Effective Dental Practice Huddles
Many business owners and entrepreneurs acknowledge that they may be holding more meetings than they should. Believe it or not, some of the most well-known entrepreneurs actively avoid meetings. Many organizations believe that “huddles” are more necessary, requiring less time than usual meetings. For those who are unaware, huddles are short meetings where employees where team members update each other on their schedules, priorities, and any potential issues.
It can be quite challenging to run a dental practice, and there are many different factors to consider. You might be running a dental practice in a city where there is a tremendous amount of competition, or you may be having issues when it comes to patient attrition. You may find that dental practice huddles can help when it comes to communication, transparency, and efficiency. Here are some aspects of your dental practice huddles that can help you understand their importance.
Huddle Rules
Huddles aren’t a place to discuss office drama or issues of any kind. They should also be capped at 10 or 15 minutes, and shouldn’t be a time where staff members bring up concerns. Encourage staff to reach out individually for those conversations.
Try to give at least every person involved in the huddle one minute each to speak, and make sure that staff members are actively discussing where they are stuck. Huddles are a great way to understand the pulse of an organization.
Some rules should be understood when it comes to your dental practice huddle. First of all, the huddle should never be run by the practice owner. They should be present, but it should be run by the office manager and other staff members throughout the week. If the practice owner isn’t present, note that it could set a bad example and affect employee morale.
Secondly, you should conduct your huddles first thing in the morning. This helps to get everyone situated for the day and understand what needs to be done. The huddle should also include any relevant information required, including schedules, charts, and other relevant data. An assistant or hygienist should also bring relevant patient information, pending treatment, and other pertinent medical data.
Examine Progress
Huddles should happen daily, but there should also be monthly huddles to make sure that the dental practice remains on track. Daily huddles are vital because you can add and subtract daily goals. The daily huddle should focus on immediate priorities, while the monthly huddles should concentrate on long-term metrics and an overall vision for the dental practice.
You can also examine the statistics of the day before in the morning huddle. However, it’s also important to remember that the daily huddle shouldn’t mention the day’s issues or goals before setting them and that broader conversations can be reserved for a weekly or monthly huddle. There’s also nothing wrong with being ambitious (but realistic) regarding monthly goals. Specifically, your dental practice should aim for 5% to 10% over averages.
Why Huddles Work
One of the great things about huddles is that they make it more apparent that communication is always open, rather than employees being worried about a long-winded meeting where nothing truly gets accomplished. It’s also a great and short way to discuss new opportunities, specific concerns in business strategy, or potential long-term obstacles. The right huddles can help employees remain inspired and motivated about both short-term and long-term goals.
The issues that continue to emerge from daily huddles can then be discussed in weekly huddles. Of course, the issues that come up in weekly huddles might then come up in monthly huddles. Overall, dental practice huddles are an incredible way to encourage communication and improve strategy. Your employees can also explain specific ways in which they are stuck, and the practice can work together to make sure that those bottlenecks are eliminated.
A well-run huddle is about strategy and transparency, but it should also be noted that it’s about providing superior customer service. A successful dental practice will have to make sure that customers leave completely satisfied, and every dental practice huddle should keep customer service as a focus and priority. Ultimately, huddles are a great way to establish a communication rhythm within your dental practice that keeps things running more smoothly at all times.