Townie Question of the Month

Currently we have a monthly staff meeting. I buy lunch, and of course the staff gets paid for their time. We take an hour to eat and then have our meeting for an hour afterwards. It seems that we are not accomplishing much of anything. We talk about what we are going to change, go back to work and back to the same old thing. No one takes responsibility for things we need to change, and it seems like everyone plays 'nice' to each other to avoid conflict. Does anyone else have this trouble? Usually we take turns conducting the staff meetings, and I as the Dr. try not to take over. I let the staff make up the agenda and give my input. We even have a follow-up assignment sheet, but I still feel like we are not accomplishing anything. Can you guys give me ideas for change? I would almost rather pay for lunch, let them eat, and go out to eat by myself. Thanks for your input and for listening to my frustrations!
Jabber,
Official Townie

Some people love staff meetings and can't do without them. Others hate them. I tried it for a year or two and found them to be totally unproductive. Must be my personality and probably the staff. Now I just have an open door policy. Anyone who has a problem, can just come to me (I promise not to throw things or ridicule.) The problem is discussed and solved. No muss, no fuss. If we go out to lunch, I insist on talking about anything BUT dentistry. It is more relaxing and I get to find out a thing or two about the staff.
mike_esposito_dds,
Official Townie

I don't do staff meetings. Once a year we close the office on a Friday while the OSHA training guy comes into the office. For about an hour, the hygienists and assistants take x-rays on each other. The hygienists also do prophys on teammates. I do exams and minor procedures like fillings. Any major work (luckily my staff has good teeth) is scheduled later for after hours. The staff gets paid for the entire day.

We all go out to dinner on the last Friday we work in December and usually have a nice Christmas party. Staff meetings are unproductive, in my opinion.
Mauty,
Official Townie

B++ch sessions...err staff meetings can be a good thing and a bad thing. I've had many staff meetings when we've lost control of the agenda and it turns into major a b++ch sessions. This was back in the days of trying to have a formal monthly staff meeting, simply for the exercise of having one because every practice management speaker harps about them.

Now, we try to get together once a month as a staff whether it is for a traditional staff meeting, an informal lunch, a sales rep "lunch and learn", or a CE meeting.

We've found that some time together away from patient care time at least once a month builds staff morale. We laugh together and are reminded we genuinely like each other although we don't always show it during stressful patient care time. This seems to make it easier to resolve problems as they occur because rapport between staff members and doctors is already in place.
toofdr1,
Official Townie

I have to agree with Jabber. I buy lunch, pay staff and then we discuss what is or is not happening in the office. We figure out a method on how to fix any problems discussed. Everyone seems motivated and then two-days later we're back to the same old unproductive ways. I'm open to suggestions and would appreciate any ideas. I do have excellent staff people.
Michael,
Official Townie

We usually have staff meetings every other Wednesday morning. We start with patients an hour later on those days and change the message on the answering machine so that we can have a full, uninterrupted hour.

The lunch thing never seemed to work out. With our new method, staff still gets paid for the meeting and they don't have to worry about their personal lunch plans. Also, staff meetings at lunchtime don't always work out if the doc runs late in the morning.
Richf,
Official Townie

I've worked in many offices where we had staff meetings and I agree they don't always work. Seems to either be a complaint session or nothing gets solved.

In the office that I work at now, we have staff huddles EVERY morning and it seems to help with the stress build-up in the office from day to day. It's not perfect but it does give everyone a chance to voice his or her concerns about the day. It also gives the staff a chance to let everyone know what's up with them (example, not feeling well.) It seems to help in our office. When we do have a staff meeting it's not so heated!
Chupnorth,
Official Townie

We have a staff meeting for an hour once per month along with a daily meeting just before the afternoon starts for 5 minutes. At the monthly meeting we try to plan ahead for the next few months. We decide if changes need to be made to any procedures (clinical as well as managerial), discuss any office improvements to be made, new equipment purchases, etc. Each area has a person assigned to carry out the task. The doctors, my partner and myself, really try to provide leadership to the practice and keep people motivated. If you fall back to the ‘same old’ in 2-3 days, so will your staff. It's important to stay motivated yourself.

