Despite the efforts of many practices to improve the salaries and benefits of staff, many still experience difficulty recruiting and retaining dental team members. Now more than ever, it's essential to ensure your team remains happy and motivated so they stay with you long term.

Get to know the team as individuals

I always advocate something called a ‘growth chat', which is different from an appraisal as it's something I use all year round. It's a bit like constant interviewing of your staff, finding out how they are, whether they're up or down and generally what's happening with them. It involves understanding that sometimes there are things happening in people's lives outside of work that will have an impact on how they're getting on at work.

As a manager, I appreciate I can't solve everybody's individual problems, but I can help in terms of directing them to places where they could find extra support if they need it, or by just being understanding. For example, if during one of these growth chats I picked up on the fact that my colleague seemed a bit down and they admitted that someone close to them had just been diagnosed with a terminal illness, then that's the sort of case where I would ask myself what I could do to help this person. Do I need to give them some time off to go and have a day with that person?

Sometimes as practice managers, we miss these important signals because we're busy doing other things. When really, the greatest part of motivating your team is understanding the people who are in - and make - your business.

Tailored team building

I believe team building is important, but rather than imposing things on them, I like to know what my team members would like to be doing. For example, I was working with a practice in Exeter where the team was full of young people, so they wanted to be doing lots of activity-based things. This meant we did things like taking them surfing on a beach down in Cornwall. Another time, we went cycling along the canal in Exeter and we looked at going paddleboarding. We were lucky that we were in an area where there are loads of activities open to us so we could do these things quite easily.

Sometimes team building is as much about the group of people you are with, as the activities themselves. A good example of this is Christmas parties. There may well be somebody in your team who never ever attends the Christmas party. This can often be a source of frustration for the person who organises it.

There have been occasions when a business owner has told me they can't understand why a particular person doesn't want to be part of the party. The answer can be as simple as it just doesn't float their boat. They don't want to go for a night out, have a meal and drink. There could be a number of reasons for this. It might be that they're sober and they find it awkward being around others drinking, or it may be that they don't want to eat a meal for diet or health reasons.

So, in these circumstances I would take a step back and consider what a Christmas party looks like. It might be something that can be divided into three distinct parts. The first part might consist of everyone creating Christmas wreaths in the practice for an hour or two before then going out. The next part could be a meal and then for the third part people go on to a club or for drinks. So, people can then choose which section of the Christmas party they want to take part in and leave out the bit or bits they'd rather not.

This way, before you know it, you have a team building event that everyone can attend. The point is, it's happening organically. It's important that the team members don't feel like they're being pushed into team building; that it isn't a case of everyone put your arms out to create a bed and you can fall back into it, because not everybody wants to do that.

It's also important to look at your team and recognise whether the members naturally want to be friendly or not. I find that when I'm working with a younger team, quite often they are quite pally with each other. However, if the team members are a little more mature, they often have other things in their lives, such as families, that take up their time. So, for them work is work, and in that case team building looks very different than it does for a group of 20-year-olds.

Sometimes we think that throwing a party or arranging some kind of wild night out is team building when actually that can turn some people off. They can be great workers and team members, but it's just not what they want to do.

It's important to recognise that everybody's on their own path in life. I come across more people being sober and not drinking alcohol these days. I know quite a few people who've done Dry January and then chosen to carry that on. And so, if somebody arranged to do Friday fizz, that might make another person feel pressured to go along just to fit in.

The essential thing to remember with team building is that it doesn't work when it's a forced thing. It has to be a mutually agreeable or enjoyable experience.

Lucie will be a panellist at Practice Plan‘s Dental Business Theatre at the British Conference and Dentistry Show at Birmingham NEC on 17 and 18 May. Join Practice Plan for a chat on stand K50, otherwise start the conversation on 01691 684165, or book your one-to-one NHS to private call via practiceplan.co.uk/nhsvirtual.