- Email: [email protected]
Creating a great team
Creating a great team Background.—Building a great team isn’t a fluke but a well-thought-out procedure. It’s important to have a strong leader, the right people, a practice vision and guidelines, and goals that will move the process along. It takes work on the part of the leader to create a team committed to achieving the goals that have been set and not their own personal list of wants. Steps to build such a team and obstacles to overcome were discussed. Building the Team.—Hiring the right people is an important first step toward team building. Employees influence the environment, patient interactions, referrals, collection methods, personnel issues, and the dentist’s sense of peace. Often dentist owners will tolerate poor performance rather than undertake the difficult job of removing and replacing a team member. This stresses the entire team. Dental teams should work together to craft a statement about where they are as a team and where they would like to see the practice be in the short term. The vision written by the team creates a unity in moving forward, changes the focus and habits that don’t contribute to progress, and keeps the team on track. Practice goals should be identified that will help the team reach the vision. These goals should be achievable; unachievable goals create frustration and hurt morale. Short-term goals help the team evaluate what progress has been made and what is still needed. These practice goals can be updated by eliminating those that are achieved and replacing them with new ones. An essential resource in hiring the right people is a procedure manual and job descriptions. These will help the dentist successfully manage team performance and contribute to the development of the employees. Having a clear description of the job and a comprehensive procedure manual helps everyone stay on task, learn their jobs, and work together as a team. Lack of organization and failure to identify duties of the various team members can lead to conflict and difficult interpersonal relationships. Communication begins with the practice owner and should be motivating and clear. Listening is also important, as is offering encouragement and being available to the employees. When an issue arises that involves the whole team, the entire team should be included in making the needed decisions. This gives them a sense of ownership and makes it more likely that they will abide by the decision. The
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dentist is also responsible for acknowledging excellent performance in jobs and making that acknowledgement public so the individual(s) involved receive the praise that is due. These are ways to keep morale high among the team. Overcoming Obstacles.—Conflict between team members can undermine their effectiveness. Team members should be encouraged to bring problems to the dentist’s or office manager’s attention and have them handled before they cause conflict. The dentist or office manager should conduct individual interviews, bring the two parties together to discuss any disparate reports, and allow them to discuss it. The dentist or office manager should remain neutral throughout the process and wait until all the facts are available before coming to any conclusions. People who aren’t involved don’t really need to be included in these discussions. It’s important to handle these areas of concern professionally and constructively. Employees will struggle with personal problems from time to time and these can disrupt the work flow in the office. If the dentist sees a change in performance, it’s time to talk to the employee, documenting the interaction. This makes the employee aware of the situation and provides a record of the incident. The goal is to help the employee through the difficulty and avoid collateral damage. If an employee comes to the dentist with a personal problem, the discussion should remain focused on the effect of the problem on work. It’s OK to be sympathetic but the dentist is not responsible for solving the problem. It is possible to be compassionate but professional. Sometimes a simple change in the schedule will help out, but the dentist should be careful to be fair with respect to other team members when making accommodations. It’s essential that anything the employee tells the dentist in confidence not be shared with anyone else. Many people dislike change, but this view can sabotage efforts to set forth new protocols and prepare for expansion. Long-term staff may be especially set in their ways. A good way to approach changes is to help the staff see the benefits of the change; this will help to get them on board with the new way of doing things. The dentist should acknowledge what has been positive about the practice and how each staff member has contributed to that positive aspect. Then the dentist should lay out how things could be done better. At this point the dentist should secure the staff ’s agreement to help in working to improve the practice. The dentist must also be prepared to listen to what employees have to say about how the changes may influence them negatively. They may fear the unknown and be
concerned over losing their status or job, especially if they are established staff. It’s time to reassure them. Dentists should be careful to make changes only when needed. Constantly introducing new ways can lower staff support for change. If things are working, don’t change them. A third obstacle that must be addressed involves ‘‘toxic’’ team members. Often these individuals are allowed to stay on in a practice because the dentist doesn’t know how to handle or confront the situation. Other terms applied to these people are bully, gossip, pessimist, and instigator. The distractions they create result in a negative, stagnant, and therefore toxic environment. To counter their effects the dentist should have the team members work together to create a list of Core Values that should be embraced, worked toward, and mastered. The observance of these values is nonnegotiable—behavior should always measure up whether the staff member is interacting with other team members or with patients. The team should also create a list of what might characterize a toxic individual. They should then discuss how they will deal with team members who violate the values agreement. Having team
members come up with ways to treat each other and actions to take if someone violates the agreement will give them a sense of ownership and create a more positive working environment. Should an employee continue to violate the agreement, it’s likely time to terminate him or her.