At the daily meetings, we discuss the next day's schedule along with any implant cases, bone grafts, etc. coming up in the next 5-7 days. (We are an oral surgery office.) We also track our production and collection totals so everyone knows where we are at for our bonus program. This has worked well for over three years.
Jawdoc,
Official Townie

We have 2-hour staff meetings every Tuesday from 1-3. It has worked extremely well for us for the last 5 years. We ‘review-preview’ the schedule for the last two weeks and the next two weeks. We look at new patients, large cases, what went well and what didn't go so well. I can lead the discussion in any area that I feel is important at the time. From this, we generate a to-do list that helps to catch things before they fall through the cracks.

After the ‘review-preview’, I have an extensive list of clinical and management topics and I ask the staff what they would like to discuss. Much of the time is spent on discussing how to explain certain things to patients. This is very easy for me since there is no planning and seems to be very effective for the staff.
Drjim,
Official Townie

I do believe in team meetings. I run an Orofacial Pain and TMJ practice and we have training sessions every Monday for two hours. The team picks an area they and myself feel needs improvement and we train. Sometimes, it's as simple as how to put a new patient into the computer or how to post a payment to an account. When you have everyone together, it is easier to make sure everyone is on the same page. Sometimes you have introverts at the front desk that don't speak up and ask questions. They just keep doing what they were taught by someone else even though it may not be right because some prior employee said that is the way to do it.
Fritz,
Official Townie

Correct me if I am wrong, but it sounds like you and your staff are agreeing to the agenda for the meeting and it is something that will be beneficial to all! So everyone is learning something that will benefit the practice and patients as well. Sounds like "ya'll" have a good thing going.
Robert W. Ankrom, RDH,
Official Townie

I personally do not recommend having "planning” type meeting agendas over lunch. Everybody is more concerned about missing the salt, mustard and when their food is going to come. I would rather see practices plan for two hours once a month at the start of a day so you are guaranteed the full two hours.

Before my team began consulting with our clients, we were experiencing much of what the Townies are describing here. The office talks about the critical issues and possible strategies but that's where the ball is dropped. The next step is to ask "who will be responsible for executing this stragegy?" If no one volunteers, then the task is specifically assigned.

The next step in having an effective meeting is to ask when the volunteer/assignee will have the project done. They are then asked to commit to a date for completion. At the next meeting, the status of the issue is discussed by the person assigned to complete the task. If DentalTown readers are interested, I will fax you a copy of this agenda for your future use.

I personally have meetings weekly in my office, every Monday morning. I am the one who facilitates at the meeting. Some philosophies would say this is wrong and that the boss intimidates employees from speaking up. Personally, I don't find this to be true. I know what I want and expect out of my business. I know the pulse of my business and I am the manager of all the departments of my business. I expect specific performance from those departments. So, with that in mind, I am the perfect one to identify critical issues in the business that are stopping us from achieving our objectives.

Quite frankly, employees feel embarassed in front of their peers when they do not have the "status" information of the "issue" they were responsible to provide. The ball doesn't get dropped because we meet every week. Perhaps you may want to try this weekly, as I do, instead of once a month.

Taking turns running the meeting may be successful for an office consisting of all extroverts, but many offices have one or more introverts. Conducting a meeting is the last thing they want to do. Also keep in mind that not every employee wants to be empowered. We as employers would like it that way but that is not ‘real world’ thinking.

Something you might want to consider right now is a year end "Continuous Planning Meeting." Recognize your business strengths and weaknesses, then consider a complete overhaul of the entire practice and all its systems. This would provide you with a vision for the next 12 months. After a meeting of this type, every employee would understand the areas they are accountable for and what the practice expects from their individual performance.

Sally McKenzie, CMC, has been a practice management consultant for over 20 years. She is President of her dental consultant business, McKenzie Management & Associates. Visit her website for interesting practice management information at www.practicemanagement-online.com or at www.mckenziemgmt.com

If you have a question, feel free to call Sally at 1-877-777-6151.