Dental Practice Case Study

Name: Devon Place Dental Practice.

Sector: Healthcare

Website:  www.devonplacedentalpractice.co.uk

Project Description

1. To grow and develop the staff.
2. To build a team mindset.
3. To build a dental practice that people are desperate to join.
4. To provide a high quality service and achieve Investors in People.

Consultants Online provided grant funding and advice to ensure all members of the practice received training to update their skills and knowledge and ensured everyone understood how to take ownership and responsibility for decisions.
 

A six month plan was agreed which included:

• Involve people when developing the business plan and when agreeing team and individual objectives.
• Defining the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to lead, manage and develop people effectively.
• Giving people constructive feedback on their performance regularly and when appropriate.
• Encouraging people to take ownership and responsibility by being involved in decision-making.
• Benchmarking the organisation’s overall investment of time, money and resources in learning and development.  
  

Project Results: 

• Sales growth of £41,000
• Achieved Denplan Excel accreditation.
• Achieved Investors in People Recognition
• Stronger more sustainable client relationships
• Achieving better prices for services

• Prioritise objectives and plan work to make best use of time and resources.
• Defining the knowledge skills and behaviours of leaders and managers.
• Encouraging people to take ownership and responsibility for decisions that affect the performance of the team and the organisation.

Tools and Techniques Used - Investors in people Framework

This is the most successful framework for business improvement through people: it is easy to use, flexible, and focused on outcomes. 

The framework tells you what you need to achieve to meet your organisations goals - at the same time recognising that every firm is different - so the exact way you reach your end goal will depend on what's best for your organisation.

The framework has been successfully used by more than 35,000 organisations in 50 countries - from start-ups with two people to major corporations employing hundreds of thousands.

Once the key business issues were defined, we applied three core principles that the framework helps you focus on:

Plan: Develop strategies to improve performance.

Do: Take action to improve performance

Review: Evaluate and improve performance

The three principles break down into ten indicators. At Devon Place Dental Practice we invited people to review each of the indicators in turn (one each week) and discuss exaples of how these were applied in the practice.

To become an Investor in People, Devon Place Dental were assessed against all the evidence requirements of each indicator.

As a result of this process, staff became more confident in discussing the cost of services with clients. New services were developed and added to the portfolio and more referrals led to an increased level of business.  

Staff are now far more involved in discussing the cutomer experience. This is the focal point of  management team meetings.