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Category: Team Management

The One Question That Transformed the Way I Communicate

Imagine you’re at work, and your manager approaches you after overhearing your interaction with a patient on the phone. Scenario 1“I just overheard your interaction with that patient over the telephone, and I think it could have been improved by you saying ‘this’ instead of ‘that’.” Scenario 2“I just overheard your interaction with that patient […]

The Right to Disconnect: What Labor’s Industrial Relations Changes Mean for Dental Practices

You might have read the news of Labor’s industrial relations changes of employees’ “right to disconnect.” Essentially, it grants employees the liberty to ignore after-hours communications from their employers without facing any penalties. However, in the context of dental practices, where seamless coordination and communication are essential for smooth operations, does this legislation genuinely change […]

Cultivating Team Unity through Daily Operations

Team unity is a cornerstone of successful dental practices, and its significance cannot be understated. Amidst the daily hustle and bustle of running a dental office, fostering personal connections among your team members is crucial. When colleagues genuinely like and respect each other, it not only enhances teamwork but also bolsters communication, resulting in a […]

Is staff sharing wage details a problem?

Is staff sharing wage details a problem? Many dental practices would prefer their staff not to ask and share details of what each is paid. Some reasoning behind this could be that the practice is trying to avoid the following scenarios. In most countries, including Australia, employees have the right to share details about their […]

BRAVING; Guiding your dental team to a better culture.

We all know the importance of trust in our relationships, including the relationships we have with our working colleagues. Trust helps create safe environments to work and grow with one another. Dental practices that foster effective Team Cultures usually have trust as one of their core values. Recognising why trust is important to your organisation, and […]

Success leaves clues

One of the biggest obstacles dental practices have when considering team training is time. There is simply no time to do anything else other than to see patients. Dental practices need to make as many of their onsite minutes as productive as possible, primarily by seeing patients. The only breaks we aim to allow to […]

Is your Facebook page appealing? To whom? And how well?

I recently went through the process of recruiting a receptionist for a client. I have advertised for dental team members for many practices over the years. And, as many of you are aware, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find great candidates. This recent experience, though, was different. Within a few days, we had four […]

Do you have a swinging team member?

The signs are varied.It can be the look of misery when they arrive for work.It can be the short and unpleasant message sent over the smartphone about something that displeased them.It can be the shift in attitude from helpful to unhelpful to those around them. It is the moody team member. It is the team […]

Are you happy?

If I were to ask you how happy your team members are, what would your response be? “No-one has come to me with a problem, so they must be happy.” I remember during the years of my practice ownership when a team member would come to me with their trouble with a colleague. I was […]

How much do you value honesty?

One of the first lessons that our parents teach us is HONESTY. And there is good reason why. Honesty is, in my view, the most important characteristic we develop as human beings. And this is why honesty is the fourth value that I believe is crucial to a successful dental practice. (Go to my blog […]

Does your team care?

In these recent blog articles, I have been considering the values that I believe are important for dental practice success. Values are an important factor in the development of your dental practice. When implemented successfully, values direct the behaviour of team members, help create the systems and processes of the practice and guide the delivery […]

Is your inner self trying to make you better?

You know that uncomfortable feeling you get? It often happens after you have had an interaction with someone and the result wasn’t all that ideal? It’s a feeling in your gut and it stays with you a while. You try to budge it by rationalising your own behaviour and also by criticising the other person. […]

Love or fear: What is driving your behaviour?

Never before has it been so necessary to be ‘tuned-in’ to each other’s mindset. The reaction to COVID-19 has been wide and varied. While some appear relaxed and confident that this situation will be managed well and pass to return us to happier times, others are at the other end of the spectrum. They are […]

Control Your Controllables

Turia Pitt is an Australian survivor. She is the ultra-marathon runner who was horribly burned by an out-of-control grass fire during a ‘Racing The Planet’ event. Turia endured months of operations and rehabilitation during her recovery and has been left with substantial scarring over her body. In an interview with Turia, she was asked how […]

What ‘normal’ are you rushing back to?

I came across this thought-provoking post on social media. ‘In the rush to return to normal, use this time to consider which parts of normal are worth rushing back to.’ Dave Hollis – Over Grow The System A few of the ‘normal’ parts of my life that I feel are worth rushing back to are […]

A Better Way to Reward Your Team

Staff bonuses are becoming more common in dental practices. Bonuses are either a pre-established amount of one to several hundred dollars paid monthly, quarterly or yearly or a percentage of profits. These bonuses are offered when financial targets of the practice have been met (aka, when dental patients accept treatment plans). I have never been a […]

Is it time for you to SURRENDER?

