaders to share information, involve them in decision making and create working environments in which the efforts of the followers are recognized, respected and rewarded.
Principles of ideal followership include:
*Demonstrating respect
*Thinking win/win
*Working within the system
*Acting proactively to fulfill or exceed expectations
*Appreciating differences
*Striving for a common goal (one shared with leaders)
*Recognizing authority leaders possess
*Being enthusiastic about organizational goals without complete reliance on the leader
*Recognizing the hierarchy of leadership while becoming a self-motivated mini-leader
Followers must have the confidence to speak out. They understand the necessity of the discomfort they may feel while communicating concisely with the leader, and they realize their role in helping the leader to make better decisions. Having the fortitude to speak candidly with the leader also comprises a leadership trait. Followers, according to this point of view, must regard silence as unacceptable. Becoming an “effective” follower within the leader/follower conceptual universe takes just as much work as becoming an “effective” leader.
–For more information on effective dental practice management and team development, go to www.SchusterCenter.com or simply call 1-800-288-9393.
Dental Practice Insubordination
Posted by: | CommentsThere can be confusion as to when an employee is truly insubordinate or is guilty of some other infraction. We commonly deal with this issue when a dental practice has a new policy/system and it is ready for implementation.
Insubordination may be described as “resistance to” or “defiance of” authority, disobedience, refusal or failure to obey reasonable and lawful instructions, rudeness, rebelliousness, disobedient gestures, dismissive gestures, walking away, abusive language or other negative behaviors that result in an actual work stoppage.
Disciplinary sanctions can include written warning, final written warning or even dismissal depending on the severity of the offense. In our experience, most of our dentists have weak or non-existent systems when it comes to implementing disciplinary systems. Every employee not only has the responsibility to come to work and be on time and so on, but also the duty to obey all reasonable and lawful instructions. In other words, to do as he/she is told, within the parameters of what is accepted as being a reasonable and lawful instruction is at the heart of “insubordination”.
Obviously, any instruction that can be carried out without breaking any statute, common law or practice policy is regarded as “a lawful instruction.” This would also be the first requirement of a “reasonable” instruction.
But for the instruction to be reasonable, there are other elements required. An instruction can quite easily be lawful, but at the same time it can be unreasonable. For example, it would be appropriate for a dentist to instruct an employee to clean her operatory at the end of the day. But it would be unreasonable if you telephoned her late at night to return to work to do this.
It is a simple matter to determine whether an instruction is lawful or not. But defining “reasonable” simply means that the employee must have the necessary knowledge, skill, capability and ability to carry out the instruction. Instructing an employee to do something that she cannot do is not only unfair and unreasonable, but it is also unlawful.
It is not always clear whether or not a particular task falls within the parameters of an employee’s job description, when not specifically stated in writing. So it is a question of reasonable and rational judgment that must be applied here. Also worth consideration is whether the task in question is merely a “one time” thing, or is it likely to become a permanent element of that employee’s job description? An example may be asking a team member to arrange personal travel plans for the dentist.
Perhaps the best approach in those “one-time” situations is to use a bit of the old psychology, “Don’t assume, simply ask..” However, if the task would now become a permanent part of the employee’s job, then you would have to consult and reach agreement on the matter.
Please note, providing there is no dispute about whether or not the task falls within the parameters of the existing job description, that the consultation with the employee is purely to discuss the new task, the reasons for it, how it must be done, what standards must be met and any problems or difficulties the employee may wish to discuss. The consultation is NOT a negotiation during which you have to offer an increase in salary or improved benefits because of the extra work.
A Job Description, by definition, is a written description of those tasks that the employee is expected to do. Therefore, the fact that a specific task is not mentioned in writing in the Job Description, does not give the employee the right to refuse to do it now or in the future. If the employee and/or others doing the same job have performed the task in the past, and it is lawful and reasonable, then the employee(s) must continue doing it now even if she has suddenly discovered that it is not written in her Job Description.
Resistance should be brought to the employee’s attention, and she should be warned, that her continued unreasonable refusal may lead to disciplinary action, and the dental office should proceed accordingly.
–For help with dental practice management, dental case presentation, hygiene as a profit center, business plans for the dental practice, dental continuing education seminars and more, go to www.SchusterCenter.com or call 1-800-288-9393
Is your dental practice making money?
Posted by: | CommentsIt is a fact that the most profitable dentists are financially successful because of the team. No one person in your dental practice is responsible for increasing profits and revenue. It is achieved by the office receptionist making sure the patient is confirmed to show up to their appointment. The dental assistant who takes in the patient must make sure that the patient is promptly sat in the dental chair at the designated appointment slot. The dentist must be available to start work on the patient on time and finish on time. The dental assistant who ushers out the patient after treatment must remind the patient to schedule the follow up appointment with the office manager. And lastly, your accounting department should be on top of all outgoing invoices to the patient and insurance companies. Of course the team and their functions may vary from practice to practice, but what is more important is the way the team operates to make sure every aspect of the “business” and “service” are taken care of and that the accounts receivable have nothing to hinder the cash flow.
