Is Your Team Performing or Floating Along?
In helping practices with marketing, I often hear doctors say, “I wish I could get my team to help me with this”. Whether tasks are marketing, management, or clinically related—despite this “poor economy” we’re in—sometimes doctors have a difficult time motivating employees to go that extra mile for the practice.
Check out several motivational methods my friend, Kim McGuire, suggests …
4 Ways to Motivate & Inspire Team Members
by Kim McGuire
As coaches, we are often asked, “How do I motivate my employees?” This is an important leadership skill that is not taught in Dental or Medical school. While we might think it’s intuitive, there are some concepts that when used, can create immeasurable results!
First off, let’s get one thing clear: work IS about the money. Yes, people who work in your office are fulfilled by taking care of patients, they are inspired by being healers and they love achieving goals. However, people do work for the money. Money provides funds to live well and pay the bills. As Dan Pink outlines in his book Drive, pay people enough to take the issue of money off the table.
Once you have set up salaries and benefits that are competitive in your area, here are 4 areas that will create motivated employees that are inspired to do great work:
- Let people be in control of their work: When team members have the ability to set goals, impact decisions and decide on tasks performed, they are more motivated.
- Communicate important information: When team members receive timely information, participate in team meetings and understand progress made on goals, they are more motivated.
- Give them opportunity for growth: Training, coaching life skills, increased communication skills and team participation will help them grow as people and stay motivated.
- Ask them what motivates them: A simple question of “What would motivate you to achieve these goals?” can elicit some surprising information. Pay attention; everyone has different ideas of how they want to be motivated and knowing that information can be priceless.
Always give each employee personal time and attention and acknowledge publicly a job well done, no matter how small. And remember, the doctor’s attitude in the morning huddle can set the tone for the day – manage your state for maximum team performance.
Want to de-motivate your team? Simple: keep negative and non-performing people in the team. When you let non-performers go, the rest of the team respects you more and is motivated to perform. Keeping those folks on the team is demoralizing and brings about negativity.
The Fortune Management philosophy is you don’t grow the practice, you grow the people. Try some of these ideas above and let Kim & Rene´ know how it goes!
Kim McGuire
Executive Coach, Fortune Management
As an Executive Coach for Fortune Management, Kim McGuire brings over 12 years of leadership experience in sales and marketing to the Dental community. Kim coaches Dental teams to understand and prioritize ‘what’s most important’, create accountability, as well as incorporate the financial policies and office procedures necessary for the practice to run smoothly and efficiently.
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