The Purpose of Staff Meetings:
- Have orderly, productive, and uplifting meetings; which will help create a more unified staff and thus a more productive practice.
- Go over practice monitors from the previous month.
- Acknowledge staff members who refer patients to the office [along with the name of the patient].
- Go over new policy(s) or policy changes, as they affect the office.
- Re-acquaint staff with office policy(s) as necessary.
- Verify status/completion of project(s).
- Discuss future plans and goals.
- Provide training opportunities
To allow staff to:
- Go over special reports.
- Gather agreement(s) and the opportunity to bring up matters relating to the practice and/or their duties.
- Make announcements or tell others of good news and items of interest.
This does not include things of a disruptive nature. Any serious discussion with individual staff(s) members should be done one on one, after the staff meeting, with the Doctor and or Office Manager.
Scheduling Staff Meetings:
Staff meetings should be held the first week of each month. If the meeting falls on the first day of the month, move your meeting to the following week. The meeting time will be one hour and twenty minutes with the schedule marked off one and one half hour. Mark off the time on the schedule, in the office software for staff meetings 12 – 18 months in advance. Notify the staff that these meetings are mandatory and it is important for them to attend. Meetings are not cancelled if a staff member is out of the office.
Preparation for the Meeting:
Predetermine the budget for the cost of the staff meeting meals. Select six to eight restaurants that will be on rotation.
Predetermine programs or training presentations and assign them to a department and/or staff member(s) that will benefit the team. Topics or subject should be educational and provide staff with the tools to increase their understanding of their job and what goes on in your practice. Whatever subject you decide on, try to make it not only interesting, but something that increases staff awareness and skills to achieve and accomplish practice goals.
Make a meeting schedule for the next 12 months including the date of the meeting, the program and who will be presenting it and the restaurant of choice. Post the schedule in the office so that all staff will be aware of the meeting date(s) in advance.
Advise all of your staff that they are to come to the staff meeting prepared to report on their area.