Last month we looked at two important investments for your practice. Hopefully, you’ve already begun some new habits of taking care of yourself, planning some time off, and trying out many of the other ideas and recommendations for investing in your practice from Part One.
Here are my final three recommendations:
Top Investment #3: Make Your Workplace Healthy
What’s the cost of not having a healthy workplace? Unhealthy workplace practices account for a high rate of employee turnover, increased absenteeism, high levels of workplace stress, chronic conflict, emotional abuse, work sabotage, and even workplace violence. Estimates of employee turnover, including lost productivity and new employee recruiting and training, range from $10,000 to 40,000 per staff member, depending on the position. Conversely, the Harvard Business Review estimates a 5% increase in employee retention can result in a 10% decrease in costs, with related productivity gains of 25-65%.
In an unhealthy workplace, employee perception of work-life imbalance becomes amplified, health and well-being may suffer, and costs for medical care, insurance, and time off due to illness will increase. Employees can develop drug and alcohol addictions as a coping mechanism for dealing with stress. The result will be a decrease in productivity, profitability and fulfillment.
The costs can be staggering. Employees and managers alike can become angry, disillusioned, disappointed, depressed and fatigued. It interferes with each person’s ability to enjoy life’s work. The passion for productive work is lost. Everybody loses.
What can you do? Lots.Below are the American Psychological Association’s four criteria for having a healthy workplace. Using their guidelines, in what ways is your workplace healthy? Unhealthy?
- Employee Involvement: Clear and candid communications, a voice in decision-making for employees, a fair employee performance evaluation system, and recognition for individual and team performance are needed.
- Family Support: Policies must consider personal and extended family needs.
- Employee Growth and Development: Should include programs that deal with workplace stress and conflict and easy access to psychological services.
- Health and Safety: A priority should be placed on employee health and safety.
Use the APA’s guide as a focus for discussion with your team. Many—even most—of the investments you’ll want to make require little outlay of cash, though you’ll reap the rewards of your efforts.
Top Investment #4: Grow Your Team
As I alluded to in Part One, unless you have employees who have no possibility of becoming a ‘10’ in their positions, or whose success you aren’t 100% committed to, take the time to work with your employees at whatever level their skills have developed to thus far. Sit down with each staff member individually and discuss areas where they need help, areas they are interested in learning more about, CE courses they would like to attend—and anything that would assist their growth, either personally or professionally.
Here’s an example of a format to use with your staff members:
Dear Staff Member,
The following questions are designed to provoke your thought and to help you determine what challenges best fit your future. Please complete the questions thoroughly and bring this with you to our meeting.
For questions asking for an evaluation, evaluate yourself on a scale from 1 – 10, with a 10 indicating excellence. Your current skills may merit a high rating, but future opportunities for growth always exist, even with a 10.
How would you evaluate yourself as a leader in your role? _________
List 3 things you could do to improve as a leader in your role.
1.
2.
3.
How would you evaluate your communication skills with patients? __________
List 3 things you could do to improve your communication skills with patients.
1.
2.
3.
How would you evaluate your communication skills with staff? __________
List 3 things you could do to improve your communication skills with staff.
1.
2.
3.
How would you evaluate your day-to-day job performance? __________
List 3 things you could do to improve your day-to-day job performance.
1.
2.
3.
Describe what you would like to accomplish in the next three months.
How would your role evolve?
What resources will you need?
If you could wave a magic wand and change anything about what you do or how you do it, what would you change? (This is not about changing others.)
I recommend that you (and your Office Manager/Administrator, if that is a position in your practice), meet with each staff member at least once throughout the year to have this type of discussion. For newer staff members, at least twice a year would be recommended. In my office, we term this a “Growth Conference”—which is different from Performance Reviews and other meetings.
Top Investment #5: Develop Excellent Communication and Relationship Skills
If there’s one investment in your practice that will bring you ‘the biggest bang for your buck,’ it’s in the area of communication and relationship skills. In the dental office, listening to our co-workers and patients is probably the most important skill we can develop.
When asked, most of us would say that we listen to others all the time. However, there is a difference between hearing and listening. As you learn to listen more effectively and deeply to people, you will become a source of value to them, and they to you.
To truly “hear” another person means devoting your full attention to their communication, so that you catch the richness of it. The highest level of listening involves all your senses, as well as your heart.
When you listen with your whole being, you can hear the purpose of someone’s communication, and gain a genuine appreciation of who they are and where they are coming from.
Good listeners know that:
- There is a distinct difference between hearing and listening
- There is value in actively listening
- You will not and cannot hear everything in a conversation
- By knowing what to listen for, you can focus on the important elements of a conversation
- Effective listening offers you options for navigating the conversation
- Listening to a person frees you from having “all the answers”
- The person’s ability to hear himself or herself is increased, as you listen intentionally
It is essential to fully understand and make use of the context in which your interaction takes place.
- Choose among the hundreds of things to listen for in any conversation
- Learn to quiet the chatter in your own head
- Value and allow silence in the interaction
- Choose the listening style that best fits the person you are listening to
- Listen for what the person can or cannot say
- Listen for what is motivating the person
- Listen to your own reactions to the person
By making an investment in developing your communication and relationship skills, you reap rewards that far outweigh any investment you could make in technology, new dental techniques, or even an office makeover.
Best wishes for your success!