Have you had that experience where your assistant keeps calling in sick and ruining what you presumed would be a great clinical day? This person is a good assistant—when they show up. However, they’re just unreliable coming to work.
When this happens, you’ve got two items on your “to-do” list:
- Hold them accountable. This means having the uncomfortable conversation that tells them how their actions are affecting the office. They might not realize how bad it is for you to run while down an assistant. Telling them this isn’t as much of a punishment as it is an awareness item. You need to make them aware of how this looks to you, how this looks to their fellow team members, and how this looks from an overall employer perspective. If they continue down this path, then punishment might be needed, and that might be in the form of not working for you anymore.
- Plan for the future. This means a future beyond this assistant—where you have to rehire for their position. In order to hopefully not have these problems again, you’ll want to have a killer onboarding system. This system will include a clear job description, a list of what this person does every day, as well as what general expectations you have of this person as an employee. When these are all set out clearly, it will make your life easier.
How do I create all these onboarding systems? Good thing is that we’ve solved that problem for you. After years of refinement in our own offices, Dr. Chris Green and I came up with The Complete Dental Assistant Manual. This includes hundreds of pages of documents that will give you the start, as well as the guidance to set these up in a way that will lead to success. Check out the book HERE.
As with everything, doing these two things sounds easy, but they’re going to take a lot of work. It will not happen overnight, and it’s going to come with some hiccups. However, with the right resources and a supportive community like the Dental Success Network, the job will get done, and your dental practice will be better off because of it.
Be well and do well,
Addison Killeen
P.S. If you’re looking for support in building robust systems and accountability structures in your practice, join Dental Success Network. With our comprehensive resources and a community of like-minded professionals, you’ll find the guidance and tools you need to succeed. Join DSN today and take your practice to the next level!