Clinical Significance.—One of the practice’s most valuable assets is the staff. Without them it’s impossible to have a successful practice. The dentist should take steps such as those listed to help create an excellent team who will work together to achieve success.
Pardue S: Simply the best: 5 steps to building a great team. . . and 4 ways to overcome some common obstacles. Dentaltown Nov 2016, pp 56-60 Reprints not available
EXTRACTS WE’RE LIKE THOSE WE LIKE Friends may be more than just people who are there when you need them. Dr James Fowler, coauthor of a study based on data from the Framingham Heart Study, says, ‘‘Looking across the whole genome, we find that on average, we are genetically similar to our friends. We have more DNA in common with the people we pick as friends than we do with strangers in the same population.’’ This study is the first genome-wide analysis correlating genotypes among friends. The 1932 subjects were divided into a group of unrelated friends and a group of unrelated strangers. After examining 1.5 million markers of gene variation, researchers found that we share about 1% of our genes with our friends. Fowler explains this as being as genetically similar to friends as to fourth cousins or people who share great-great-great grandparents. The genes most prominently expressed between unrelated friends overrepresent the olfactory system. It was hypothesized that just as smell may have led people to choose to be hunters or gatherers in prehistoric times, people who like the smell of coffee today congregate at the coffee shop. Thus DNA may be the driving force behind the social activities we choose. The genes we share with our friends are also those exhibiting the most rapid evolution, faster than other genes. Fowler suggests, ‘‘Social networks may be turbo charging evolution.’’ Co-author Dr Nicholas Christakis, professor of sociology, evolutionary biology, and medicine at Yale, said, ‘‘Not only with respect to the microbes within us but also to the people who surround us, it seems that our fitness depends not only on our own genetic constitutions, but also on the genetic constitution of our friends.’’ People we choose as friends tend to be immunologically different, which may confer added protection immunologically. Past research found that spouses tend to have different immune system genes as well. Fowler explains, ‘‘You don’t want to be susceptible to diseases that your spouse or friend is susceptible to. You want to be immune to those diseases because it could provide an extra wall of protection so they don’t pass them on to you.’’ This contributes to the view that humans are metagenomic, meaning we are not just a combination of our genes but also of the genes of those around us. ‘‘Most of the study of genetics has been one gene, one outcome,’’ says Fowler. ‘‘I think this is going to completely change the way we think about genetics. We have to look beyond ourselves.’’ [A Ansari: We’re Genetically Linked to Our Friends. CNN, July 14, 2014]
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2017
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Dental Abstracts
dentist is also responsible for acknowledging excellent performance in jobs and making that acknowledgement public so the individual(s) involved receive the praise that is due. These are ways to keep morale high among the team. Overcoming Obstacles.—Conflict between team members can undermine their effectiveness. Team members should be encouraged to bring problems to the dentist’s or office manager’s attention and have them handled before they cause conflict. The dentist or office manager should conduct individual interviews, bring the two parties together to discuss any disparate reports, and allow them to discuss it. The dentist or office manager should remain neutral throughout the process and wait until all the facts are available before coming to any conclusions. People who aren’t involved don’t really need to be included in these discussions. It’s important to handle these areas of concern professionally and constructively. Employees will struggle with personal problems from time to time and these can disrupt the work flow in the office. If the dentist sees a change in performance, it’s time to talk to the employee, documenting the interaction. This makes the employee aware of the situation and provides a record of the incident. The goal is to help the employee through the difficulty and avoid collateral damage. If an employee comes to the dentist with a personal problem, the discussion should remain focused on the effect of the problem on work. It’s OK to be sympathetic but the dentist is not responsible for solving the problem. It is possible to be compassionate but professional. Sometimes a simple change in the schedule will help out, but the dentist should be careful to be fair with respect to other team members when making accommodations. It’s essential that anything the employee tells the dentist in confidence not be shared with anyone else. Many people dislike change, but this view can sabotage efforts to set forth new protocols and prepare for expansion. Long-term staff may be especially set in their ways. A good way to approach changes is to help the staff see the benefits of the change; this will help to get them on board with the new way of doing things. The dentist should acknowledge what has been positive about the practice and how each staff member has contributed to that positive aspect. Then the dentist should lay out how things could be done better. At this point the dentist should secure the staff ’s agreement to help in working to improve the practice. The dentist must also be prepared to listen to what employees have to say about how the changes may influence them negatively. They may fear the unknown and be
