If variety is the spice of life then cross training is key in keeping your dental employees engaged and providing huge value to your dental practice. As a leader, it is important to understand each employee's role within your practice. This provides clarity in expectations as well as appreciation for what each team member brings to the table. Cross training can provide huge value to the dental practice such as having coverage available when an employee calls in sick or is on vacation...
It also serves as a great tool to re-engage your employees! By bringing more variety into your office your team is challenged to learn a new skill set to sharpen their methods while becoming empowered to add more value at work. This gives them the opportunity to do something different and lessens the risk for work related injuries, such as carpal tunnel, by breaking up repetitive motion tasks.
This week challenge your team by asking how they feel about being team players and being open to trying something new with cross training. Do you have employees who tend to get tunnel vision on "their stuff?" At the end of the day, are they checking in with one another and helping each other so everyone leaves together as a team? Or do they quickly clean "their room," type "their notes," and bolt while others are left behind? Imagine what something as simple as changing this behavior would facilitate for your practice, your patients, and your employees. Use cross training as a way to better understand and appreciate one another.
Then ask your team: How can we be victorious as a group? How can we all achieve a level of success that we've never achieved before?
I think back to a story I once heard about a double decker bus driving around in Chicago and getting stuck underneath an overpass. While all the passengers are taken off the bus, traffic is stopped, and the driver is scratching his head as to what to do a 10 year old boy walks by and asks the adults "Why don't you just let the air out of the tires?" Sometimes we get so used to how we do things we think there is only one way to do it.
The beauty of cross training is it allows your entire team to give a different perspective and feedback on how things are being done and what, if anything, can be done in a better or more efficient manner. This in turn creates a culture with team building and employee buy in which is key in long term success for your office. Reach out to your coach today if you are ready to see these changes in your office!
