Boost your dental practice with meetings

Does the idea of a practice meeting fill you with dread?

If so, you definitely aren’t doing them right, but believe me, you’re not alone!

There are many reasons why dental practices aren’t carrying out effective meetings, do any of these sound like you?

Negativity

Meetings should not be used to simply give your team a list of tasks to carry out, or to highlight something that hasn’t been done. Whether you are having a team meeting or a morning huddle, they should be upbeat, motivational, and everybody in attendance should be involved in what is happening.

Lack of frequency

Do you know how often you should have a practice meeting? Without regular meetings you will start to suffer from poor communication, a stressful working environment, system problems within the business, and a lack of development within the business and team.

Unsure about meeting content and structure

Many people don’t know what a meeting should cover. This can have a knock-on effect, meaning that meetings are then put off until problems build up, making it a huge drain on the practice manager to organise and deliver.

What type of meeting do I need?

With so many areas of the business, you need different types of meetings to ensure everything is running smoothly. Morning huddles are a great way to begin the day, but only if they are carried out properly. Team meetings are required for various reasons and can be one hour, half a day or a full day depending on what is needed. You also need to dedicate the time for management meetings, one-to-one meetings, and, if you have a treatment coordinator, you need TCO/clinician meetings for this job function work effectively.

The answer

As this highlights, there are various types of meeting that cover different areas of the business, and they are all just as important as one another. Setting a meeting schedule should be your first port of call so that everyone knows what it is, when it is, and what they need to be prepared for. Doing this will mean everyone attends with the right mindset.

Once you have ascertained the meetings you need and scheduled them, you need to plan your content. Meetings should never be reactive; they should have an agenda and outcomes.

Now you know what to do, how should you implement this?

If you would like help then do contact me as I have an online module for you that will explain everything you need to do, how to do it and will provide you with downloadable templates to help. Are you ready to revamp your practice meetings?

Laura