Dental Tribune U.S. Edition

Practice Matters DENTAL TRIBUNE | July 20116A In most cases, office managers are dropped into the position with no training Office manager: A real position or merely a title? By Sally McKenzie, CEO It’s interesting how people tend to evolve into certain positions in the dental practice. One in particu- lar is that of office manager. In our consulting work, we see a lot of existing loyal employees, such as a hygienist or a dental assistant, who has “graduated” to this role. As is often the case, they are bright and energetic, good with patients and the dentist perceives that those skills are all that is necessary to be an effective office manager. Unfortunately, it’s at this point that things start to go wrong. The employee may exhibit too little initiative or too much control. Others on the team may resent their former colleague being pro- moted to a managerial position. Often the employee has little direc- tion from the clinician. If there is a job description, it’s typically vague at best. Finally, the dentist begins to wonder if she (or he) has made a terrible mistake. In most cases, office managers are dropped into the position with no training. The dentist assumes that if the individual has been with the practice for a while, she knows what it takes to do the job. Addi- tionally, dentists often look at the designation of “office manager” as a reward for the employee’s hard work and dedication to the prac- tice. Sadly, their good intentions often do not pan out as expected. The case of “Dr. Smith” is a prime example. He felt very strongly that awarding one of his staff standouts a new moniker was a good idea. After all, everyone appreciates the prestige that goes along with an important title, or so he thought. Additionally, Smith was searching for a way to curb staff turnover that had been disrupting his office for several months. Julie was a good employee. Smith saw her as a rising star. She was bright, energetic and enthu- siastic. She had excellent rapport with the patients and the staff, and she was certainly the kind of employee the practice wanted to keep around. The problem was that Smith didn’t think he could pay her much more. Therefore, he reasoned that a new title and new challenges would be the oppor- tunity that would keep Julie from trotting out the door to the practice down the street. When Smith brought Julie in to his office to tell her that he would like to appoint her as office man- ager, she was thrilled that Smith felt she was up for the challenge. Julie’s primary responsibilities are scheduling and confirming appointments, greeting patients, making financial arrangements, etc. However, when she inquired as to how her duties might change, the good dentist didn’t have a good answer. He simply told her he’d like to see what she could do and they would go from there. When she asked if the new posi- tion meant an increase in her sala- ry, Smith was non-committal. Julie was puzzled. “What is the point of being named office manager if there is no salary increase?” Julie later confided to a coworker. Not surprisingly, things went downhill from there. Smith assumed that because Julie was bright and confident, she could design her role as office manager. Yet, with no direction from the dentist, she was making up her duties as she went along. Julie sug- gested that she be involved in staff evaluations, but Smith told her that would not be appropriate. She asked him if he would like her to provide assistance evaluat- ing the financial reports, “No, I can handle that,” was his response. She suggested that the team work together to develop some schedul- ing objectives. Smith thought that might be a good idea, but con- tinually put Julie off each time she raised the issue. Julie had the title of office man- ger, but not the responsibility or any decision-making authority. Julie eventually checked out emo- tionally from the position and then physically from the practice. It was a waste of the potential talent that the dentist recognized in Julie, but he could not bring himself to relinquish control of certain areas or involve a subordinate in a part- nership role. It’s a concept that some dentists find just entirely too threatening to pursue. Every employee must have a job description that clearly defines the job, spells out specific skills needed for the position and out- lines precisely the duties and responsibilities. A job title is not a job description. That being said, I readily acknowledge that writing a job description for an office man- ager is no small challenge. Job descriptions for multiple positions in the practice — includ- ing scheduling coordinator, treat- ment coordinator, financial coor- dinator, patient coordinator, etc. — are readily accessible on prac- tice management websites, includ- ing McKenzie Management’s site, with the exception of office man- ager. Why? As Smith’s case illus- trates, different dentists interpret the office manager position quite differently; and many interpret the position incorrectly. The majority of dental practice office managers answer phones, make appointments, do financial arrangements, etc. However, these are the responsibilities of a front office employee or a business coor- dinator. Certainly, an office man- ager will step in and perform these duties when necessary as well, but the role stretches well beyond these tasks. If your practice is to make the most of an office manager, the appointed person will need a set of skills that goes beyond being a loyal employee and working well with staff and patients. This person should be a natural leader. She (or he) has to be comfortable taking the reins on an issue and address- ing it. Being a good problem solver by nature is essential because the office manager, not the dentist, should be the first point of contact for the patients and the staff when issues arise. In addition, the office manager needs to have the right personality traits for the position. She should be both personable and efficient. In other words, she needs to have a good balance between thinking and feeling in tempera- ment type. Additionally, if a practice hopes to get the most out of appointing an office manager, the employ- ee should be comfortable work- ing with numbers and be able to access, as well as fully under- stand, practice reports. Moreover, the office manager must be able to work well under pressure because she will be pulled in multiple directions. Yet, that is just the beginning. A true office manager is responsible for overseeing practice overhead and her most critical duty is effec- tively managing the office’s human resources The office manager is in charge of recruitment, hiring and firing all employees, performance reviews, schedules, grievances, raises, sal- ary reviews, employee policies and team meetings. The position requires leadership skills and includes overseeing and managing all of the business measurements, analyzing fees and reviewing the profit and loss reports. The dentist is the chief execu- tive officer (CEO) while the office manager is like the chief operat- ing officer of the corporation that is your dental practice. The office If an employee has the title of office manger, but not the responsibility or any decision-making authority, he or she will eventually ‘check out’ emotionally from the position and then physically from the practice. (Photo/Courtesy of www.dreamstime.com) g DT page 8A