When you are performing an exam on a patient, you have a checklist in your mind of key aspects to assess, diagnose and if needed, treatment plan. Why would you not do the same for your team? How well is your team supporting you and your practice? How well are you supporting them? Your team…
I work with dentists in and through every stage of their professional careers; the associate stage; the new business owner stage; the first-five-years stage; the finding-my-stride 5 to 10 year in stage; the am-I-ready-for-an-associate stage; the partner stage; the ten-years-left-exit-strategy stage; the ready to sell stage, etc.. The transition from one stage to the next…
Do values and principles come at a price? At what point do you make the decision to compromise them for financial reasons? Of late, corporate dentistry has been courting a number of sole proprietor dentists with whom I have worked for a very long time. Every one of their situations and circumstances is different; age,…
MIRED or MOTIVATED? Recognize behaviour that undermines morale in the dental practice. When you face a challenge, does your behaviour help or hinder you? We all fall into old patterns of learned behaviour when the going gets rough. Whatever the reason is that we have established these default behaviours, at some point in our…
Let Go Or Be Dragged. These words from a Zen proverb say it all. And they are especially true when it comes to keeping staff that are either disruptive or not performing. Jim Collins tells us in Good to Great that we need to have the right people on our bus – and that we…
Have you ever found yourself talking to your dental assistant over a patient who may have a rubber dam or bite block in their mouth and can’t be part of the conversation? Do you forget that there is a living, awake human being under that dental bib? It’s easy to do. Have you ever walked…
When does a good thing begin to feel like too much of a good thing? When the perfect employee begins to feel a little too perfect, how do you handle the doubts with sabotaging yourself? What is the tipping point for trust? So often, I hear from my clients about how lucky they feel to…