Leveraging team building exercises

Delivering the best dental care possible starts with building a team that works well together every single day. Team building exercises are an effective strategy for helping to get this done.

Teams just want to have fun

While team building activities certainly elicit some light grumbling from more introverted staff in the beginning, it does not take long for everyone to get involved and start having fun. Doing something fun together helps staff see each other in a different light and provides the opportunity to connect in a different setting. The goal of a team building activity is rarely to develop specific problem-solving skills. It’s about creating a close-knit workplace where employees are motivated to work together.

Genuine connections lead to deeper collaboration

By fostering genuine connections between team members, you support increased communication between staff once everyone has returned to their regular work. In dentistry, open lines of communication between departments is important, as patient information must be quickly and accurately shared in all directions.

Establish trust between coworkers

Trust between team members is a core driver of success at a dental practice, no matter if your team is small or spread out across multiple locations. Just as learning to trust your employees helps you to delegate effectively, staff that rely on one another can stop worrying about other people’s jobs and focus better on their own responsibilities.

Identify leadership capabilities

Team building activities present an opportunity to identify displays of leadership and see what type of leader different people might be. In a team building exercise, employees don’t necessarily feel the need to follow the organizational chart. Natural leaders tend to rise to the occasion. Similarly, other work-related traits are easier to spot during an activity where people don’t feel the need to follow established workplace protocols. Find out who is competitive, who is a problem solver, who is an organizer, and so on. By identifying the strengths and weaknesses of each employee, you may be able to better assign job roles and tasks at work.

Which team building activities are right for my practice?

It’s important to note that while team building exercises do work, not all activities are appropriate for any given team. As the leader of your practice, it’s up to you to choose exercises that match your office culture. A simple Google search will return dozens of options, so it shouldn’t be difficult to find activities to try.