Setting production goals for the practice team can sound like micro-management gone mad, but when done effectively, the results can turn a business around. John Burfitt reports
With the new financial year about to click over, this is the time many practice owners consider the opportunity to put into place new measures to get the business into tip-top shape.
Very often, one of the first measures looked at is the setting of production goals for each team member, so in addition to a job description, they also have a clear idea of the outcomes expected from them in their role.
Even with the best of intentions, the process can often go two ways. In the best case scenario, setting goals may result in a highly focused workforce, more effective work practices and a stronger bottom line.
The other end of the spectrum, however, can produce a minefield of disillusioned staff struggling with highly unrealistic goals and patients feeling like cogs in a money-making machine.
“If you set a range of broad goals to your staff without explaining what they are and why you are doing this, it is highly likely you will never get anywhere close to achieving them,” says dental management specialist, Sharon Robertson of Momentum Management.
“If you spend time explaining exactly why the goals are being put into place in a way they will understand—it could be about freeing up time so the full day is being better utilised, creating less wastage or picking up business to increase salaries—then they will get that.”
One of the often-repeated fundamentals of setting business goals is to follow the SMART principle—goals that are Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based.
But for all the motivated managers who want to apply those rules and decide there is no better time than right now to do so, some strategic planning first needs to be applied.
Looking back to learn from the past before looking forward to set a new course is paramount, management consultant Louise Davis says.
“If you tell your team members these are the goals we want to achieve this year, then you had better have a clear idea of what everyone was doing last year,” she says.
“You have to know what it is they are measuring, how they were doing things in the past, and how the plan ahead is different—finding a better way of achieving improved results.
“It is also no good setting a new goal and then checking in on it 10 months later. You need to be measuring it along the way, so everyone needs to be clear on what activities need to be done each month and then each quarter to fulfil the plan. The clearer you are in what needs to be done, the more likely you are to achieve them.”
Even with set production goals applied across the business, such as improved time efficiency or a 10 per cent cut in costs, a one-size-fits-all blanket approach cannot be applied to each staff member for how they will achieve this result.
“Everyone needs to have some kind of goal—whether it’s financial or not—rather than just turn up to work and hope for the best.” Dr Phillip Palmer, Prime Practice
Consideration of the variations in the way each member of the team does their job must be factored in, Sharon Robertson explains.
“I would explain each person’s KPI [key performance indicators] and then set achievable goals for them, asking each staff member what they can do every month to work towards these goals,” she says. “Asking people to come up with solutions on how they see efficiencies in their role is going to prove far more effective than telling them what they need to be doing.
“Most importantly, check in with them every month to see how they are going, rather than leave them floundering, wondering what it is they are meant to be doing.”
Time management always rates highly when it comes to lists of improved business goals, especially the time allocated to procedures within the practice.
One simple tactic, such as re-evaluating a procedure that currently takes well over an hour but could just as effectively be completed in 50 minutes, could prove to be a breakthrough.
This was one such time-management goal set by Dr Vas Srinivasan in his Invisible Orthodontics practice on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. He set a new target for his orthodontic team to complete a typical hour-long process instead in 50 minutes, allocating their remaining time to administration duties and clean-up.
“I gave it a test run of one year, and checked in with them how they were going at the three-month mark,” says Dr Srinivasan. “We initially cut it down to 55 minutes and then to 50. Some struggled and asked for direction, and others ran with it.
“Within the next three months, any issues were addressed and it really began to take shape. As a result, there was a time saving for all of us.”
Another goal was to increase patient numbers by 10 per cent over a year, which meant adding one new patient to the schedule every month. “That goal was achievable for the team because it was realistic,” says Dr Srinivasan. “As a result, they achieved far greater numbers and we ended up with a 20 per cent growth.”
A focus on efficient use of time and expanding patient numbers, rather than increasing finances, proved popular with Dr Srinivasan’s team. He also had his own reasons for meeting these expectations. “I told my staff this year my goal was not to take work home, so I wanted to structure our workload efficiently so that I have the time to do paperwork at the clinic and not when I got home,” he says. “By streamlining many of our processes, I found the time to get that admin work done while at work. It is about being better at what we do and not wasting time, without changing the patient experience.”
However, many dentists still fear a focus on business strategies, and efficiency means a simple push for more dollars. It is a comment Dr Phillip Palmer of consultancy Prime Practice admits he hears regularly.
“Many dentists say they don’t want to set financial goals as they believe being in a healthcare business should not be about chasing dollars,” he says.
“What I respond is that everyone needs to have some kind of goal—whether it’s financial or not—rather than just turn up to work and hope for the best without ever measuring what you are doing.
“The business reality is, if we don’t know where those goal posts are, then someone is not going to be paid. Setting goals is just about running your business in a way that has a focus to what you are doing,” says Palmer.
The one rule all agree on when it comes to establishing production goals is that whatever the target is, it must be realistic.
“If you set a goal demanding 50 new patients a month, and the most you have ever attracted is eight, imagine how de-motivating that would be for the person faced with that task,” Louise Davis says.
“Start with a small, realistic goal to streamline and grow your business. Once that is achieved, celebrate the win and then set the next goal.”
