The Cycle of the Dental Team

In the last two weeks I have visited a few wonderful dental practices to provide training.

In two of the practices I was informed that there had been a big change in the dental team and everybody needing training.

In one practice I delivered the Treatment Coordinator Programme and the other had my Patient Care and Communication Programme.

I thought I would write this blog because when a team changes there is a tendency to panic.

Staff will change every so often and I do not feel that it is strange for this to happen every 6-7 years.

Staff leave for many reasons – some of the reasons in these two practices were:

1. Travelling the world
2. Moving to another part of the country
3. Having a baby
4. Undertaking a course to study hygiene and therapy
5. Long term depression and illness
6. Parent / partner needs caring for

As you can see there was not one person who left because they were unhappy. Their life had changed.

As we go through the cycle of life our practices and businesses go through these cycles too. We must wish our staff luck and move forward.

The important thing to do when you have a staff change is:

1. Get all systems upto date
2. Focus on Patient Care
3. Invest in new training
4. Be proactive
5. Do not settle for an average team member, wait for the  right replacement they will be worth their weight in gold and provide you with a long term gain.

Every business that has this staff cycle occur will come to see it wasn’t as bad as they thought it would be, you can cope, and everything happens for a reason!

Laura