As I was saying last week, there is a right way and a wrong way to cross train your team members. If you do it the wrong way you develop confusion on responsibilities and, above all else, you end up with mediocre team members in all positions instead of mastery and highly skilled team members at each position.
In all the practices I see and advise (which yields the deepest industry insights because I’m so intimately involved, understand the unique patient flow of each practice, know the characteristics of every team member and am right there along with them in the trenches), I can tell you that the only way to do cross training is to follow my three principles of training…
Everyone understands the purpose of their roles and everyone else’s.
Each team member owns his/her respective position and the top 3 priorities for daily contribution.
And all team members focus on developing the core skills for success in every practice: communication, education, scheduling and sales. Yep. I said it. Sales.
Those core skills equate to your ability to influence patients to make a health-based decision and NOT a money or insurance decision.
Every team member must know…
1. How to communication with each other, with patients and with the doctor: cross train on this from every person’s position and perspective (never stop or neglect the importance of this).
2. Education training on clinical information and the overall philosophy of the practice: every team member must know and be on the same page with this; not tiny detailed clinical protocols but overall general education for all patients and their experience in the practice.
3. Scheduling (maybe you are surprised that I include that here): scheduling is the single most complained about and cause for problems within the team; it always either adds to or protects from the stress you live in and out of everyday.
Everyone must understand and know the scheduling principles for the practice. If you are smart and serious about this business, you will only embrace and follow my value based scheduling system (the only customizable, effective and profitable system on in the industry).
4. Finally, we have to make certain every one knows how to sell: sell patients on their way to health with comprehensive treatment plans and maximum acceptance.
Here’s the thing: you don’t have to sell if you follow my formula for patient experiences and the clinical engagement. I teach everything from the 3 P’s to the pathway to health and the breakdown of money.
Not everyone needs to know how to close the treatment plan but everyone must know how to sell what you do. Because nearly everything can be perfect except one ill-informed team member uses the word insurance or says anything counterproductive in the context of the visit ruins everything for everyone else – especially the patient.
This is cross training at its best.
No one needs to know every insurance protocol or every type of implant or every ordering technique. Yes, you should have cross training and understanding inside of each department, as I mentioned last week. But every team member should be cross trained on these 4 core principles of success.
Next week, I’m going to tell you something so obvious and so important you aren’t going to believe that you have been living without this concept your entire career – it will change everything for you.
In the meantime, rate your team on these 4 core principles. How are they doing? How are you doing? What can you improve on?
If you are serious about what you do everyday, then you won’t take your teams performance for granted. If you haven’t yet received this book on highly effective and all-star team development get it now…
Request Your Free Copy of: Dental Team Transformation >>>
