Dr. Richard Madow explains why many dentists confuse staff with team. Staff punch the clock for paychecks; a real team cares about patient outcomes. Chasing short-term production bonuses enriches only the doctor and burns people out. Healthy patients make a healthy practice.
Having a staff, not a team is a dumb thing that smart dentists do because your staff, that's a bunch of employees, staff members, punch the clock. Staff members don't really care that much. They do what they can to get by and collect their paycheck. A team. And I know it's kind of a cliche word and overuse but a team in the dental practice absolutely cares about the patient. They want that patient so badly to be in good dental health. And when we work with practices, you know, you can come in as a consultant and say these are our financial goals and we've got to hit goal this week and we're going to do it by scheduling for production and this and that and what's the team thinking? Okay, maybe I'll get a bonus. But what I'm essentially doing is making the doctor rich so those things don't work long term. Our philosophy is healthy patients equal a healthy practice.
