Your team plays a critical role in the success of your practice. They help you get you through the tough days and prevent the tough days from turning into something much worse. Yet, many dentists have trouble keeping quality team members.
Sure, people will move or change careers. But many good employees leave because they were driven away by a boss’ bad behavior. According to a 2015 Gallup poll, about half of workers left their job because of their supervisor.
It’s getting harder to find good team members. Once you develop someone, you don’t want to lose them due to bad habits or bad leadership.
Here are 3 ways to NOT to retain a good staff member:
1. Play Favorites
People don’t want to work in a practice where they’re treated like a second-class citizen just because they’re not Brenda or Bobby or whoever is the doctor’s best buddy. When one employee gets special privileges, it creates unnecessary tension and resentment.
Solution: Strive to treat everyone fairly and equally.
2. Don’t Recognize Good Effort
Many dentists don’t compliment their team because they believe that “doing a good job is what I pay them for.” If you rarely praise your team, it might be time to rethink that behavior. Everybody needs encouragement, acknowledgement and positive feedback. When staff members are never praised, they tend to become complacent and go through the motions.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying applaud poor work or underachievement. But the vast majority of dental team members do a good job. Letting your staff know that is a good thing. People want to be compensated well, but they also want to work in an environment where they’re appreciated.
Solution: Make appreciation a daily activity.
3. Fail to Keep Your Promises
Practice leaders can quickly demoralize their team by making promises they don’t keep. Your word should be your bond. If you’re viewed as untrustworthy, your team will doubt nearly everything you say.
Solution: If you make a promise to your team, do everything in your power to keep it.
Conclusion
If you have good staff members, you want to retain them. You don’t want to be the kind of boss that drives people away. Avoid these three costly errors and continue to strengthen your team by giving them the training they need.
Additional Resources
- Download Dr. Levin’s free whitepaper “The 9 Areas of Expertise: Team Building”
- Read “3 Things You Should Never Say to Your Team”
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