By: Howard Farran, DDS, MBA, MAGD,
Publisher, Dentaltown Magazine

No segment of society manages Human Relations (HR) and its employees better than professional sports, especially football. Come late to practice, miss the morning huddle, fumble the ball during the game, no problem! You’re fired!

Now be serious and ask yourself this very question! Do you think the New England Patriots had a morning huddle before every game, including the Super Bowl? Of course they did and so should you! Commit today to the morning huddle!

In your dental office, who is your Tom Brady? (He threw for two touchdowns to lead his team to their third Super Bowl victory in the last four years. In our Today’s Dental office her name is Sandy and she runs the morning huddle better than anyone I have ever seen. Sandy’s game is to keep the patient flow in our office running smoothly all day long, avoid fumbles and interceptions, finish the day as smoothly and as effortlessly as possible all while meeting our daily financial goals. A team huddle is a very important and effective means of communication. Our morning huddle includes the entire staff including me––the doctor! We meet every morning promptly at 7:30 a.m. A well-run morning huddle need not take more than 15 minutes. This leaves time for all of your morning start-up tasks, like booting up the computer and logging on to Dentaltown.com while the coffee begins to brew!!

The secret to a productive morning huddle is everyone showing up PREPARED. Being prepared means you know very specific information about all the patients who are about to be seen this day in your practice. Dental offices may vary on the information they feel is important and worthy of time taken at the morning huddle!

Each member of your staff should be responsible for contributing to the huddle. Here are samples of questions from our patient information forms that our assistants and hygienists use during the morning huddle. The information for these forms is taken from the schedule the day before the patient is to be seen. Each hygienist is responsible for their own patients, as are the dental assistants.

Here is our list of key information to be brought to the morning huddle completed and prepared, before the meeting starts, by every team member’s patients:

• Are any patients due for a FMX? If so, can it be done today? (Assistants, Hygienists)
• Are any patients due and not scheduled for recall? (Assistants, Hygienists)
• Are any of their family members due and not scheduled for recall? (Assistants, Hygienists)
• Are any of your patients’ existing treatment not yet scheduled? (Assistants, Hygienists)
• Are there any outstanding balances that need to be collected? (Front Office)
• Where should we schedule emergency patients? (Assistants)
• Are any patients going from hygiene to doctor’s schedule or vice versa? (Front office)
• Are there any “possible back-up” times in the schedule? (This is quarterback info!) If so, how is this going to be handled?
• Are there any appointment messages from the night before? (Front Office)
• Discuss production numbers from the previous day. (Front Office)
• What is estimated production scheduled so far for today. (Front Office)
• Discuss MTD (Month To Date) production and monthly goal status (Front Office)
• Discuss any patient issues or feedback, positive or negative, from patients the previous day. (All Staff)

After the morning huddle Sandy monitors the schedule to ensure our patients are seated promptly and in the correct operatory. Her entire team is always connected to each other live on their Motorola TALKABOUT walkie-talkies, Model #5720, fully loaded with headsets, a 5-mile range and the option of Custom Earpieces from www.CustomEarPiece.com.

Walkie-talkies are the ultimate tool for the staff’s effortless seamless all-time communication!! The whole staff is communicating with each other all day long, not just before and after appointment encounters while checking a patient in or out! Immediately you quit hearing team members say, “Well the front office did this…,” “If the assistants would always…” or “Why do the hygienists always…” These days are over.

With walkie-talkies our quarterback Sandy can keep the offense going all day long! Running more efficiently with scheduling, production, and emergencies will increase your production and turn up your dental office eustress level!

The team will leave the huddle ready to create a productive, profitable day! Knowledge is power! Gather your information the day before, be prepared, be motivated, be excited, and go for the touchdown!