Constructive Feedback

In order to support team members to succeed in their jobs and grow professionally, it is necessary to:

Ensure that responsibilities and expectations related to job performance are clearly defined.

Provide team members with regular and constructive feedback related to job performance.

In order to provide constructive feedback, your practice must develop a criteria which defines the necessary knowledge, skill and self management requirements that enable both staff members and teams to succeed in the dental workplace. 

The criteria, which you might define as 'Standards of Performance' applies equally to all staff members and is used as the basis for evaluating job performance.  The Standards of Performance provide working definitions of the necessary knowledge, skills and self management requirements to provide for excellence in the treatment, service and care of patients, as well as provide for a healthy and productive work environment. 

In addition to supporting the practice to provide excellence in the treatment, service and care of patients, the standards are intended to provide staff with a framework for self development.  Properly utilized by staff and management, the practices’ Standards of Performance can provide a framework for a structured approach towards realizing personal and professional growth.

Personal Satisfaction and Practice Success

We believe personal satisfaction in a dental practice is dependent upon your individual and collective ability to consistently deliver high standards of treatment, service and care to your patients.  Doing so also leads to long term and lasting success.

Providing high standards of quality and service is rewarded by patient loyalty and the satisfaction of knowing that one is part of a team that can work together effectively towards a common goal.  Payoffs associated to adopting this type of approach include:

• High patient retention.
• Increased patient referrals and new patient flow.
• Growing patient demand for comprehensive dental services.
• Sustained practice performance over time.
• Insulation against recessionary factors and 3^rd party intervention.

There is no question that adopting  a quantity and service approach to practcie management secures your practices market position and provides competitive advantage.  The future is bright and holds ample opportunity for all dental practices that are able to consistently deliver high standards of treatment, service and care to their patients.

In committing yourselves to achieving quality and service excellence, you are not competing against a practice down the street, you are competing against the standards you set for yourselves.

                                    “Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Gucci Family Slogan

Recognition and Acknowledgement

Providing one another with recognition and acknowledgement is essential to creating a healthy and productive work environment as well as supporting one another in sustaining a commitment to quality and excellence.

This involves making an ongoing effort of looking for what is working in your practice and sharing these insights with one another regardless of how busy or preoccupied you become with the day to day operations of your practice.  It is very easy in busy and demanding dental practices to get caught up in what's not working and lose sight of what is.

Taking the time to recognize individual improvements or contributions contributes to a positive working environment as well as the growth of your practice.  Setting aside some time to do this as part of your regular meetings is the perfect time and place to do so.

Believe in Your Team

The quality of communication and teamwork within a dental practice is a direct reflection of team member attitudes towards one another. 

As a result of the accumulation of problem situations over time, it is very easy for teams to develop negative attitudes towards one another without even realizing its occurring.  One day things are great, next day (or so it seems)  not so great as far as working relationships are concerned.  These type of attitude problems are commonplace and can develop into reactive vs intentional working relationships.

In order for teams to create positive work environments and succeed, it is important for team members to develop proactive or intentional attitudes towards one another.  This means that when one starts traveling down the road of losing confidence and trust in your team members, that you take a moment to remember the people you work with in a way that you would want to be remembered should the shoe be on the other foot:

• The people I work with are capable.
• The people I work with are committed.
• The people I work with can handle the truth when responsibly shared.
• The people I work with have something unique and valuable to contribute.
• I can count on the people I work with to provide me support when I need it.

Taking the time to reenforce these views in times of challenge can have a significant influence on the quality of working relationships in a dental practice and a teams ability to succeed.  They play an important role in extending other team members the benefit of the doubt when dealing with problem situations.

7 Steps of Complaint Handling

1. Maintain Composure

• Notice your emotional temperatiure - upset / defensiveness / negative assumptions and self talk.
• Breathe / exercise constraint / depersonalize the situation.
• Focus on the matters at hand / ask yourself good questions / begin to frame the problem.

2. Listen

• Do not interrupt – let the patient state the complaint.
• Listen for the central problem, issue, need or want vs. listening to the story, upset, or make wrong.

3. Acknowledge the situation and feelings.

• Thank the patient for voicing their complaint.
• Authentically apologize for the situation if appropriate – inconvenience, etc.
• Listening and acknowledging a patients issues is the first and most important step in resolving any problem situation.
• Empathize vs. Sympathize related to a patient's upset or feelings - I understand how you feel - does not mean you agree with how someone is feeling.

4. Restate the Problem / Probe For More Information

• Restating the problem insures you clarify what the problem is before proceeding to find a solution.
• Let me see if I understand your concern.  As I understand it________( restate the problem and what you perceive the patient needs or wants.)
• If you are unable to determine what the problem or issue may be, ask questions to better understand the situation (what happened?).

5. Propose A Solution / Commit to Getting Back to The Patient

• Propose a solution to the problem.
• Provide patients with information that would enable them to better understand or deal with a situation – policy or procedure guidelines.
• Commit to getting back to the patient if you require input from others – specific time.

6. Ask For Feedback Or Alternatives

• Would that work for you?
• How would you prefer to have the situation handled?
• What would you need to have happen in order to resolve the problem for you?

7. Restate Solution and Agreements

• Summarize the agreed solution to the situation and confirm any agreements reached related to time lines for solving the problem – I’ll do X by Y time..