The Cleveland Clinic made some radical changes in how they employed people, including the doctors: No longer working in departments but for “institutes” within its system, they are ALL on yearly renewable contracts. The mission of the Clinic is simple: patients first, always.
Dental Offices Have Something to Learn
So, what was the reasoning behind this model? Well, a lot. One factor though, was taking the work everyone does away from the “me” or “department” mindset and instead turning it into the “we” or “team” model. Patient care is at its center: everyone working towards that common goal, from orderlies to billing to nurses, techs and doctors. There are leaders within the model who are expected to support their teams by investing in their ongoing engagement and development and as a contract year comes to a close, metrics by which to determine if every employee (including the doctors) will be kept on.
In dentistry, we hire with the hope of longevity. We speak of teamwork and patient care, of superstars and slackers on the job. Message boards and Facebook groups riddled with queries on employment issues. Many practices have a bonus system as a way to get everyone on the bus and performing: quintessential carrot and stick mentality and often they don’t work.
But what if dental practices took a different approach? What if an office that was riddled with cultural underperformance instead chose to follow something like The Cleveland Clinic model with their employees? How radical would that be?
A New Way To Engage A Dental Office Employee
A practice owner would need to revisit the vision and mission of the business, ensuring it was lofty enough, employing S.M.A.R.T goals (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, Time-bound) and enroll his workers. I’d imagine there would be A LOT of pushback, especially from tenured staff. ( I can hear it now: ‘How dare she put me on a contract??’ ‘I’ve been here for 3 years. That’s it- I’m finding a new job!’)
Scary stuff.
Here’s the thing though: if someone were to implement a version of this model, it would be inherent upon them to truly rally their group, be supportive of them, invest in their development and make these facts known at the outset.
“Team, I am here to help you grow and succeed, and my promise is to support and develop you to help you get there. Ultimately, the success of this practice and the care we provide is greater than any one of us individually, though. Patient care can be nothing less than stellar and if I do my part, and you do yours, we will succeed.”
Patient care for a dental practice is all-encompassing: from how a patient is greeted on the phone, treatment performed, handed off, billed, recalled for care and so on.
Would this cause an office to be set on end? Employees to leave? Perhaps. But maybe it would also send a very important message: everyone is needed to make the mission a success and if you won’t perform, you can and will be replaced. Perhaps, too, it’s a longer stick and a bigger carrot- do your job and you get to keep your job, but isn’t that what it’s supposed to be? Postal workers who are consistently raking in overtime because they are slow are shadowed by supervisors and if they don’t improve, lose their jobs. Factory workers who repeatedly mess up an assembly line are written up and if infractions continue, similarly terminated. Why is a business dedicated to patient care so reluctant to truly hold people accountable: to tolerate melodrama, repeated scheduling errors, failure to collect monies, improperly file insurance, be tardy, call in sick without a second thought?
Dental Employee Work Contracts May Not Be Right For All
I’m not suggesting this is the cure-all, nor right for everyone. If done from a place of fairness to all, where everyone is valued, unless they fail to show their value, it might be worth comprehensively exploring. I’ve always been an advocate of employment contracts which cover all entities, expectations on both sides listed and agreed upon. This concept goes much deeper.
As a final thought: employee engagement, work-happiness and mission achievement is at an all time high within the Cleveland Clinic setting.
Until next time,
Peace, Joy and Success
Ascendant Dental Development LLC is built on the solid foundation of positive communication, both in the workplace and personal space. As a certified coaching resource with over 30 years in the dental field, we bring a new twist to dental practices and staff, focus primarily on leadership, team-building, communication skills, and case presentation techniques. We offer in-office workshops, individual coaching and also provide lectures to larger groups. We are proud members of many organizations including the Institute of Coaching, the Via Institute and others. We are currently filling our schedule for 2019-20 and encourage you to call us Toll Free to learn more
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