THE ADA PRACTICAL GUIDE TO LEADING AND MANAGING THE DENTAL TEAM 9 Checklist: Four Ways Effective Leadership Reduces Dental Office Drama A dentist’s leadership abilities play a major role in how smoothly a dental practice operates. Here are four traits all strong leaders exhibit. Leaders communicate not only the “what” but also the “how” and the “why” with their teams. Sharing goals (the “what”) is a good first step, but explaining the motivation or rational for the goals (the “why”) as well as the steps that should be taken to achieve those goals (the “how”) inspires the team to work together effectively and efficiently. Leaders understand that change begins with them. By walking the walk, leaders earn the respect of their employees and empower the team to follow in their lead. Leaders realize the value in investing in building their team’s skills. Providing training and guidance in the beginning helps team members do their best going forward. When mistakes happen, leaders don’t focus on the error but view it as a valuable learning opportunity for themselves and their team. When behavior or performance issues need to be addressed, a leader does so with the team members who are at fault. And when things go well, leaders are their employees’ loudest cheerleaders. Exercises 1. Take a moment to think of one new initiative or change that you have previously tried implementing in your practice, but for whatever reason, was not successful. 2. Go through the checklist. Honestly ask yourself: did you exhibit these traits in the scenarios from the first exercise? If not, retrace your steps and work through how you might handle the process again to achieve a more successful outcome.