There are many different things you can and should do when bringing on a new associate to your practice. The following are five of the key ways to prepare:

1. Prepare the team: The transition from one to two dentists can create real challenges for a dental team. They have to adjust to a new person, a different workload and possibly different hours. This is where, as the leader, you must provide the right coaching through the transition process. Ask your team to be patient but emphasize that you are always interested in their concerns. And if the associate also participates in management, those areas of authority should be clearly defined.

2. Prepare your patients: Marketing and client management are absolutely fundamental during a transition so that all patients are made to feel comfortable with the associate and confident of his or her abilities. Send letters to your patients announcing the new doctor's arrival and creating value for his or her skills; place ads in the local papers. Update your website and brochure to include their profile. If you want people to support and believe in this person, you have to demonstrate your enthusiastic support first.

3. Prepare your facility: Before your associate starts, you should carefully consider the adequacy of your facility to support another dentist. Are there enough operatories for you and the associate to work the same or overlapping hours? What about when the productivity of the associate increases? Often, you can accommodate increased production through a calendar plan that extends or alters the hours of the practice, but eventually you may need to equip an additional operatory. You might need to make extensive renovations to ensure that there is adequate space. It's important that these capital requirements are built into your planning and budget.

4. Prepare to be a mentor: Practice owners going through the process of bringing aboard an associate naturally worry about getting the right person, but it is just as important to think about creating the right environment that will allow that person to be successful. That means working with them on case plan collaborations, overseeing their continuing education plans, and making sacrifices, such as pairing them with your best assistant. The right person, you'll find, is usually the one who has been given the best opportunities to succeed.

5. Prepare to take the long view: From your perspective, you may see this as an opportunity to bring in a hired hand to help relieve some of your "busyness," but the fact is, there are very few people who aspire to be career associates. Any good young dentist is going to be looking for a situation with a promising future, and this means a buy-in opportunity at some point.

So if you want someone who will stay with the practice and bring prosperity and stability over the long term, what you're really looking for is a partner. Don't install a revolving door for associates who move on. It's essential to recruit someone you feel aligned with, and give that person a path to an ownership stake.


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