Think Like a Doctor, Part 1: How to Share Your Vision to Improve Staff Engagement
As a periodontist, you have plans for your career. You have a vision of what you want your practice to look and function like. And, you expect your staff to roll along with your ideas and expectations (because that’s their job, right?).
You probably know by now it’s not quite that easy. Your staff doesn’t think at the same level you do, nor can they read your mind. That’s why it’s essential to first think like your staff and connect with them on their level. You’ll have a much better chance of helping them to think the way you do if you can speak to their experiences in their language.
In this 10-part series, we’re diving into how to get your staff to think like you so they can better serve your patients and provide the ongoing support you need from them.
But before they can get on your level of thinking, they need to be tuned into their role, your expectations, and what exactly they’re working toward in the long term.
The Challenges of Vision Sharing
Many Periodontists approach vision sharing like many other industries: they talk about goals and ask for staff input. But in Periodontal practices, you actually need to do the opposite.
When you ask for input, it encourages constant negotiation from people who are afraid to change and rarely get an opportunity to try new things. And when they’re afraid to do something different, even if it will save time or produce better results, your vision suffers in the process.
Most dental office staff are not up to date on the latest in technology. They’re often still doing things manually and don’t have the time or opportunity to explore new ideas and better ways of doing things. Most notably, they put the brakes on anything that might expose their lack of technology skills or feelings of incompetency toward the new idea.
Unfortunately, doctors don’t invest in educating their teams becuase the fear of wasted production time with nothing to gain. They risk sending people to courses or workshops to learn something new that ultimately will never be adopted because the entire team was not a part of the process and they lack a cohesive vision amongst the entire group, leaving that one or two staff members to "fight city hall".
The Best Solution
Here’s the truth: the staff does not need time-consuming seminars and courses to move your practice forward. All they need is a leader who is clear on their mission and has the courage to take a stand on why they chose that vision.
If the vision is not that of the doctor, then that doctor isn’t able to provide the best patient care from their own integrity standpoint and value system.
While you don’t need staff input about your mission and vision, you should make them feel like a part of it. My brand new course dives into how to identify your vision from a core value system and how to choose the best possible path to execute it. I also dive into addressing staff resistance so that the doctor can understand how to help them move forward toward a vision that they may not have the ability to understand the benefits of.
Go check it out here above and stay tuned for Part 2 where we talk about getting staff involved.
PANDA Perio now offers a master course for easy implementation. The course is called "How to teach your staff to think like you, the doctor." This enhanced course utilizes the regular training components of PANDA College. The Master Course incorporates an extra 10 step series to help strategize implementation in less time. You will learn how the team thinks and what they need to know in order to effectively get the inside scoop about how you think.
This strategy puts everyone on the same page and empowers your staff, in turn, creating cohesiveness and lowered stress. We also still offer the standard full course curriculum that comes free with purchase on any license of PANDA Perio.
Do you want to find out How PANDA Perio Can Help You and Your practice?
Click here to schedule a live demonstration
