By: Mandy King
For sixteen years, I had the privilege to work in a successful orthodontic practice. Our orthodontist always said that the reason for our success was due to teamwork, the way we interacted with the patients, and the efficient service we provided. He never boasted about the fact that he was well-known in our community as being the best around. You might be wondering what made us a good team?
Team Building
A team building event once a quarter is a great goal to strive towards. My favorite team building outing was cooking for parents and siblings at the Ronald McDonald House. This allowed us to work as a team to provide a meal for families in our area who had a child in the hospital. My friend and co-worker was a recipient of this program, so this was very special for us to be able to give back. An exciting outing we once went on was a high ropes course. This challenged us to help one another to complete the courses laid out before us. Whatever avenue you choose for a team building exercise, have fun and enjoy being out of the office for a change.
Working Together
We knew how to work together because we made it a point to support each other. There was no division between the “front and back.” The scheduling coordinators would do everything possible to make sure that the clinic could function efficiently and in turn, the clinical assistants communicated all day to ensure that everyone was staying on task and taking care of the patients. Our office averaged a hundred patients a day, so it was very important for us to be able to communicate and work together.
Loving One Another
Our team would go on a weekend retreat that we looked forward to every year. This retreat allowed us to focus on just spending quality time together and forming relationships out of the office. We were truly a “family.” When you love the people you work with, it makes doing your job a lot easier. Patients can sense whether the team gets along or not when they come into your office. That makes forming the bonds with one another all the more important. Although I am no longer a part of this team, the friendships I made during my time in that position have remained.
This article was featured in the October 2018 edition of The InSight, our monthly email published for orthodontic residents and doctors seeking practice opportunities. This monthly email provides news and information focused on the fast-changing orthodontic industry and its relation to current and future orthodontic careers, highlight commonly asked questions that are timely to the young orthodontic community, and provide a current list of available practice opportunities. Click here to sign up for the email.