As dentists and CEOs of our businesses, we are all very
busy. We often just expect our staff to do things right. We don’t stop to think
about praising them for correctly “doing their job”. We only notice our staffs
when they make mistakes or act out of step with our practice philosophy.
Try to catch your staff doing things right and publicly
praising them for doing their job as you expect. Your staff will feel very
positive about being praised in front of patients and other staff members. It
might feel foreign to praise people for simply doing things as expected but it
will start to feel good to do. Your staff will love you for noticing them and
for telling others that they are good at what they do.
On the other hand, try with all your might not to criticize
your staff in front of patients and other staff members. Keep your cool when
things go wrong and make note to talk to the staff member privately later about
the mistake or issue that needs to be corrected. Never talk down to your staff,
never make your staff feel incompetent – rather reinforce that you like them as
a person and just want to work on one area of their performance to help bring
it up to the expected level.
After advising a staff member on how to correct an area of
problem, look for reason to praise them in their performance in the next few
days. Especially look to see if they are working to improve the area you spoke
to them about. Make sure you mention you notice the improvement and appreciate
the effort.
Staff members are people with feelings. We all want to feel
we are doing a good job and appreciated. We all want to avoid being publically embarrassed.
As dentist/CEO it is up to you to set the tone for your practice. Look for
things your staff are doing right and let them know you notice and appreciate
their competence and professionalism.
