Practice building starts with team building

Team building is the key to successful practice building. Growing your business will happen organically if you consistently keep staff members in the know on the latest products and innovations, continuously satisfy patients' needs, and show appreciation for your team's great work.

Hire, train, trust, praise

Your team-building mantra should be "hire, train, trust, praise." By hiring staff members with great potential, training them to succeed, trusting their judgment, and praising their accomplishments, dentists can set their offices up for success.

Rhonda Savage, DDS.

The field of dentistry is constantly evolving with new research and best practices, so stay up-to-date on the latest news and encourage your team members to do so as well. Keep your office ahead of the curve by holding weekly regroups with your team to share any interesting findings.

Team members need appreciation and continued training to feel empowered and to excel in their role. In addition, they want to belong to a close-knit team. Staff members appreciate that their voice matters in the practice. Proper team communication and training will lead to success with patients and create a positive, informed environment.

Referral cards

If you can get patients something that will deliver great results and save them money, then you've done your job. This reassures patients that you care about their health first and foremost, which, in turn, generates rave reviews and referrals.

I also use a referral card that allows patients to exchange visits for oral care products. Patients are always pleasantly surprised by their new-patient gift and their ability to "trade" for the product that would be best for them. My team customizes our recommendations for each patient's special needs based on their oral hygiene condition and habits.

Job well done

To promote team motivation, help staff members feel appreciated for their contributions to the practice. For example, I like to surprise team members with well-deserved gifts to thank them for their hard work. Because having a great relationship with co-workers is the key to job satisfaction, I also recommend hosting regular socials and holiday gatherings to foster positive connections both inside and out of the office.

Because office training is scheduled routinely in my practice, I make sure these meetings are interesting to keep staff members motivated to attend. Each team member has specific roles during these meetings, such as presenting topics that are relevant to their department. This makes meetings fast-paced, meaningful, dynamic, and fun to attend.

Keeping motivation up takes planning and energy, and it can be driven primarily by the team, but the doctor's engagement is crucial. Team members want to feel important in their role and have the ability to grow in their career. For this reason, I challenge my staff to write down individual goals for growth.

Each of the goals have a three- to six-month timeline and the staff also write down the steps that they envision would be necessary to grow their skills and, thereby, grow the practice. It's important to remember that staff development is a key component of practice building as a more informed team leads to more patient success stories. Patients inherently feel the growth through the staff's confidence and their knowledge. A happy, confident team leads to satisfied patients.

Rhonda Savage, DDS, is the owner of Uptown Dental, a principal owner of Savage Dental Marketing, and CEO of Miles Global, an international dental training and consulting firm. She is a key opinion leader for Philips Oral Healthcare.