[February 7th, 2020] by Dr. Ginger Bratzel
Episode #3: [Not Going Well With Your Hygienist]
Now, before I start getting hate mail from the hygienists around the world…
This is a bit of a touchy subject. I’m not bashing hygienists. Not a hygienist hater, I’m a hygienist lover in fact!
In fact, I’m married to a hygienist. My husband, Ron, has been a hygienist for 20 years.
He’s been along for the ride since the beginning and helped me when I purchased my dental practice. We inherited an office manager with the practice and she wasn’t on board with the changes and decided to leave.
He was supposed to help for just 2 weeks in the office to help get things straightened up and it turned into forever! But it turned into FOREVER, first as the office manager and then,
after going to hygiene school, he joined the practice as our head hygienist, a career that he
loves and continues with to this day.
So, hygiene was always a key part of my practice’s success.
But what happens when there is an issue with the hygienist (which can be tricky when you live together like Ron and I…but I will save that one for marriage counseling), how do you handle it?
We’re going to dive in and look at this from the dentist’s AND the hygienist’s point of view. It breaks down into 3 areas where we can work together as a team to address it… Plus, we even talk about what happens when you CAN’T fix it and where to go from there.
Number 1.
Everyone in the office is part of the team. Nobody is more important than anybody else. No one is irreplaceable. That includes the business owner. We can sell the practice and put a new owner in and keep going. New doctor, new office manager. Sure it’s a huge adjustment, but it can be done.
Number 2.
Leadership from the owner is extremely important. Businesses used to run by just putting your name out there and the patients will come. Leadership skills weren’t as important. But it isn’t like that anymore. The world has changed and the consumer wants more. They want communication and someone they can trust.
If the dentist doesn’t step up and do it, someone will always step up and do it for you. It’s just the nature of things. You cannot delegate it, it is not their practice.
Number 3.
Despite our best intentions, sometimes it isn’t a good fit. No harm, no foul. Sometimes you have to be mature enough to let someone go. I tell them I believe everyone is a superstar, you are a superstar and I don’t think you’re shining here. We are struggling and it isn’t letting you be all you can be. I want to give you that opportunity to be a superstar and find an office that you are going to be great.
We go into each of these into detail on the podcast, go through examples and case studies. Scroll back to the top and make sure to listen to the full episode.
Links Mentioned In This Episode:
https://gingerbratzel.com/financial
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