Management skills you should develop

More than 2,000 dentists left the NHS last year.¹ Further, for every one dentist leaving, 10 are reducing their NHS commitments by significant amounts.² CQC statistics show there is currently only one dentist for every 6,849 of the population. The COVID-19 pandemic has, as with many services, only exacerbated the situation. The pressure to catch up with the backlog of patients without the layers of support offered during the pandemic, the crippling increases in practice running costs and the struggle to recruit NHS associates are proving overwhelming.

The question is how in an ever demanding and difficult profession do you retain valued colleagues and/or attract new team members to the practice?

Management skills

Dental practices operate in a commercial and competitive environment where your skills as a manager are equally as valuable as your skills as a dentist.³ Such is the importance of management skills, they are now recognised and assessed as part of the undergraduate dental foundation training, selection criteria and curriculum.³

This article aims to highlight the value of using management skills to create and foster a positive and supportive culture, where the whole team feels valued and heard.

1. Invest in your team

So key is this skill of fostering strong and supportive working relationships with colleagues and staff in the dental team, that the General Dental Council (GDC), imposes a positive obligation in Standards for the Dental Team to 'treat colleagues fairly and with respect in all situations and all forms of interaction and communication, you must not bully, harass, or unfairly discriminate against them'.⁴

Investment in the practice team is also achieved through effective staff training, active listening, facilitating staff feedback, regular communication that responds to all personality types.

2. Understand your personal duties and legal obligations

The GDC also places the onus on the practice owners to 'find out about laws and regulations that affect your work and follow them'.⁴ This obligation includes but is not limited to, those relating to data protection, employment, human rights, and equality.

It is important to note that this obligation cannot be delegated to other members of staff (i.e. the practice manager), as in one recent case a practice owner was found to owe the patient an un-delegable duty of care under the law of negligence,⁵ even where they have not treated that patient personally. Therefore, it is prudent to always have an active presence and interest in the day-to-day running of the practice to ensure any potential risks are identified at the earliest opportunity. The requirement to invest in your staff is further echoed by the GDC who state 'as a registered dental professional, you could be held responsible for the actions of any member of your team who does not have to register with the GDC. You should ensure they are appropriately trained and competent'.⁴

3. Effective communication

Further, a successful leader not only shares goals with their team, but also makes sure their team members are skilled and equipped to be successful in their individual roles. One of the biggest mistakes that leaders can make is to assume that everyone in the team has the same communication style. It is often in the unspoken expectations, the ill-defined roles and failing to communicate effectively, that problems arise with different personality types in a dental team, leading to conflict and a reduction the overall efficiency of the team.

It should also be remembered that the practice team are brand ambassadors, both in terms of their role in delivering patient care but also in recommending the practice to others, as recognised by the introduction of the NHS friends and family test.

4. Adaptability

A good leader is a humble one who welcomes constructive feedback, reflects on the positive and negative, is not afraid to adapt to change and recognises that there is always more to learn. Adapting to changes in best practice, investing in new equipment and practice management technology can lead to overall improvement in patient experience and the efficient running of the practice.

Finally, it should be remembered that whilst management skills can be taught, it takes continual practice to become an effective leader and to recognise that organisational success is a team effort.

In conclusion, making these small changes in your day-to-day interactions with colleagues and staff may well be the difference between your practice weathering the storm or becoming a statistic.