Dos and don'ts for team building: Strengthen bonds by bringing out personal facts

It takes more than job descriptions to define the members of your practice team. They all have distinctive personalities, interests, and experiences that make them who they are. By bringing out just a little of this personal detail, you can strengthen the bonds among staff and improve teamwork. A simple way to do this is to go around the room during monthly meetings, asking team members to reveal a surprising fact about themselves.

Give examples to help get things started. Your staff may feel slightly embarrassed the first time you do this, so ease them into it. Explain that you want everyone to get to know each other better as real people, not just in terms of their functions at the office. Ask them to think about their hobbies, what they do for pleasure, their creative talents, favorite charities, etc.

Don't leave yourself out of the exercise. Sometimes, you need to stand apart -- as practice owner, team leader and doctor -- in the eyes of your team, but this is a case where you want to show that you're "one of them." Reveal when you first knew you wanted to be a dentist, your funny nickname in grade school, your favorite dessert, or any surprising personal fact that will make them feel closer and want to help you and everyone else on the team succeed.

Roger P. Levin, DDS, is the founder and CEO of Levin Group, the leading dental practice consulting firm in North America. For the complete list of dates and locations where you can attend his latest seminar, visit www.levingroup.com/gpseminars.

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