Use your team to grow your team
“So, how do we put together a great team in our office? We know that today, in these times, it’s really challenging to find really good help because unemployment is at an all-time low. It’s challenging to find people to come into our office and work for us.
Obviously, we can put out an ad on Indeed or Craigslist or wherever you feel it’s important to advertise. Just make sure that ad talks about how great your office is, and how fun it is. Talk about the team culture that you have — not just about the qualifications you’re looking for because people with qualifications can go anywhere.
Here’s another idea: why don’t you get your team involved? Offer your team an incentive if they can find a great person and you end up hiring that great person. You’d be surprised how many other team members your team members know. And they hear people say, “I’m not happy in my office and I would love to move.”
Allow your team member to invite another team member to join the team and then incentivize them — give them a few dollars to bring someone in who’s a quality person who fits your culture. Allow your team to build your team. It’ll grow and the culture will continue to develop.”
Understanding your team
At a dental office, you need a variety of people with different talents in order to make the business a success. When looking for new employees to hire, make sure to first take a look at your own team.
What are their individual strengths and weaknesses? And we’re not talking clinical skills (though you should look at that too). Do they like to keep the office organized? Are they good at remembering patient names and charts? Do they excel at getting new callers to convert? How is their bedside manner? If your team is struggling in one of those (or other) categories, make it a point to look for someone who can fill that void. In interviews, ask the person about those specific skills and, in working interviews, make sure they demonstrate them. You can also try giving potential employees a personality test to see where exactly their strengths lie.
Every person comes equipped with their own strengths and weaknesses. Understanding those, and hiring people who fill the gaps, is the best way to create a well-rounded team.
Learn more about the business of dentistry
Master the business of dentistry by joining us for our Dental Entrepreneur Summit. In the course, Dr. Bobbi covers a variety of business-related topics including:
- Decreasing stress while increasing profit
- Hiring a top-notch team
- Developing team leaders
- Incentivizing your team
- Putting together a quality personnel manual
- Increasing your new patient numbers
- Increasing profits in your hygiene department
- Controlling cash flow in your dental practice
- Telephone etiquette to get calling patients on the schedule
- Effective marketing
- Planning for retirement now
