According to a recent Gallup Workplace survey, 51% of US employees are actively seeking a new job. This statistic is especially worrisome in the dental industry due to an existing shortage of dental personnel. Learn the primary reasons dental employees depart and ways you can prevent it from happening. 

The most effective team structure for a dental practice is a self-managed team structure. Why? In dentistry, the dentist-leader is the business's primary income producer. If the dentist-leader is not doing dentistry, the business is losing money. Over time, the stress of dealing with a dysfunctional team structure and being the number one producer will result in professional burn-out.

We started the year with a blog about the infamous “bad apple” employee; next we tackled how to avoid hiring a “bad apple” employee; and now, after following our effective Concepts Hiring System, we have a new employee, who is excited, energetic, a little nervous, and eager to learn. This is the point, right after hiring a new employee, when so many leaders (and not just in dentistry!) make two key mistakes.

In my previous blog, Is a Bad Apple Employee Ruining Your Team?, you met Francis, a problem employee. Francis’s problems weren’t so much her job performance, but rather her behavior and attitude, both of which are more subjective and difficult to manage.  Here are some tools to help prevent and protect you from being saddled with, or “held hostage” by, a bad-apple hire.

Let’s make a deal? Let’s agree to make 2021 the year of leadership development in your dental practice. My part of this deal is to write a blog each month discussing one thing you and your leaders can do to improve your leadership skills. Your part is to read the monthly blogs and implement the skills in your practice for at least one year before deciding it does or doesn’t work. Wait… are you hedging? Are you wondering why you should spend your precious time on leadership skills? Before you turn down the deal right now, read the rest of this blog. Then we’ll revisit it.