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Dr. Nupur Hackwood

BDS, MDS, PhD, ADC, Cert IV Trainer

Why I set up Just Excel Dental Training & Consulting

I founded Just Excel Dental Training and Consulting in 2019 after 30+ years of working as a Dentist and a Specialist in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore, after having run my own very busy and successful 4-chair dental practice in Queensland for 11 years.

With this background in the dental industry, came the realisation that owning and operating a dental practice profitably is not that easy, especially when it comes to managing staff whilst working in the business as the key Dentist.  A lot of time, energy, money and heartache goes into this one sphere of Dental Practice Ownership – Managing Staff. 

Staff are the backbone of the business and recruiting, training, keeping them engaged and then retaining well trained and reliable staff is the biggest challenge dental practices face in today’s work environment, especially since we are facing acute shortage in staff in Dentistry. Besides support staff, managing clinical staff also poses it’s own challenges. Then, there is you, the practice owner to manage as well! 

Besides managing staff, the other key area I found took a lot of my time was Implementing and Managing Business Processes including reporting on key performance indicators.

With my experience and knowledge of running a successful 4-chair dental practice that saw huge growth, realised that essentially there are three gaps that I could help practice owners bridge in their practice. Therein lies the inspiration for my logo – the Bridge with the 3 arches!

Just Excel helps bridge 3 key gaps common in Dental Practices

gaps in Dental staff development, training, and engagement

Without well trained and engaged staff, your ability and desire to deliver superior quality of patient care is compromised. This affects the bottom line and your peace of mind.

gaps in clinician's focus on dental case acceptance and reappointment rates

Your clinicians and you may have Golden Hands, but without the key skills in converting cases and reappointing patients, there is no business.

gaps in dental practice owners knowledge of key dental business processes

Without key dental processes in place, it is like flying without controls forcing you to crash land. 

So ... Why else should you choose to work with me?

Vast experience based on weekly staff training sessions for 11 years

The solutions I provide, didn't just come to me since I launched JUST EXCEL in 2019. The refinement of dental business processes, staff training, scaling my business happened over a period of 11 years when I owned my practice (2005-2016). I ran weekly 1 hour staff meetings every year come rain, hail, or shine for 48 weeks. So it is 48 x 11 = 528 hours of real-life staff training and problem solving practice management problems + other annual and 6-monthly events that I have put together to help ease your pain. I have also drawn from the wealth of knowledge and experience gained solving problems for the numerous Dental Practice Owners across Australia since 2019.

Overall, I bring 34 years of experience of working in the Dental industry as a Dentist, Specialist, Educator, University Tutor, Mentor, Coach, Researcher, Practice Consultant, Head of Quality in Dentistry, Certified Trainer, and above all Practice Owner and Business Entrepreuneur.

Content rich value packed

Content developed based on real-life weekly in-house dental training sessions over 11 years. Content rich and yet affordable.

Practical and easy to implement

Straightforward and tested solutions that work. Strong dental industry knowledge and own life and business experiences over last 30+ years including owning a 4-chair dental practice and managing staff for 11 years have helped me develop the dental solutions and training programmes.

Solutions are tailored to your practice needs

Don't waste precious time and money doing off-the shelf courses that are generic and not adapted to your unique challenges.

Do-Implement-Improve approach

Many team members attend courses and that's the end of it. Nothing changes. We have a "Do-Implement-Improve"" approach to our courses/solutions. You do the course in small modules, implement changes as you go along, review and continuously improve over time ... at no extra cost! If you want Continuous Dental Process Improvement, Quality Dental Training delivered over time, High Performing Teams, want to Create a Great work Culture, and enjoy Success in your Dental Business ... Just Excel is for you!

Not locked into membership plans

We don't lock you into membership plans to complete courses you do not need. With us you get to be selective by choosing the right course/training programme from our huge list of value packed courses. Solve your practice problems one step at a time. Save money by being selective. We offer group discounts too.

How I deliver?

Online self paced Dental training

Online - Self paced

Most of my courses are available online and can be started at anytime from anyplace. This is the preferred option for many. Online training material is made available for 3-6 months.

Face to Face Dental Training

Face to Face

At your practice or a suitable venue. I am happy to travel all across Australia to deliver a tailored course to your group solving your problems. Contact me for costings for travel and accommodation and for group discounts.

Online - Live

I guide learners through my online course in a day or half a day. This is a very popular way of delivering content to large groups. This is the closest alternative to traditional Face-To-Face methods of training.

