How to Form a Cohesive Dental Team

Just as a sports coach has to guide their team in the right direction, provide clear instructions, and foster a winning mindset, dentists too must lead their staff toward excellence. However, not all dentists are born natural coaches. You may be skilled at performing procedures, but lack the leadership skills to encourage your team.

Do you want to find out whether you work with experts that share your vision? Are you looking to learn how to motivate your staff? In this blog, our dental practice consultants in South Florida will teach you five pillars your clinic must follow to form a cohesive dental team.

Five Ways to Forge a Strong and Unified Team

1. Celebrate Their Accomplishments

The absence of encouragement can cast a shadow over your team's morale. When your staff feels that their hard work and dedication go unnoticed, they can become disengaged, lose motivation and, ultimately, compromise the quality of patient care.

Celebrating the accomplishments of team members will help you create a culture of recognition and appreciation within your dental practice. One effective way to praise those who succeed is by implementing a strong bonus system based on your BAM (Basic Amount of Money).

First, you need to establish a predetermined baseline or target for financial performance, which could be a specific revenue goal, an increase in patient appointments, or any other financial metric that reflects success in your dental practice.

Once your team achieves or surpasses the goals, they receive a bonus for their hard work and contribution to the clinic's success. The BAM bonus system incentivizes your team to work together and continue striving for excellence.

But don't stop there! If a team member handles a challenge in an exceptional way, you should also congratulate them and mention specific things about it that you want them to keep doing in the future, such as:

• How they talked to a patient
• How they performed a procedure
• How they handled an emergency
• How they scheduled a specific appointment

2. State Your Vision Clearly

Without a clear vision to guide your team, you may find your practice drifting without a destination in mind. Therefore, team members might struggle to understand their roles and how they fit into the bigger picture. A lack of direction can lead to confusion, frustration, and a sense of disconnection among your staff.  

Your vision should state what your clinic currently stands for, where it is headed, which values you hold dear, and the impact you want to make in the world of dentistry.

If you communicate a well-defined vision to your team, you empower them to work together toward a common goal. You’ll also foster enthusiasm and passion, making every member more engaged and motivated in their role.

Establish Solid Team Agreements

Team agreements are the unwritten rules of engagement within your dental practice. They are codes of conduct that your staff willingly agrees to follow, and they state how you and they will behave in the workplace, both toward each other and your valued patients.

Agreements provide the framework for maintaining a harmonious and productive work environment while holding each individual accountable for their actions. If one of your team members breaks an agreed-upon rule, they need to acknowledge their mistake and commit to respecting the agreement once again.

Creating team agreements within your team can bring about the following benefits:

• Respect and accountability: When everyone is on the same page regarding behavior and expectations, you can build trust and teamwork.
• Conflict resolution: Solid team agreements also streamline decision-making processes and conflict resolution, making your practice more efficient and less prone to disputes.
• Reference point: In times of challenges or disagreements, team agreements provide a reference point for finding solutions that are consistent with the shared values and vision.

Practice Clear Communication

A lack of communication can frustrate team members and patients alike and cause problems like:

• Coordination Issues: Team members may not know their roles or responsibilities, causing tasks to fall through the cracks.
• Errors and Mistakes: Poor communication can directly result in errors and mistakes in patient care, including treatment errors, missed appointments, and documentation inaccuracies.
• Delayed Decision-Making: Ineffective communication can slow down decision-making processes within the practice, affecting the timely implementation of important strategies or changes.
• Patient Dissatisfaction: When patients feel they you and your team don’t communicate with them, they may have a worse experience and leave negative reviews.

Communicating properly involves listening, expressing thoughts and ideas in a clear way, and ensuring everyone on your team understands and is understood. It means being open and transparent with information, sharing constructive feedback, and asking questions when in doubt.

If you learn how to communicate with your staff, everyone will be on the same page and trust your instructions and opinions.

Additionally, teaching team members how to communicate will leave patients more satisfied with their treatment and willing to come back. This is because they'll fully understand their treatment plans, options, and post-care instructions.  

Create Lifelong Relationships

Forming bonds that extend beyond the dental chair can transform your practice into a tight-knit community.

Lifelong relationships within your dental team foster trust, loyalty, and a deep sense of belonging. They create a support system that stands strong in the face of challenges, where team members are there for each other through thick and thin.

Lifelong relationships also inspire camaraderie and a shared commitment to your practice's vision. Here’re some measures, aside from what we’ve discussed in other sections, that you can adopt to bond more with your staff:

• Invest Time: Spend time outside of work socializing with your team. Organize team-building activities, celebrate birthdays, and encourage open conversations.
• Active Listening: Practice active listening when team members talk about their personal lives. Show genuine interest and empathy.
• Support and Recognition: Recognize and celebrate personal achievements and milestones, both inside and outside of work.  
• Conflict Resolution: Encourage team members to communicate and resolve issues in a healthy manner.
• Patient Relationships: Extend the same principles to your patient interactions. Build rapport, show empathy, and provide exceptional care. Patients who feel a connection with your team are more likely to become loyal, lifelong clients.

Interested in Building a Cohesive Team with the Help of Dental Practice Consultants in South Florida?

Now that you've gained valuable insights into building a cohesive dental team and creating lifelong relationships, it's time to take action. At Fortune Management South Florida, we can help you achieve your practice's goals, enhance team dynamics, and drive success.

Contact our dental coach, Brian Houlahan, to learn more about our services!