The Practicon Viewpoint by Ann Page Griffin

DELEGATION

A WIN/WIN WAY TO INCREASE STAFF ENTHUSIASM

In dental school, many dentists are taught the fallacy, "If you want something done right, do it yourself." While this method might offer absolute control, it restricts the amount of work that can be done and prevents the development of new skills and thus professional growth for auxiliaries.

Team members in practices where delegation is largely ignored, where the dentist micromanages every detail, are often frustrated, and are likely to grow bored with their repetitive, never-new-or-challenging task list. This can lead them to feel that they're in a dead-end job. Valuable team members often resign from an office with such a restrictive culture to seek a position in which professional growth is encouraged, where added responsibility provides stimulation and, often, better pay.

Delegation does not come naturally or easily to many dentists. After all, they haver been trained to be precise, to demand perfection from not only themselves but from others as well. As you seriously consider increasing delegation to team members, think about classifying the responsibilities and tasks in your office like this:

• Can be done by an untrained team member
• Can be done by a team member with minimal experience and training
• Can be done by an experienced, well trained person
• Can be done only by the dentist

Once you accept the concept of purposely delegating tasks to the least trained and experienced team member whenever possible, delegation will become a habit, a good habit that leads to growth in skills and increased initiative from your team members.

Guidelines for facilitating a culture of delegation include:

• Appoint a training coordinator from among long-term, responsible team members. Allow this person to assume responsibility for training new hires.
• Develop an orientation checklist and a training program with a specific timeline for all new team members. Once trained, trust the new staff member: resist the temptation to micromanage every move.
• Be available to counsel rather than to direct. When possible, answer a team member's question with a question: "What do you think should be done in this situation?"
• Encourage independent thinking and initiative.
• Critique individual auxiliaries privately so that she or he understands your expectations and how to handle a particular situation correctly the next time it occurs.
• When a team member accepts newly delegated tasks, praise frequently.
• A good rule of thumb: Critique in private, praise in public.

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