Lateness:  What you do the 1st & 2nd time sets the tone

Lateness: What you do the 1st & 2nd time sets the tone

The issue of lateness is a hot topic in HR leadership and one that isn’t generational.

The good news is that people usually step up to what we expect of them and the lateness issue is no different.  Meaning if we set high expectations for our team members they typically meet them.

The important thing is that you realize that as a practice leader this may be an uncomfortable conversation, but what you do that first time…  that second time… can make all the difference.

Where to start?

Start with setting an intention.

Setting an intention for how you deal with lateness will generate more confidence.  You’ll feel more confident knowing that when you address the issue appropriately you are really standing up for all of your team members. We all deserve to have each other’s backs.  That’s what makes for a wonderful practice culture and that’s what leads us all to step up to our best selves.

Where do you go from there?  Watch the video below for the full details.

 

Retain Your Great New Employees – An alternative to sink or swim

Retain Your Great New Employees – An alternative to sink or swim

Congratulations!  You’ve selected your new hire and today is day one of what you hope will be a long, mutually rewarding relationship. What’s your onboarding plan?

First impressions are powerful and lasting. The prospects for achieving success with a new hire will depend to a great extent on what you have planned for this new hire’s first day at the office. Putting your best foot forward matters, considering these statistics:

  • Healthcare is tied with banking and  finance in having the second highest turnover rate of 15% in 2016, behind hospitality (20%), according to Compensation Force, a workforce blog produced by Altura Consulting Group in Wayzata, Minnesota
  •  40% of employees who have quit a job voluntarily did so within six months of starting the position, according to ClearCompany, the inventor of a software/service talent management system. The cost of replacing an entry-level employee is 30-50% of their annual salary, according to ClearCompany.

Do the math, it’s eye-opening.

What is your onboarding plan? 

This the question is often met by a surprised, deer-in-the-headlights look.

“What do you mean, onboarding strategy? We hired an experienced dental assistant, she knows what to do, right?” 

The reality is this dental assistant does know what to do in her previous practice. She doesn’t have any experience in how to best support your philosophy of care and protocols. She doesn’t know your perspective on the practice culture or the nuances of everyday life in your practice. Without this knowledge, there is a steep, stressful learning curve ahead of all of you.

“Hmm, I guess I don’t have an onboarding strategy.”  This doctor does have a strategy; unfortunately, it’s not a good one.  There’s a long-standing tradition in dentistry of introducing new hires through a process known as the “sink or swim.” For the uninitiated, this consists of basically throwing the new hire into the deep end of the pool and hoping they learn how to save themselves. Some will thrive, some will struggle; others will simply choose to get out of the pool and go home. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Want to learn what new employees really want and a better way to onboard?  Click here to read my most recent article published in the Winter 2018 edition of Dental Practice Success.

 

Stop Team Meeting Deja Vu

Ginny Hegarty Morning Huddle Video

About 10 years ago I saw a pattern developing around team meetings. One practice after another seemed to be having what I called “Team Meeting Déjà Vu.” The team and doctors would joke and say “Can’t we just shuffle last year’s meeting agendas and reuse them again this year? After all, it seems like we just keep revisiting the same problems, we never really solve anything.  I’ll bet many of you can relate to that feeling.

To be clear, these were not mediocre or even average practice, they were highly successful practices like many of you, trying to figure out how to get to that next level of success. They were basically putting band-aids on problems, quick fixes that would last for a couple of weeks or months and then old habits would reemerge.  This “déjà vu” or inability to come together to create long-term solutions creates roadblocks that will affect morale and profitability & hold you back.

This is the first of my Morning Huddle Videos for Dental Products Report. View the video for a few quick ideas to shake things up and avoid Team Meeting Deja Vu