Team Coaching in Dental Practices: What It Is and How It Boosts Growth

By Jamie MorleyJuly 25, 2024

Have you ever wondered why some dental practices seem to thrive while others struggle with team dynamics and growth? The secret might just lie in team coaching. Discover how this powerful tool can transform your practice into a high-performing, cohesive team ready to achieve remarkable growth.

Definition of Team Coaching

Team coaching is a term and concept that has come into being over the last 30 years or so. It recognises the fact that it is not all down to one individual but that coaching a team can have a profound effect on the performance of the business which in this case is your dental practice. Rather than the coaching being with an individual it is with a defined team.

Henley Business School define it as follows:

‘Team coaching helps teams work together, with others and within their wider environment, to create lasting change by developing safe and trusting relationships, better ways of working and new thinking, so that they maximise their collective potential, purpose and performance goals.’ The different elements of this are:

• Helping teams work together effectively 
• Within their wider environment
• Better ways of working and new thinking
• Maximising performance with lasting change 
• Achieving goals and objectives

Thornton (2016) defined team coaching as “coaching a team to achieve a common goal, paying attention to both individual performance and to group collaboration and performance”.

Clutterbuck (2014) says “team coaching is a systemic process that helps teams improve their performance and the way they achieve it through dialogue and reflection”.

Hawkins (2017) defines team coaching as “enabling a team to function at more than the sum of its parts, by clarifying its mission and improvising its external and internal relationships”.

Team coaching is not how a team coach is sometimes traditionally viewed in a sporting sense. It is not having a coach being directive with the team and telling them what to do. Instead it is about the coach creating a structure and asking questions of the team. To help them improve how they work together and to gain clarity on how they want to move forward and achieve their goals.

Team coaching is also not that same as traditional team building exercises and activities. These are often fun activities which can help people get to know each other but this is more by luck than intention.

Part of team coaching is to openly discuss and work on how you are operating as a team, facilitated by an external coach with an understanding of team dynamics who is able to take an independent view rather than the discussion being driven by the nominated leader of the group who will have their own conflict of interest.

Defining Your Team within the Dental Practice Setting

There are multiple different teams within your dental practice. There is the whole team, there is the nursing team, the reception team, the clinicians and then perhaps there is a leadership team

Team coaching can work with all the teams. The nature of the coaching will vary depending on the size of the team

The ideal size of a team for Team Coaching is from 4-8. Creating a small leadership team for your practice can be ideal for team coaching. There are pros and cons to different team sizes as described in this article.

Key Elements of Team Coaching for Dental Practices

• Exploration of how the team operates and what is most important
• Challenging the thoughts, beliefs and actions of the team
• New insights, different perspectives and innovative thinking
• Creating a plan with real commitment
• Overcoming and find ways through challenging situations
• Everybody holding each other accountable
• Reflecting on progress and adapting the plan as necessary

The Role of a Team Coach in Dental Practice Team Coaching

• To create a safe space for open and honest discussion
• To develop an equal share of voice from team members
• To explore different perspectives from the group
• To find the balance between keeping the team on track and allowing ideas to evolve
• To encourage healthy debate and conflict
• To keep individuals and the team accountable

Benefits of Team Coaching in Dental Practices

Enhanced Communication & Teamwork

• Understanding what makes a high performing team
• Working on those behaviours
• Open and honest discussions reflecting on those behaviours over previous months and agreeing ways to improve those moving forward
• Recognising differences
• Clarity of roles and responsibilities

Clarity, focus and commitment leading to increased productivity and efficiency

• Developing clear focus areas for the practice
• Debt and discussion which leads to commitment from the team
• Accountability for actions to ensure there is clear progress and that discussions lead to action
• Being focused on the clear priorities and not being distracted, enabling the whole practice to move forward in the most productive and efficient way possible.

Higher Employee Engagement and Retention

• Involving the team as part of the discussion means that those individuals feel heard and that their voice counts and is valued.
• Involving the team as part of the discussion means that those individuals truly feel engaged  in the dental practice.
• They are more likely to remain with the practice if they feel values and are engaged in their work and the success of the practice.

Fostering Innovation and Problem Solving

• Encouraging creative solutions and continuous improvement.
• Leveraging diverse perspectives within the team.
• Seeing difference as a strength that can help the team solve problems and come up with creative and innovative solutions to any situation.

