The benefits of morning huddles in the dental office

Huddles should probably be held daily, ideally before the first patient arrives. And the meeting should be short. No more than 10 or 15 minutes.

You may want to try meeting while standing up so you don’t get too comfortable. And you don’t want the meeting to take too long.

Start on time and end on time to keep things efficient. Who should be present during the meeting? You should have a meeting facilitator to lead the meeting and prepare the agenda.

It could be an office manager, dentist, someone who helps keep things on track.

But that responsibility can rotate through different team members.

Depending on the topic, there can be different people to present different topics.

There may be someone from the front office that represent or that helps present information on certain patient related updates and certain schedule information. Maybe a hygiene representative can discuss patient care and treatment information, the doctor representative can also cover specific treatment information.

And all team members should have a chance to contribute for maximum effectiveness.

Be sure to have an agenda ahead of time and stick to it.

Having a clear format can help make the meeting process run more smoothly and efficiently.

Encourage everyone to participate.

All the team members should have a way to contribute. Focus on actionable information for the day ahead. Take turns, rotating leadership roles to keep the meetings engaging, and always end on a positive note to help motivate the team for the day.

By implementing these practices, dental offices can use morning huddles to start each day, to help be more organized, more informed, and motivated to help provide excellent patient care.