The ABC’s of Working Together Better!

Many dental teams struggle with drama, conflict, gossip, negative attitudes, low morale and poor communication. In most cases, it is not because they are a bad team. They have just become confused and lost their way resulting from having different expectations. All of us come from such different backgrounds with unique and individual experiences. Therefore, what we believe is appropriate or inappropriate, and right or wrong, is skewed by our personal experiences. Our personal experiences create our personal truths. I refer to it as the acronym B.O.A.T. – beliefs, opinions and assumptions equal our truths. Our B.O.A.T. determines how we act, respond, view and judge each other.

I still have my report card from when I was in the second grade. We actually had a section where we were graded on our conduct. It was broken down into the following sections; observes school regulations, works and plays well with others, respect for property, respect for authority, is courteous in speech and manner. S was for satisfactory U was for unsatisfactory. Thankfully I received all S’s!

It seems as if conduct is no longer a part of the discussion when it comes to expectations for employee performance. In fact, employees often believe that it is the Doctor or Practice Administrator’s responsibility to make everyone get along and behave. When the truth of it is it is each team member’s responsibility to work and play well with their coworkers.
I love to help dental teams nationwide work together better! After years of working with many teams, I have found the best way get everyone to working together better is to create clear expectations for Attitude, Behavior and Communication! What I refer to as the ABC Standards.

Creating ABC Standards will help cultivate a culture that is happier, healthier and higher performing! ABC Standards increase clarity, unity, congruency, level of service, and your business reputation; while preventing the chafing and disagreements from assumptions and opinions of who is right and wrong.

I have often asked my audiences to raise their hand if they have established standards or guidelines for their team’s performance regarding attitude, behavior and communication. Two hands were the most I have ever seen raised in any audience at any one time and some of my audiences have been 800 plus people. We just expect that everyone should know what is appropriate and what is not and what is the right way or wrong way. Without realizing it we set ourselves up for failure when we don’t have clear standards.

Have a team meeting with the entire team to discuss ABC Standards for your practice. Ask each team member to share what they feel they need from each other to be able to work together better. I find using a big easel pad with markers to write down the responses helps to generate more participation. Be specific and define what it means in words, actions, body language and tone of voice. Some examples might be:

Be Likeable
Be courteous
Be nice
Be happy
Believe in Positive Intent
Be Honest
Be Compassionate
Be Trustworthy
Have an Ownership Mentality
Be helpful
No gossip
Lead by Example
Be Reliable
Be Appreciative
Be Fun

(If you would like to receive my ABC’s Sample Standards please email me at JudyKay@PracticeSolutionsInc.net and write ABC’s Sample in the subject line.)
Take your team’s responses and put them together to create your ABC’s Standards Document. Print it out, frame it and put it on display wherever one can see it daily. A lunch room or locker room often works well. Your daily huddle is a great opportunity to create accountability. Ask each team member to share at the huddle how they did the previous day as an individual and as a team supporting the standards. Where did they rock it and where did they fall short and need to grow? The more you discuss your standards on a daily basis the more real and alive they become.

It is important for the entire team to know that there will be consequences and what they will be for not supporting your ABC Standards. The consequences are to be across the board for entire team. No exclusions and no exceptions regardless of a team member’s longevity, skillsets, etc. or you sabotage the culture and divide the team.

Establishing clear and consistent consequences will clarify to the team what they can expect if they choose not to support the ABC Standards. Doctors and Practice Administrators may feel bad or stressed when they have to follow thru with the consequences. Here is the bottom line; the team member chose their consequences when they chose their behavior.
I ask the teams I coach to come up with what they feel are fair consequences for not supporting the ABC Standards. The following four-step process is suggested by most teams.

1. Conversation between team member and source.
2. Verbal warning from Practice Administrator to source (documented in employee file).
3. Written warning from Practice Administrator to source (documented in employee file).
4. Termination from Practice Administrator to source (documented in employee file).

The refreshing part is that in most cases it will not be necessary to enact any consequences when the team sees how awesome it is to work together better!
TA-DAH! And they all worked happily ever after! Thee End!