Okay…so I fooled you last week huh? Here’s the good news… Humans have unlimited potential, it’s just that we usually don’t allow them to explore and grow into that potential. It’s like keeping a child on all fours on the ground and never letting them walk, we often hold our people back.
As you know there are four key reasons Team Members never breakthrough to the next level and without question the single most common complaint I hear from Dentists is “frustrations with my team.”
#1. You treat them like employees so they reciprocate with never letting this become more than a “job”
#2. You give them no room to grow as people individually not just for your Practice
#3. You have poor leadership or no leadership and a culture void of empowerment, excitement, and excellence
#4. You either micro-manage, do not manage, or simply delegate to someone that is more of a peer without proper training to make sure they also don’t fall victim to #1-#4
…and you try to fix all of this with a “bonus” like Tom Sawyer getting everyone to paint the fence for you all month long and then giving them some carrot at the end of the stick and they either all win or all lose – it’s always an all-or-nothing type of thing.
So I say Bonuses don’t work because most people would prefer less work for the same money than more work for more money maybe, plain and simple.
With a bonus you are trying to get the horses to run faster with no guarantee of victory. They are trying to accomplish YOUR goal instead of you helping them to accomplish their goal.
They don’t own your business, they own a job (at least that is how most Dentists position it as). They are Dentist, boss, leader, captain, you work for me do this do that and here’s your paycheck for the time you are here.
Does that motivate you? Sure doesn’t me.
Today I’m going to give you the 3 most critical elements of an effective Performance and Reward System…
1. You incentivized the individual, you bonus the team
…that means that every position has a specific protocol, performance expectation, and results review with accountability tied to it, when someone scores more points, beats the status quo, excels beyond mediocrity you give them something and then every time they do it you give them something again.
You reward as often as you want them to perform at a high level.
Then BECAUSE everyone on the TEAM does their INDIVIDUAL performance fills their role and fulfills their responsibility – THE TEAM WILL WIN
2. You must remember and always practice, DAILY VICTORIES equal MONTHLY GOALS…DAILY DAILY DAILY as I always have to beat into peoples heads.
You aren’t going to accomplish your goals if you are focusing on a MONTHLY NUMBER, you will only achieve that number when you focus on a DAILY OUTCOME.
And for my BEST Clients in the world and most sophisticated we focus on a PATIENT BY PATIENT victory…New Patient, Hygiene Patient, Perio Patient, Restorative Patient, Operative Patient, Patient Referral and so on an so forth so we can mange the practice down to the minute…
How do you win a football game or any sport for that matter – ONE PLAY AT A TIME.
Well…there’s a telling sign and obvious hint, wouldn’t you say.
3. You actually have to show them you care, you should know the single most important “goal” in your Team Members’ lives, really the top 3 – now – you can “delegate” this to a TEAM LEADER or Practice Manager type person, that’s fine, you don’t have to have relationships with everyone if that is how your office is set-up.
But, some-one needs to know WHY your Team Members show up everyday and WHAT IS GOING TO KEEP THEM HERE…that is what prevents surprises, elevates performance, and makes everyone happy.
If it’s just a “job” to them then you can be darn sure you are doing something wrong… either you aren’t a good leader, you don’t know how to manage, you’re terrible at hiring, training, or follow-through.
If large companies can have happy smiling employees show up and grow their organizations then most certainly a small Dental Practice should be able to figure it out.
It’s begins with your expectations…
Next week we’ll move on to what exactly those expectations should be and how to move from where you are now to where you want to be with your team and your practice.
P.S. I’m hosting a very special “How To Transform, Empower, Lead, and Manage Your Team To Excellence and Practice Growth” Tele-class Training next week. It’s first come first serve. If you’d like to be invited to that please email info@DentalSuccessToday.com and I’ll have my team put you on the early notification list. It’s going to be a whole lot of fun, provocative, and insightful and of course life-changingly beneficial.
