Unlocking Success and Well-Being: How Whole Person Team Coaching Elevates Practice Teams to New Heights

Practice teams face numerous challenges that can impact their ability to succeed. From navigating full schedules, staying ahead of the curve of patients’ expectations, and navigating interpersonal relationships. Whole person team coaching provides an innovative and valuable approach to help practice teams deal with these challenges, focus on well-being and achieve success. By leveraging the collective knowledge, skills, and experiences of team members, along with the individuals really getting to know each other, team coaching can help to foster an environment of positive culture and continuous improvement. It helps build trust and collaboration, and align team goals and objectives with the overall practice mission. Ultimately, team coaching is an essential tool for practice teams that want to stay ahead of the curve and thrive in today's complex and competitive landscape while experiencing personal and professional well-being.

What is team coaching?

Team coaching is defined as empowering teams to work toward continued high performance and ongoing development, requiring innovation, flexibility, adaptability and goal alignment – all traits that coaching helps support. (ICF team coaching competencies, 2022) The co-creative process of being coached as a team inspires the team members to maximize their abilities and the potential of what can be achieved together.??

Team coaching is a powerful tool that can transform struggling teams into functioning ones and elevate already successful teams to new heights. For struggling teams, coaching can help to identify and address underlying issues, such as poor communication, absence of well-being, or a lack of trust. Through targeted coaching sessions, team members can learn to communicate more effectively, work collaboratively, problem solve together and build stronger relationships. This can result in a team that is more cohesive, productive, and motivated.

For teams that are already functioning well, coaching can take them to the next level. By focusing on specific areas for improvement, such as leadership development, conflict resolution, opportunities to promote well-being or goal setting, coaches can help teams to achieve even greater success. This may involve introducing new strategies or tools that can help to drive wellness, creativity, and collaboration. By working with a coach, high-performing teams can continue to grow, learn, and excel, achieving their goals and reaching new heights of success as a result of feeling great.

The majority of practice owners are passionate about their businesses and care deeply about their teams. They understand that a happy and engaged team is essential to the success of their practice. However, practice owners often find themselves pulled in multiple directions, with a long list of priorities competing for their attention. They find themselves responsible for a myriad of different tasks each day. This can leave them with little time to devote to nurturing their teams, despite their best intentions. As a result, practice owners find it hard to provide the intensity of support and guidance their teams need to succeed. By investing in their teams through coaching, practice owners can create a more supportive, healthy and collaborative work environment and drive long-term success.

Doctors can maximize the benefits by receiving 1:1 coaching for themselves. Many doctors agree time to focus entirely on themselves and their personal and professional goals is rare in a busy dental practice. It is important to remember that a professional coach takes time to discover their clients values, strengths and what really matters to them. Using this information they co-create goals and by partnering with the doctor the coach draws on their wisdom and experiences to determine the most successful course of action. It is not about selling a system or what the coach feels is best but using the client’s wisdom and experiences to determine the most successful course of action.

Coaching for the wider team

Coaching looks different for each practice. Custom programs blend individual and team coaching be that as a subset group, such as a front office team, hygiene team or the practice as a whole. Coaches are trained to listen, ask questions, and provide guidance and support as the individuals or team works through challenges and identifies opportunities for growth. A coach is a partner who can help everyone to develop new skills, strategies, and perspectives that can lead to greater success, well-being and fulfillment.

Authors of this article Dr. Karen Tindall and Dr. Laura Schwindt deliver team coaching with a focus on whole person well-being for dental practices. They understand that each practice is unique, with its own set of challenges and opportunities.? Dr. Laura Schwindt explains, “That's why we offer custom-created programs like the Stepping Stones Practice Wellness Program. This program is designed to meet the specific needs of each practice, with a focus on the whole person, improving wellness, engagement, and overall practice success. As coaches we work closely with each doctor to understand their practice and their goals, and then develop a tailored program that addresses their unique needs.”

Dr. Karen Tindall shares about how a custom program benefits practices.?

“Through this collaborative process, participants can gain a deeper understanding of their practice, their colleagues, and themselves. They can identify areas for improvement, set achievable goals, and develop strategies that can help them to achieve success. With the support of a coach and a custom-designed program, doctors can create a practice that is not only successful but also fulfilling and sustainable over the long term. Both the doctor and the practice will thrive!”

