You know that saying: “One rotten apples spoils the whole barrel” – truer words could not have been said when it comes to managing, supporting and creating a team of employees to support you at your dental office.
I recently acquired a practice in Spokane, WA and I hand chose every team member to help me grow my practice, create my brand and most importantly take care of our patients. Our patients oral and systemic health is my utmost priority. I have made it my mission to treat each patient as if they were my own family and do for them what I would do for my own family. With that being said, I also want to have a team that supports me in my mission to help each patient and treat them.
These past two weeks have been some of the hardest growing pains as a new practice owner. In a small work environment there is no room for apathy. Each team member needs to do their job plus support one another so we can be an efficient business. Regardless of dentistry being healthcare, we are still a business. We do not get paid for being in network with dental insurances and we do not get paid for patients sitting in our chair. We are paid based on what we do for treatment. If there are confusions along the way and team members feel that they are doing much more than the rest there will be conflict.
In the last two weeks, I have had to manage a team that was feeling drained and unheard. In doing so, we lost a few team members, and for a small practice that is huge. We cannot allow one rotten apple to spoil the barrel and so I made a decision as an owner to rid our practice of the rotten apples. That decision was not taken lightly and that decision has had so many repercussions. However, the team that is present and supports me has to be heard and felt recognized.
I have worked in many types of dental offices where toxic team members remained even though the entire team was struggling and I always knew that when I started my own practice I would value those team members who supported me and I would let the others go because I had the opportunity to be different – different than all of my previous employers.
I was reading a book the other day and a very successful dentist said that he never regretted letting go of a toxic team member but he always regretted keeping them. I am hoping that by doing this for my team and my practice we will grow into the future – it’s not quite feeling that way right now, but I have hope that we will get there.
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