This transcript with our Jameson Files host Carrie Webber has been lightly edited for flow. To enjoy the audio, you can watch on YouTube or listen to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, or Spotify.

Setting our Team up for Success Regarding New Team Members

Welcome to the Jameson Files. I’m your host, Carrie Webber, and I’m so glad to be with you once again for another episode. As we roll into the end of 2023, something that we’re finding in the seasons of our dental practices is perhaps some of you are overcoming that challenge of finding new employees and getting people hired. Today I want to talk about setting your team up for success when you are bringing a new employee or a new member of your team on board whether that is now or in the very near future. We’re going to talk about things to consider and ways to successfully and effectively onboard new employees. And then the big question that is often asked is, how do we retain superstar team members? 

I recently did a presentation on recruiting, onboarding, and retaining new employees, rockstar dental team members. When we asked the group what the most important pieces of this topic were that they were hoping that we would cover, the large majority of the requests and the goals and objectives for our time together were how do I retain, how do I build accountability, how do I build engagement in my team? So it really has come full circle to not finding team, but now that I’ve found somebody great, how do I keep them? So again, today on the Jameson files, we’re going to talk about how to set our team up for success, especially when we’re talking about hiring, onboarding, and those new employees that are so valuable. Of course all of our team members are valuable, but how do we keep these valuable team members onboard and have them be as successful as possible in their new role? So let’s get started.

Have a Clear Structure in Place When Onboarding a New Employee

When I think about the successful onboarding process of a new employee, it’s important that we have clear structure and intention in place on that onboarding process and timeframe. We’re looking at those 30, 60, 90 days of how to make this successful. We’re measuring from all of that time as we’re training, is this person the right fit? Can this person do the job that I have hired them to do? Am I training them successfully and clearly? Am I giving clear expectations of the role so that the person that’s coming on board fully understands their responsibilities in this position in my practice? And do they have the desire and the willingness to do the job to the level of expectation that I have clearly set? So this is the thing that we want our pro training programs in our dental practices to do. We want them to help a new team member get fully invested into the practice and into your practice’s culture, get fully productive in their role so they are as productive as possible and meeting or exceeding the expectations that you have set for that employee, and get interested in being successful.

We want them to be bought in and interested in experiencing full success and excellence in their role in our practice. So remember, we want our new team members to get fully invested, fully productive, and get interested in being successful. That’s what a great onboarding and training program is going to do in your practice. So when you think about effective training, I want you to start thinking about what the plan is that we have in place to help this person be successful. We want clarity and consistency in training and onboarding. So as you are preparing for this new employee that’s coming on board in your practice or that will be in the future, think about these things and make sure that we have all of these items in place in that training and onboarding window of time. 

Have Clear Roles and Responsibilities Lined Out For the New Team Member

Number one, have clear roles and responsibilities lined out for that team member for whatever role they’re coming in on. Something that I find, especially if you have multiple business team members, is that we’re hiring a lot of people to fulfill specific elements of the business systems of the practice, but often there is confusion in practices about who’s ultimately responsible for what. So bringing on a new employee is probably a great opportunity for you and your practice to review the roles and responsibilities of the team you have in place, get those streamlined and clear, and then make sure that the roles and responsibilities are lined out clearly for this new person that’s stepping into this new role. So make sure clear roles and responsibilities are lined out and that we are able to review that with that team member so they truly know, understand, and are up for the job they’re stepping into.

Have a Clear Documentation Process

We need to make sure we have a way of documenting all of the things that person gets trained in, and that we’re checking those boxes when those items are completed. We do that when we have that documentation process, and we can check the boxes and say, we’ve trained on this, we’ve trained on that, we’ve trained on that. That prevents things falling through the cracks and those accidental executions of systems. So what we want to do is protect the systems you’ve worked so hard to create in your practice. We want to protect that which is working really well for you. The only way we can do that is make sure we’re training up successfully the person that’s stepping in to help execute those systems now. So document the items that need to be done, and make sure we’re keeping track of that.

Have a Schedule in Place for the Training Process

We want to schedule training. We don’t want to just throw them out off the cliff and say, good luck. You said you had dental experience, so let’s see what you’re made of.