Creating time for doctors to do what they were trained for

Running a clinical practice is a demanding and time-consuming role. Practice owners are responsible for managing a team, overseeing patient care, dealing with administrative tasks, and staying up to date with the latest requirements and advancements. With so much to do, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed and stressed out, which can take a toll on both personal and professional life. By seeking support from a coach, practice owners can gain more time to focus on doing what they were trained to do and love – providing excellent patient care. Whole person focused coaching will enable practice owners to feel less time pressured and stretched thin. When the team is receiving coaching doctors feel confident that their team is being looked after and at the same time developing and growing into a stronger team. By focusing on whole person well-being, coaches can improve the relationships within the practice and strengthen bonds between team members. By identifying areas that cause undue stress, a coach can help practice owners to find solutions that free up time, energy and money. For example, the coach may gain valuable insights into how the practice team functions together. They can reflect back where they see tensions or frustrations building and help the team develop their own solutions. This frees up time for the practice owner to focus on patient care, running the business, or even more leisure time! With a coach's support and guidance, practice owners increase the confidence they have in their team which allows everyone to develop and find ways to work smarter, and achieve greater success and fulfillment in their practice roles and personal life.?

Win back time

In short, a coach can help practice owners to gain more time, reduce stress, and focus on doing what they love by achieving greater work-life balance, enjoying their work more, prioritizing self care and providing better care to their patients.?

The Whole Person Approach

Whole person well-being is important because it recognizes that an individual's health and wellness are not just physical but also emotional, social, and spiritual. This means that in order to achieve optimal health and wellness, an individual must address all aspects of their being. Whole person well-being has four cornerstones. Physical health is critical, especially when the physical toll of dentistry is taken into consideration but it is only one part of the puzzle. Emotional health is equally important, as it affects mental well-being, the ability to cope with stress, and relationships with others. Social health is also essential, as it allows connection with others, builds meaningful relationships, and engagement with community. Spiritual health provides a sense of purpose, meaning, and connection to something greater than the individual.

By focusing on whole person well-being it is possible to achieve a sense of balance and harmony. Recognizing the interconnectedness of all aspects of our being and work will address any imbalances or areas of weakness. This leads to greater happiness, fulfillment, and overall well-being. It is about thriving and living the best version of life, with optimal physical, emotional, social, and spiritual health. By taking a holistic approach to health and wellness, greater levels of well-being and lead happier, healthier lives are achieved.

A healthy practice is a wealthy practice?

Practices who invest in whole person team coaching are seeing the benefits of their investment. Teams are working through their challenges with less friction than they previously experienced, absenteeism is reduced, well-being has become a priority and doctors have increased peace of mind knowing that their teams are being looked after. Dr. Cindy McMann of Stonebridge Dental in McKinney, Texas, enrolled her sizable dental practice in the Stepping Stones Practice Wellness Program. She recently needed to recruit for two front-office positions. She received over 70 applications. Once the shortlisted applicants were interviewed, her practice decided to expand its offer to 4 positions because Dr. McMann saw such great talent in multiple candidates. “Investing in the well-being of my dental team has proved extremely beneficial. At a time when other practice owners are finding it hard to recruit high quality team members I was able to find more than I initially thought I needed.”?

Symbiosis with consultants

It is commonplace for dental practices to work with practice management consultants. They provide essential support for running a successful practice. Whole person well-being training looks after the humans in the dental team. Just because a practice has a consultant does not mean that they do not need or cannot work with a coach to focus on their collective and individual well-being. To use a sports related example a football team does not just have one coach for everyone. Specialist position coaches are hired depending on their expertise on the field. Think of well-being coaches as the quarterback coach of the practice. Consider your dental practice like a football team. You need more than one coach to ensure total success! The next coach for your team needs to be a practice well-being coach.

References

ICF team coaching competencies (2022) International Coaching Federation. Available at: https://coachingfederation.org/credentials-and-standards/team-coaching/competencies (Accessed: March 29, 2023).?

If you are interested to make the most of your practice team consider a Practice Wellness Program with The Mint Door. The Mint Door has a limited number of complimentary Harmony Lunch and Learn Workshops coming up in the Fall of 2023. Don't miss out on your chance to see and experience what practice team coaching is like. Click here to reserve your session. Spaces are in high demand!