Dentists have to be the leaders of the system so each team member knows their role in the profitability of the practice. Many dentists would prefer to be doing dentistry than managing staff. Dentists would gladly spend continuing education hours improving their clinical skills rather than managerial skills. Dentists didn’t go to dental school looking forward to challenges with the staff, such as when someone quits suddenly, the computers die, or how to get more patients. Nobody goes into practice for those reasons.
But what is interesting, is that by putting a good management system into place, dentists actually have more time to do the dentistry they want to do. Dentists need management skills that are as precise as their clinical skills. I advocate managing by statistics, a method that enables the owner to measure the effectiveness of each individual staff member. This, in turn, will result in the practice making more money.
Guest Interview with Dr. Greg Sanchez
Posted by: | CommentsWe have a video here from one of our graduates, Dr. Greg Sanchez. He found the dental practice methods taught at The Schuster Center very helpful for his practice. Watch Greg here.
Effective Dental Collection Calls – Part 2 of 3
Posted by: | CommentsTip #5 Make the debtor right, even when they are wrong. This does not mean agreeing with what they are saying, but rather validating it. When given a ridiculous complaint, learn to say, “I can understand why you feel that way.” Or, “I can certainly see how something like that might happen.” This is a way to avoid a negative dialogue and helps maintain open lines of communication. Understanding their point of view, even as you share yours, will disarm the patient’s defensiveness.
Tip #6 Stay focused. Some patients will try to get you off track by complaining about their service, or somehow shifting the blame to you for their delinquency. Be polite, but always bring them right back to the point of your call getting paid the money rightfully due you.
Tip #7 Do not be manipulated. A screaming patient could be using their “adult temper tantrum” as a ploy to get you upset and end the conversation. At the very least, you’re not going to get anywhere with someone that mad. If a patient starts yelling stay calm and don’t interrupt. If you interrupt more than likely they will rewind like a tape recorder and you will have the pleasure of listening to that twice. Try reminding them that you cannot help resolve the situation if they are yelling. If that doesn’t work, you might say something like; “This obviously isn’t a good time for you. When can I call you back?” If they are abusive and are using obscene language hang up and proceed to the next step in your collection system.
The Coaching Department at The Schuster Center; support@cfpd.com
–For information on products and services for high profit dental practice management, call 1-800-288-9393 or visit www.schustercenter.com for dental continuing education opportunities.
Golden Dental Team Meetings
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the goals of the Schuster Management Program is to teach your dental team to better define your practice systems, thereby enabling you to work in unison toward a common goal of success. Team meetings not only allow opportunities for enhancing communication within your dental practice, but they give your employees an environment of predictability and stability. A common comment we hear from our graduates is that after they have completed the Management Program they are not certain what they should be you some suggestions and topics to ensure the success of your staff meetings for years to come.
- Case Studies – Many of our clients have told us how much they have benefited by reviewing a completed case as a team. Questions such as “what could we have done better relative to the patient’s treatment”, and “clinically, what could we have done to imworking on during staff meeting times. The purpose of this article is to give prove the outcome” are great customer service questions.
- Recare review – Once a month the hygienist (or whoever works the recare system) should report on the patients who were due for hygiene this month, who is accounted for and who is now missing in action. What is the strategy for contacting those patients and more importantly why did they not respond to the retention efforts?
- Structured Messages – This should be an on-going project. You created a number of messages during your practice management training, but your practice has an enormous opportunity to refine and create more together as a team. Many offices only use structured messages for phone conversations. But you can use these for virtually any face-to-face interaction. The format can be used to help with your pre-clinical interviews, chair side education, and financial arrangement conversations.
- Communication – Your ability to communicate your thoughts, feelings, ideas, values and beliefs are determined by how well your practice runs. We often limit ourselves by only thinking about how we communicate person to person. However, you might review all of your printed materials to check for the consistency of the appearance and the message you are sending. Your web site, yellow page ad, signage, phone messages, collection calls, etc. should be evaluated on a consistent basis.
- Career Development – The best dental practices hire and retain the best people as employees and are responding quickly to changing market conditions. The doctors are not satisfied with the status quo. They continually upgrade facilities, processes, and the skill of their employees. Many of our doctors lament about not having enough time to get trained on power point or digital photography. Why not send a team member?? Don’t forget to invest in talent and keep them intellectually challenged. Many of our best clients have mismanaged very talented team members by not investing in their development. Take time to plan out your employee’s career path so they continue to be renewed and recommitted to your practice.
The opportunities for creating the dental practice of your dreams are unprecedented. But so are the difficulties, for competition is more intense than ever. The critical success factor for your practice is the quality of your team. Authentic team members who are mature and committed will make your vision become a reality. However without effective staff meetings in place, your opportunities to tap into the goldmine called YOUR TEAM will be limited.
—Article submitted by the Coaching Department at The Schuster Center. Feel free to comment here or contact us at www.schustercenter.com