Real-World Examples

Case Study 1: Ongoing Team Coaching with Beam Orthodontics Leadership Team

• Beam Orthodontics is an elite Specialist Orthodontic Practice based in Dundee.  It has an NHS Orthodontic contract as well as a significant private practice.
• Beam had seen a significant uplift in private treatments curing and after the COVID pandemic. It was now looking for the next phase of development during significant challenges of higher interest rates and the cost of living crisis.
• Initially a leadership team was created with key team members who had specific responsibilities for the key strategies to move forward.
• Quarterly leadership team coaching sessions where the team spend time looking at how they work as a team so that they could maximise their collaboration, understanding their different styles, strengths and weaknesses.
• Use of the Everything DiSC Catalyst platform as a tool to aid with this.
• Quarterly leadership coaching sessions were also for maintaining focus on the key strategies. To reflect on the measures of success and to ensure they are moving forward.
• An interim 1 hour call to check in on progress and to maintain accountability within the group using Trello as a tool for tracking and follow up of agreed actions.

• Rhu McKelvey - Principal Orthodontist “Team Coaching with Jamie has been incredibly valuable for myself and the leadership team in maintaining focus in a world of perpetual distractions and disruptions. It has enabled the team to flourish in taking ownership & responsibility, ultimately enabling the practice to move forward and progress in the key focus areas. The end result of this is that we have been able to continue to grow in a challenging environment.”

Case Study 2: Ongoing Team Coaching with Smile Rooms Leadership Team

• Smile Rooms is a multi-award winning group of 5 Dental Practices based around the south east of England with the flagship practice in Reading.
• Now the practices work as a group rather than individual Practices.
• The coaching has meant here is now more clarity and focus across the business about what is most important and where individuals can work together to avoid duplication
• Team coaching for the Leadership Team of Smile Rooms enabled those individuals to understand each other and to see different perspectives.
• The leadership team have really started supporting each other, rather than being fully reliant on the official leader. Giving each other ideas and sharing things that had already been done.
• The whole leadership team has become much clearer on the key areas of focus across the practices and where they could leverage from each other to make progress in these areas.

• Hanel Nathwani - CEO of Smile Rooms “The Quarterly Leadership Team Coaching sessions consistently motivate and focus the team giving them an energy and purpose for the months ahead. It enables all of us to take time out to learn from the last few months and to get on the same page moving forward. This ultimately enables us to achieve our long term goals.”

Case Study 3: Five Behaviours Team Day with Helix House Orthodontics

• Helix House Orthodontics is a group of two elite Orthodontic practices with the main practice based in Nottingham and the second one based in Rotherham.

• The team were wanting to have a day to look at how they were performing as a complete team.

• The Five Behaviours model resonated with them and the concept of having the whole team complete the questionnaire in advance of the day on how they are performing as a team.

• The morning was spent reviewing the results from the survey and openly discussing how they can move forward and improve as a team.
• Anshu Sood - Principal Orthodontist “An excellent course that far excelled what we anticipated. Incredibly useful learning for building an ideal team, engaging and thought provoking. Jamie is an enthusiastic and dynamic speaker with an insightful nature”

Implementing Team Coaching in Your Dental Practice

Identify the issues you have currently

• What are the issues you have as an overall practice?
• What specific challenges do you have in how individuals work as a team?
• What dynamics have you noticed in terms of how the team works together?

Contact a team coach

• Identify a team coach
• Check out their credentials
• Ensure they will coach rather than tell
• Ask what tools they will use
• Look for some references and testimonials
• Ask for a costings proposal

Establish how the coaching will work

• Discuss and define the team that will have coaching
• Agree on the regularity and timing of the coaching sessions
• Find a location that is away from the practice

Define the purpose of the coaching

• Defining clear objectives for team coaching
• Establishing metrics for measuring success

Engage your Team

• Talk to the team about the coaching
• Explain the purpose to them
• Have an introductory call with the coach

Start the coaching

• Have the first coaching session
• Gain anecdotal feedback after the session

Reflect and review on the impact

• Agree a time to reflect and review progress
• Make necessary adjustments
• Keep the team motivated and aligned with practice goals.

Conclusion

In summary team coaching is about helping teams to work together effectively within the system in which they operate. To develop new ways of thinking and doing that will allow the team to create lasting change on the way to reaching their objectives.

It can significantly boost the growth of your dental practice by: 

• enhancing communication & teamwork
• developing clarity, focus and commitment
• fostering innovation and new ways of thinking
• increasing higher employee engagement and retention
• ultimately leading to increased productivity and efficiency

Take the Dental Team Dynamics Assessment to gain insights into your dental practice teamwork