Cross-training your team has nothing to do with running. Shew! So don’t worry. You won’t be asked to do laps around the parking lot during your lunch break. Instead, cross-training helps your office achieve more and do more, which increases profitability. Operating a dental practice isn’t just about the money. You became a dentist because you want to help people by delivering the best care as efficiently as possible. Let’s be honest, your patients are busy too, and they don’t like to wait. So today on the blog, we share four reasons to cross-train your team so that you can meet your practice goals.
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Encourages collaboration and team effort
Being cross-trained helps each team member understand the roles of others and encourages collaboration and team efforts. Everyone should feel like part of the team and that their contributions matter, and sometimes, being able to make a difference or be helpful outside of their usual role underscores their team effort.
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Expands individual skillset
As the saying goes, ‘Knowledge is power.’ In the case of cross-training team members, expanding their skillset gives them power. Not the kind where they’re going to overtake the office and start ruling over everything. But in the sense that it builds confidence in team members to carry out tasks that help lighten the load or fill a temporary gap while someone else is out of the office. Plus, it gives team members that want to grow or advance a chance to do so.
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Provides return on your investment
Cross-trained team members help increase productivity and improve efficiency, which ultimately provides a return on your investment. You might have to set aside some time for team members to cross-train each other, which could take a little bit of your time and resources temporarily. But the long-term benefits will pay bigger dividends because you already have individuals on your team that can ensure the practice’s operations continue when someone is out of the office or swamped. That’s much cheaper than hiring a temp or another full-time employee to lighten the load.
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Motivates employees
For most adults in the workforce, there’s nothing worse than feeling stuck in a dead-end job. Unfortunately, that is all too common in dental practices. Dental assistants can’t promote to being a hygienist or a dentist without having the proper credentials behind their names. But that doesn’t mean that working in a dental practice is a dead-end job. Cross-training team members is motivating and lets them get a taste of other roles in the office. Perhaps a dental assistant prefers working at the front desk as a reprieve from being hands-on with patients. Or sees the benefits of going back to school to become a dental hygienist. Don’t see it as, “I will lose good employees.” A good boss wants to see team members flourish, and it can be rewarding to be a part of that journey. Their newfound knowledge could come in handy within your practice, too, like when someone resigns or retires. Who better to fill an open position than someone that has already been working at your practice for years?
Do I need to pay my team members more for being cross-trained?
The answer to this question may vary and depends on how often team members perform duties outside of their job scope. For instance, if you have a dental assistant that spends a significant amount of time working at the front desk fulfilling duties, then perhaps they deserve an appropriate pay differential. However, if your office manager occasionally helps clean operatories and set up rooms for treatment, it may not warrant a pay increase that’s set in stone, but rather show appreciation in other ways. You could provide gift cards or a small token of appreciation when team members step up their responsibility and perform duties outside of their usual job scope. But the best way to approach this topic is to discuss it with your team first and ensure expectations are set from the beginning and treat everyone equally in the matter.
Certain duties require licensure, like cleaning patients’ teeth, which means that not every team member can be fully cross-trained to fulfill another team member’s role. However, that doesn’t mean that a scheduler can’t help set up a room for a hygienist or an assistant, as long as they know the steps required for the upcoming procedure or treatment. Additionally, a dental hygienist may not understand insurance coding, but that doesn’t mean that they couldn’t put in the time calling an insurance company, going through the automated prompts, and holding for 30 minutes to get a representative on the phone. Or that an assistant couldn’t make recalls for hygienists. So, while not all team members can be fully cross-trained, there certainly are other tasks that can be done by all team members if properly trained.
Bryant Consultants is a family-owned consulting firm that can help dental practices reach their full potential and more! If you would like to learn more or schedule a complimentary one-hour consultation, please get in touch with Bryant Consultants by calling (877) 768-4799. We provide consultation, training, and coaching virtually or in person. To ensure that you receive the latest updates, please follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
