SECRETS TO DENTAL TEAM MOTIVATION

You’ve heard it said that the aura of a dental office depends on the staff as much or more than on the dentist.  So true!  Your team is involved from the beginning to the end of each patient appointment.  From the telephone greeting to scheduling appointments, from welcoming patients to assisting with treatment or providing hygiene care, from collecting fees to filing insurances to billing, from rescheduling and dismissing patients to contacts between visits---your staff handles it all.  The way team members relate to patients sets the tone, mood, aura, perception (good or bad) of your office. 

And, consider this fact---often, staff members relate to patients in the same way you relate to the team, as individuals and as a group.  I’ve witnessed it again and again in my 35 years of consulting---a sound, pleasant, trusting, productive relationship between doctor and team is reflected in a sound, pleasant, trusting, productive relationship between the entire staff and your patients.

What about your relationship with your dental team?  Are you aware of how individuals feel toward you? toward each other? toward patients? toward their work? toward professional growth opportunities?  Let’s review aspects of motivation, and then you can peruse the list below for specifics about how to motivate your team members to become the best they can be.

Over 40 years ago, Dr. Frederick Maslow, renowned psychologist, completed a study about motivation of employees.  Published in The Harvard Business Review,  Dr. Maslow’s study showed that employees were motivated by:  Achievement---a sense of accomplishment; Recognition---applause from their leader; Meaningful Work---particularly service to or care for others; Responsibility---delegation NOT followed by micro-management; and Growth---opportunities to improve professional skills and knowledge. 

You may wonder why I would reference a 40 year old study about motivation---because experts currently tout these same factors as important motivational stimuli.  With many team members in the Generation X (between 36-51 years old) and the Millennial generation (between 16-35 years old), these motivational factors still hold true.  Your team members care about being made to feel important, appreciated, and essential to quality patient care and the smooth functioning of the office.

Yes---things like wage rate, benefits, status, job title, working conditions, etc., do matter, particularly to Millennials.  Business analysts often use Dr. Maslow’s term for such aspects of employment: “Hygiene Factors.”  Hygiene factors help individual team members avoid job dissatisfaction, but the five factors listed above, Achievement, Recognition, Meaningful Work, Responsibility, and Professional Growth, are the lifeblood of motivation.

These five motivational factors are the ingredients that make your dental team stronger, more cohesive, better satisfied; and, therefore, more attune to your patients’ needs and care.  The way you make your staff members feel, the respect and concern you show them, are reflected in the way they serve your patients.

Next month I’ll send you a list of specific ideas you can use to better motivate your dental team.  The motivational tools to be listed are practical and well tested in scores of offices with which I have consulted over the years.”