Performing as One: How Morning Huddles Help!
by Gracie Hogue
In a busy practice, it can be easy for the team to lose track of each other even if they are working together. We can all develop tunnel vision with our own to-do lists and daily duties, then losing the scope of teamwork. How do we step back and get a better perspective of the whole?
Consider what makes for a beautiful performance of an orchestra: it’s when they play as if they were one instrument. If you’re a member of an orchestra and you only listen to yourself or have a “death stare” to the sheet music in front of you, and if you never listen to the other soloists or the other parts that build the structure of the work you are all performing, the performance will be rigid and will not captivate your audience. Watching the conductor and listening to the instruments around you and understanding their contributions enhances your own playing. And when everyone does this, the orchestra really sings.
Okay, so a dental practice isn’t an orchestra. But! We are a team that moves together as one to accomplish a goal that can’t be done by just one person. So what is a good way to listen to each other and help the team perform together as one? A morning huddle is a great option!
Every workday here at MPS, our team starts the day with a morning meeting where we each have a few minutes to ask questions, review what we each hope to accomplish that day, or to give a heads up about things that are going on in our lives either professionally or personally. This provides an opportunity for each teammate to see our work as a whole and to be aware of what we can do to better help each other within our own capacity. We also take morning minutes so each person can review later what was talked about if necessary. The morning minutes are also a great asset if an employee is out because of vacation or sickness, and they can come back and review what has happened while they were gone.
I recently saw a video on social media made by a dental practice who also holds morning huddles, and every day they set a one-word intention for their day. If they know they have several difficult patients scheduled for that day, their word for that day may be “Kindness” or “Compassion.” Depending on the different struggles that a team may be experiencing at a particular time, the word of the day may need to be “Boundaries” or “Gentleness.”
Another thing we have at the MPS office is a motivational quote board, where in our break room we can put up quotes that we have found helpful during our workdays. While one of us eats lunch, we can look up and read things that help us to feel more focused or encouraged.
Running a business as a team is difficult—there is no denying that. But it is so much easier when we are engaged as a team and when we listen to each other. That’s when a practice can really sing. And our clients and patients will sense that as well: just like an audience listening to an orchestra.