I have recently surrendered on an issue and it feels oh, so good! A dental receptionist I have been working with for many years, let’s call her Robyn, was tracking her Incomplete Treatment follow-up in a way that she found worked well for her. However, it was not the system I had encouraged her to […]

Here is the shocking truth: You are the answer!

I hear practice owners complain that team members are ‘stealing hours’. Yet these very practice owners are obviously focussing on every minute themselves. I hear practice owners complain that team members leave “the minute it hits five o’clock”, yet they resist paying overtime. I hear practice owners complain that team members scrutinise their payslips, working […]

Where is job satisfaction?

A colleague recently asked me online how to gauge job satisfaction. Given my years in the dental industry working in various roles and speaking to others through my practice coaching work, I wrote the following response. I thought you’d find it helpful. To experience job satisfaction I believe these six factors need to be working […]

Employee, contractor or what?

There is much talk nowadays about the legal bases on which dentists are employed in Australia. In my early days of working in dental practices, and when I employed dentists myself during the 10 years I owned my own practice, the ‘norm’ was to bring a dentist in as a contractor but they really worked […]

A dental practice mantra for EVERYONE!

To be the best leader, you need: ·         to establish a COMPELLING vision; ·         to be supportive and act as a mentor; ·         to help find the answers to the important questions; and ·         to inspire and motivate team members. To be the best practitioner, receptionist or assistant, you need: ·         to be efficient, productive and have a caring and positive attitude; […]

A week of GOLD to help you work BETTER, FASTER and EASIER! Trello

Yes! I am delivering a week of, what I consider to be, GOLD! I am always on the lookout for computer applications that I can use to make my work: more creative more efficient more productive, and more enjoyable. I know that some of the apps I have discovered will make YOUR life better too. […]

I have a challenge for you. Are you up for it??

Self-improvement consists of making small, incremental changes to your thoughts and behaviour that will result in a more positive experience of life. I would like to challenge you to embrace a specific small change. The challenge is to avoid responding with criticism for one week; just seven days. Let me explain… Most people spend most of their time responding to situations around them […]

The Magic for Your Practice of Having a Team of Servants

Poor attitudes in dental practices are not uncommon. Despite implementing systems and processes that support a customer-centric style of service, practices can still experience poor team-member behaviour. Common examples of apathetic, negative behaviour that I see in our consulting work, or that are reported to me, are: unhelpful response to patient requests or queries sitting […]

How does your team behave, and is this the team behaviour that you want?

It is said that culture is the collective personality of an organisation. Another definition is this: ‘Culture is what your people do when no one is telling them what to do.’ Culture is the values and behaviours that build and then drive the unique social and psychological environment of a business. As I have written in […]

Are you inadvertently blocking great performance by your employees?

What stands in the way of your employees delivering great performances for you and your practice? There are several reasons why performance by your employees may be below what you want. Some crucial ones are: ·         Unawareness of employer expectations, ·         insufficient training and support ·         negative or disengaged attitudes.  However, I have discovered another major cause of a reduction in […]

Mary has a dilemma.

I was speaking with a dental team member – we’ll call her Mary – who posed an interesting dilemma. “During a social dinner, a friend complained of a dental problem she was experiencing. For the first time, I didn’t feel comfortable in recommending the practice where I work.” Mary had worked at this practice for […]

Tips on how to get a temp nurse every time you need one.

There are several situations in a dental practice that are bone-chilling; missing lab work, running way too late for a demanding patient…and getting the early morning phone call from an unwell nurse needing a sick-day. The plan to accommodate the changes to the coming day is usually born through panic and desperation. You start shooting off […]

Secrets To Brilliant Team Communication with WIFLE

I attended a function last night with friends, and one of them, Harry, shared a great strategy. Harry has his own real estate agency in Melbourne and he fosters a very positive and happy working environment for his team.   Every week, Harry and his team start off their team meetings with a WIFLE session. WIFLE is an acronym […]

What is an employee worth?

