1. Engage in social conversation to make them feel at ease and to observe their ability to engage in social conversation. Are they too "serious" or too nervous to do so? If so, they are probably going to be the same with patients. 2. Ask them about their job history. What did they like most about their last job? What did they like the least? Why? Get them to give you specifics about both to see if they will complain or criticize their previous employer or are they complimentary of their previous employer and concentrate on the positive? 3) Go over...

“Every mistake is an opportunity to learn.”  Let your employee know you appreciate them without any “but” or ‘however”. Otherwise why do they still have a job? Let your employee know that “every mistake is an opportunity to learn.”  Let your employee tell their side of the story. Listen. Do not assume.  For some situations it could be one strike and you're out on the other hand always weigh an employee's value versus non-optimum behavior. In general discipline should be done on a gradient.  Until you are comfortable correcting employees, you can simply pull this policy out with your employee present...

I often talk to clients about the importance of role-playing with your dental staff but that may not be enough. Just because you showed someone how to do it once, doesn’t mean they will continue to follow the procedures you’ve shown them.  I have a client who thoroughly role-plays new staff members on their job duties until they have their procedures down to perfection but then he didn’t follow up on them until a few months later. Instead he assumed that they were doing the job the way he had shown them how to do it. After all, he was paying...

As a consultant one of the first things I do is take on the role of being the patient. So I leave without paying. Just kidding. No, what I mean is that I try to eyeball your dental office as if I am a new patient. I stroll around the parking lot, take a seat in the lobby and view the surroundings. I visit the restroom. I sit in each of the dental chairs and look up at the ceiling. What I sometimes uncover can really be stunning: Cigarette butts in the parking lot, weeds sprouting up from the cracks, dead flies...