Running a dental practice is like throwing a dozen balls in the air and then try to catch them all at the same time! You not only have to build and maintain a reputation as a competent dentist, you also need to be a good mediator, communicator, marketer, entrepreneur, accountant and above all a great leader! You are aware of your roles and expectations when you plan to get into the business side of things. But it can become pretty hectic, pretty fast. And the best thing you can do for yourself and for your business’s growth, is get things in order before they take over your life and limit your growth potential.
And that is exactly what we will be covering today. How to delegate work to your team members, and seek assistance in certain aspects of your work so that you can truly make your business grow to its true potential without overburdening yourself!
Get a Business Manager
This is one of the biggest decisions that you will need to make when scaling your practice. There are no benchmarks for when is the right time to hire a business manager. You will need to figure that one out all on your own. But ideally, when you plan to scale and grow your business, then it is about time to give away some of the important responsibilities to someone more suited for the job so you can focus on the bigger picture.
Undoubtedly, hiring a business manager is a major step; it just makes your business entity all the more real.
But a major concern is if you can even afford one. And the best way to determine that is to sit down and do your calculations. Primarily, you need to have defined goals for the future that make the business manager worth the investment.
- What milestones and objectives will they need to meet in order to be of value?
- What does a realistic return on your investment in this role look like to you?
- How can they meet those results? What are the list of responsibilities they will need to undertake in order to successfully reach those milestones?
- How can you be assistive?
- What training will they require to efficiently do the job?
These are just some of the many concerns you need to address before deciding to hire someone.
Your business manager is like your Dental Assistant, they should be an extension of your values and beliefs, and be able to simply share your workload with you. A good way to understand each other is to work like hand and glove for the initial two or three months. Once you hire someone, don’t expect them to give you a return on your investment the next day!
Instead, spend some time to help the business manager understand how you like things done; be clear about the responsibilities they need to undertake and the goals they need to help you achieve. Also spend time to understand their goals and long term plans. Where do they see themselves in the future of this practice? What can you do to help them achieve these? You will continuously need to lift each other up for a mutually beneficial and healthy work relationship.
Put A Great Team Together!
Your team is your internal customer. They are the ones that you need to look out for and they in turn will look out for your patients! Let’s face it, it is your team that is dealing with your patients; so if the team isn’t happy, the patient isn’t happy. By taking care of their needs and demands, you can be rest assured that your patients will receive above par service every time! There is a reason why the movers and shakers of the business world focus on team building and creating enviable work environments for them.
But how do I create that great team?
Following are a few tips and tactics to help you build and maintain a goal-oriented and efficient team:
- Screen the Team Members That You Hire: Whether you are looking for someone to work as your receptionist or your business manager, you need to make sure you do thorough interviews to find the right fit. A suitable candidate isn’t one with the right credentials or experience, but rather someone who will be a good fit for your clinic’s culture. You want someone who resonates with your values and will be assistive in reaching your goals.
- Hold Them Accountable: Each team member should have clearly defined roles which they should be accountable for. Objective Key Results (OKR) or Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are a great way of achieving that.
- Hold On to The Good Ones: Don’t let lack of communication or misunderstanding cost you a competent professional. If there are concerns, it is wiser, and profitable in the long run to heed to those grievances and resolve these problems than to find a new fit. Make reducing employee turnover a key objective for your business’s long term plans.
- Make Decisions Logically, Not Emotionally: Just because you don’t see eye to eye with someone else’s ideas and methods doesn’t mean that they are wrong. One of the biggest mistake practice owners, or business owners in general, make is that they sometimes make hasty, emotional decisions. Take time to deliberate and think objectively before making decisions. Perhaps there has been some miscommunication or misunderstanding that could easily be resolved. Try to understand the grievances and expectations of your team members before jumping the gun and ending up making costly decisions for yourself and your business!
Work To Your Potential
Success is subjective for everyone. It is important to know what YOUR true goals are rather than trying to follow a path followed by others in the same field. Just because someone else has five practice locations doesn’t mean your goals should be to own seven! Perhaps it would be more profitable or suitable for you to invest the same amount of money in expanding your current two practices! Use yourself as a success scale rather than others. Build a work and life balance that suits your objectives, personal and family goals.
The truth is, your growth potential directly correlates with your personal potential, your team member’s potential and your ability to designate work effectively across your team. And if it means hiring another pair of hands and a brain to help you achieve that, then by all means take the leap!
P.S. Whenever you’re ready …. here are 4 ways I can help you grow your dental practice:
1. Grab a free chapter from my book “Retention – How to Plug the #1 Profit Leak in Your Dental Practice”
The book is the definitive guide to patient retention and how to use internal marketing to grow your practice – Click Here
2. Join the Savvy Dentist community and connect with dentists who are scaling their practice too
It’s our Facebook group where clever dentists learn to become commercially smart so that they have more patients, more profit and less stress. – Click Here
3. Attend a Practice Max Intensive live event
Our 2 day immersive events provide access to the latest entrepreneurial thinking and actionable strategies to drive your practice forward. You’ll leave with a game plan to take your results to the next level. If you’d like to join us, just send me a message with the word “Event and I’ll get you all the details! – Click here
4. Work with me and my team privately
If you’d like to work directly with me and my team to take your profit from 6 figures to 7 figures …. just send me a message with the word “Private”… tell me a little about your practice and what you would like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details! – Click here
