Sir Richard Branson hit the nail on the head with this quote:
“Train people well enough that they can leave. Treat them well enough that they don’t want to.”
It is not unusual for me to observe the fatigue of dental practice owners and managers when they are faced with training yet another team member.
Training takes time, energy and patience…things that many have little of to spare.
I routinely hear from my Subscribers that they would be more willing to put a strong effort into training if there was an assurance that the new employee would be around for a long time. And this is where the process falls down: If employees are not trained in their roles to where they feel competent and trusted to work autonomously, they will quit. They will quit because they feel they are underprepared for the position, they will feel inadequate, and they will believe that their expectations of the benefits of working in your great practice will not be met.
To avoid losing yet another employee, I encourage you to embrace the training process and Richard Branson’s mantra and create an environment for your people so that they WANT TO STAY.
The advantages of staff training are numerous:
- Increased productivity
- Decreased need for supervision
- Higher staff retention
- Increased ability to adopt new services and technology to the practice
- Increased staff morale
- Enhanced practice image
- High-level customer service
What are the secrets to creating a workplace environment where staff will choose to stay?
- Plan the training process and exercise patience, giving staff members the time to repeat processes and learn
- Tell staff members when they are doing things right, rather than only speaking up when things go wrong
- Pay above award
- Cultivate a strong and positive workplace culture
- Be friendly and generous with your attention
- Do not micro-manage: accept that all learning and progress requires mistake-making
- Encourage team input
- Show appreciation
- Be positive
Julie was the first non-dentist to own and manage a dental practice in Australia. Julie’s experiences during her ten years of practice ownership developed a unique perspective on how to achieve remarkable success by empowering dental teams and practice owners. Practices that apply Julie’s insights gain elevated levels of control over their practice destiny. Gaining access to these insights is easy through JPPS Subscription.