Message Boards
Today's Active Topics Today's Active Cases Browse Forum Categories My Recent Activity My Messages Private Groups My Marked Threads My Subscriptions
Today's Active Images Today's Active Polls Most Active Topics Global Townie Map Advanced Message Board Search Message Board Terms of Use

Wired for Success: A Breakdown on Evaluating the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Office Meetings by Alan A. Curtis, DDS, MS, Editorial Director, Orthotown Magazine

View Comments (1) More by this author (30)
 
Effective and Efficient Office Meetings

by Alan A. Curtis, DDS, MS, Editorial Director, Orthotown Magazine

Plan Your Work; Work Your Plan!

In this month’s installment of Wired for Success we explore the topic of office meetings. The key to having a well-oiled, hardworking team is to come together behind a common purpose. The orthodontist CEO needs to put forth leadership, vision and direction to the efforts of the team. Resources such as time, money and effort need to be allocated and directed to the area that will yield the greatest return on investment. Let’s discuss a few factors to consider when evaluating the efficacy of your office meetings.

Frequency

Generally there are three types of meetings: 1. Daily morning huddles (I prefer morning business meetings), 2. Monthly or annual strategic planning meetings and 3. One-on-one performance reviews.

The morning business meeting in our office takes place 15 minutes prior to the first scheduled appointment. Staff is required to arrive at the office with plenty of time to leave the morning meeting and start working on patients right away. For select employees this means arriving 30 minutes prior to the first patient to set up trays or process instruments. At this meeting the schedule is reviewed for potential problems while solutions are developed to address those problems. New patient exams and starts are discussed briefly and patients on the schedule who are delinquent are identified. Spots for same-day starts are identified and targeted to fill the schedule for maximum production. If doctor time scheduling is used, potential conflicts are identified and solutions are discussed. The morning business meeting helps to ensure that everyone has their game face on and is emotionally and physically ready to engage.

The monthly or annual meeting is a more in-depth look at resources and systems. Just like any large corporation, your orthodontic practice should have a marketing department, a sales department and a financial accounting department. At your monthly meetings each department prepares a written report outlining the status of that department’s work over the last reporting period. For example, your marketing department (your PRC or marketing committee) reports on all marketing efforts, both internal and external. Past successes and future plans are discussed. Next your treatment coordinator discusses the vital statistics of the sales department (i.e., new patient phone calls, new patient exams, starts, production and collections). New referring doctors or new patients who have GPs that you don’t already work with closely are identified to further develop as business partners. Your financial or insurance coordinator discusses patients who are delinquent and the steps taken to resolve their delinquency, or how the patient will be progressively dismissed from the practice. The clinical team discusses ways to improve the patients’ experience and quality of result.

Periodic one-on-one meetings are held to discuss specifics that only involve the two parties who are meeting. This could be a one-on-one with your marketing coordinator to discuss ideas for the upcoming quarter. More frequently these meetings are to discuss individual job performance. This individual performance review can be an encouragement to step up performance to the level expected or a pat on the back for a job well done.

Ground Rules

Every meeting should have a set of ground rules. These ground rules are social assumptions that help the meeting to be one where all feel their input has the ability to positively affect the direction of the company.

Reports

Where possible, every employee who attends the meeting should prepare a written report. For example, one member of our chairside team is responsible for changing ultrasonic and cold sterile solutions. These reports allow the meeting’s participants to quickly and visually review the progress of that employee’s area of responsibility. With every member of your team reporting with a sense of pride, a positive peer pressure is developed. Not every detail of a report needs to be discussed verbally, merely those items of particular importance to the majority of the team. As these reports are archived, they form a log or journal of proceedings in your practice.

Goals

As a part of the reports, each employee summarizes achievement of clearly measurable goals. These metrics are how we “keep score”! Employees who are merely punching the time clock will become blatantly obvious. Not every goal has to be achieved. However, failure to consistently work toward mutually agreed upon goals is a test that indicates a short life in your practice. These goals must be reachable yet challenging. Some of the best employees I’ve seen use these goals as a part of what gives them job satisfaction. WIIFM (what’s in it for me) is an important part of your goal system. Financial incentives (bonuses) are strong motivating factors that keep employees loyal and working hard amongst ever-increasing goals.

Action Items

As a result of your team’s meeting, a list of actionable decisions must be made. These action items are the marching orders that govern the business’ efforts until the next office meeting. If at the end of the meeting you do nothing different than you did prior to the meeting, you should have never held the meeting in the first place! A common theme in our office is: Collect data (reports), analyze, discuss, obtain consensus and then act!

Orthotown Magazine
September 2025
Orthotown Magazine September 2025 Read Current Issue Read Archived Issues
Sponsors
Townie® Poll
Do you have a dedicated insurance coordinator in your office?
  
Site Menu
Message Boards Magazine Continuing Education Podcasts Blogs Classifieds News Events Townie® Poll Ebooks Townie Choice Awards
Company Info
Contact Us Advertise With Us Howard Farran DDS, MBA Policies and Agreements
Site Help
Sally Gross, Member Services Specialist
Phone: +1-480-445-9710
Email: sally@farranmedia.com
©2025 Orthotown, a division of Farran Media • All Rights Reserved
9633 S. 48th Street Suite 200 • Phoenix, AZ 85044 • Phone:+1-480-598-0001 • Fax:+1-480-598-3450