How often do you give pay increases to your employees? Is it an automatic increase every year? Or does an employee prompt you into action? I am often asked what the industry norm is in terms of hourly rate, bonus payments and wage increases. My answer is always the same; it depends on a number […]

Discover Your Team’s Secrets To Top Performance Through Open Communication

Regular readers of this blog will know that one of my leadership strategies is to create an ‘emotionally-safe’ working environment for team members. Top performances are not possible when team members feel under any threat that blocks their trust, confidence and creativity. One of the elements of creating an emotionally-safe environment for your team is […]

4 Steps Guaranteed To Start Your Day On A High (without drugs!)

Are you a ‘morning person’? Someone who wakes up enthusiastic for the coming day with energy to burn? While some team members may be bright and cheerful from the crack of dawn, there are others who take time to warm up.  The energy of your team at the start of the day will have a […]

Why On Earth Would Developing Self-Awareness Help You Build A Stronger Dental Team?

I can say with great conviction that the happiness I have enjoyed while working in dental practices over the years is due to my developing self-awareness. My developing self-awareness is also responsible for my ability to work in harmony with others and be a strong contributor. It is also thanks to my developing self-awareness that […]

Dentist-Assistant Relationship; Good or Horrid?

There are few relationships where each person’s effectiveness and happiness depends so largely on the other, than in a dentist-assistant situation. The dentist-assistant relationship is unique. It reminds me of the nursery rhyme, ‘There was a little girl, with a curl, right in the middle of her forehead. And when she was good she was […]

Can you look at yourself?

Being a Victorian who is interested in sports, this past weekend has been a happy one. The Richmond and Melbourne Storm wins have raised the energy of the locals, with celebrations said to be continuing through the week. Richmond’s victory has also raised interest in their coach, Damien Hardwick. How did he manage to turn […]

Sir Richard Branson hit the nail on the head!

  Sir Richard Branson hit the nail on the head with this quote: “Train people well enough that they can leave. Treat them well enough that they don’t want to.” It is not unusual for me to observe the fatigue of dental practice owners and managers when they are faced with training yet another team […]

Are you out of feedback balance?

The best and most successful dental practice owners are relentlessly on the lookout for areas that need improvement. They know the value of a key business principle that ‘everything counts!’ They may see a blown light globe that needs replacing or an untidy staff room. Or it may be bigger things, such as a downturn […]

Who is embracing the role of trainer in your practice?

Dental teams change. As team members have children, alter their hours and then perhaps leave, dental teams employ new team members to fill the vacant roles. When your new team member has years of prior experience in the role, integration can be swift. When your new team member is also taking on a new role, […]

Amazing Benefits of Leading Your Team to Safe Places

Creating an environment of emotional safety for your team is one of your most important roles as a leader. I have laboured under the harsh leadership of a hard-to-please boss. He questioned much of what I did and I never felt he trusted me or my abilities. The result for me was a continual decline […]

Why Do We Resist Difficult Discussions?

“I should talk to that employee about her poor performance.” “I have to tell the employee dentist he cannot have a pay rise.” “It’s not working out; I have to let the steri-nurse go.” Difficult discussions are a part of owning a business. However, the thought of having these discussions sends nervous trepidation through many […]

Many Heads Lead to Magic!

I’m excited. Today I get to have a workshop with a colleague and….COLLABORATE! After working in a team environment for so many years in dental practices, the aspect I miss most is the regular collaboration on how to do things smarter. Julie Parker Practice Success has been going for six years now. My time is […]

This is what I call FUN!

Being involved with a dental team whose members are experienced and effective brainstormers is my idea of a good time! Such teams can solve anything. It actually is easy for them to tap in to their brilliance and creativity. To them, there are no problems, just solutions waiting to be revealed. Brainstorming is a way […]

Asking for change is not enough.

One of the frustrations when working in a team is getting everyone to work in the directed manner. AFL football coaches frequently suffer such frustrations! Staff meetings become a place for repeating the same requests for changes in behaviour. Tension builds as leaders feel ignored, and staff happiness suffers because they feel hen-pecked and micro-managed. […]

Why do you and your team come to work?

A successful Practice is much like a successful human being: those who thrive are those who access their passion and their skills, who discover how to adapt to their constantly changing environments, and who are able to effect lasting useful behavioural changes. People develop bad habits. We don’t always eat the ideal diet for physical […]

Debriefing: A remarkable tool that eases your way to practice success

Not being an academic, I have always sourced alternative methods of education. Books, tapes, videos, audio…I researched everything I could. The introduction of the internet has now revolutionised our access to education and learning and ignorance on a particular topic lasts only as long as it takes to type a question into Google. However, it […]

Is it time to get excited?

