Thursday, March 21, 2013

Office Wars

Spring has sprung here in Florida. All the spring breakers are heading south, butterflies are fluttering, trees are neon green with new growth and temperatures are in the 80s. Aside from fighting horrible allergies, it is one of my favorite times of year. Soon we will have the horrible humidity and bugs greeting you as soon as you walk out the door.

We have an office now that gets along pretty well. We have had our ups and downs, but the last few months have been stable. Recently, some of the chair side assistants came to me and stated that they feel like the front desk just picks on them and is always saying they are not doing enough. I do not want a war between the back and the front. Tension levels rise quickly, and patients pick up on that.

It always seems like something is brewing. The front desk blames the back for this or that, then the back claims it only happened because the front did not do this. Everyone in the front started out as an assistant, so they have been in the trenches. But things change. And when they claim that this is the way they used to do it, a minor war starts. It is not as bad as Hatfields & McCoys, but it does create some tension. Do you have any departmental fighting, or is everything hugs and kisses all the time?

I wish it could always be just perfect, but I know when you have fourteen people working together (our situation happens to include only women), it can be a roller coaster. I just want to keep it on the track!!!

Have a great day,

JJ Joyce

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Be thankful you have a large enough practice to employ 14 people!!!!Delegate issues to an office manager so you're not the bad guy.

Fountain Valley dentist said...

Thanks for this great step for employing such a large number of people

Las Vegas Dentist said...

I am so proud of you for this great employment step.

Dr. Lawrence M. said...

JJ,
In my office we have Agreements. We agree that if we have a problem with someone, we MUST directly communicate with them within one working day. Therefore, if Sue has a problem with Jane, she does not tell Barb. And if she does tell Barb, it is Barb's responsibility to remind her she needs to talk directly to Jane.
it's so simple it works, and I have not had any turf wars in my office for years!
hope this helps. Warm regards,
Larry Stanleigh

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