QUESTION: How to respond to negativity the right way! We have an employee that is usually very easy going to work with but the second we give any constructive feedback, she becomes hostile and starts finger pointing at other employees and creating a negativity cycle for days until it blows over.

ANSWER: Unfortunately, morale will take the biggest hit, and that eventually affects the bottom line as well. When morale suffers because the bad employee is perpetuating a culture no one wants to work in, the office will experience increased turnover. You may also start to lose existing patients and fail to retain new patients if no one wants to be in contact with the bad employee. Instead of the bad employee working for the office, this employee is controlling the office with their undesirable behaviors or lack of motivation. In short, the ongoing employment of this individual brings emotional and financial costs for every day they continue to clock in.[mepr-show if=”loggedout”][/mepr-show] [mepr-active memberships=”629,630,37388,37393,37672,37676,37670,37668,37674,44674,232156″ ifallowed=”show” unauth=”message” unauth_message=”Answer hidden, please login or purchase a membership to view.”] You need to nip this in the bud quickly and not allow this behavior to continue. a good employee must be able to accept constructive criticism from the dentist or practice owner and transform the feedback into a problem-solving approach to improve the situation.

Before making any sort of assumptions, take some time to reflect on who this person is, what it is about them that’s coming across as negative, and—this is where you’ve got to really dig in and be honest with yourself—what role you might be playing in their perceived misery.

Is it what they’re saying that’s negative, or how they’re saying it? The former could be someone who’s truly negative, but the latter could just be a miscommunication issue or communication style divide. Check your biases to see if you’re judging this person based on how they deliver their feedback in a way that’s different than you do—rather than the feedback itself.

Now, the tough part: sitting the person down to talk through their behavior and give feedback. The first step in this conversation is to set the boundaries for how you’d like your team to work together—not to jump on them. Then it’s up to you to make an explicit request of what you would like to see changed going forward, describe the situation, outline their actions and behavior, and explain how those actions affected yourself and others.[/mepr-active]

To learn more about how to manage your staff and dental team, watch this training webinar and following course module! [wpcourse course=”5″ module=”2″ module_desc=”true” /]