THE RIGHT OF REFUSAL
May I pose a question to your dental team members? Does the
team occasionally feel frustrated while waiting for the dentist to initiate a
project or activity which the team has agreed is on GO? Perhaps, at the last
team meeting a decision was made to begin, change, or stop a work process or
some physical aspect of the office—and then waiting begins. The team waits and
waits for the dentist to get on with it while wondering just what the holdup
is, frustration building. The Right of Refusal may be just the
answer your team needs to accomplish good ideas before they petrify. J
As an example of how the Right
of Refusal (RoR) works, let me use a real-life situation I experienced
while managing a dental office. The office was several years old, heavily used,
and the reception and business areas were sorely in need of refurbishing. The
dentist and the entire staff had enthusiastically endorsed the project. We
waited and waited for the dentist to find time to get the project underway. Then
we waited some more!
I finally decided to facilitate the project; other staff agreed.
We chose two possible weeks for the work to be done, thinking it would require
several days’ shut down. The dentist agreed on dates. I contacted contractors,
received bids, chose samples of paint, upholstery, and flooring with input from
other team members. We wrote a detailed description of work to be done,
possible dates, and costs. We attached the actual contractor bids and the décor
samples to the report, and presented the complete package to the dentist,
adding a note that said unless he said “No. No go!” by Monday, June 5, we would
notify the chosen contractor to begin work. We understood that the dentist had
the final word, the Right of Refusal,
and if for some reason the project had to be cancelled, there would be no
complaints from the team.
Pleased to receive the information, written and organized so
that he could make a quick decision, the
dentist made his choices from the information we had collected. Additionally,
he decided this was just the first RoR
event in our office. He was proud of the initiative we had used and grateful
for the ease with which he could make the decision to proceed. After that, our
team often used the RoR method to
facilitate projects and events in the office.
Suggestion: try the RoR
concept in your office to encourage growth of staff members’ initiative and
commitment to participate in office activities and projects. Start with the
understanding that the doctor has the final word to approve, postpone, or
scuttle a project with no resentment from team members. I believe you and your
team will be pleased to be a part of this new way of getting practice
activities and projects off dead center and on the move.
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