I have always thought of an Office Manager as a “Jack/Jill of all trades” in a dental office setting. If you recall from my previous post, I spoke of some of the stressors that could be involved with having to be the “expert” on everything dental (yet there is very little support for this position).
The first step is to understand some of the concepts that need mastering by an Office Manager (OM) no matter the size of the practice:
- Understanding your numbers versus industry numbers. Not only does your OM need to be able to collect the numbers, but they should be able to analyze the numbers and be able to provide suggestion for growth based on the analysis
- Production goals are important, knowing the steps needed along the way to achieve them and then move forward are even more important
- We have all listened to many lectures on achieving success with your hygiene department and your treatment acceptance. Are the systems in place yet to surpass your goals?
- Being a nice person doesn’t make you a leader. Learning leadership skills takes time, but a good leader will be able to make your team a cohesive unit. Being able to motivate a team during change or stress is quite a balancing act to learn
- Knowing actual patient retention rate is important, if you are losing patients out the back door without realizing, it can be detrimental to your practice
- Cash flow management, if this isn’t balanced you will always feel that your practice is running you. You will want to look at the benchmarks for accounts receivable as well as the management of expenses to ensure a good balance for your office
- Even during a pandemic, you want to ensure that you are attracting new patients to your practice through internal referrals and external social media
- Some dental offices pay very little attention to their staffing which includes hiring processes, onboarding new team members, retraining of existing team members as well as unfortunately sometimes making the decision to part ways with a team member that hasn’t been able to join with the rest of your team. We all want teams that grow with us and stay with us for many years, there are ways to successfully build your team
- Human resources in dental offices has changed drastically over the last five years, each office needs a detailed office manual, up to date job descriptions with measurable performance goals, regular scheduled performance reviews, financial reviews and if needed performance improvement reviews
Usually when Dentists read the list above, they can feel overwhelmed and they tune out completely. These skills are actually all needed for the daily activities of an OM. There is always a learning curve in this position no matter how long you have been doing it for, change should always be on the table in a dental setting.
The lack of outside support for this all-encompassing position has led me to design a Mastermind Group for Office Managers. These small groups (4 to 6 each) will receive instruction, group support and individual support for integrating new concepts into their practices. This is a unique opportunity for practices who want to soar. Click here to learn more. http://ommg.yourbenchmark.ca/