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Qualified and committed staff are hard to find in this current labour market, so it’s important to keep those you have. By Lynne Testoni
Long days, demanding clients and challenging work can put pressure on even the happiest professional and administrative staff, so it’s important to make sure that staff morale in any dental clinic is always front of mind for the management team.
Unfortunately, practice owners sometimes forget how important it is to look after their existing staff, tending to continually seek out new recruits instead.
However, having happy and committed staff makes real economic sense. Hiring new staff can cost up to 200 per cent of the employee’s annual salary, mostly because of advertising and training costs, far exceeding the cost of retention.
Culture and communication specialist and owner of consultancy Resiliens, Colleen Kavanagh, says that when you look after existing staff, you also get an increase in what she calls “discretionary effort. Discretionary effort means that staff might work that little harder when it matters or might come in earlier or stay longer. They are the sort of incremental differences that make any small business run better.
“Looking after your staff and having a good culture increases loyalty, and it makes it hard for staff to leave,” she says.
She adds that existing staff retain intellectual property (IP), which makes them especially valuable.
“What I mean by IP is things like their knowledge of patients—such as knowing the more anxious patient, the more vexatious patient, the more difficult patient, and how to manage them. They know which dentist to allocate them to. They know whether to add extra time for appointments.”
Kavanagh says that when staff are happy in their work life, it impacts the culture of the clinic and, ultimately, patients. “Happy staff deliver a positive customer experience, even if it’s a difficult day for everyone,” she says.
Making it work
Elizabeth Barron, founder and director of MesoWorks, says that morale usually drops due to the build-up of small, avoidable issues, rather one big problem. “In a dental practice, where teamwork and precision really matter, this can show up quickly in both performance and patient experience,” she explains.
“Common issues could include inconsistent leadership—saying one thing, doing another; poor communication—last-minute changes or unclear expectations; unfair workload or favouritism; lack of recognition; ongoing pressure without support; no clear growth or development; and a sense that wellbeing isn’t taken seriously.”
Barron says morale improves when people feel clear, supported, and valued.
She suggests starting the day calm and organised. “How you enter the room matters,” she insists. “Your energy sets the tone.”
In a dental practice, where teamwork and precision really matter, [low morale] can show up quickly in both staff performance and patient experience.
Elizabeth Barron, founder, MesoWorks
She also advises recognising good work in real time; clarity on roles, expectations, and schedules; running short, regular check-ins; fixing small frustrations quickly; and involving the team in improvements.
Colleen Kavanagh says the first way to improve morale is to listen to your staff and be available to them because it is important that they feel they are ‘being seen’. “It’s a problem when you are showing a lack of appreciation for contribution or effort and focusing too much on what didn’t get done rather than what did,” she adds.
She suggests finding ways to notice good work done by all staff members, keeping comments clear and precise and calling out small details, such as effective actions, rather than using generic praise.
“The three questions people have are: ‘Can I trust you? Do you care?
Are you committed?’,” Kavanagh explains. “When it comes to managing staff, these questions translate to, ‘Can I trust you with the information that I share with you? Can I trust that you’ll make sure I have all the resources that I need to do my job?’; and ‘Do you care that I have what I need to know on a daily basis?’”
She says that while offering industry-standard pay is important, often it’s acknowledgement and appreciation that take commitment to staff to the next level.
“Morale comes from consistent action, not one-off initiatives,” says Elizabeth Barron. She suggests focusing on listening and acting; being transparent when you can’t act; and fixing what actually matters.
Oh, behave!
Kavanagh adds that the way management deals with poor behaviour or underperforming staff is also important. “The number one resentment factor in any engagement survey anywhere is when poor behaviour, or unhelpful behaviour, goes unchallenged,” she warns. “So if you’ve got a member of the admin team who talks for too long at the desk socially, or doesn’t know when to rein in that conversation, it’s important it is dealt with. And if you have set some behavioural parameters at the start, it is important to follow through.”
Hiring people with shared values remains the best way to begin, says Kavanagh. “It’s important to understand that people might work differently and that different isn’t wrong, which is why shared values are so important,” she says.
Common ground
She notes that finding common ground is vital in building a good culture in a clinic, adding that recognising personal achievements or special dates can make a difference. “Know when it’s someone’s birthday, or milestone such as a wedding or engagement, and have someone bring in a cake. In other words, it’s about acknowledging what we share.
“Another ritual that is used in some places is a high five wall. So it’s in a tearoom where you just shout out team members who’ve done a really good job. It might be that they’ve handled a particularly anxious patient very well, or a difficult situation.
“Some organisations might have a kudos jar, which is opened at the end of a week where you write down recognition for colleagues on a sticky note and drop it in a jar.
“Even small things like these can really make a big difference.”
