It’s ironic that dentists—who go through such intense training in dental school and keep learning throughout their careers—often underrate the importance of properly training their team. Many dentists complain about their team’s performance, and when they become Levin Group clients and our consultants visit, we can see why. The team members usually have the potential to serve the practice well, but their lack of training is holding them back.
Planning and implementing an excellent training program requires a considerable amount of time and expertise. That’s why so many of my company’s clients rate team training as one of the greatest benefits of working with us. If you recognize that your practice’s approach to team training leaves something to be desired, you need to think about seriously committing to upgrading it.
Meanwhile, look at the following common causes of problems in this critical aspect of practice functionality:
1.You keep trying to hire skilled staffers rather than training them.
Almost every dentist I’ve met (and that’s tens of thousands of them now) has made this mistake. They think: There must be plenty of people out there who can handle phone calls. Other practices have employees who know how to file insurance claims efficiently, right? If only I could find these capable, pre-trained team members, I’d be set.
Problem is, many of these individuals are poorly trained. Others who actually are good at their jobs are following protocols that are inefficient or otherwise inappropriate for your office. In other words, you’re indulging in fantasy if you think you can skip the cost and trouble of providing good training.
2. You think of training as a “once-and-done” proposition.
Maybe you think you just need to bite the bullet, immerse your staff in total training, and be done with it. That’s fine as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go far enough. Training never ends because everything keeps changing … the team members, paperwork requirements, communications technologies, the dental market, etc. If your training program isn’t designed to be kept up and continue at some level as long as your practice exists, you’re kidding yourself.
3.You see no reason to rely on experts for proper training.
How hard could it be, you ask. If you know what tasks need to be performed, then you or your office manager should be able to teach the needed skills to staff members. Actually, the art and science of effective training can’t be picked up by reading an article (like this one). Good trainers must be trained intensively, and their capabilities must be sharpened and refined through extensive experience. There’s room for some do-it-yourself training, but only as an adjunct to a program created and delivered by experts.
A dental practice’s success as a business depends heavily on efficient staff performance. To get anywhere close to your production and profit potential, start by overcoming these three misconceptions and sign up for some serious team training.
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