Do's and don'ts for building your team's confidence

Organizations made up of confident people perform better. The message for practices is simple: If your team has more confidence, your practice will perform at a higher level.

Celebrate big and small wins. Some practices don't celebrate anything. Others celebrate only the big wins (like hitting a production goal) by giving a bonus or taking the team out to dinner or even on a trip. But the real opportunity to build self-esteem lies in the day-to-day small wins like getting a patient to accept treatment, receiving a long overdue payment from a patient, or filling in a last-minute cancellation with another patient. These are the small wins that are often overlooked or,  worse, taken for granted.

Don't forget to let team members know you appreciate them. Go out of your way to find reasons to tell team members how much you appreciate them. It can be as simple as recognizing when a front-desk person takes the time to update a doctor or clinical team member on a situation, patient, or phone call. When that happens, let the individual know that you appreciate their effort. You may think this is a natural part of the job and ignore it, but it's really an opportunity to demonstrate appreciation.

Dr. Roger P. Levin is CEO of Levin Group, a leading practice management and marketing consulting firm. To contact him or to join the 40,000 dental professionals who receive his Practice Production Tip of the Day, visit LevinGroup.com or email [email protected].

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