Build a culture that brings out the best in your staff.

Practice administrators want positive, can-do employees on staff — they arrive ready to work with smiles on their faces and eager, can-do attitudes. While every effort should be made to discover the best, most talented employees available during the search process, it is important to understand that your staff ultimately will be a unique blend of characters and personalities.

After the hiring process is complete and your staff is in place, your next (and ongoing) job is to build a culture that inspires your team to excel and provide the best patient care possible.

To help your staff (and your practice) “be the best it can be,” build a practice culture of success based on the following principles.

ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE

Everyone is happier working in a positive, encouraging atmosphere. Tip: As the leader, adopt a “high-road” approach where success is acknowledged and rewarded. Make sure your employees look forward to coming to work, wear genuine smiles and gladly go the extra mile. Don’t be “that leader” who accepts a strained, negative or tense work environment that breeds dissatisfaction, complacency and, ultimately, failure.

BE INCLUSIVE

Embrace all staff members — not just your personal favorites. Tip: Reality says you will like certain staff members more than others, but playing favorites is a surefire way to create hostility and resentment among staff. These feelings can fester and impact individual and group performance.

ENCOURAGE MENTORING

Take full advantage of your more experienced employees, who can provide valuable knowledge and guidance to newer staff members. Tip: Implement a mentor program. Those serving as mentors are delighted to be recognized as able to contribute in a unique way. Also, employees enjoy receiving “special” attention from a respected, established member of the team who affords them the opportunity to expand their own knowledge base and develop new skills — a win-win.

KNOW YOUR EMPLOYEES

Understand that it is acceptable to develop professional relationships with your employees. In fact, it should be encouraged. Tip: Your goal should not be to become great friends with everyone; rather, you want to gain an understanding as to what inspires and motivates them to perform their best and, conversely, what “shuts them down.” What you really want to do is gain an understanding of what makes each staff member “tick.”

SHARE INFORMATION

Today’s workers are stressed. They have busy lives outside work. They know they could lose their job tomorrow and would face an uncertain future without a steady paycheck or insurance coverage. Take an occasional moment to put your employees at ease, as best you can. Tip: While it is difficult to know exactly what the future holds, give your employees some sense of stability and confidence by painting an honest “state-of-the-practice” picture. You do not have to divulge any specific personal or financial information, but staff will appreciate periodic updates that are candid and realistic.

ENCOURAGE TEAMWORK

While each staff member should have a well-defined job description that spells out specific duties and responsibilities, make every attempt to encourage teamwork. Tip: When appropriate, try to assign teams comprised of staff that might not normally work together. This will enhance camaraderie and help build a shared feeling that everyone is working toward the same goal, and you may discover strengths in combinations of team members working together that, to this point, had remained undiscovered.

LEAD BY EXAMPLE

If you want a happy, well-functioning and dedicated staff, you need to personally display the traits and characteristics you want emulated. Tip: Be transparent in your actions and style. Make sure staff understand that you value and reward results-based and moral-based qualities such as integrity, ethics, hard work, honesty, positive attitude, creativity, teamwork, self-motivation, goal setting, etc.

BE VISIBLE

Yes, you need to be a doctor first and foremost. You are the practice moneymaker, and you need to spend a majority of your time with patients, efficiently engaging in revenue-generating activities. However, it is important that you mingle with staff and acknowledge your team on a regular basis. Tip: Don’t hide in your office or develop a work pattern that limits your personal interaction to just a few, select staff members. Taking an occasional trip around the office to say “hello” 1) shows you care; 2) brightens your employees’ day; and 3) keeps staff on their toes. It certainly does not hurt productivity when your staff knows “the boss” might drop in unexpectedly.

ENCOURAGE THOUGHTFUL COMMUNICATION

How staff members communicate with one another — from top to bottom — is critical to building and maintaining a healthy work environment. Whether via e-mail, voicemail, face-to-face conversation or a “sticky note,” thoughtful communication is the groundwork on which enduring team respect is based. Tip: Don’t let one person be a rude or moody communicator. When you see unhealthy communication taking place, address the issue quietly with that individual, and follow up with a team-wide directive, if necessary. Today’s harried work setting demands that doctors and managers closely monitor all communication and provide direction and training when required.

CELEBRATE

Everyone is extremely busy, and, on top of that constraint, all expenditures should be closely scrutinized and justified in this tight economy. However, now is not the time to eliminate opportunities to enjoy your profession and your relationship with staff members. Tip: Take a moment out of your busy schedule to gather the troops and enjoy yourself. You can tie the celebration to a practice success or milestone, or you can party as a team for no reason at all.

FIRM FOUNDATION

You are the leader of a team that respects you for what you have accomplished. Every member of the team is grateful to be gainfully employed in these trying times and deep down each wants to play a meaningful role in the ongoing success of the practice. It is imperative that you regard your team with the same feelings of esteem. Taking the time to develop a workplace culture based on respect, training and communication will ensure that staff growth and employee satisfaction are maximized. OM

Allan Walker is director of product and business development with BSM Consulting, an internationally recognized health-care consulting firm headquartered in Incline Village, Nev. and Scottsdale, Ariz. For more information about the author, BSM Consulting or content/resources discussed in this article, please visit BSMconsulting.com .