Introduction

Staffing and team building have always been a challenge in dentistry, as they are in most other businesses. It is more of an art than a science to hire, train, motivate and retain the right team members. Adding to the complexity is the need to create a cohesive team that works together with efficiency and harmony. Building a superior team should be the goal of every dental practice.

However, teams are dynamic, not static. They go through all types of phases as different team members have issues, challenges, and opportunities in both their personal and work lives, which as they emerge, cause individual team members to behave differently. That can lead to friction or tension amongst the team. This creates deteriorating performance which no practice wants and is the main reason that team building is an ongoing activity.

Staffing and teambuilding is not as simple as just hiring the right people. There are articles that would lead you to think that this is all it takes, but the team is changing constantly, and the building process needs to have a focus every day. Practices that can build cohesive, efficient, and harmonious teams not only tend to have higher levels of practice, production, and profitability, but they also have higher satisfaction, enjoyment, and overall fun.