GAP Australasian-Dentist-Mar Apr 2019

Category 114 AustrAlAsiAn Dentist Dear Dr Toni, You keep talking about systems, but I’ve got to ask: what’s the point? Every time I train staff, they leave, and what I’ve taught them goes out the window anyway. My latest FOC says she doesn’t have time for systems, and I understand where she’s coming from. Dr NS, WA. Dear Dr ns, it can feel really frustrating to have all that valuable training leave every time you get a resignation! it can feel that you have to reinvent the wheel over and over again. We all feel your pain! What i can’t agree with though, is your implication that systems are pointless because those systems don’t last when an employee leaves. the truth is that systems shouldn’t reside in the head of a staff member! Good systems should actually be independent of individual staff. systems are there to support team members to be their best, and to give patients consistent excellent experiences. they also make team members’ lives easier because they provide certainty and clarity around the actions they should take and the outcomes they should reach. i’m inferring from your question that you do actually see the benefit in having systems, so i will focus on the source of your pain, which seems to be this: How you do keep systems running in the face of staff turnover? i have two inter-dependent answers to that. Firstly, you need to make sure that all your systems are documented, and that the documentation is: u current (i.e. up-to-date) u useful (i.e. they help staff solve problems and make decisions) u used! (i.e. staff are actually using them in the practice) i know that lots of practices have standard operating procedures (sOPs) or policy and procedure (P&P) manuals that have been done some time in the past and no-one has looked at them for years. to keep them current, you need a system for updating the manual whenever there’s a change to a system, but that’s easy: you simply make sure that someone’s accountable for changing the manual when a decision has been made (e.g. at a staff meeting) to change a system. Manuals also need to be easily accessible, whether they’re in hard or soft copy. sitting on a shelf in a locked office, or in a folder in a password-protected computer isn’t useful! so not only do the manuals need to be accessible, staff should be trained (by you) to look at the manual before asking you or the practice manager a particular question. Again, that’s quite easy: if an otherwise thoroughly-trained employee comes to you with a question you know is answered in the manual, you learn to say to them “Please check the manual before asking me.” note that questions are legitimate, though, if an employee hasn’t been properly trained, or the manual is incomplete, out of date, or inconsistent. so, are your staff using the manual? Well, they won’t if they haven’t been properly trained to do so! (see below!) this leads into the second part of my response, which is that induction and training need to be actual systems in themselves. every practice should set up some thorough training charts that go through all the duties involved in that job role, and then get used to plan the training with each new recruit. initially, this takes time, but it actually saves a lot of time in the long run because you’re not left cleaning up after someone’s mistakes. thorough induction is also often skipped in practices. it should include things like having the new employee sign off on OHs policies, dress code, mobile phone policies etc. it should also include an introduction to the oddities of any individual practice. For example, who puts the bins out, and when? Where are toilet keys kept? What are the petty cash rules? Q&A with Dr Toni Surace Best praCtICes Q&a It’s always best practice to develop business skills, systems, techniques and industry knowledge that could impact your practice. BEST PRACTICES Q&A is a forum allowing you to ask the tough questions to Australasian Dentist columnist Dr Toni Surace. Dr Toni Surace BDSC (Melb) Managing Director, Momentum Management Mentor, coach and international presenter. so i’ve given you a lot to do here, but the good news is that it doesn’t matter too much where you start, as long as you start somewhere! Yes, it can take some time to get all of this in place, but the point is that once it is in place, the practice does a better job of running itself. Here’s a quick tip: if you don’t currently have a lot documented or what you do have is out-of- date, get the next trainee to start writing down anything they get trained in. that person’s notes can then form the basis of the new manuals. Once your sOPs are documented, your new FOC gets to shine! she can make intelligent decisions about patient care and customer service, safe in the knowledge that all the underlying operations are handled! she will have more clarity over what’s expected of her, and what she can rely on from other team members. she can get way more done than if she had to wait for direction from you every time she faces a new situation. the combination of strong systems and excellent staff is an absolute winner in a practice. i do understand, though, that you might need some help getting it implemented. if so, give us a call! Dear Dr Toni, I’m lazy! I really am. I attend so many management courses, and I read a lot. But then it all stays in my head and I never do anything about it! What’s your advice? Dr BG, Vic. Dear Dr BG, it’s amazing how many dentists i come across who describe themselves as lazy, when in fact you’re anything but! i haven’t met you (yet), but i can tell by the fact that you’re attending courses, reading books, and own a dental practice that you’re not lazy at all! My suspicion is that you’re actually struggling to hold yourself accountable for leadership and change in the practice. to use an analogy from outside BEST PRACTICES 4 “ “