Linda Miles Perspective

Do you Hire or train optimal teams?

So many dentists are at a loss when it comes to hiring, training, motivating and retaining employees. This article will hopefully answer some of the questions as well as offer timely tips for those who have staff or need to add additional team members. I will also address the often-asked question from dentists in regard to the transfer of loyalty from the previous dentist/owner to them if they bought an existing practice and inherited existing staff.

Question 1: Let's begin with HIRING "Where do you find good people?"

My answer to that is, "you don't find them, you create them".

While skills are important, in my opinion, they are second in line to personal traits that are more important. I always look for attitude, personality and image. The skills can be learned but if the attitude is negative, they have few people skills or they are not neat in appearance, it is very difficult to "change to stripes on a tiger". It is a known fact that happy people produce more than unhappy folks. Since dentistry is a people business, hiring people who do not like interacting with people is a huge mistake. And......, you can send someone to an image consultant and re-dress them but it is a known fact, some people do not value a professional image. This is not good in a care-giving profession as "the way a person takes care of him/herself is the way they will take care of others". To me this is basic and very important to the hiring process. It amazes me how some people dress for professional interviews and basically ruin their chance of a second interview.

Besides skills such as dental business or clinical, the employer or prospective employer needs to assess their own leadership skills to determine whether they will have total success in the hiring process. When I mentioned above that you don't "find good people, you create them", the question is; are you a positive role model of the person(s) you wish to surround yourself with? The employees will take on the same traits as their leader.

I have personally met staff who are 4's on a scale of 1-10, with ten being the best. These staff members worked in a negative work environment with a negative boss and co-workers. They had jobs, not careers. They were not properly trained, they were criticized in front of patients and co-workers, never felt appreciated and disliked going to work. I have seen these same people leave one office for another and become 12's on a scale of 1-10. Interestingly, the only thing that changed was the environment, boss and co-workers. Doctors cannot motivate their own employees but they MUST create an environment of self-motivation, which is a participative versus dictatorial management style. Employees must be trained, trusted, praised and appreciated. They must have opportunities for CE and challenged to move themselves and the practice to a higher level each year. They must feel that their ideas will be listened to and sometimes implemented. They must know they are in a safe and open environment with lines of communication open to all team members. Then and only then will you have created the cream of the crop employees who will go the extra mile for the patients, practice, employer and co-workers.

Question 2: How do I attract applicants to my office? I've tried newspaper ads with little success.

While most dentists use this medium to find employees, you can also get many non- qualified applicants who waste your time. I highly recommend telling your local dental sales representatives and other dentists in the community at dental meetings. The local dental assistant/hygiene associations often have employment chairpersons keeping a data base of those looking for a position or those seeking new staff. You may also use a placement agency many of which do the initial screening for you. Some dentists I know contact the dentists with current help wanted ads that have already done the interviewing process. If they had more than one qualified applicant, the second dentist offers to pay for the other dentist's ad for giving them the names and numbers of the other qualified person(s) for interviewing. (It's a good idea to get permission from the applicant first.) Check your local and state dental assisting and hygiene schools. Look to your staff and ask them if they know of anyone who may be a good candidate to talk with. Some offices have had outstanding results of hiring patients in their practice to join their team. It's better than hiring a stranger. One of my clients sits down with his team having them write down all the personal traits they want the new hire to have. Then they write down names of people they know that may fit the qualifications. If the dentist hires one person that a particular staff member recommended, after the 90 day trial employment, the staff member making the recommendation receives a $400 recruitment bonus which is far less expensive than the ads and time involved in interviewing. Also, the employee who helps hire this person is much more likely to welcome them with open arms versus, "Oh, by the way I spent Saturday morning interviewing and your new co-worker will be here next Monday" routine.

Question 3: How do I orient new employees to my practice?

It's a good idea to have a week or two of orientation. Assign the new hire with a buddy. This person is their contact for all questions and all training during the orientation. They take them to lunch; show them where to keep personal belongings, go over the office manual with them, do hands on training (if warranted), and answer simple questions such as "how does this microwave work?" This gives new members on the team a connection and makes them feel as though the red carpet has been rolled out to meet them versus, "just watch us and eventually you'll get the hang of how we do things here" which is training through osmosis!!

Question 4:  How do I keep my team happy and challenged?

Some people believe that money is the only motivator. While money is important to all workers, at the top of the list of what employees value most is APPRECIATION. Since dentistry is a female dominated work place, both male and female employers need to know that females are born caregivers who love responsibility, recognition, rewards and respect. I call these the 4 R's of motivation. Praise in front of patients and co-workers is like water and sunshine, it makes the human being grow.

Team and doctor incentives are great. Remember that the main reason for incentive bonus plan failures is when the goals are reached, the business owner must be the happiest person on the team or the bonus plan actually de-motivates! Bonus plans must be simple and fair to patients, the practice as a business, the doctors, and staff. Bonuses must also be the same for all employees. Their salary is personal and based on their personal worth to the practice. In order for the team bonus plan to work, all employees that work the same number of hours should be awarded the same bonus amount. Part-timers should be prorated. Individual bonuses create staff competition and jealously, which in my opinion is worse than having no plan. Also remember how important respect is. "You must give respect in order to have it returned". Also remember that "the team will treat your patients EXACTLY the way the doctor(s) and upper management treats them"! And...if you want loyal employees, “TRUST breeds loyalty".

Question 5: How do I get the team to believe in my dentistry and me like they did their previous boss?

It is a known fact among management consultants that the attrition rate of previous staff is usually high after the new dentist takes over. There are many reasons for this and they include:

If the long term employees have reached a salary level that worked well with the departed dentist whose production was much higher than the new dentist/owner, the new dentist may not be able to continue to employ the long term staff who puts the office staff salary in the 35% plus range. While I believe that long term employees are worth their weight in gold to a new dentist, after 6 months, if the production does not increase to get the higher salaries into a more comfortable level, the new dentist has no alternative except to hire others willing to take a lesser pay or benefit package.  I am not an advocate of this, but numbers dictate the reality of this alternative.

If the employee had deep rooted loyalty to the departed employer and nothing the new dentist says or does pleases them, they must be replaced by positive people who realize that the new doctor needs the staff's full support. While there are changes in the practice, if they value their career they must adapt to these changes and adopt the new owner, giving him/her their full support and endorsement. Patients quickly pick up on negative vibes. I've seen new dentists lose many more patients because the team members were actually de-marketing them and their dentistry to the patients by their lack of enthusiasm for these changes.

Hopefully by addressing these hiring tips, the future of hiring will be easier and more productive for each dentist who reads this article. Managing the dental practice is easy, productive and fun if the entire team pulls in the same direction at the same time. You have spent years perfecting your skills to become dentists. You deserve the very best this profession and a happy team can offer.