Step 5: Training

Great companies, and great dental practices know that today they must provide training to help team members grow and develop. The likelihood of hiring a fully skilled team member is lower today than in the past, especially given the technological revolution in dentistry and how that has increased the complexity of knowledge team members must have.

The single best, and only, way to train team members is to set clear objectives and provide documented, proven, step-by-step systems designed to achieve them. This creates a much easier way for new team members to train quickly and for current team members to develop higher proficiency and move to higher levels of growth and development.

When training dental team members, it is critical that the materials and programming be constructed to comply with the best practices for adult learning. For example, role playing is a very effective technique to teach the doctors and team how to communicate with each and to persuade patients to behave in the desired manner. Whether it is scripting to accept open slots in the schedule, or to accept recommended treatment, practicing these interactions internally, with live interaction and feedback will produce far better results that simply providing a team member a script to read on their own.

It is also important that all training includes clear explanations of how the information being shared is relevant to the practice. Team members respond better to being told “why” in addition to “how”.