Five Pillars of Dental Leadership - Part 3, Q3 2018

Featured Article Superior Processes and Systems...

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Eric Morin

Five Pillars of Dental Leadership: A Four-Part Series Part 3

by Eric Morin, MBA

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Dental Explorer | Third Quarter 2018

In the first part of this series, I discussed the importance of becoming the CEO of your practice.

This is the first Pillar of the “Five Pillars of Dental Leadership.� In that article, I discussed the importance of moving from just being the practice owner, to gaining skills and implementing systems that will allow you to move into the Chief Executive position. In the second part of this series, I talked about the importance of building a world-class team.

A world-class team is growth oriented and will allow you to have a self-managed organization. This will result in reduced turnover and stress, while providing overall better patient care. Building a world-class team is the key to reducing the amount of time you must be at the chair and increasing your focus on the things that you enjoy most.

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Pillar Three:

Superior Processes and Systems We are all aware that superior processes and systems are crucial to all high-performing organizations. However, most of the doctors I speak with explain to me that this is one of their biggest frustrations in running a dental practice, and that it’s dif ficult to make the new process stick long-term. Most important to understand is that systems and processes have a very low probability of staying in force if the doctor has to be the one to enforce them, and they are even more dif ficult to control if Pillars One and Two have not already been implemented and achieved.

In the article on Pillar One, you learned that the number-one job of a CEO is to create a clear and defined vision for the team and to share it of ten.

When you do this, your team will understand why they are being asked to implement or change a process. If the team has no understanding of why you want change and how it af fects the larger picture, they will feel like they are being asked to do more work for the same pay, which can feel demotivating.

Before implementing new processes and systems, ensure that your team clearly understands the vision of the practice, and you will find them more likely to implement systems properly and that they have a much higher likelihood of staying in place long-term.

You must also have accomplished Pillar Two, “Build a World-Class Team,” before introducing new systems to your practice. Once you have defined and communicated your clear vision to the team and they understand the why behind your decision, the nex t question is:

“Do you have the right team to implement the process?”

At Tower Leadership, we believe in finding and employing the best and brightest people in the marketplace, and so should you. Once you have that team, invest in them, and pay them what they are worth. In turn, they will help implement your systems and also contribute valuable ideas how the organization can continue to improve.

Once Pillars One and Two are firmly in place, then deciding whether a new system or process should be implemented within your practice should be easy. You only have to ask yourself one simple question: Does this process get us closer to or further from the vison of the organization? Since the goals of the organization should be aligned to the vision, you will know whether to initiate a new process or not.

If you follow these steps, you will find not only that you know when to implement a new process or system, but it will be much easier to keep it in place long-term. This will reduce practice stress and assist you in reaching all your goals.

Pillar Four: Tell the World

What do I mean by “Tell the World”? I mean let every single person in the marketplace know about you, your team, and your of fice. Many doctors decide that when they want to bring in new patients, they will employ a marketing campaign, whether it be through SEO (search engine optimization), or postcard mailers, or another source, but I cannot express enough that this is not the place to start. This is Pillar Four. If you do not have a clear and defined vision, or the right team to truly give an amazing experience and the

Third Quarter 2018 | Dental Explorer

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Featured Article systems and processes to make the experience repeat, you will have a significantly lower rate of return on your referral and marketing ef forts. Also remember that the first place you should invest dollars is the improvement of the overall patient experience.

I recently started working with a doctor who was so excited, she called to tell me about a marketing ef fort she was about to deploy. I asked her to please not take on that ef fort yet, because the practice was not yet ready to tell the world about its first-class experience; the experience had not fully been built. Once we put the first three pillars firmly in place, I encouraged, she should tell the world! The result was an increase in new patients over 10 times the amount of her current new patient level. That type of result is what happens when you make sure the correct order of events is followed.

“When will you know when you are ready to go to the marketplace and really increase visibilit y?�

The answer is, when you have built such an experience and you are so referable that the majority of new patients are coming from referral.

I encourage you to learn how many new patients are coming to your of fice from referrals, because it is an indicator of the ef fectiveness of your patient experience. If you need some assistance with understanding how to build or improve your patient experience, feel free to reach out to us at TowerLeadership.com, and we will provide guidance. Once you can consistently achieve a high level of referrals, then you want everyone in marketplace know about your of fice! Since your patient experience is so strong and you have the right team to deliver the very best experience, you will see a magnif ying ef fect on business grow th and new patient generation.

What is the importance of making sure that we firmly put each Pillar in place, in the correct order?

These pillars are what great organizations are built on, and I can assure you that if you follow the path that I have laid out in these articles, you will see improvement in practice grow th, team morale, patient referrals, and an overall reduction in stress, as a practice owner. All of these will lead to what I will be discussing in the final part of this series nex t quarter: Financial Impact.

When you deploy the Five Pillars of Dental Leadership into your practice, you will have significant resources to impact your practice, family, team, patients, and community, and that should be the most important goal.

Eric J. Morin, MBA, specializes in business and financial consulting for dentists. He has been in the industry for over a decade and also assisted his wife in establishing a thriving multi-doctor practice.

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12 Quarter 2018