When a dentist hires an employee, the new person seeks and needs guidance. The dentist you hire becomes your mentor, and responsibility can be complicated. Here are some guidelines on how to mentor an employee, often depending on the person’s prior experience.
Having a staff member in your dental practice creates the obligation and opportunity for you to be the mentor. Ensure your associate understands your practice and philosophy of care and builds the support and engagement we all want out of our work. At a time when over 70% of employee relationships fail, mentoring is extremely important. Eugene Truino, DDS, past president of the American Dental Association, stated, “Mentors are the handover. The role of the mentor is complex. It includes teaching, providing a model, serving as a listener and sounding board, and acting as an entertainer from time to time. Above all, it means being a friend.
General tutoring
Prescribed (formal) tutoring serves directly to solve a specific problem. Developmental (promoting) care emphasizes listening first, then speaking, and offers as much guidance as possible in the form of questions. desired result?’ ‘Have you considered this alternative?’) Developmental parenting allows the partner to participate in finding solutions and to take the lead in the relationship. The two styles can be combined or alternated, depending on your associate’s preferences, and needs to be adjusted for a recent college graduate versus an established dentist.
In any case, mentoring begins with a clear understanding of expectations:
What do you and the employee expect from this relationship?
- Set Goals – Your employee may desire opportunities to lead a team or perform procedures that were not emphasized in dental school or their previous practice. As a business owner, you may want patience and revenue growth. To avoid frustration, clarify your common goals. and the deadlines for complying with them. procedures that were not emphasized in dental school or their previous practice. As a business owner, you may want patience and revenue growth. To avoid frustration, clarify your common goals. and the deadlines for complying with them.
- Explain your practice culture – Whether it’s a recent graduate or an established dentist, your employee may have opportunities to treat employees who clash with your practice culture. Establish ground rules. For example, both employees and associates must adhere to appropriate codes of conduct and respect.
- Make a connection – Sharing your outside experiences and interests is one way to build a relationship. a community meeting or event.
- Use non-judgmental language – Be sure to explain the reason behind your business practice and philosophy, and why you are asking your employee to change.
Allow yourself to learn from your staff: Your staff may have more experience and confidence in working with the latest technologies and procedures than you or may have a case presentation style that leads to greater treatment acceptance. In the business world, learning from a new employee is called “reverse mentoring.”
Mentoring New Graduates
Many dental graduates become associates without realizing what it means to be an associate. If you are aware of the gaps in your understanding, you can bridge them. They are the future of dentistry and the only way not to lose the profession to corporate dentistry is for private dentists to start hiring and mentoring new graduates.
Priorities:
A new graduate can join your practice for financial security without financial responsibility or, conversely, learn how to run a dental business. Your employee’s priorities may be very different from yours, but that doesn’t make them wrong. Priorities will likely change over time, just as you have.
Preparation:
According to a 2016 ADA survey of more than 4,500 senior-year dental school students, more than 30% of their education was missing information about the organization and financing of healthcare services and the practice of managing it as with any new graduate. Dental School Graduates are still searching for a place in their career and final specialty. Your employee may need your help to achieve their short and long-term goals. If you’re mentoring a recent graduate, be prepared to share your business and clinical experience, and admit if you don’t know the answer. Also, give the employee permission to know everything right away.
Mentoring from the Experienced Dentist:
Every staff member, regardless of experience, needs mentoring, if only to understand your practice culture and patient expectations.
Priorities:
An experienced dentist can join your practice to eventually take over when you retire to avoid the stress of running a practice because of other alternatives, such as other reasons. The more you know about your associate’s reasons for joining your practice, the greater the chance that the owner-employee relationship will work.
Preparation:
Experienced dentists have learned skills, habits, and even idioms that have helped them in their previous situations, but may not be familiar with their staff and patients. Instead of dismissing these differences, examine whether they have value. When consulting an experienced dentist, you should be aware of the limitations. control you are willing to share? Also, accept that short-term mentoring may suffice. But check in regularly, even if you feel the relationship is going well.
Outside Mentoring
None of us are born mentors. Caring for an employee requires commitment and can be stressful. Your new employee at work and make objective suggestions. The best tutoring takes place in the area.
One of the most important factors in the success or failure of mentoring is accountability. You need to set goals for new behaviors and outcomes, and then see them through. A mentor through a third party can be the solution.
Conclusion
Your goal as a mentor is sometimes to fix, but mostly to lead. Whether your employee is a recent graduate or an experienced dentist, mentoring helps ensure the success of the owner-employee relationship. The more you share about goals, priorities, experiences, and responsibilities, the fewer problems you will have. the mentor you can’t be, consider hiring an outside expert to step into the mentor role temporarily, and you can learn some new mentoring tips.
