Profitability, Production, and Patients in 2 Hours or Less
Dentists continually express their frustration over challenges they experience motivating their teams. Yet they do little to create a culture in which employees feel engaged, valued, and part of the decision-making process. Doctors commonly set themselves up as the wise sage of the practice, the guru, and the go-to-person for any and all matters. The unfortunate and often unintended byproduct is a virtual strangulation of creative problem solving. Employees commonly lament, Why should we give input? If it’s not the doctor’s idea, she will make an excuse for why our suggestions won’t work. Or, We’d like to recommend changes, but the doctor never gives us the opportunity; he shuts us down if we try to offer suggestions. The employees you want on your team have no interest in merely being cogs in your wheel.
Quality employees want to deliver quality work and be part of a collaborative process. But real collaboration requires a commitment of time and energy to identify and address issues and explore opportunities that will enable the team to become more effective in their roles, and enable the practice to become more profitable and successful. Racing from procedure to procedure day after day doesn’t lend itself to building strong collaborative teams. Rather, it requires time away to meet and discuss challenges and opportunities that the practice faces. In other words, it comes down to well-planned and well-organized staff meetings.
It is in monthly staff meetings that the team has the opportunity to identify and solve problems, examine areas of responsibility/systems, establish policies, present information, motivate and educate one another, exchange ideas - all of which are vitally important to growing a thriving practice and creating a culture of engagement, inspiration, and problem solving.
Allow about two hours a month for your staff meetings and make sure the agenda is delivered in advance; otherwise employees will not be prepared to discuss matters that require their input and are likely to perceive that you don’t really want it. The agenda should include standard items that the practice is continuously monitoring - all areas affecting the profitability/success of the practice. For example: numbers of new patients, recall patients, collections, treatment acceptance, production, accounts receivables, unscheduled time units for doctor and hygiene, overhead, etc.
Post the agenda in the break-room or other area where staff will see it regularly and can add items as they come up during the month. Issues that present themselves regularly in the daily huddle but require more involved discussion and analysis should be put on the monthly meeting agenda. In addition, consider items such as improving the work environment, examining the patient experience in detail, practice/patient communication, etc.
List the most critical issues highest on the agenda to ensure there is adequate time to talk about them. Determine how much time you will spend discussing each matter, avoid getting bogged down on unrelated topics, and insist that team members come prepared to discuss the items listed.
Use the collective problem solving skills of the team to develop strategies to address those barriers and help identify solutions to problems that may be occurring in the scheduling system. Seek input from everyone, and don’t be afraid of conflicting views.
수익성, 생산성, 환자창출 2시간내 이룰 수 있는 방법
치과원장들은 직원들의 동기부여를 위해 나름 노력한다고 하지만 직원들이 능동적으로 의사결정 단계의 참여자로 느끼게 해주는 문화를 만드는데는 소홀하다. 의사들은 흔히 자신을 모든 일을 해결해주는 만능인으로 믿고 있으나 실상은 창의적인 문제해결의 싹을 죽여 직원들이 제안을 해도 받아들여지지 않을 것이란 생각을 갖게 한다. 때문에 시간과 노력으로 한 팀으로서 각 이슈에 대한 문제접근과 기회창출 연구가 필요하다.
세부적인 방법론: 월간 전체 스탭 미팅을 진행한다. 팀별로 문제점을 확인하고 해결방안을 논의하며, 해당 담당 시스템을 확인하고 정책을 수립, 정보를 제대로 전달하여 서로 의욕을 고취시킴은 물론 교육훈련을 통해 아이디어를 교환할 수 있도록 한다.
안건은 기본 사항들과 치과의 수익/성공을 창출하는 데 필요한 모든 요소들을 포함한다. 예를 들면 신환수, 리콜환자수, 수금, 치료동의율, 생산성, 미수금, 돌발상황률 등. 전체 직원들이 모여 심도깊게 논의할만한 사항들을 추려내자.
그리고 가장 중요도가 높은 안건부터 순서를 매겨 각 안건별로 논의시간을 할당한다. 회의의 사회자도 원장 외 다른 사람으로 정한다. 이런 정기적인 미팅을 통해 치과가 원래 설정한 목표대로 가고 있는지를 점검하고 문제점을 논의해 나갈 수 있으니 다른 의견이 있다는 점을 두려워할 필요는 없다.
