Adam Lueken
As a dermatologist, there’s nothing better than hitting your practice goals, seeing your practice grow and helping even more patients with an outstanding quality of care. But it’s also important to remember that those achievements don’t happen from the actions of one person. It takes a strong team working well both together and individually to make a practice succeed. Strong leaders are well aware that practice wins are great opportunities to recognize, reward and inspire the individuals who’ve played a role in those achievements.
Recognition is one of the most important things you can do to increase team satisfaction and retention, as well as lower turnover. So when you’re making strides with your practice goals, call out your team members or any other champions who’ve helped make it a reality. With a few simple words or acts, you can continue to motivate your team to achieve even more.
Here are a few ways to recognize team members individually and as a whole:
Collectively recognize your team.
When you’re seeing success and your entire team has clearly made it possible, recognize them as a team. Whether you gather everyone together in the breakroom or having a team meeting, highlight the collective achievement as well as how their teamwork played a role. Focus on some of the key elements of teamwork – communication, task delegation, interpersonal relations, motivation, collaboration and, of course, results.
Recognize your team members individually.
There’s something to be said about getting recognized individually for your role in a bigger success. We take it to heart and it reinforces our commitment to what we’re doing. So in addition to recognizing your team as a whole, determine the individual performances that made the achievement possible and let them know. Even if it’s just a few minutes to express your gratitude through a quick conversation or email, it will be meaningful. To make it even more effective, be specific in your gratitude, communicating how and when they made a difference, whether it’s putting extra time in, collaborating effectively with others who might have been problematic in nature, creating an innovative solution to a problem, etc.
Give public praise.
Whether you’re recognizing team members casually in conversation with others or in a more formal setting, giving public praise an excellent habit to adopt. It encourages you to continually share how success happens in your practice — and that it’s not all about you. This will help build your practice’s overall image and credibility, not to mention your own standing as a leader. Share the credit for success in a public way or public setting, and you’ll come across as a humble leader.
In addition to recognizing your team, you can take it a step further and reward them for their hard work. It doesn’t have to be anything too extravagant or complicated, perhaps just a fun team outing or team lunch. For the team as a whole, these will also be good opportunities for everyone to get to know each other better and build a stronger team bond. Here are some ideas:
Treat your team to lunch or dinner.
Consider hosting a lunch for your team as a generous gesture. Or, if you already do this on occasion, make the catered meal extra special by adding something you typically don’t get, like a larger or more upscale meal. Or you can take your team out to lunch or dinner at a restaurant everyone enjoys.
Have a volunteer day.
If your team is passionate about giving back to the community, offer to sponsor a volunteer day where everyone goes to an animal shelter, soup kitchen, etc. to give back together.
Hold a practice team outing.
Organize an outing with your team to do something fun or relaxing. Try to avoid drinking-based activities since that can isolate some team members and instead choose activities that are relaxing and can accommodate a wide group of people, such as trivia, mini-golf, grilling out, etc.
Incorporate wellness days.
Team member wellness is important, and a great way to address this and team member recognition at the same time is to bring self-care activities to your practice. You can organize on-site massages, mindfulness sessions or fitness classes for the team.
If you need some additional assistance with team building and support, we’re always a phone call or click away to help. Schedule a consultation with one of our practice management experts today!