We want to have a schedule in place. We want to have a training plan so that that person knows when to expect this training to occur and you have a clear process to follow. That makes it much less stressful and a much clearer line toward the end result, which is a fully trained, fully engaged new employee. 

Delegate Different Aspects of the Training Plan to Appropriate Team Members

We want to delegate to appropriate team members different pieces of the training plan. It doesn’t have to be one person training a new employee on all the elements of their role in a practice. In fact, I want the person training that employee on different elements to be the one that does that step the most or has the most experience or understanding of what “right” looks like in that process. So if you are hiring a clinical assistant, I’d love to have another assistant leading them through some of the training. If you are hiring a hygienist, if possible, have another hygienist do some training. If it’s a business team member, I want to be sharing that training process with any other business team.

Doctors, you can delegate this out to different members of your team. Office managers, you can do the same. In fact, the more people that are involved, the more likely we have cohesiveness across the board, and the more invested everyone’s going to be in making sure this team member is successful. 

Block Time for Progress Review

So delegate to appropriate team members, the different aspects of that training plan, and then make sure you’re blocking time for progress review. If you are an office manager that’s ultimately responsible for the training of a new team member, or if you, as a doctor, are the one that’s leading this process along, we want to make sure we’re blocking time regularly in those first 30, 60, 90 days to sit with that new employee, review what has been trained up to this point, give time for questions and for review, and answer those questions or do some continuous training or course correction.

That’s going to be important, especially if early on you’re getting lots and lots of questions from new employees. We want to give them time to batch those questions and ask those questions so that we build up their confidence and their competence in their role. So again, make sure you have clear roles and responsibilities lined out and that we’re clearly setting expectations of what “right” looks like in this position. We wanna make sure we have some kind of document in a sheet where we can do documentation of training progress. 

We want to have a training plan and schedule in place. We’re going to work on X, Y, and Z this week, and next week we’re gonna work on A, B and C and so on. We want to delegate to appropriate team members different elements of that training process and training plan so that we’re all sharing the responsibility of helping this new employee, new teammate be successful.

And we want to block time for progress review so that we can reduce the amount of distractions that those of you that are in the training positions may be experiencing and you can fully support that employee in their work and their training and their progress. So remember, clarity and consistency is important. 

Train to the Standards that you Want to See Executed

We need to train to what “right” looks like. A lot of you that listen to the podcast or have seen me speak, ask this question all the time. In your processes, in your ideal dental days, what does “right” look like? So we need to make sure we’re training these new employees on the answer to that question. Something that we always put ourselves at risk at when we hire someone, especially when we hire someone with dental experience, we’re so relieved to have someone in that position that we just assume they know how to do things the way we would want them done.

Do not assume that they’re going to do things the way you prefer them to be done or the way that works great for your practice. We must train them to the standards that you want to see executed. That is why blocking time and setting a schedule for onboarding is so important. And you might be saying, “Yeah, but Carrie, I am so busy, we are so busy that we do not have time to train fully or, or schedule all this time. We just need to get to work. We are so behind all the time.” That’s fine, I understand that. But if you schedule, this is going to help you in the long game. If you want retention to be the result and you want excellence in that position, you have to train to that expectation. If you want to fully invest a new team member into the culture of your practice, and you want that culture to be a high performing team, you have to invest the time necessary to help that team member become fully invested in high performing.

Delegate Tasks Only After Effective Training

So once you have these lists in place, and once you’re following that along, I want you to start thinking about how to do this well. So when we are training, you must define those steps of whatever processes you’re in. You must demonstrate it yourself. Show them how to do whatever it is you’re teaching them, and then have them watch you do it, and then observe and watch them do it. Then you can coach, train, refine until you feel like they’re ready and you fully delegate the task. This is really important, not just in training new employees, but for those of you in leadership positions that are looking to successfully delegate tasks that are on your plate right now to free you up to do more of what only you can do. We often try to delegate, but we fail because we don’t effectively show, train, shadow, and review, so that we can fully confidently delegate that off to somebody else.

