Buying back your time: A dentist’s guide to wealth creation - Part 3

By Dr Jesse Green

When we think of currency, we tend to immediately think of money, finances, capital and our business. But really, there are three major currencies we hope to generate as practice owners; time, money and purpose.

Money can be found in many different places and show up in different ways. Time, on the other hand, is the only resource that isn’t renewable. It cannot be replenished as once it’s gone, it’s gone. It’s also one of our most valuable assets and a great equaliser and it’s something most dental practice owners are often complaining about not having enough of...

A lot of dentists are type A perfectionists who are in the habit of giving away a lot of their time. They have a team to manage and patients to treat and find themselves caught in the middle overworked and with little time for themselves or to focus on the key areas of their business.

Needless to say, that’s not what you got into practice ownership for.

You don’t want to grow to resent your practice and the people around you for gobbling up your time - you want your time to be intentional, given willingly and used effectively. You also need to be the leader of a pack that does its job well while you do what you love to do - dentistry.

In short, you want to take control of your business so you can also have a life.

With that in mind, I wanted to share with you some reflections on how to get back more of your time - or at least spend it where you should to get the most out of your efforts and keep the stress of running a practice under control.

As a dental practice owner, you often find yourself wearing different hats and switching between roles very quickly. From dentist to receptionist to accountant to marketer, it tends to fall on your shoulders. However, just because we can do everything, doesn’t mean we should.

When you overburden yourself with work that your team members should be taking care of, your routine becomes overwhelming and you have no time to run the actual business and also treat your patients. The appointments keep piling up while you tend to emergencies and postponements disturb your schedule. Eventually, you will need to work longer hours and will ultimately put yourself under a lot of stress.

So, what’s the most effective and efficient way out? Delegate.

Remember when you recruited team members and were looking forward to offloading tasks from your plate? Now’s the time to actually delegate tasks and responsibilities to the team you have built with a lot of time, effort and expense.

Instead of doing it all on your own, trust your team and let them share the load. By leading your team and saving yourself precious time, it allows them to do the heavy-lifting for your business and you can then focus on your core expertise and skills.

Be an effective leader, delegate responsibilities and tasks and buy back time

When your employees are disengaged and unmotivated, or when you take ownership of your dental practice more than you should, you’ll always find yourself answering questions, filling up your entire day with small tasks, leaving you overworked, unproductive and stressed.

You’ll sit down at the end of the day and wonder why you haven’t got any time left for your goals and priorities, much less to spend time with yourself and working “on” your business...

You might have your processes, tools and even your workplace culture to blame for all this, but it all boils down to a lack of effective leadership. As a leader, you need to make your team feel like you are one of them. Inspire your team not only to perform well in their jobs but also to find purpose within the roles they’re performing.

When everyone realises their responsibility, you’ll save more time and energy for what you love to do and what needs your attention the most. Besides, you’re going to be a much better practice owner, dentist, leader, parent, partner and friend when you can give each person your attention and have the energy to recuperate between responsibilities.

Now, the question is how exactly are you going to do that? Here are a few things you need to do to see that happen.

Partner with your team

When you partner with your team, they’ll have an undeniable urge to work harder. It’s human nature - many people thrive when they feel they are trusted and needed to make success happen.

Leaders will also benefit by showing their team that they are one of the pack and are actually willing to trust and work alongside them. It makes employees feel comfortable and they in turn step up to give their best to their leader and their team.

Delegate tasks

By delegating tasks to your staff, you’ll be giving them more responsibility which many employees thrive on. Remember, however, that delegation starts with getting over our own ego.

When our business is our brainchild, it can be hard to let go of the feeling that we know best.

We have this idea that we know our own business so intimately, that no one else can match our skill sets.

Subconsciously, we might not be making the space for our employees to succeed.

When they stumble and trip and make mistakes, it gives us the excuse to take back the reins. And then, we’re back where we started, wearing all the hats and with no time.

Delegating tasks lets you focus on things that can make your practice more profitable. Have your team members deliver on what you have hired them for and keep your focus on dentistry - something that you’re meant to do.

You’ll save your own precious time and you can make the most of it by directly helping your patients and growing your business.

Train your employees

Successful delegation of tasks is only possible when you have trained your employees for their roles. You may have hired the best people for the job, but it may take a little on-the-job training for them to perform to their potential, so it’s important to realise that mistakes are learning opportunities.

You have employed these people, so trust them to grow your business with you.

Giving our employees the space to fail empowers them to be 100% accountable for their own work - which ultimately frees up time for you. Now you have a piece of the business you no longer have to worry about.

When you’re delegating, there are a few things to consider such as attitude, existing skill set, workload and whether they’re up to the task. When every aspect is taken care of, it will lead to successful delegation and you can expect the desired results.

Play to your employees’ strengths and skills

Again, you have to choose the right person for the job. You might instinctively know who the right person is, or you might need to consult other team members and ask around. Don’t be afraid to ask your team “Who would like to take the role? Who wants to level up on their responsibilities? Do you have the capacity to take this on right now?”

And while failure is just part of the game, you do want to ensure you aren’t actually setting people up to fail. Give them what they are capable of and play to their strengths and skills so that you don’t have to intervene or bother all the time so that things may not get messed up.

After all, your ultimate goal is to buy your time back.

Define the desired outcome

As a leader and the owner of your dental practice, you know how certain tasks need to be done and what should be the desired outcome. So, when you delegate tasks, communicate to your employees what needs to be done, by when and WHY. Take the extra ten minutes to explain the strategy and context around the task, explain what it will look like when done right and how this benefits the practice in the big picture.

Try not to helicopter and hover over the person taking on the task, but do have someone on hand should that person need to clarify or ask questions - whether it’s yourself or someone else.

It will give them the confidence and the inspiration to give their best and achieve the desired outcome.

Be patient and be prepared to give guidance

Even when you have the right person on the job and have given them the necessary training to perform delegated tasks, errors are inevitable. As a leader, you need to stay patient when that happens and should provide guidance on where things went wrong and how they should go about it in the future.

For instance, if your employee failed to achieve their target for accounts receivable where your practice does not use outside patient financing much, you may need to innovate and build the financing option into case presentations to operate more efficiently.

Being patient and sharing your experience with your team members gives them the confidence to start all over again and get you the outcome you had previously defined for the given task or deliver on new milestones.

Deliver constructive feedback so your staff learn and take more on

Give feedback to your team where needed and help them improve. Your constructive feedback will not only help your staff learn, but they’ll be ever-ready to take more on.

As a result, you’ll free up more of your time to focus on other important things.

Owning and running a practice is no small task - you have many responsibilities on your mind as well as your patient load, team’s welfare, financial responsibilities, strategic decision making... and this is all on top of your own personal issues like family, health, home, etc.

When we get burnt out, we feel less fulfilled with our choices and end up working twice as hard for less satisfaction and financial reward. Obviously, this isn’t ideal and something needs to be done about it. The more burnt out, overwhelmed and fatigued you are - the less effective you work.

Practice ownership is a marathon, not a sprint. You need to pace yourself with a sustainable schedule, look after your mind and body and make the process enjoyable. And that’s only possible when you delegate tasks and lead effectively.

About the author

Dr Jesse Green is the founder of the Practice Max mastermind, the host of The Savvy Dentist Podcast - Australia’s #1 Dental podcast and the author of the Amazon Bestseller “Retention! How to Plug the #1 Profit Leak in Your Dental Practice”. Delegating and being an effective leader are not the skills taught at a dental school. To become the very best leader for your team and get more time and more freedom in your business, join us at the Practice Max Mastermind by visiting https://savvydentist.com/practice-max