concerned over losing their status or job, especially if they are established staff. It’s time to reassure them. Dentists should be careful to make changes only when needed. Constantly introducing new ways can lower staff support for change. If things are working, don’t change them. A third obstacle that must be addressed involves ‘‘toxic’’ team members. Often these individuals are allowed to stay on in a practice because the dentist doesn’t know how to handle or confront the situation. Other terms applied to these people are bully, gossip, pessimist, and instigator. The distractions they create result in a negative, stagnant, and therefore toxic environment. To counter their effects the dentist should have the team members work together to create a list of Core Values that should be embraced, worked toward, and mastered. The observance of these values is nonnegotiable—behavior should always measure up whether the staff member is interacting with other team members or with patients. The team should also create a list of what might characterize a toxic individual. They should then discuss how they will deal with team members who violate the values agreement. Having team
members come up with ways to treat each other and actions to take if someone violates the agreement will give them a sense of ownership and create a more positive working environment. Should an employee continue to violate the agreement, it’s likely time to terminate him or her.
Clinical Significance.—One of the practice’s most valuable assets is the staff. Without them it’s impossible to have a successful practice. The dentist should take steps such as those listed to help create an excellent team who will work together to achieve success.
Pardue S: Simply the best: 5 steps to building a great team. . . and 4 ways to overcome some common obstacles. Dentaltown Nov 2016, pp 56-60 Reprints not available
EXTRACTS WE’RE LIKE THOSE WE LIKE Friends may be more than just people who are there when you need them. Dr James Fowler, coauthor of a study based on data from the Framingham Heart Study, says, ‘‘Looking across the whole genome, we find that on average, we are genetically similar to our friends. We have more DNA in common with the people we pick as friends than we do with strangers in the same population.’’ This study is the first genome-wide analysis correlating genotypes among friends. The 1932 subjects were divided into a group of unrelated friends and a group of unrelated strangers. After examining 1.5 million markers of gene variation, researchers found that we share about 1% of our genes with our friends. Fowler explains this as being as genetically similar to friends as to fourth cousins or people who share great-great-great grandparents. The genes most prominently expressed between unrelated friends overrepresent the olfactory system. It was hypothesized that just as smell may have led people to choose to be hunters or gatherers in prehistoric times, people who like the smell of coffee today congregate at the coffee shop. Thus DNA may be the driving force behind the social activities we choose. The genes we share with our friends are also those exhibiting the most rapid evolution, faster than other genes. Fowler suggests, ‘‘Social networks may be turbo charging evolution.’’ Co-author Dr Nicholas Christakis, professor of sociology, evolutionary biology, and medicine at Yale, said, ‘‘Not only with respect to the microbes within us but also to the people who surround us, it seems that our fitness depends not only on our own genetic constitutions, but also on the genetic constitution of our friends.’’ People we choose as friends tend to be immunologically different, which may confer added protection immunologically. Past research found that spouses tend to have different immune system genes as well. Fowler explains, ‘‘You don’t want to be susceptible to diseases that your spouse or friend is susceptible to. You want to be immune to those diseases because it could provide an extra wall of protection so they don’t pass them on to you.’’ This contributes to the view that humans are metagenomic, meaning we are not just a combination of our genes but also of the genes of those around us. ‘‘Most of the study of genetics has been one gene, one outcome,’’ says Fowler. ‘‘I think this is going to completely change the way we think about genetics. We have to look beyond ourselves.’’ [A Ansari: We’re Genetically Linked to Our Friends. CNN, July 14, 2014]
Volume 62
Issue 4
2017
185