READ WHAT OTHERS SAY

Dentistry has been my profession for 37 years. Loved it but, Dental Training is my passion!  

Having worked as a Dentist for 37 years,  especially over the 11 years of owning and managing my own Dental Practice, it became obvious that having well trained staff was going to be pivotal to my success in being competitive as a dental practice owner and for my own sanity. I was right! 

The continuous environment of in-house training I created through weekly staff meetings, helped me immensely to increase staff engagement as they were continually improving and gaining self-confidence. High engagement translated to better patient care at all patient touch points in the practice. 

I have always enjoyed teaching … whether it was teaching students at Dental University to be Dentists or support staff doing a certificate course at TAFE, or mentoring new dental graduates or designing and delivering staff training sessions in-house.

My passion for training took me down the path of completing a Cert IV in Training and Assessment. Training is only one half of the equation – assessing if the staff member understood the teaching and is able to deliver correctly is the other half. The Certificate course laid down the foundation for exploring different learning styles, pace of learning, designing training programmes that encourage engagement, delivering in a way that is easy to digest, followed by assessment. Since I launched the company in 2019, I have had plenty of experience designing courses to be delivered online post Covid.

I also understand perfectly that given the same problem, different practices will deal with it differently. Therefore, although I have numerous off-the shelf courses that may be perfectly right for some practices, I may need to adapt certain courses to suit other practices better. 

This is my forte. Problem solving for you and delivering targeted training with time for implementation as we train. I will tailor the course such that you can solve your problems easily within a short time-frame.

Choose from a multitude of pre-designed short training courses guaranteed to improve staff performance, increase employee satisfaction, and reduce stress. 

More about me
Skills I gained through my Dental Journey over the years

specialist pedodontist (1986-1988)
Univ of Otago, New Zealand

Strong foundation in Behaviour management techniques to overcome dental phobias in children allowed me to later transfer these skills to the many phobic and apprehensive adults in my General Practice. This skill alone helped scale and grow the business and build the patient base quickly. Strong Communication skills learnt in this phase helped cement relationships later on.

Head of Quality in Dentistry
Ndc, Singapore (2001 - 2003)

This challenging role is what set me up to run and manage firstly my own and then guide other dental practices to set up quality systems and processes to improve workflow and patient safety and care, increase efficiencies, increase production, and reduce stress.  It also taught me to have a mindset of continuous quality improvement (CQI) and to monitor KPI closely

 

phd & post doctoral (1989 - 1993)

New Zealand, USA (Iowa), Japan

Rigorous scientific approach and use of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies in investigation of theories and ideas strengthened my problem solving skills. Getting to to root cause analysis, brainstorming, designing and testing solutions, report writing, and presenting to audiences were all very important skills I used in my own private practice and as consultant to other dental practice owners. 

 

General Dental Practitioner
Victoria, Queensland, NSW, WA

My first job as General Dentist was in Mooroopna and Seymour in country Victoria where I worked for 2 years. I later relocated to Queensland and worked in the Redlands as General Dentist and Pedodontist for nearly 15 years.  Besides General Dentistry and Pedo, I incorporated orthodontics (POS) and mini implants into my practice. After I sold my private practice in 2016, I worked in private practice in NSW, did locum positions in WA, and also worked at the Gold Coast Hospital

clincial tutor at queensland uni and griffith university, australia

Training 4th and 5th year dental students allowed me to have a deep understanding of mentoring and coaching new graduates and allowing them to develop skills not covered at Universities.

VOLUNTARY AID WORK INDIA (SINCE 1988)

Working as an aid worker allowed me to think out of the box, innovate, and be creative with what was available. To reduce waste and manage funding was also key lessons learnt. 

I continue visiting the charity dental clinic I set up in Katwa, near Kolkata in 2010.

 

Dental Practice Owner (11 years)
Redland Bay, Queensland

In spite of all the many skills and experience I had gained following graduating as a Dentist, ownership of a practice was a steep learning curve indeed. I went from 1 to 4 chairs in a period of 5 years and managing staff was the biggest challenge. An in-house regular weekly staff training/meeting session allowed me to have the success I did with my high performing team. 

My husband John played an integral part in the success of this business. His financial analytical skills, his EXCEL spreadsheeting and reporting skills helped spearhead the business in the right direction.

Just Excel

Complete this form and let us know what practice solutions you are looking for

Location

Northern NSW
Australia

Our hours

8:00:00 AM – 19.00 PM
Monday – Sunday

Contact us

Phone: +61 407732297
Email: admin@justexcel.com.au