Gathering patient feedback is now a common activity in dental practices and most people see it is a valuable way of identifying improvements that can be made as well as affirming what works well for patients.
But are you bold enough to do the same with your staff? Do you feel courageous enough to ask your team for some honest and no holds barred feedback on the practice and perhaps more specifically on your management and leadership abilities?
A practice’s success relies predominantly on its team, so it makes sense to get their feedback and respond to their needs, their ideas, and their suggestions. Doing so allows you to take the pulse of the practice and find out how healthy it is in the eyes of your staff. You may not relish the thought of getting feedback but by taking note of it you could significantly improve your effectiveness as a manager and leader, and uncover some great ideas for practice improvement. A staff survey can be a highly effective way to tap into those thoughts and ideas which in the busy environment of practice might never see the light of day.
Why? Often people don’t offer ideas unless they are asked to, either in some sort of survey or in a brainstorming exercise as part of a staff meeting. People, priorities and patient preferences can change frequently, and by finding out what your employees are really thinking rather than what you think they’re thinking, you have an opportunity to sort out problems early and enjoy the benefits of successes quickly. Just asking your team what they think can help foster good relations, as we all appreciate being heard.
Of course, raising issues at practice meetings and holding some sort of creative problem solving session such as a brainstorming exercise can be useful when you want to solve an issue or problem in the practice. But what if you are not sure what, if any, issues exist? It is difficult to know for example how effective people feel your management abilities are in certain areas and that is not necessarily the sort of subject that is easily raised at a practice meeting (and if you did your team might not want to say too much). However, you could elicit their views through a survey.
Here are a few key principles for surveying your staff:
1. Survey everyone. You never know who is going to come up with the good ideas. Don’t be tempted to leave anyone out because if you do you risk missing out on a rich source of information which could prove enlightening.
2. Pick an area to get feedback on and design a survey (or get it done for you), which will examine this area in depth. Don’t be tempted to hold back. There may be areas within the practice which you think are going really well, or things which you do which you believe are really effective, but which are causing problems for your team.
3. Give staff time to fill in your survey in a thoughtful way and guarantee their anonymity. Reassure staff you really want to know what they think and don’t forget for their part you could be asking them to do something they perceive as risky particularly if the feedback is negative. Make sure everyone knows why you are carrying out the survey, that you are looking for feedback on which you can take some action. No one wants to complete a survey if they feel that nothing is going to happen as a result. If staff believe their input matters, they will participate. If not, they will not.
4. Analyse the information you get; hopefully you will receive some suggestions for improvement, but don’t look at these in a piecemeal fashion. Are there some common themes that come up which you need to deal with? Summarise the information, and provide your team with the summary quickly. People will be naturally be interested in what the results are, what their colleagues have said, and you can then capitalise on the momentum and move as a team to the next stage.
5. You next need to work out what changes should be made or if you need to investigate anything further. You can present the problem at a staff meeting and ask your team to brainstorm possible solutions; if you do this, make sure you come up with some workable practical action plans rather than vague wish lists. Alternatively the feedback may mean you need to reflect on your management style and possibly make changes to the way you lead your team. Getting feedback from the people who matter is a powerful tool for learning more about yourself and your management style will be a key factor in the success of the practice. Although it can be uncomfortable, it can really help to hone and sharpen your leadership skills.
6. You need to make those changes; actions speak louder than words, and your staff will want to see some action. Even if you think the changes are clear, make sure all your team know what action has been taken as a result of their feedback as it may not be as obvious to them as you might think. Communicating the changes shows your team their input matters and their feedback can have a visible and tangible effect on the practice.
To contact CODE call 01409 254 354 or email info@CODEuk.com You can follow Paul Mendlesohn on twitter at twitter.com/paulCODE and join him on Facebook at facebook.com/mendlesohn