Let’s face it – happy employees will be more productive employees. But how do you motivate your front office and back office to work hard and help your business grow? Great news! Motivating your employees doesn’t have to take a ton of effort – in fact, it might just be a few minutes each day to say “hello”. However, note that with change may come some resistance from team members – which can mean a bigger problem.

As a practice owner, you need to increase productivity and maximize revenue – meaning your team will need to operate as efficiently as possible. To get off on the right foot, follow these tips to motivate your staff.

1. Communication is Key

Have an employee that is doing a great job? Be sure to let them know! Feel that they might be able to improve in some areas? Make them aware and have a conversation and game plan to improve their performance or to reach any goals you might have for them. Also consider having regular one-on-ones with your team. Not only will it help you learn more about what makes each one of your staff members tick – but it will also strengthen your relationship. Staff needs to know they are valued and the best way to do this is by having time face-to-face and show your appreciation for their hard work.

2. The Bigger Picture

It’s important that your team understand the bigger picture and can see what they are doing in the moment will contribute towards an end goal for your practice. Looking to expand? Increase patient retention? Increase production and case acceptance? Set milestones so the team can visually see how their input can help contribute to the later goal.

3. Trust & Empowerment

Let your employees know that you trust them. The best way to do this is by giving them more say in how they perform their jobs. You may also want to ask for their input and to provide suggestions on how things can be improved in the workplace. As an owner, you might not always notice the little things that can make a huge difference! Perhaps a little tweaking to workflow may elevate some hassles the employee often experiences during the daily job. Not only will they appreciate that you care, but implementation might actually help with improved performance.

4. Growth Opportunities

It shows that employees will be more motivated when they are working towards something. If they think there’s no opportunity for growing with your office, they might feel there is nothing to work for. Think about it, who wants to work at a dead-end job? Considering a CE course for yourself – see if there’s something that might compliment your staff. Not only would it help your employees to better at their job but they will feel more valued. Planning to expand and open a second location – consider some of your best staff and groom them towards management roles.

5. Incentives and Gamify

Giving your team incentives are always great motivation boosters – it doesn’t have to be expensive either. Let’s say they hit their production goals, perhaps foot the bill for lunch one afternoon. Another idea we often see offices do, is reward their team for their efforts towards promoting products to patients. DentalStores makes this really easy with team tracking reporting. Easily pull reports and see how many product recommendation emails each team member has sent to patients and how many sales they’ve had.