Then we just start taking it back, which reduces the motivation in that person, and breaks some trust between our teammates. So define what it is that you’re gonna do, demonstrate how to do it, shadow and watch them do it after they’ve watched you do it so that you can effectively coach and improve any areas that may need to be improved, and then confidently and fully delegate that over to that person when they have been appropriately trained. So remember, we’re trying to get them fully invested, fully productive, and interested in being successful. 

Create a Culture that Attracts Team Members that are Motivated by Bringing Their Best

Now it’s important to think about the full culture of your practice. You’re going to spend all of this time hiring a person, onboarding a person, training a person; what are you going to do to build this culture in your practice so that these people not only get fully trained successfully, but they stay?

I think it’s important to remember, if you’re looking for really high performing employees, if you want to attract and keep the best, you have to be continuously striving to be the best. Something that I always encourage people to do is always be seeking, always be learning, always be evaluating what’s next on the horizon in the dental landscape– from the technology that’s available to you, to the softwares that are available to you, to your facility, to the training that’s available to you and your team– so that you are continuously developing and continuously improving. Creating a culture that is founded on continuous improvement is going to attract people that are motivated by bringing their best because you are instilling in your culture the mindset that we are continuously striving to be our best. 

I always talk about how the only way you can really experience true fulfillment in your work is when you have a combination of individual excellence. So each individual team member is striving for their own individual excellence, and you combine that with a team mindset of team excellence. So when you bring a person that’s driven to be excellent into a team that is already nurturing that type of mindset and pursuit of excellence, that’s when we all can experience professional fulfillment and that’s the greener grass. So if you don’t want people looking for where the grass is always greener, maybe you need to water your own lawn. So if you want to attract and keep the best, you need to be consistently pursuing to be the best. 

Hold Regular Team Meetings to Improve Performance

Thinking about this, I want you to consider a few areas that you can continuously improve, continuously develop, give your team more authority and opportunities for growth, and improve your practice overall. You need to have regular team meetings, huddles, weekly or monthly team meetings that are about 60 to 90 minutes. Quarterly, hold what we call “brain trust” meetings, half-day or full-day training sessions, bringing in outside resources or teachers, or doing hands-on training on your technology. That is how you’re going to continuously improve performance.

I might also add, you might want to work on some verbal skills in those meetings as well, so that you’re continuously mastering your verbal skills with each other and with your patients. If you are having issues with scheduling, do what we call a procedure analysis. Doctors, we want to walk through what “right” looks like in your most common procedures or new procedures that you are starting to provide. How do you want the room set up? Who does what when, how long do those steps take? This not only is going to help your assistants support you more successfully, but this is also going to help your schedulers schedule these appointments more successfully. So taking that time to be aware of the timeframes necessary within procedures and making sure everyone’s on the same page is going to help your team and their confidence and competence in execution throughout the day of appointments. Prioritize the highest, best use of our time, and delegate other items to other people that have room, capacity and the desire to do more.

Make sure we are blocking training time, again, back to those team meetings, but also with those new employees, we need to be goal setting and action planning. Anybody that knows Jameson knows that we are all about setting goals, and that we are a culture that is coachable. We coach each other with the desire to help everyone be their best, and that we recognize work well done. So we’re showing appreciation, recognizing work well done, and celebrating the wins along the way. Those are ways to help you build that superstar team, but also keep that superstar team. So I want you to think about this as you are preparing to hire these new people. Are we doing these steps not only for new employees in a training process, but are we continuously investing the time, energy, and intention into nurturing a high performing work culture?

We need to make sure that everyone is clear on the expectations of their roles. What am I supposed to do by when? What are the expected results? If you’re having trouble getting the engine to really start moving and getting that momentum, make sure everyone understands what their roles are, what “right” looks like, and what the expected results are from that effort. 

6 Key Factors to Motivating your Team Members

I want you to think about some information that I have from two different groups of studies with employees about what key factors motivate us at work. These two studies come from two groups called Hayes Worldwide and IES research. This is the feedback they found concerning  employees, not just in dentistry necessarily but in the entire workforce, of what motivates people at work. So think about this in your practice, and if there is an area that you could improve, perhaps this will reveal to you if engagement and accountability and retention are areas of need for you.

