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Have you ever felt like you were banging your head against a brick wall trying to get certain team members to perform?  Their highest aspirations were to just get by or be just good enough!  Well if you have felt this frustration you are not alone.  Substandard performance has become more of an epidemic than a scarcity.  I have the privilege of facilitating in office Rise & Shine Culture Camps nationwide for dental teams.   I have found six essentials that will raise the level of performance by creating better relationships and better results!

We Team – United Leadership 

United Leadership is the most important strategy.  Without it performance expectations will be ambiguous and the team will conform to whatever are the lowest standards or expectations.  United Leadership starts with getting the leadership team; what I refer to as the We Team aligned.  The We Team is made up of all owner/partner doctor(s) as well as the practice administrator.

W.O.W. Decision Making

Second is a decision-making strategy.  I coach We Teams to use what I refer to as W.O.W. Decision Making.  W.O.W. is an acronym for weed out weeds.  A weed is anything that destroys a relationship, or makes others feel unwelcome, uncomfortable, or unsafe.  W.O.W. Decision Makinggives the We Team a positive, practical, and proven decision-making strategy.  The results are decisions that are consistent, fair and support the team, the patients, and the practice (and referring doctors for specialists).

W.O.W. Decision Making is based on the following four fundamentals:

• Patients, Practice & Team!  What is in the best interests of the patients, practice, and team and not any individual (including doctors)?  Specialists you would include Referring Doctor as well.  
• Practical!  What makes common sense based on time, money, and people? 
• Precedence!  What precedence is being set?  If it is done once it becomes the expectation.  
• Passion!  Is the We Team passionate enough about the decision to support?  Rate 8 or above on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being high. 

R.I.S.E. Implementation Process

I teach teams the R.I.S.E. Implementation Process to help the team work together to co-create well-structured agreements.  The agreements define how the team will do things and work together in the future.  They include both the hard and soft skills.  Co-creating clear agreements as a team gets everyone on the same page.  R.I.S.E. is an acronym for Review, Implement, Sustain and Evaluate.  

• Review
  • What is working and what is not
• Implement change by defining the following:
  • What are we going to change
  • Who is going to do it
  • Who are we going to do it for
  • When are we going to do it – including time, sequence and flow
  • Where are we going do it – very specific location
  • Why are we going to do it – benefit statements 
  • How are we going do it
    • Practice verbal skills
    • Practice role playing 
    • Practice the entire physical walk through 
  • Create standard operating procedures or what I refer to as Culture Agreements
  • Schedule the roll out date
• Sustain – It is vital for the new change to become a habit
  • It takes a range of anywhere between 17 to 257 days to form a habit depending on the difficulty with the average being 66 days
    • Give any new change at least 60 days to get comfortable before considering any changes
  • Be precise and consistent to form a habit much sooner
    • Same sequence and steps for every team member every time – there is only our way not my way.  
  • Support the change positively in words, actions, and attitude
• Evaluate
  • Is the process still working effectively
  • If not, what is the value and benefits in a change

Accountability

The complaint I often hear at my Culture Camps is that other people aren’t accountable.  The problem with accountability is we expect others to be accountable often before we are accountable.  Accountability starts with us.  

It is vital that everyone is held equally accountable, no exclusions or exceptions or you divide the team.  That includes doctors and managers as well.  No double standards.  Together make agreements on how you hold each other accountable.  Give each other permission to do so before there is an issue.  This will enable everyone to feel confident and comfortable.  Monitor daily at your daily huddle by discussing the previous day’s successes and growth opportunities.  Maintain as a team and update as a team when changes are necessary.  No individual opt outs.  Meet as a team if something isn’t working to discuss, resolve, and maintain.

Appreciation 

Appreciation is a fundamental human need yet is often considered an unnecessary nicety. Niceties like please, thank you, and I appreciate you. Why should we have to interrupt our busy day to tell someone else we appreciate them?  They should know that they are appreciated without having to have a pat on the back. Wrong! That little pat on the back is so powerful that 64% of Americans leave their job because of lack of it.

So, what is so powerful about appreciation? Appreciation gives us purpose! Appreciation changes perceptions! Appreciation emits positivity! We all want and need to feel valued for who we are and recognized for our contributions and accomplishments.  It’s important for us to know that we truly make a difference.

Look for reasons to show appreciation daily and BE the following:

• Be timely
• Be specific
• BE GENUINE

Celebration

Celebrate even the little things. We take things so seriously and are often in such a hurry that we don’t allow time to celebrate. If we don’t make time to celebrate, we will lose our joy for life.  If our focus is always on the next patient or task we will get lost in the muck and mundane.  We will miss the positive in the present moment and eventually we will lose our joy for our work.

Celebrate by:

• Looking for what is positive in the present moment. 
• Being grateful for what is instead of complaining about what isn’t
• Focus on the strengths of your co-workers not their weaknesses
• Stop and take a moment to celebrate together with a positive body pattern – for example, a big smile, thumbs up, high five or even a Ta-Dah!

Implementing these six fundamentals will empower your team to WORK together to build happy, healthy, and high performing team relationships.