The right dental team will propel your practice to success.

A successful and thriving dental practice isn’t built overnight. Rather, it takes time and effort to grow your reputation and cultivate patient loyalty. It all begins with building the right dental team. If you’ve recently purchased your own practice and are starting to look for the right employees, then it’s helpful to know a few key tips.

Today, we’re sharing 5 considerations to keep in mind to help you create the kind of dental environment that builds trust, boosts morale, and builds your bottom line.

1. Be strategic with focus areas.

Before you start reviewing résumés and building your dental team, take the time to think about the areas of dentistry you want to offer, as well as any specializations you want to pursue. Will you focus on general and family dentistry only? Or, will you seek advanced training and certification in other fields such as:

• Dental implants.
• Orthodontics.
• Prosthodontics.
• Advanced cosmetic dentistry.

There isn’t a right or wrong path to take, but it’s important to make sure that the dental team members you bring on board can support your professional interests, as well as the long-term goals that you’ve set for your office.

Still not crystal clear on what those goals are? The next step will help.

2. Write a dental practice mission statement.

Mission statements define a company’s strategic vision. While you might be used to seeing them in traditional corporate office environments, did you know that they also apply to your dental practice?

By creating a mission statement for your practice, you can narrow your wide-reaching initiatives into a real, actionable plan. Keep it succinct but thorough, and make sure that it fits the direction you see your office heading in both now and in the future.

Once it’s complete, that statement will inform all of your decisions from here on out. Not only will it influence the specific areas of dentistry that you’ll choose to specialize in, but it will also help determine the types of dental team members you’ll need.

Before you write it, it can help to do a little brainstorming first.

3. Brainstorm your practice culture.

Especially if you’re just finishing up your dental education, your life up until now might have been a series of classes, labs, exams, and clinical work. As such, you might not have had much time to truly sit back and reflect on where you want to take your practice. It’s easy to get so caught up in the race to build your patient base and establish your local presence that you forget where you were headed in the first place.

Take a step back and evaluate your personal and professional life, including the goals you’ve set for your practice. Think about the type of environment you want to create, and how you want people (patients and employees alike) to feel when they walk through your doors.

The answers you find will help determine your company culture. This is the collective set of beliefs, passions, and motivations that direct your workforce. Once your vision, mission, plan, and culture are in place, you’re ready to build your dental team. Or, if you’re restructuring, then you can use those initial steps to direct your rebuilding efforts.

4. Evaluate regularly.

The dental team that you create tomorrow might not be the exact same one that’s there in a few years, and that’s OK. As your practice grows, your goals and vision might shift. Or, you might decide to pursue even more advanced specializations that require new skill levels and capabilities.

That’s why it’s important to evaluate your current dental team on a regular basis. Are all of your employees meeting the needs of your existing and future patients? Do they possess the tools and talents required to help you reach your personal dentistry goals? Do you need to explore additional training for members of your team so they can better support your vision?

In time, you might find that you need to create and fill new positions, or eliminate ones that no longer fit your vision. Or, you might need to replace certain team members due to a variety of circumstances.

While these decisions can be difficult, they’re necessary. Moving forward with an ill-aligned dental team can hold both you and your practice back. As your goals evolve, your team will, too.

5. Fine-tune the hiring process.

Now that you know how to create the right roles for your practice, your next question might be: How do I fill them?

The first place to start is by taking a look at your job descriptions. They should be clear and easy to understand, with a detailed list of requirements that you can vet any candidate against. When these descriptions are vague and misleading, you could attract a slew of unqualified applicants, which wastes your time and depletes team productivity.

By revising your descriptions as required, you can attract qualified and experienced applicants. To help expedite and simplify the process, consider reaching out to HR consultants. These experts are skilled in finding and recruiting talent that matches an employer’s needs, and they can connect you with the right people.

Throughout this process, remember that you are not the team. You are the team builder! Smart, savvy dental leaders know how to work on their practice, build their team, and then step out of the way. If you’ve done these steps correctly, then your trusted workforce will have caught on to the vision you created. In response, they’ll work diligently to turn it into the rewarding reality you deserve.

Build a dental team that works.

The future of your practice hinges on your dental team. You can’t go at it alone, and you need trusted, dependable employees on your side.

By following the 5 steps above, you can lay the groundwork for a successful and well-supported career. By focusing strategically, clarifying your mission, and fine-tuning your evaluation and hiring processes, you’re already on the right path.

Along the way, we’ll help you expand your skill set and take your practice to new heights. Contact us to learn more about our courses and get started!