Can you feel it? There is a palpable sense of energy in dental offices currently as the teams are receiving their vaccines, you can see their shoulders beginning to relax. You can feel that we are entering into a period of growth and transformation that will bring lots of opportunities and perhaps some new challenges as well.
It is now the perfect time for you to take this energy and propel your practice forward by deciding how you want to thrive during this time of positive change. To achieve big goals, you need to have:
- A clear vision of where your practice is going. Do you have specific goals for your practice, or do you just cross your fingers every month and hope for the best? If you don’t have a clear idea of where you are going, then the message your give your team will reflect that. Team need clarity to move forward. Have goals that team can identify with and work towards. Ensure that you are communicating goals that are achievable in a manageable time period for your team.
- Now that your team is feeling less stressed about their own health you want to ensure that the growth systems that you had in place prior to the pandemic are all working for your team. An example of this would be, to look at your treatment planning, are you having the same level of acceptance as prior to the pandemic? Which ever way you are finding it, figure out what the difference is and make your changes accordingly. If you feel that it could be better and don’t know how to achieve this, I am always happy to provide you with some suggestions.
- To focus on your goals, design a set of small steps to achieve the end result. Ensure that your team understand the steps and have the right tools and instruction to achieve the small steps. It may be an increase of new patients that you have as a goal. You can increase your social media advertising with an outside media company but about 70% of your new patients will still come from internal referrals. Ensure that you review with your team the methods that have worked in the past for your practice and have all referral information entered in computer so that a report can be run to measure your results.
- Put methods in place that will provide accountability for you and your team. As the leader it is hard to hold yourselves accountable sometimes and when team feel that you aren’t being accountable, their commitment wavers as well. Your office will run as well as the example you set.
If you don’t feel the crackle of energy that I am talking about with your team, then you need to explore deeper and find out why they aren’t feeling cause for hope. If your team have fallen into a toxic rut, you will have to change that very quickly. It may be as simple as checking a bad attitude at the door, planning a socially distant spring hike for the team or it may need a deeper dive into your organizational health.
If we look at history, we know that after a large-scale pandemic like we are living through right now, there is always a period of tremendous growth. This will apply to all areas of your lives, make sure that you and your team are ready for the growth, changes and perhaps challenges that will come with it. Stay motivated, focused and follow the roadmap that you have developed.
