It can surely be said that our team members are our greatest asset. From collecting money to welcoming patients to assisting our clinical procedures, the engine of the practice can’t run without our employees. But I think I can also safely say that our team members can be our greatest liability. They can fail to collect money, be rude to patients, and hinder our ability to provide quality care.
Ultimately the blame lies with us. We set the culture as practice owners. We choose to accept the bare minimum effort or to challenge our teams to excel. We can let good and bad patient experiences be a roll of the dice, or we can encourage our teams to serve with pride. Challenge. Encourage. Lead.
Leadership is an intangible quality that can be difficult to assess, especially for a profession that is more accustomed to measuring success in fractions of millimeters. Fortunately, avoiding human resources disasters is less about leadership and more about diligence. Embezzlement and wrongful termination lawsuits arise when we are careless. Employee job performance suffers when we don’t set clear expectations and then hold people accountable. No magical leadership fairy dust necessary.
This is liability risk management. By implementing some simple best practices, we can save ourselves from legal and financial tragedy. We can hold our teams to high standards. Our greatest asset deserves it.
Cheers,
Chris Salierno, DDS
CSalierno@PennWell.com
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