10 ways to ensure that morning huddles will positively impact the dental practice

By Laura Jamison

Recently, a one-month survey was conducted to determine how you use your time. When asked if the practice had a morning huddle, 258 people voted and 60% said they did not. To be profitable, the solution is easy … close all the gaps that can be closed. A well-orchestrated morning huddle can add tens of thousands to your bottom line and ensure that the team receives consistent bonuses. How? By adding more revenue through creating opportunities or preventing missed ones.

Perhaps you’ve decided not to have a morning huddle because you are tired of meeting to “read the schedule.” Or you don’t want to be in the office any more than you have to. I get it. This is what I know for sure … when my clients and the team are polled at the end of one year of consulting, 90% of the employees claim that the morning huddle had the most profound effect on the practice.

Here’s how to do it well:
1. Believe that a morning huddle is like breakfast. Every day should start with it.
2. Be a good example. As the leader, expect to arrive at the office 10-15 minutes before your huddle begins. Every team member must make the same commitment.
3. Make it productive. Charts, schedules, accounts, and business numbers must be prepared and reviewed on a daily basis, the day prior to the huddle.
4. Allow each employee a block of administrative time daily. This time can be used to prepare a checklist for the next day’s meeting, finish up documentations for the day, confirm lab cases, and make follow-up phone calls. A 15-20 minute segment of the day can be set aside for these tasks (that 20 minutes after lunch is ideal).
5. Don’t waste time! Use a checklist to guide your morning huddle. When discussions cause a disruption, post the topic on a team meeting agenda form to discuss at your next staff meeting (place the agenda near where you conduct your huddle).
6. Sign up! So that a patient isn’t left feeling unwelcome at the front desk, create a beautiful sign to let him or her know that, “In order to be better prepared for your visit, we are in a brief team meeting. We will be with you promptly at 8:00.”
7. Start and finish on time.
8. Be positive. Encourage team members to be responsible for bringing thoughts for the day.
9. Stand. Don’t sit. This is not a coffee break.
10. Let your patients know how important they are. Remember the finer points of what you discussed in the morning huddle throughout the day.

Once you begin having a morning huddle, even with its inherent obstacles, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.

Morning huddle checklists and forms for the team members to use to prepare are available for purchase on the Jamison Consulting website.