I was always excited when I owned my dental practice. But I got SUPER excited in December. What excited me? New goals! Despite spending my whole year tackling the existing practice goals, there was something magical about the Christmas break. I would spend time reflecting over the previous year. What were the challenges? What insights […]

Are you providing the environment for staff to be successful?

Encouraging staff to engage with the vision and systems that I implemented at my practice was a process I was eager to learn. I understood that a vital element to my business success was getting strong performances from staff. I discovered that what I needed to do in order to achieve this was to provide […]

Just in case you breach trust…here’s a 6 step plan to rebuild it

I wrote in my last blog about discovering the deeper elements of: TRUST. That it is not simply being someone others can rely on. That trust develops over time and after a series of kept promises. As Charles Kovess, JPPS co-founder, says in his presentations, “trust is built like a wall: brick by brick. Breaking […]

Share it around

When I owned my dental practice, I had the roles of receptionist and practice manager. Not being confined to the surgery as most owner-dentists are, I relished the opportunity of being able to manage my business full-time. Delegating tasks never entered my mind. Why would it? I had the time and I had the enthusiasm […]

That winning feeling….It’s worth the effort!

In my last blog I shared with you by ongoing wish to get better results. And, that to get better results, I have to BE better. To achieve greater and greater progress and success in life, we need to be on a path of continuous improvement. Tony Robbins coined the term CANI: Constant And Never-ending […]

Do you deliver torturous performance appraisals?

I have learned something from providing many performance appraisals in my time. They can be torturous! A badly handled performance appraisal that needs to communicate the need for improvement results in feelings of defensiveness and unhappiness.  Often the staff member feels ‘set-upon’ and misunderstood. This is the absolute opposite of the purpose of providing staff […]

To solve problems better, be like Columbo!

  I have mentioned in the past that one of the best business books I have read is ‘Leadership’ by former lawyer and politician from New York, Rudi Giuliani. One of the insights I have previously written about is to ‘choose your battles’. You can read more about this here. Another key message that I […]

This one thing transformed my working relationships

When I owned my practice I knew something for sure: that it was in my interests (and therefore the business’ interests) to be welcoming of all needs and comments from staff. Whether it was surgery staff needing something, hearing a concern about another team member or someone’s request for holiday leave. In order to manage […]

Why celebration is vital to your future success

I have found when dental teams achieve success, it is often acknowledged, but rarely celebrated. We are very quick to turn attention to the next challenge, leaving the winning feeling of achievement far behind. Life is a collection of experiences.  Indeed we are an amalgamation of the emotional attachment we place on these experiences. Our […]

Slow appointment book? What a great opportunity!

There are a number of dental practices who are still enjoying full appointment books. These practices are often those who have been established for many years. Their patient base is one whose loyalty has been cultivated over time through the caring and trusting relationships that have been developed. These relationships are such that patients are […]

The Currency of Employment

  Over the years of being both an employee and employer, there here have been particular instances of employee unhappiness that have caused me to deliberate.  They have been times when the employer has been seen to do all the ‘right’ things. They pay above-award wages, are clear about all employee entitlements, create a supportive and […]

My Thoughts on Passive Aggressive Behaviour

Like most of us, I have worked with passive aggressive people in the past. Some of you may be suffering under one as we speak. If you are, I feel for you. Passive aggressive behaviour displays itself in many forms.                    Resentment       sullenness      moody      complaining      sarcasm     […]

Do Bonuses REALLY Work?

I was recently speaking with someone and the topic of paid incentives to staff came up. I have worked in a practice many years ago who tried out a bonus system. I also considered the validity of such a system when I owned my practice and was thinking of ways to reward my staff. While […]

How I Got Clear with Staff

Have you ever been surprised by a staff-member tending their resignation? You shouldn’t be. I say they should have felt safe enough, and seen you open enough, to share their feelings before it came to quitting. More on that in a minute… In my early days of staff management, I never used to ask people […]

The Power of Being Heard

During my 10 years of practice ownership, there were many opportunities to challenge my leadership abilities. On one such occasion, it turned out that I was more powerful keeping my mouth shut and ears open. Let me tell you what happened… A string of misunderstandings that eventually led to a harsh confrontation had occurred while […]