How can you expect your staff to support you in your mission if it has not been clearly articulated to them? They are not mind readers. I find that what successful practices all have in common is a doctor who is a leader. That doesn’t mean that you have to be Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. You just need to be your own person and lead by example.

Successful doctors are aware of  performance numbers for their practice. They review day sheets at the end of every day. They are looking at collections and production and accounts receivables and numbers of new patients and where these new patients are coming from. These doctors  are pretty knowledgeable about their management software, and can print out reports when needed.  They usually have an accountant who understands dentistry and has other dental clients.  These successful doctors will request and review quarterly expense reports.  You would think that this is pretty basic stuff, but you would be surprised at how many docs are not paying attention to this, and, more importantly,  not sharing this valuable information with their staff.

Here are some other attributes of leadership that I see in the practices of successful doctors.

• Being on time. How about even being the first one in the office. every morning?  It may be a little much to be handing your staff  coffee on their way in–just the way they like it – but you get the idea.

• Being generous and caring to your patients. When staff see the doctor exhibiting this behavior, it is not that difficult for them to follow suit.

• Being involved with your community. People can’t measure or evaluate your clinical skills, but they can certainly assess and observe your willingness to volunteer your time to worthy causes. They then make the connection that if you are a good person, then you must be a good doctor. Presto – lots of new patients come your way. I cannot overemphasize the importance of this.

• Being concerned about your patients. Post treatment telephone calls to patients every evening is a must.

• Being willing to take the time to really listen to your patients. We all know  that listening is very different from hearing. Force yourself to build  a relationship and make that person feel – for the short period of time that you are interacting – that they are the most important person in the world and that they truly have your undivided attention. This kind of personalized attention by a doctor is what gets talked about and shared at cocktail parties.

What seems very apparent to me – and I see it a lot – is that some of the most successful doctors I know are just not all that impressed with their own importance. They are quite humble and low key. Clearly in life, some people are  natural leaders. But the foremost thing for you to try to do is just to be a good leader of your own team. This is definitely a requirement for success and an area where we can all improve.

Knowledge of human resources (HR) goes hand in hand with my last blog post on staff development. The doctor or the office manager needs to understand the intricacies of hiring and firing. If you are determined to build this great team, you will need to understand employment law. I believe that part of the reason for keeping some of these dysfunctional or inept or under performing staff members around is because the doctor is fearful of being sued for improper firing.

Courses on this topic are readily available, but here are some basics:

• Keep an employment file on every employee. This file is where you document your continuous assessment of the performance of a staff member. Proper documentation gives the doctor the courage and the confidence to make the decision to terminate the services of an employee, if necessary.

• Conduct performance reviews for every staff member two or three times each year. Lead off with what the employee is doing well. Then suggest improvements to performance that you would like to see. Then ask if there is anything that you can do to help the employee achieve success. Write down what you discussed  and keep the notes in the employee’s file – otherwise you will never remember. At the next performance review, you will be prepared to continue the discussion.

• Write out clearly defined and detailed job descriptions for all staff members. These need to be continuously updated to be relevant.

• Spend the money to have a professional create a well written, current office policy manual that meets legal standards. In today’s litigious society, you will be living dangerously without this manual.

• Be sure to purchase EPLI insurance. This is an essential but relatively inexpensive insurance policy that will cover your legal costs to defend a lawsuit relating to improper firing or sexual harassment. It will–in the unlikely event of a judgment against you- also cover that cost up to–depending on the limit of the policy–250 to 500K.

• Stay current with OSHA regulations and get certified annually. It seems like the only time that OSHA even gets involved with a dental practice anymore is when there is a complaint from a disgruntled staff member.

The bottom line is that it is very expensive to stumble  and realize that you have hired the wrong person. Training is a big investment of time and effort. So it is important to do everything you can to be successful the first time around. But when you do make a mistake- and of course it is bound to happen – it is imperative to know the rules of hiring and firing. Bite the bullet. Take your medicine.  Move on and take the appropriate action. You owe this to yourself and to your other staff members.

As promised in my last post, I want to share what I have found to be the ten major reasons certain dental practices are more successful than others. The surprising thing to me is that only two are related to clinical excellence. So what better time than now, at the beginning of a new year – “resolution season” as they say – to decide to make some changes and improvements to the way you run your business.

I haven’t made an attempt to rank these ingredients for success, except for today’s topic. In my opinion, the number one biggest challenge in any business today, dentistry or otherwise, is to assemble and keep–over long periods of time–a dedicated, talented, business savvy, customer service oriented group of individuals who function well as a team.  Building this team has to be the number one priority if you want to be successful.

Now I know that many staff members read my blog posts, so I don’t want any of them to misunderstand or misconstrue the comments I am about to offer. They should know – unequivocally – that they will never find anyone more staff friendly than I am. In the course of my work, I interact with literally hundreds of staff personnel every month – and the large majority do a great job.

I feel quite strongly that it is the responsibility of the doctor to create an environment where staff truly love to come to work. Your patients will absolutely feel this karma. You need this kind of staff because it is impossible for a doctor to achieve success on his or her own. It is hard enough just to try to get through each clinical day. You need to surround yourself with people who can do their jobs extraordinarily well. These people in fact want to be held accountable for their performance. They do not need or want to be micromanaged.

I sometimes  see situations where one or two staff people hold back everyone else. They poison the atmosphere. I’ve had doctors tell me they hate coming to work knowing they have to deal with this toxic environment. And often these offending staff members have been employed for years and years. They feel empowered. They truly feel that the practice would crash and burn without them, when in fact, when they are let go or dismissed, a huge weight is lifted off everyone else’s back, and the practice begins to grow again.

I also see many instances of talented staff members leaving because the doctor just will not get rid of the bad apples. It is really interesting to realize–and this is one of my favorite sayings–that the way you feel about someone is usually the way that most people do. Patients, as well as staff, will vote with their feet. They may not tell you why they leave – they often just disappear –but a lot of times it is because of the behavior or attitude of a staff member. Repeatedly I will hear that when a staff member is finally let go, so many patients now say to the doctor, “why did it take you so long to take this action.”

To summarize, I feel your number one resolution as you enter 2014 is to commit to building a great team one person at a time. You should hire for attitude and train for skills. Pay them well. Compliment them often. Tell them how much you appreciate their efforts, and that you couldn’t do what you do without them. This process of team building could take months, but the effort will be so incredibly worth it.