“For the good of the patients, the ‘us vs. them’ environment in your office has to be reworked.” ~Dr. Bruce B. Baird
It’s a major issue in most offices. The “us vs. them” mentality of the front office and the clinical team. I think we can all agree that we want to have a team where everyone is on the same page and taking great care of patients. The problem is the systems you put in place don’t allow your team to support each other and serve your patients.
Tell me if this sounds familiar: A patient calls at the front desk to set up an appointment. The front desk pulls up the schedule, sees an opening on Wednesday at noon and schedules the patient. As far as the front office is concerned, they’ve taken great care of the patient by getting them the appointment slot that works for them.
But as soon as your assistant sees the appointment in the schedule, it sets them off, “I can’t believe the front office did this! That’s not where the patient should go!” And now your team is irritated and at odds with each other. No one wins.
Now in this scenario, I don’t believe the front office did anything wrong. The problem is the office culture. It’s how the system is set up, and how your team is trained to communicate. The front office just doesn’t have the information they need to meet the needs of the patient and set their teammates up for success.
But here’s the good news, you can fix this problem. I didn’t hear this type of conflict in my office. Why? Because we set up our processes so the front and the back worked together – they held and supported each other – while giving our patients an exceptional experience.
Today I’m going to talk you through how I organized my team and office processes, including:
- Where conflict points happen and why
- How to set up your culture and systems to remove conflict points
- Communication skills for your front and back office
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https://productivedentist.com/podcasts/the-productive-dentist-podcast/episode-174-process-vs-conflict/
Process vs. Conflict