1. Case Studies - Many of our clients have told us how much they have benefited by reviewing a completed case as a team. Questions such as, “What could we have done better relative to the patient’s treatment”, and “Clinically, what could we have done to improve the outcome?” are great customer service questions.

2. Recare Review - Once a month, the hygienist should report on the patients who were due for hygiene this month, who is accounted for and who is now missing in action. What is their strategy for contacting those patients and more importantly, why did they not respond to the retention efforts?

3. Structured Messages - This should be an ongoing project. You created a number of messages during your Management Program but your practice has an enormous opportunity to refine and create more as a team. Many offices only use structured messages for phone conversations but you can use these for virtually any face-to-face interaction. The format can be used to help with your pre-clinical interviews, chair-side education, and financial arrangement conversations.

4. Communication – Your ability to communicate your thoughts, feelings, ideas, values and beliefs are determined by how well your practice runs. We often limit ourselves by only thinking about how we communicate person to person. However, you might consider reviewing all of your printed materials to check for the consistency of the appearance and the message you are sending. Your web site, yellow page ad, signage, phone messages, collection calls, etc. should be evaluated on a consistent interval.

5. Career Development - The best practices hire and retain the best people as employees and are responding quickly to changing market conditions. The doctors are not satisfied with the status quo. They continually upgrade facilities, processes, and the skill of their employees. Many of my doctors lament about not having enough time to get trained on power point or digital photography. Why not send a team member?? Don’t forget to invest in talent and keep them intellectually challenged. Many of my best clients have mismanaged very talented team members by not investing in their development. Take time to plan out your employee’s career path so they continue to be renewed and recommitted to your practice.

The opportunities for creating the practice of your dreams are unprecedented. But so are the difficulties, for competition is more intense than ever. The critical success factor for your practice is the quality of your team. Authentic team members who are mature and committed will make your vision become a reality. However without meaningful staff meetings in place, your opportunities for success will be limited.