I’ve worked for people, under people, with people, and been in charge of people. I’ve also read lots of resumes and CVs.

Isn’t it funny how some people think that a fancy job title makes them more important? I’ve actually used this point to my advantage when hiring. There is a surplus of dental auxiliaries looking for jobs with fancy “management” titles. So much so that the best staff I’ve ever found, who are a pleasure to work with and who do an effective job, are the ones who appreciate the job for what it is and not what it’s called.

A job ad for a Treatment Coordinator that leaves out the name of the position but instead describes the successful candidate as a people-person, team-player, analytic, needing X amount of experience in a dental office, etc. will produce many different resumes than a job posting for a “Director of Treament Coordination”, who will be “in charge of”, “manage”, “oversee”.

The dental office environment demands a team approach with every member helping each other. If one person feels that because they are the “manager” they should only be telling people what to do, the system breaks down and poor morale develops.

Patients see all of this. It reflects badly on the dentist because everything in a dental office trickles down from the top. If patients pick up poor staff morale, what do you think they’ll think of your actual dentistry?

Dentistry is not the only place that works best with a team approach of course. Practically any work environment needs this.

Interviewers for potential dental school candidates often will attempt to assess if the interviewee has leadership ability. At an interview level this really just translates to confidence and past acomplishments in organisations.

I’ve never been interested in leading people and yet have been put in this role uncountable times. I can’t tell you how well I manage staff, but the success of my office on a personal level satisfies me that I’m doing something well.

There are two lessons that I learned about being a manager that will forever rule me.

The first is through a job that I had at a camera/photofinishing store when I was in my first year of university. The store manager gained my respect and my desire to help him do his job simply by doing as much of the work that was required of us himself. He would ask for help as needed. Ask not tell. He led by example to the point that we employees took on responsibilities willingly because we saw how busy he made himself as he was pulled in many different directions. We genuinely wanted to help him. Does he sound like an ineffective manager? Was his day too scattered to properly “manage” the store? Shouldn’t he have properly delegated jobs?

Nope. His management strategy was the most effective I’ve ever worked under.

The second lesson that I learned was during my endo program. The dental assistants were arguing among themselves about whose fault it was that some item was not working properly. The argument wasn’t heated but had gone on for at least 5 minutes. I needed a functional version of the same item for the case I was working on.

Practically without thinking I left my op, went over to the staff and told them to blame me for the broken item. I told them to tell their boss that they could come and talk to me about it. Then I said that I really needed a working one.

Each of them blinked at me in surprise then ran off in different directions to find me what I needed. To this day they still remember me and “what a nice resident I was”.

Good management empowers staff and helps them to appreciate the job they have. The team effort that results minimizes the actual need to “manage” and maximizes a positive, enjoyable work environment.

– Periapex, Supreme Director of Endodontic Therapy, Workland, Ontario, Canada.