How important is  Staff Development?  Relegate it to an ‘I’ll-worry-about-that-later’ mind-set and watch your patients disappear.  You and your staff are a team.  Each member plays an integral part in making your practice succeed.  If a  teammate forgets her role but but plays a different one instead, her actions become a distraction.  When a member doesn’t know their role – “er, what do I do now!” – you stop what you are doing to focus on ‘their problem’.  Productivity suffers.  And your practice gets smaller.

All systems will fail.  Even strong, well-thought out  office and patient management systems will fail.  It’s the nature of things.  Damage control and righting the ship isn’t just the captain’s (dentist) responsibility.  It’s the OM, the RDH, the chair-side assistants as well.   Everybody on your team drives your success (and theirs).

How do you react when things go awry?  Get aggitated, steamed,or unsettled when things don’t go right?  Can you rely on your staff to shift roles, play a different game for the day in order to serve your case load?  If your staff has an ongoing training program that focuses on teamwork and personal responsibility, you will. 

Staff training and development is an ongoing process.  There are no ‘quick fixes’ nor are there systems that operate on their own. Mastery of your dental practice includes both clinical skills and emotional intelligence.  Each competency will support and drive the other.  When they do, watch your practice soar!