What does a Dentist Learn from Reality TV? Estelle Zandstra, DDS “Chance favors only the prepared mind,” said the great scientist Louis Pasteur. If you want to increase your chances of having a phenomenal practice transformation with the help of a consultant, prepare your mind. Some dentists retreat to their office in frustration or can’t understand the bickering among the staff or can’t imagine how to put the recommendations from lectures and articles on management into practice. This article is for you. If you are an associate who feels powerless to take command of your operatory staff, this article is for you. If you’ve hired consultants to put systems into place and it didn’t take hold, this article is for you. If you can’t seem to put treatment presentation advice into action so that you can use the fantastic technical skills and state-of-theart equipment that you purchased, keep reading. What does a dentist learn from Gordon Ramsay, renowned star of the cable BBC America Reality TV show, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares? A dentist, whether an owner, partner or associate, learns that there is no difference in leadership between an owner of a restaurant and an owner of their dental practice. A dentist learns that leadership can be learned when the right tools are known and used at the right times. A dentist learns that effective leadership from himself is essential to his business. Have you seen Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares? It’s brutal. It’s shocking. It’s eye opening. It pulls the restaurant owner’s head out of the sand.
“If you’ve hired consultants to put systems into place and it didn’t take hold, this article is for you.” Gordon Ramsey is an award winning restaurant owner worldwide and restaurant consultant in this TV program. He shows failing restaurant owners how to make their restaurants not only get by, but thrive. He gets results by challenging the business owner. Through honesty, integrity, friendship, vulnerability, commitment, leading from the heart and hard work, business owners learn the art of leadership by watching a master leader in action. You don’t know the cable reality TV program, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares? Watch a movie! In the movie called Miracle, about Herb Brooks, coach of the 1980 US Olympic Gold medal-winning Hockey team, the different leadership styles are shown for leading a group to success. Since good leaders don’t use just one style, a dentist can identify the leadership methods in the movie and learn to apply them in his own practice. There is truth in fiction. Master and Commander, starring Russell Crowe, is another movie that shows leadership styles at their best. You’ll see a commanding, democratic, visionary, authoritative and Dental Explorer | First Quarter 2011
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pacing leader, all in one. The main character of this movie slips from leadership style to leadership style. Watch to learn. Watch to identify what you do well and what you can add to your benefit your crew at the office. There is hope for us all. The 1997 Harvard Business Review article, “Leadership that Gets Results” by Daniel Goleman, says we can practice our way into being an effective leader. The article shows that it takes time and humility to turn our beliefs upside down and backwards. It takes a strong consultant like Gordon Ramsey to shock us into doing the opposite of what comes naturally. Isn’t the definition of crazy “doing the same things and expecting different results?” I hear jokes about consultants. The comedians and cynics in a group say, “A consultant charges a fortune to borrow your watch to tell you what time it is”. The naysayers say that the consultants rearrange and replace the staff and then, everything goes back to the old normal again and again. This scenario just isn’t acceptable. Preparing your mind for dental office consulting is essential to making the most of your investment with a short or long term
consultant. A variety of preparation steps with limited investment of your money can prepare you for an expert, objective consultant to tweak your systems, staff, practice and even you so that, almost every day, your confidence in your team and decisions shows.
Read and read some more
Read “Leadership That Gets Results” by Daniel Goleman or Primal Leadership by the same author. Read The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner. Read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey - again. Go to your favorite bookstore or library and browse until you find a book that speaks to you. Read about leadership online. Read until each book or article starts sounding the same. Then, go back and read those books again. Eventually, you will see the backbones of leadership emerge. When your consultant comes into the picture, your mind will be prepared to question, learn and execute like you never have before.
Practice
“Champions keep playing until they get it right,” says tennis champion Billie Jean King. Even before your consultant arrives, be different until you get it right. Practice a new way of interacting with your team. If you are loud, be soft. If you do a task yourself, ask someone else to do that task for you. If you come to work before everyone else, come in after. If you come in late, come in early. If you usually don’t do TLC calls for patients, do some. Allow your team to practice working with one new way of doing things. Tell your employees that you are trying something new. Tell them that you all will practice until you get it right. Your prepared mind and commitment will show and your team will start to prepare their minds for success with a consultant,too.
