Managing Conflict In Your Dental Office

Your dental office is just like any other workplace – meaning that conflict most certainly will arise and you should be prepared for when it does! However, you’ll find that once you get the hang of managing conflict, you’ll be better equipped to prevent it before it even has a chance to arise.

The most crucial thing you can do to prevent conflict is to keep your team’s morale high and exercise good leadership as a dentist. Most conflict in your dental office will likely come from different outlooks, opinions, or communication skills among your employees. Conflict may arise from a seemingly trivial matter, but it can have a huge effect on the rest of the office and can damage morale.

Below are a few skills to help you manage conflict in the office:

• Keep a motivated, happy, and well-trained team. It’s important that your team feel close enough with one another and with you to handle any difficult situations as they come. Make sure your team has training in verbal communication skills and conflict resolutions so that you’re all on the same page.
• Nip any problems in the bud. The more you let a conflict fester, the worse it will become for everyone. As the team leader, you need to address the conflict immediately because if you don’t, it sends the message to your team that it’s okay to have unresolved conflict.
• Recognize that there is a problem. The first thing you need to do is discuss the issue. Set aside some time to clarify the exact nature of the conflict and discuss a resolution with your team. This can either be an informal meeting between you and the employees involved in the conflict or it can be a more formal evaluation dealt with by your human resources department.

Above all, your leadership is the key component in managing office conflicts. Below are two ways that you can foster open and honest communication and keep office morale high:

• Write out a detailed job description for every employee. This way, everyone knows his or her responsibilities and there’s less chance of miscommunication or misunderstanding.
• Conduct performance reviews twice a year to ensure growth in your employees and allow them to let you know of any conflict or frustrations they may have.

Open and honest communication in your dental practice is one of the best ways to keep your practice running smoothly and successfully! For more tips on how to keep your practice as profitable as possible, please contact Dental Bookkeeping today!

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