I’ve been dealing with government departments trying to register on a website. So far I’ve spent 4 hours on the phone trying to achieve something that should take 2 minutes.
The nine government employees I’ve spoken with have been polite, even chatty. However, the moment they realise the problem isn’t simple they explain why it has nothing to do with them and fob me off to someone else.
They’re following a process, not trying to achieve an outcome. If they’re polite and pass you on to someone else they feel they’ve done their job. Solving my problem is irrelevant to them.
This got me thinking about staff. Reflecting back across my time as a practice owner, I can broadly identify two types of staff members.
The first type of staff are like the public servants I’ve been dealing with. I call them “passengers”. Tasks get half done or three quarters done. Difficult tasks get handed on to someone else or forgotten.
Dentist: “Have you got that handpiece repaired yet?”
Staff member: “I rang the repair company.”
Of course, the task wasn’t to ring the repair company. The task was to get the handpiece repaired. Until it’s back in service, the task is incomplete.
The second type of staff do whatever it takes to achieve a goal. They focus on the outcome. I call them “performers”. They don’t stop until a task is complete.
Dentist: “Have you got that handpiece repaired yet?”
Staff member: “Yes, I sent it off last Wednesday and it came back this morning.”
A government department can be full of passengers because it has a captive audience. If you don’t like how it treats you, you have no alternative. But a dental practice needs performers. If patients don’t get what they want, they can go elsewhere. It’s also a much better experience for the dentist to work alongside performers.
Across my career I’ve been fortunate to have hired mainly performers. On the occasions when I accidentally hired a passenger, it soon became obvious and they left.
How would you rate your staff? Do you mainly have passengers or performers?
I think I could get more done with 4 performers than 10 passengers.