1. Offer a Feeling of Sense and Purpose

Think about these aspects of your work culture and if you can improve. Number one is a feeling of a sense of meaning and purpose at work, meaning not just money. Yes, we are all driven by money, but we’re also driven by meaning. And the younger the generations get, the more the studies are showing that having a sense of purpose at work is very important to them. So your team is looking for the meaning. If you don’t have that “why” behind the “what”, and if you don’t have core values established and are driven by something bigger than yourselves, that is a really powerful, powerful area that I encourage you to look at and consider nurturing and feeding into your practice. 

2. Create a Positive Work Culture

Everyone wants to work in a positive work culture. That’s number two– working in a positive work culture. So when you think about that as doctors and office managers. Are you leading from a positive place? Do we have that purpose that everything’s rooted in? And are we being positive examples of what we want people reflecting? Do we have a positive attitude on team? Remember this Harvard study that one toxic team member can do more harm than all of your superstar team members can do good. So the attitude of team is incredibly important when we think about nurturing the engagement of our entire team. So are we a positive work culture? As my mother Kathy Jameson would say, have you created a healthy work environment? 

3. Recognize Work Well Done

Number three, that there’s recognition for work well done or for hard work. So showing that appreciation, pointing out specific things that a person did or is doing well and saying “thank you” for those items, encourages more of that kind of engagement and work. People do thrive in being recognized for their hard work and the work well done.

Are you making an effort to do that? Often when we are a high performing team or work culture, we’re so focused on the things we can be improving, that we forget to celebrate the things we’re doing well. So today I want you to think about something that someone’s doing well on your team, and make a point to state to them how well they’re doing that and say “thank you”. 

4. Offer Opportunities for Your Team to Grow, Learn and Develop

Number four, offer opportunities to learn, grow, and develop. So if you are investing in coaching, if you have invested in Jameson’s online learning platform Grow, if you’re going to CE as a team, if you’re bringing in a trainer for technology, all of those pieces are important to keeping your team motivated and engaged at work. They want opportunities to grow. 

I’ll add to that, that when you delegate new items to your team, those that are motivated for growth and new opportunities, that’s a big plus for them because they feel a little bit of a step out of what might start feeling like a hamster wheel in their work, and it gives them something fresh and exciting to work on. So delegation can really be a benefit for everyone. 

5. Make Room for Your Teammates to Contribute

And number five, the ability to contribute and share feedback and ideas. That’s why I was talking earlier about how important team meetings are for employee retention and for bringing that excellence and fulfillment to the work. People want a place where they can safely contribute and share feedback and ideas, and that feedback is taken seriously, and things bloom from their ideas. If I’m a part of the solution, I am much more invested in its success than if you are just telling me what to do all the time. So make room for your team members to contribute, share feedback and share ideas, and be a part of the solutions and action planning process. 

6. Genuinely Care about Your Team Members

And finally, a genuine sense that people care for you and your wellbeing. That is the final key that engages and motivates people at work, that you genuinely care about them as a human being.

So that takes it back to the recognition of work well done, showing appreciation, knowing things about me personally, and making a point to care about those things. We’re not just cogs in a wheel here, we are human beings that are spending the large majority of our time, of our lives at work with our coworkers. So let’s make that a work environment that is worth staying at, thriving in, and doing our best in. 

So as you think about your onboarding process, your training process, and your retaining process, it really comes down to a few things. What does “right” look like? Clearly setting expectations, putting an intentional plan into place of how we are going to successfully train our team and investing in blocking the time to do so. Continuing to block time for training, growth, and development for our entire team. Creating a culture that is positive, that recognizes work well done, that gives our team members the opportunity to thrive and improve and develop within their positions in the practice.

And then genuinely creating a culture where we care about each other and we’re pursuing excellence together. That’s what I believe is going to help you have a fully invested team that wants to be successful because you are starting things off on the right foot by setting them up for success. So as you bring on that new team member, I wish you all the best and I wish you the best of luck in your efforts. But remember, it’s all about your intentionality, how you’re planning proactively for success with your new team members, and creating a culture of success with all of your team members. Thanks so much for joining me once again for another Jameson Files. I wish you all the best, and I’ll see you next time.

Carrie Webber:

Thank you for joining us on this episode of the Jameson Files. Visit us online. You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Google Play, or Spotify. See you next time.