Dentaltown January 2022 - 79

take those issues and talk effectively about
them. You'll be putting out fewer fires. You'll
be spending less time thinking about communication
and more time communicating
and accomplishing the work.
So, there it is. One of the most powerful
The conversation is the key. The main
goal is to get the staff member engaged in
talking about work issues that are on their
mind and specific to them. In effect, there
aren't any " wrong " topics. If it's a concern
to them or preventing effective work, then
it's a concern for you, too.
Two things that I virtually promise
you will occur. In the beginning, when you
announce to your team, " I'll be meeting
with each of you for half an hour. It's a
one-on-one kind of thing and we'll have
them on a regular, scheduled basis, " your
staff is guaranteed to think two things: one,
that someone messed up and something is
wrong; two, it's just some fad that will stop
after a short while.
OOOs are powerful. Do them for a
while and then stop, and staff will quickly
assume that whatever they've been telling
you, you didn't like. That brings the risk
that your staff will walk on eggshells around
you in the future. Start and stop the OOOs
at your own risk!
Other OOO benefits
Here are a few other things that are
certain to occur. The first few OOOs will
be uneventful. They'll most likely run long.
The staff member(s) will probably have
a deer-in-the-headlights look. After all,
probably the only other time that you as
dentist/boss have sat down and talked with
them specifically and individually about
work, they were most likely in trouble! They
just aren't used to individual face-to-face
time with you, the boss.
You'll likely go through one or two
rounds of meetings and perhaps wonder why
you're doing this. This is the exact time you
must be persistent and not give up, because
then a transformation starts to occur. Fewer
individual complaints will hit the office
grapevine. Team meetings will contain
fewer individual complaints and worries.
Communication will be less difficult and
more effective. You now have a container
that both you and your team members can
put issues in, and the resource to regularly
management tools known, and it's available
to every one of us. And what's the secondary
benefit I mentioned that you'll get from
OOOs? Recall that monster called the
" annual review " -you know, that meeting
you're supposed to have with each staff
member annually, the one you hate more
than Mrs. Jones' 10th denture adjustment?
OOOs make the challenges of this annual
meeting almost vanish.
By having four to six meetings throughout
the year with each staff member and
taking great notes at each meeting, your
annual review is almost done. Everything is
right there for you, in your OOO notes. All
you need to do is compile the information
contained in your OOO meeting notes and
you're ready for annual review; everything
you need is ready and waiting because you've
essentially been doing short-term reviews all
year. How great is that?
My last thought to those who insist that
they just have no time or interest for regular,
individual meetings with each staff member:
Going back decades, when the managers
and leaders of companies, small or large, are
asked what their most valuable resource is,
close to 100% of the time the answer will
be " our people. " Don't you think it's time
to stop the lip service about the importance
of " our people, " put more focus on your
team and build better work relationships
with them by using the power of the OOO
management tool in your office? n
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Dentaltown January 2022

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