Achieving Success in the Practice of Dentistry – Part Three

How can you expect your staff to support you in your mission if it has not been clearly articulated to them? They are not mind readers. I find that what successful practices all have in common is a doctor who is a leader. That doesn’t mean that you have to be Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. You just need to be your own person and lead by example.

Successful doctors are aware of  performance numbers for their practice. They review day sheets at the end of every day. They are looking at collections and production and accounts receivables and numbers of new patients and where these new patients are coming from. These doctors  are pretty knowledgeable about their management software, and can print out reports when needed.  They usually have an accountant who understands dentistry and has other dental clients.  These successful doctors will request and review quarterly expense reports.  You would think that this is pretty basic stuff, but you would be surprised at how many docs are not paying attention to this, and, more importantly,  not sharing this valuable information with their staff.

Here are some other attributes of leadership that I see in the practices of successful doctors.

• Being on time. How about even being the first one in the office. every morning?  It may be a little much to be handing your staff  coffee on their way in–just the way they like it – but you get the idea.

• Being generous and caring to your patients. When staff see the doctor exhibiting this behavior, it is not that difficult for them to follow suit.

• Being involved with your community. People can’t measure or evaluate your clinical skills, but they can certainly assess and observe your willingness to volunteer your time to worthy causes. They then make the connection that if you are a good person, then you must be a good doctor. Presto – lots of new patients come your way. I cannot overemphasize the importance of this.

• Being concerned about your patients. Post treatment telephone calls to patients every evening is a must.

• Being willing to take the time to really listen to your patients. We all know  that listening is very different from hearing. Force yourself to build  a relationship and make that person feel – for the short period of time that you are interacting – that they are the most important person in the world and that they truly have your undivided attention. This kind of personalized attention by a doctor is what gets talked about and shared at cocktail parties.

What seems very apparent to me – and I see it a lot – is that some of the most successful doctors I know are just not all that impressed with their own importance. They are quite humble and low key. Clearly in life, some people are  natural leaders. But the foremost thing for you to try to do is just to be a good leader of your own team. This is definitely a requirement for success and an area where we can all improve.