STAFF MANAGEMENT - Don't Leave Excellence to Chance!

You know how you want things done. You know how things should work. 

So, why does the staff keep making mistakes?

Why can’t they do what you’ve asked them to do?

Why do they keep forgetting how you want it done?

And why do you feel you have to micromanage them in order to get it “right” every time?

 It’s so frustrating!  Despite our best efforts, the staff will often forget what we told them to do or go back to doing what works best for them.  How does that happen?

The staff “forgets” oral instructions

As the practice grows, staff responsibilities become increasingly complex.  A bigger office, a busier schedule, more patients and staff.  Distractions multiply.  Someone’s in the middle of something and gets pulled away to do something else.  Out of sight becomes out of mind.

Only to discover later that:

The Front Desk forgot to call back the patient

The Treatment Coordinator forgot to follow up with the New Patient

The assistant forgot to give the patient their elastics

The Financial Coordinator forgot to send the insurance form

Our staff are usually well-intentioned, but during a busy day, things get missed. Some we’ll discover later; others will go undetected.  All have a negative impact on our reputation which ultimately affects our bottom line.

The staff does what works best for them

We hire someone and give them a job - at the front desk, as a financial coordinator or as a chairside assistant. We give them some training. And over time, they figure out the best way to do their job.  But it’s the best way to do their job for them.

How do I handle that pushy parent who wants all afternoon appointments?

I’ll give them PM appointments, so they don’t complain to the doctor or the office manager

Where do put that emergency appointment with a bracket off?

There’s no place for the patient on the schedule so I stick them in the best place I can, knowing when they come, it’ll put us behind.

The parent says they can only pay $80 per month on their overdue account.

So, I’ll agree to this amount thinking that something’s better than nothing.

They make decisions in the moment based on what for them is “the path of least resistance”, not fully realizing the impact on the practice as a whole.  The practice then inherits the consequences of those decisions.  But what are the chances that the way they do their job is always the best way for the practice? Not very likely!

The Solution

So, what’s the solution.  How do we get things to run smoothly nearly every time? How do we get them not to forget important things and make decisions that are in the best interest of the practice?

We do it by documenting our systems and procedures!  Not just a few, but ALL the processes that we intend to repeat.

We have these pictures in our head of how we want things done and the way we want our patients to be treated. But those pictures will not become a reality unless we do the work of documenting our systems, processes and procedures.

So why bother?  Why should we spend the time writing it all down?  They do it often enough.  Why can’t they simply remember the right way?

The Importance of Process Documentation

Documenting our procedures with protocols helps us achieve five important things:

1) It helps streamline our operations – saving time and money

• By documenting the exact processes, we can Identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies. We’ll also can quickly see what processes we need to improve or steps we can eliminate.
• Documentation can also identify a more cost-effective way to achieve the same objective. Too often we ignore the hidden cost from inefficient procedures.  For example, instead of devoting staff time obtaining key practice statistics, a software service such as Gaige can give us the same information and much more, allowing them to use their time more productively.

2) It helps avoids embarrassing mistakes

The front desk didn’t get the Informed Consent signed

The TC didn’t follow up on that New Patient

The Chairside forgot to check to see if the lab work was here

• With documented procedures, we can create checklists to assure that all forms are signed prior to starting treatment or how to check that the lab work is ready for the patient every time.
• Even highly skilled pilots who spend thousands of hours training and years of flying rely on preflight checklists. They don’t just rely on memory, and no step is considered too minute.

3) It helps train new & existing employees

• Protocols help new employees understand their role and familiarize themselves with the numerous procedures that they’re expected to perform. 
• Documented processes facilitate formal training which allows for smooth on-boarding.
• Even experienced employees can refer to these documents whenever they “forget” all the steps in a procedure.

4) It helps preserve the “way you do things’ when someone leaves.

The financial coordinator is leaving in two weeks and she’s the only one who knows how to do her job. There’s no time to hire and train a new employee so there’s a scramble to “get it all down” before she leaves.

• Without protocols, when an employee leaves, any specialized knowledge leaves with them unless it has been properly recorded.
• With protocols, when they leave, someone can be quickly cross trained to fill in or the new employee can resume the work much more easily.

5) It helps maintain control of what’s happening in the practice without micromanaging

• Whether it’s maximizing collections or making sure all New Patient forms are signed, a system is series of actions designed to guarantee a result. And protocols are the way to document the system to reliably get the desired outcome. The Power of Protocols comes from their ability to create consistency and avoid mistakes or forgetfulness!
• Also, documented procedures allow us to know what people are doing and gain insight into the inner workings of the practice. If we don’t document a process, essentially, it can be re-designed by each employee every time it is repeated.
• Protocols mitigate risks and maintains consistency. A well designed and documented process eliminates embarrassing “mistakes” and virtually guarantees a great patient experience. For good service to have an impact, it can’t be the exception, it has to be the rule.  Our staff may often do wonderful, kind and thoughtful things, but unless they do it each and every time, it has no power to make us “remarkable” in the eyes of our patients. 

Don’t leave excellence to chance!

Any task that is done more than once or completed by multiple people needs to be documented. With a written protocol, we can craft a well thought out process to consistently “wow” our patients.  It means that everyone in our office is literally “on the same page”.  It becomes the training manual for new employees and a reference manual for coaching staff performance.

Process documentation is a roadmap for practice excellence. Use the Power of Protocols to deliver a Remarkable Customer Experience every time.  It’s the only way to always meet or exceed their expectations, creating an army of advocates who will make your practice the #1 choice in your community.