I was recently reading an excellent blog article about a Dental Assistant and her experience starting her new job and the frustrations that she experienced.

It started me thinking about all aspects involved in the dental practice.

Do we set things up so that everything works efficiently and effectively?

Or are we just making it up as we go along?

Each part of the dental practice needs to be able to run independently as well as being integral with each other.

The front office and phone communication is one of those parts of the dental office.

The girl in the blog article soon realised over the life of her dental career that throwing people into the deep end when they started a new job was not the answer.

It often created frustration, inadequacy and dissatisfaction and also could eventually lead to people quitting their jobs.

She said:

“In order for them to WORK independently, I had to GIVE them the tools to work independently.”

All Dental Offices need training materials or procedures that everyone can follow.

This gives your team guidelines as well as the expectations that their job involves so that they know what they are expected to achieve.

Some people refer to practice guidelines as procedures, or the manual or practice Bible.

Practice guidelines need to be concrete as well as practical for everyone to follow easily and consistently.

Procedures to follow when answering the phone in a dental office are very important.

Don’t make it up as you go along or believe that the people working for you know what they are doing.

I have seen this happen and the outcomes are not good!

You want to know what your team are doing every day.

Having set procedures to follow ensures your team know what to do and are meeting your expectations.

A procedure manual is a gift to give someone new to their job. It ensures a new employee can transition into their job more easily.

It also takes away the pressure of expecting one person to do all the training.

Don’t always presume because someone is good at their job they are equally as good at training others.

If you haven’t already got your procedures and guidelines for your practice in place, then start now.

Get your team involved in organising these guidelines and they will own them!

 

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