January 2007

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The Secret for Successful Orientation and Training

How can you maximize the potential of each new person that joins your team while at the same time keeping the passion alive for those that have worked with you for a while?

This is one of the biggest challenges employers face. And the challenge is destined to gain even more significance. Research shows that we are heading to a shortage of workers. Certainly we have seen this over the last few years with the shortage of dental hygienists available for hire in many parts of the country.

As there are fewer people available in the job market, it becomes even more important to treat your team members with respect and dignity while at the same time encouraging and supporting them to be all they can be.

In order to maintain a peak performance practice, it will be vital for you and your team to continually learn and grow together. Good training empowers people to apply what they learn both personally and professionally, ultimately becoming better human beings, not simply more effective as employees. In the U.S. training is a 46.6 billion dollar industry. Clearly the ongoing development of talent is considered a good investment.

When New People Join Your Team

You never get a second chance to make a good first impression; your practice should make absolutely sure that new hires feel welcomed, valued, and prepared for what lies ahead. To a great extent, the integration and success of a new employee is dependent on how well they are informed and supported so that they can put their best foot forward. The better your orientation and training process, the more you empower your employees to become peak performers, providing outstanding service for your patients.

Few dental practices train their team members as well as they could, or should. But when mistakes happen, they can’t understand why their employees just can’t seem to ‘do it right’. Taking the time to clarify important information right from the start will help you to avoid future misunderstandings. These misunderstandings could take many hours to correct later on, not to mention the headaches, heartaches and even lawsuits that could ensue.

Starting Off On the Right Foot

Remember your first day of school? Or beginning junior high at a new school? It was a bit frightening, if you were like most kids. Lots of new people in an unfamiliar environment. You weren't sure how well you would be accepted.

New hires feel much the same way. They are coming into a new environment, meeting new people, and are not sure how well they will be accepted. Great teams do their best to ease this transition and to get the relationship off to a good start.

During your orientation discussion share your philosophy of dentistry with your new employee. Tell them about your practice culture, describing ‘the way we do things around here.’ This is the best possible time for you to create the attitude you want your team members to have. People are the most open and flexible when they are new to a team.

Your new employee orientation is a make 'em or break 'em experience. At its best, the process of new employee orientation solidifies the new employee’s relationship with your practice. As a loyalty-building process, it fuels their enthusiasm and sets the tone for a long term positive relationship with you. Research shows that good orientation programs can improve employee retention by 25 percent. Done poorly, your new employee orientation will leave your new employees wondering why on earth they joined your practice.

The Secret for Successful Orientation and Training

Frequently the need to hire a new employee comes about suddenly and unexpectedly. This can create a sense of urgency to hire quickly to fill the newly vacated position. The secret for successful orientation and training is to have clearly defined systems in place.

Practices that have systems in place prior to the need arising are better equipped to deal with these transitions. Not only are they better prepared to hire the right person for the practice, but they are able to give this person a powerful beginning for a long, productive and happy relationship.

Team Orientation

• Make the first day a celebration.
  
  
• Describe job responsibilities and performance expectations.
  
  
• Finalize employment documentation.
  
  
• Provide your new team member with a folder that contains relevent practice documents such as:
  
  
  • Your vision and mission statements
    
    
  • Their job description
    
    
  • Their employee benefit package
    
    
• Place a notice in your local paper welcoming them to your practice.
  
  
• Place a welcome note and possibly their picture on your website.
  
  
• Give them a ‘dinner for two’ certificate to tell their significant other or friend about their new job.
  
  
• If you supply your team members with business cards, order theirs as quickly as possible.
  
  
• Give your new people the tools they need as quickly as possible.
  
  
• Pre-schedule a series of one-to-one meetings with the new person. This will provide both of you with an opportunity to address any potential challenges as soon as they develop.

Train to Retain

When you provide ongoing training for your team members, and they know exactly what your expectations are of them, you are more likely to have competent, collaborative, happy employees. This will both keep them engaged in their job and build long-term loyalty.

Once you have trained them, get out of their way and let them do their job. Micro-managing highly engaged and energetic people can be a real turn-off.

To maximize your opportunity for ongoing growth, create a strategy for team development. It will be well worth your effort!

Team Development Strategy

• The quality and variety of the training you provide is vital for motivation.
  
  
• Consider required training needs when introducing change or wanting to grow your practice.
  
  
• Identify employee's strengths and areas needing improvement, for example:
  
  
  • appointment scheduling
    
    
  • financial arrangements
    
    
  • sterilization protocol
    
    
  • building a profitable hygiene program
    
    
• Invite employee input on training needs.
  
  
• Complete your Continuing Education requirements in a timely fashion. But even more importantly, nurture a learning environment where everyone wants to learn for the sheer joy of it.
  
  
• Take more than the minimum requirements of CE so that your practice will be an industry leader.
  
  
• Have a request form for team members to complete when they want to take a course and then have them prepare a report to share at your next team meeting. Not only will your other team members benefit from the information, but the person sharing the information will gain a deeper understanding of it.
  
  
• Stay current with technological advancements.
  
  
• Review and promptly take corrective action when there are complaints from team members or patients.

Opportunities for Learning

• Hold regularly scheduled team meetings.
  
  
• Take your team to conventions and workshops.
  
  
• Have a consultant come to your practice to work with your team.
  
  
• Build a library of great books for your team. Potential books to purchase include:
  
  
  • The Four Agreements - by Don Miguel Ruiz
    
    
  • Good to Great - by Jim Collins
    
    
  • The Five Temptations of a Team – by Patrick Lencioni
    
    
  • Selling the Invisible – by Harry Beckwith
    
    
  • Indispensable: How to Become the Company that your Customers Can’t Live Without - by Joe Calloway

Having a loyalty buiding orientation program as well as a great team development strategy will simplify the time it takes to successfully manage your practice. Although there is a cost to training your team, there is also a cost to not training your team. And the bottom line is… it affects your bottom line. Having great team orientation and training systems in place truly is the secret.

Points to Ponder:

• Do you have systems in place for team orientation and team development?
  
  
• Do new employees feel welcomed and supported in your practice?
  
  
• Do you and your team members take more than the minimum CE requirements?
  

Our next PracticeProsperity newsletter will address how to conduct insightful performance development reviews that invite ongoing growth.

About the Author

CoraMarie Clark, BSDH MBA is recognized as a highly effective dental practice strategist. She works with dentists that want to optimize their potential both personally and professionally. Her collaborative approach has helped teams develop dynamic competitive strategies and achieve high impact sustainable results.

If you would like to explore the possibility of having CoraMarie work with your Dental Practice or speak for your Association or Group, contact us today.

CoraMarie Clark
phone 403.686.6136
email coramarie@strategix-ltd.com
web strategix-ltd.com

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