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Staff Drama How it Happens and

How to Address it

Drama and Gossip Everything that doesn’t help make the team productive, puts the patient first and helps to grow the practice.

•  Whispering •  Complaining •  Tattle-telling •  Snapping •  Eye-rolling •  Huffing/puffing •  Gossiping •  Not talking •  Rude

•  Being short •  Not helping others •  Frowning •  Slamming instruments •  Ignoring others •  Blaming •  Drama •  Giggling behind back •  Bullying

Sounds a lot like high school

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How Does it Happen? •  Doctor is not trained to handle it / many

times ignores it

•  Female dominated industry

•  Individual mindset and not bigger purpose

•  Stressful days/scheduling

•  Culture of practice

•  Sneaks in and hard to stop

•  Disagreements not handled

•  Juicy/peer pressure

•  One person(s) trouble-maker

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Why do We Want to Stop it? •  Patients can “feel it”

•  Takes focus off of patients

•  Make team less productive

•  Causes upset amongst team

•  No on really likes working in hostile environment

•  Increased turnover / retraining

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How to Address It •  First, recognize - if it

was easy - anyone could do it…

•  Reason it runs rampant is because it is not easy to stop

•  When did it start - new change or just long term culture issue?

•  Needs to be a concerted effort to stop

•  Grows like a fungus

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Steps to Stop it 1.  Management needs to buy in

2.  Policy(ies) written

3.  Staff meeting

4.  Need to change culture

5.  Help Team with “how to’s”

6.  Work at is as a team

7.  Manage personality types

8.  Handle upsets that happen

9.  Handle trouble-maker

10. Celebrate success

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Management Needs to Buy in

•  Can’t be ignored by dentist and office manager

•  Need to give team a bigger purpose

•  When team doesn’t have a game to play, they make up their own

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Policy Written •  Staff need to know

what the “rules” are

•  Need to have some “teeth” behind the change

•  Can be a fireable offense (check state laws)

•  Policy re: issues that arise

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Walk a Mile in my Shoes

Most Important Policy

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Staff Meeting •  Need to get everyone on same page

•  Allows team to discuss why it is not good

•  Discuss importance to eliminate it

•  Review policy and “rules”

•  Gives a fresh start

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Need to Change Culture •  Leave the personal issues at

the door

•  Everyone is on stage

•  Focus on the bigger picture

•  Walk away or communicate not ok

•  Have more fun and enjoy work more

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Help Team with “How To’s” Won’t happen overnight

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Work at it as a Team •  Who gossips to you, will gossip about you

•  If you want to know something, ask. Don’t assume, that’s how drama starts

•  If you have a problem with me, tell me (not everybody else)

•  Gossip dies when it hits a wise person’s ears

•  Make a habit of shutting down conversations that aim to tear others down

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Manage Personality Styles •  Many issues start

with communication issues (both verbal and non)

•  Important to learn about personality profiles

•  Role-play or discuss different styles

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Handle Upsets that Happen First they need to try to resolve -

give them guidance Then management or a mediator

might need to step in

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Handle Troublemaker

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Celebrate Success •  Enjoy the new environment

•  Don’t let it sneak back in

Other Things I’ve Learned Along the Way

•  Listen to your gut

•  Don’t justify

•  If you are seeing issues

•  Investigate early on

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