What Style Of Dental Management Do You Practice?
Effective management is the basis of any successful dental business
, wouldn't you agree? It may or may not surprise you to know that many dental practices have little or no management structure in place. In these types of practices often the "tail is literally wagging the dog".
I am constantly amazed when I see these situations, and question what the goal of such chaos could be. If it is because someone fears loss of control which may perhaps come from placing critical administrative responsibilities in another's hands, in essence hasn't this control already been lost?
I know of an office where there are two Doctors who share office space but have two totally separate practices. One has no office manager, and in reality no leadership at all. Everyone has her own agenda, and while the word "team" is used frequently, in reality that is anything but the case.
Recently the situation arose where the two front desk "team" members decided to take vacations. One would be gone for a week, and immediately upon her return the other one would be out for two weeks. After much whining from both of them, the Doctor decided to bring in someone from the outside to cover their positions while they were out. That sounds reasonable, right? The problem is, there is no written training protocol, and no one who wants to train the replacement, so in actuality this practice will be in limbo for three weeks. Unbelievable, wouldn't you agree?
There are two basic management styles. The first one is called "participative management". This method requires recruitment and hiring of only the best. With this method employees are specialized, and require little or no supervision. They have vision, integrity, determination, commitment, and are self motivated. Lou Holtz, one of the greatest football coaches of all time says it this way: "I don't hire people & try to motivate them, I hire motivated people". With the participative management style this is what is required.
The other style of management that is often used effectively is the authoritative management style. This style is based on the principle that most people do not like to work, and require coercive techniques to insure their productivity. In other words, this style believes that there must be direct supervision and exact guidelines in place to obtain the desired outcome.
Either one of these styles can be very successful. It really depends on the management philosophy of the practice owner. The basic idea is that there is a management system in place, and that there is distinction as to what it is when employees are hired. Opposing styles do not collaborate well. Placing employees of the caliber of the participative style in partnership with those of the authoritative style can prove to be disastrous and devastating to a practice.
Another catastrophic situation will occur when there is no management style in place. This is the case in the example cited previously. In these circumstances, no one is in control, leaving everything entirely to chance. This reminds me of the old adage about the 3 kinds of people' "those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened". We must take our heads out of the sand, and become proactive if we are to be successful in the business of dentistry.
Regardless of which management style you choose, it is professional suicide not to have a written protocol for every position in your practice. This way when someone is out for any reason, it will be easier for another team member to pick up the ball and run with it. Another valuable concept is cross training. Every team member should have basic knowledge of each position on the team. This is not to say that a front desk person can fill a hygienist's role, but when there is value and appreciation of each person's contribution to achievement of the common goal, then & only then will there be a real team and then and only then can the practice goals be realized.
by: Cathy Warschaw
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