Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

About the author Kate Russell is the MD of Russell HR Consulting www. russellhrconsult- ing.co.uk page 19DTß Unique, original & clinically proven The membrane you can trust www.bio-gide.com Long-term results of 12–14 years • THE WORLD’S NUMBER 1 MEMBRANE • 17 years of successful clinical history • More than 200 studies • Early membrane vascularisation supports bone regeneration1 1 Schwarz F et al. Clin. Oral Implants Res. 2008; 19 : 402-415 Advanced techniques for membrane use in modern bone and tissue regeneration The Royal College of Physicians London March 28th 2014 Presenters Professor Frank Schwarz Dr Michael Norton Dr Stephen Barter The membrane you can trust_Layout 1 15/10/2013 13:10 Page 1 20 Practice Management United Kingdom Edition February 2014 that job requirements can be matched to the skills and ex- perience of candidates. Don’t just take on a pair of hands because you’re desperate. It’s tempting but believe me, you’ll regret it. Make sure you collect relevant data and only progress the best candidates. Your choice of selection tools should be based on job-relat- ed criteria. Use testing in con- junction with a competence based interview. When you are interviewing encourage candidates to talk about themselves and their work experiences. Use open- ended questions to do this, for example: “What did you like best about your former role?” Ask questions and/ or test all the essential areas. Probe for more information if you’re not satisfied or not clear about the data you’re getting. Once you have appointed your employees, take positive steps to encourage the right people to stay. Involve them by creating a vision for your practice and let your staff know what it is, what it means for them and what they need to do to sup- port it. Surveys consistently show that what employees want most, even more than money, is appreciation and recogni- tion. Look for opportunities to give regular positive feed- back. Offer balanced and ob- jective praise where appropri- ate and make suggestions for areas that need improvement. Provide clear and measure- able standards of performance and give examples of what success looks like. Help em- ployees achieve optimum per- formance and give objective feedback if they don’t meet all your standards. Where you do have to give criticism make sure it’s done in private. I have already referred to this but if you want to achieve high standards of performance you will need to appoint above- average performers. It means you must pay above-average wages. Consider introducing performance related bonuses. If you reward the type of be- haviour you want to receive, you will receive more of that behaviour. It creates a win- win for you. Employees en- joy a share of increased prof- its, and the practice achieves higher levels of productivity and profitability. Create a great employee workplace. As well as good pay, make sure there is up -to-date technology which is straightforward to use and works well and ongoing devel- opment opportunities. Good staff enjoy working with oth- er good staff so ask yourself the following question: “Would I want to work here? If I were looking for a job, would this be an attractive opportu- nity?” Communicate effectively. Have periodic staff meetings (once a month) to structure higher level practice feed- back, plan forthcoming activi- ties and provide information. Keep the meeting short (45 minutes), create the agenda and distribute several days be- fore the meeting, to give par- ticipants time to prepare. Stick to the agenda and don’t allow yourself to be sidetracked. Assembling the right team takes time and effort. So be rigorous about the re- cruitment process and when you have to achieved the right appointments make sure you take steps to keep them happy and wanting to stay with you. DT ‘Don’t just take on a pair of hands because you’re des- perate. It’s tempt- ing but believe me, you’ll regret it’