FEATURE
Goal Setting Sessions:
Taking Your Team to the Next Level By Dr. Aaron Stump
W
e know quality feedback is critical for the professional
I needed to be a better coach for my team and using the performance review as a
development of dental teams. The question is: how
tool was not helping achieve my goal.
should leaders efficiently give quality feedback to
maximize its impact? Traditionally, performance reviews
The most important factor in creating a successful and sustainable practice is
were the standard way of providing feedback and instruction.
developing a healthy culture. The GSS is one of many pieces in cultivating and
However, the performance review is an outdated model. The
nurturing healthy culture. A supportive and safe environment where trust is built
new method is what I call a Goal Setting Session (GSS).
and one can be vulnerable are key cornerstones in building a healthy culture.
I developed the GSS because the traditional performance review was not
It is essential as a leader you take on the responsibility of helping individual team
working due to poor motivation, little accountability, and lack of proper follow-
members reach their goals. Why? Because the success and growth of the office
up. I understood motivation for lasting change is best achieved in a positive,
depends on it. The theory of growth is simple: growth is reciprocal. If a team
supportive environment where individuals are empowered and self-motivated
member is growing, then so will the practice. If everyone in a office is hitting their
to make change rather than being forced or coerced. The performance review
goals, then the office as a collective will grow exponentially.
setting does not provide this. It centers on past performance, not on positive change for the future. I was also having a hard time keeping my team accountable
The GSS method is based on motivational interviewing. This process is defined
because there was little documentation on what was discussed or what specific
as a collaborative, goal-oriented style of communication and particular attention
steps were needed to make positive changes. Furthermore, there was poor
to the language of change. It is designed to strengthen personal motivation of
follow-up because reviews were done once per year. That is simply too long to go
commitment to a specific goal by exploring the person’s own reason for change.
between evaluations. Just think, students have four report cards during the school
Motivational interviewing is designed to empower people to change by drawing
year. Dentists should be doing the same with their "students." All this considered,
out their meaning, importance, and capacity for change.
18 1st Quarter 2022 I mddsdentist.com
