One of the biggest obstacles dental practices have when considering team training is time.

There is simply no time to do anything else other than to see patients.

Dental practices need to make as many of their onsite minutes as productive as possible, primarily by seeing patients. The only breaks we aim to allow to this rule are a few minutes at either end of the day for setting up and closing down and a lunch break.

Most businesses other than dental practices are able to identify the need for a team training session and simply pick a time to run the session. Staff delay their projects for that window of time to attend the session and progress is achieved.

However, ask most dental practices where they could allocate time for a 2-hour team training session and they would look through their schedules and come up empty-handed.

Every minute of a dental practice’s day is scheduled. Either with a patient or a legally required break for staff.

We leave little time for anything else.

I find myself asking, “How do we get around this challenge?”

And I found the answer! It lies with those dental practices that are already achieving success in this area.

Success leaves clues and we can discover these clues and use them for our own success.

Is there a practice or colleague who has a team of well-trained performers? Maybe it is a question you can pose to one of the many dental Facebook groups. Ask: “for those practices that do successfully incorporate regular team training, how do you do it?”

Modelling is a psychological term given for identifying and copying the behaviours of someone who is successful in a particular area that you would like to develop.

Finding a dental practice that you admire and aspire to be like is your first step. Then, I suggest you reach out to them and find out what you can learn from them. What behaviours can you model in your practice to achieve greater success?

I have had several instances of reaching out to others for assistance and guidance. Every time, people were very happy to share their wisdom and offer support. Even people who would be considered to be my ‘competition’.

Whatever obstacles you face, there are already those who have previously faced and overcome them. These people are the ones with the clues to your success. Find them and model the behaviours and actions that will turn your obstacles into your path to growth and success.