Does your team have a Global perspective?

When a corporation proclaims to have implemented a global perspective, typically that means that they train their teams to understand and respect cultural differences. It involves being aware of and sensitive to cultural, social, economic, and political differences and similarities among countries and regions. This perspective is crucial for success in today's interconnected world, where businesses operate on a global scale. 

The point of accepting these differences is to strengthen a team and grow a company so that it is working toward a better and brighter future.

How can a dental office, that is working in an independent manner, work toward a global perspective to achieve this same type of growth and strength?

It can start with looking at the office departments in the same manner as companies view regions or even countries. 

A dental office typically has 3 departments – admin, hygiene and restorative.

If we were to list the basic responsibilities for each of the department, it would look something like this: 

• The admin team works to maintain a productive schedule, acquire proper documentation from patients, submit & process insurance claims and uphold correct collection processes.

• The hygiene department focuses on the health of the soft tissue within the mouth, along with educating and providing patients with the information they need to ensure continued oral health.

• The restorative team works closely with the doctor during exams to diagnose treatment needed to alleviate pain, remove decay, restore, repair or extract tooth/teeth.

As we work with the many dental teams, we see that these departments work beautifully as independent ‘pods’, however, do not always work with a global perspective toward common goals. This may include having a narrow lens focused on their specific duties, tasks or responsibilities. 

A global perspective means to have an outward awareness of the overall goals. It is less about ME and more about WE. 

‘My job is to clean teeth; however, I cannot clean teeth until the admin department gets the information I need to provide the best care possible. This information includes the patient’s name, age, dental and medical history. Do I take x-rays? When was the last exam?’

‘As an assistant, I need to know which teeth we are working on; what materials will the doctor need; am I required to take any x-rays; is the patient aware of what the fees are?’

Instead of all the ‘I need’ and ‘what do I do about…’, let’s turn the focus outward.

I’m going to take x-rays because I know that Mary will need these to file insurance or I see an area of concern so I will take an intraoral so I can explain to the patient what I am seeing and the doctor will have a better view also or even I’m going to make sure that Judy knows that the patient has listed anxiety as a medical concern so her cleaning process will go smoother. 

Ask the question, what can I do to make the process better, smoother, easier for my co-workers. This is using a global perspective in the dental office to allow the team to be stronger and grow to new heights. 

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Denise Ciardello, Consultant

Denise is co-founder of Global Team Solutions. A professional speaker and published author, her enthusiasm and knowledge about the dental profession has helped many dental teams. She brings experience, insight, and creativity into her management style, along with a sense of humor. In a profession that can cause anxiety in some dental employees.

Denise’s consulting approach is to partner with doctors and team members to help them realize the dream of creating a thriving, successful practice.

Denise can be reached at: denise@gtsgurus.com