Practice some more
Practice a new way of interacting with your team. If you are loud, be soft. If you do a task yourself, ask someone else to do that task for you. If you come to work before everyone else, come in after. If you come in late, come in early. 10
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Lend a hand as a leader or volunteer of a professional, religious or nonprofit group. Take the lead or work as a volunteer on an event for an organization. Get a committee together or be on a committee and see what you can do. Practice. It’s like being on NBC Network’s, The Apprentice as the Project Manager. The effective leaders and team members become obvious. Learn from them. What would your committee members say about you in the Board Room?
Think and write
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit,” says Aristotle. A fine and successful dental consultant said, “Show me your habits and I’ll show you who you are”. Write down what you do each day from waking up to going to sleep at night. Think about every 5 minutes. Look at this list for moments when you lead well or when you missed an opportunity to lead. Your consultant will want to know what you do each day. Knowing your own habits will prepare your mind for a consultant to be effective.
Take a “Cosmo Quiz”
Do you remember multiple choice quizzes in magazines that ask you what you would do in certain situations? You assign points to each letter and add up your score to find out your exercise style or your likelihood of finding a date for the prom. Dentistry is probably most familiar with DISC and Myer’s-Briggs. I recently became aware of The Birkman Method. For a minimal investment, a highly trained Birkman method specialist can show you your strengths, some blind spots and what type of team can support you in your endeavors best. If you don’t like what The Birkman shows you, find another survey until you do. Prepare your mind to see the possibilities, even before your consultant arrives, to support you and your practice.
Relax and Unwind
If you have stress from the practice and the usual ways of dealing with the stress aren’t helping anymore, consider a guided imagery tape. We hear about Olympic and professional athletes who imagine the perfect execution of their sport - the Super G, the gymnastic routine, the long-program at the Skating Championship. They use guided imagery. Healthjourneys.com is a website and company devoted to guided imagery for healing and success. Try out the Stress Pack CDs! A dentist, consultant and friend recommended
this method to a skeptic, me. Before I knew it, I was sleeping through the night without worries of tomorrow at the office. I was feeling better, more relaxed and it showed. I prepared my mind to work with my consultant in a new and effective way. Gordon Ramsay’s Reality TV show exposes a truth in us all as he tries to transform restaurant owners and their businesses into thriving successes. We don’t know what we don’t know. That’s where consultants fit into our dental practice lives. The consultants may come and go over the years. Some come into our lives for a day, a weekend or for years. Some come in person and others in print, TV or the movies. The consultant, an outsider, who looks in can see our blind spots. Can you see your colleagues’ blind spots? By definition, we can’t see our own! Prepare your mind to see examples of success all around you. I’m betting you’ll be “lucky” enough to make success your own. Estelle Zandstra, DDS has her prosthodontic and snoring & sleep dentistry practice in Alpharetta, GA. She has worked with a variety of consultants over the years. Thanks and gratitude go to those courageous consultants for helping her to “mature” into her role as a business owner.
Dr. Estelle Zandstra received her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from Medical College of Virginia and completed a residency General Dentistry at the University of Minnesota. She also completed a residency in Prosthodontics at the University of Florida and has been in practice in the Atlanta area since 1997. She currently practices in Alpharetta, GA where she focuses on Prosthodonitcs, Dental Sleep Medicine and TMJ Therapy. Dr. Zandstra is a member of the Georgia Dental Association, Alpha Omega Dental Fraternity, the Seattle Study Club of Atlanta and is a volunteer at the Ben Massell Clinic. In 2009, she began work towards her Diplomate in Dental Sleep Medicine. Dr. Zandstra has additional focused training in geriatric patient care and often provides staff education for area nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Contact Dr. Zandstra if you would like additional information regarding her experience working with consultants.
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