Author Archive
June 23, 2011 | 
Author No Raises this Year? Secrets to Dental Staff Retention in Difficult Times
By Rhonda R. Savage, DDS
Across the U.S., dentists, dental practice managers, and their dental staff alike are struggling. The dental practice is fortunate if it experienced growth in 2009 and 2010. Many are flat in growth or have declined and dental practice managers are faced with these tough choices:
- Lay off employees or cut hours
- Decrease benefits
- Reduce pay
- Freeze salaries
By far, the most appealing of the four is freezing salaries. The problem is, no hard working dental staff wants to hear these words “times are tough…no raises this year.” The question is how do you keep employees happy and productive during tough times? In addition, key employees may have the opportunity to move to another company. How do you retain, challenge and motivate these key dental staff to stay with you during the hard times?
Boosting Morale in Tough Times: The Challenge of Leadership
Boosting Morale in Tough Times: The challenge of leadership
By Rhonda R. Savage, DDS
In the dental practice, as with everywhere, when morale goes up, productivity goes up!
Simple enough, right? A happy dental staff = high morale. But can we make everyone happy? Certainly not, but when people feel they are listened to, there are much more likely to go along with a decision.
What is the most important leadership lesson to learn?
To lead, you have to always be learning from your team and directing your energies toward helping to pull and push them in the direction you wish them to move. You need to be clear about your dreams, vision and goals. Don’t be pushed by your problems, lead by your dreams!