How do you even know if the systems in your office are working or not? Of course, you are getting through each day with the systems you have in place, so they are working right? Is your office running like a 2021 Ferrari roaring through each day or do you feel that you are always on the side of the road waiting for CAA?
You can think that you have good systems in place but most often with human nature they get watered down due to staff changes or inadvertent modifications. If your practice has grown in the last three years, then your current systems likely need to change as well.
The most common excuse for keeping bad systems in a dental office include:
- It will take too much time to organize new systems and who knows if they will even work in our office. Our office is unique in its needs. New systems don’t occur overnight, you can’t just expect to blink, and they will be successful. Yes, each dental office is unique, and the systems can be modified to suit their needs. Having a professional help you with implementing new systems and accountability is always your best choice. Having an employee bring in a system that worked at another office may actually provide you with a modified system that won’t have the full impact you are looking for.
- There won’t be a return on investment if I go ahead with changes. Depending on the reasons you are feeling that your systems aren’t working, whether, it is a decrease or stagnation of production or patient dissatisfaction, a good coach will provide a compliant team with a return on investment by being able to provide customized systems that will increase efficiency and production as well as, improving team satisfaction which will decrease staff changeover.
- Been there, done that. We tried fixing systems before and it just didn’t work, we are in the same place now as we were before. This is commonly heard, but due to staff turnover, practices growing, technology changing, systems don’t always hold up and should be reviewed and changed every three years or so. Also, there needs to be accountability put in place to ensure that new systems are working and providing you with outstanding results.
- Our team doesn’t like change and with staffing so difficult right now I can’t afford to lose anyone. Staying with status quo is sometimes easier than making change but you can’t expect different results if you don’t have change. Blaming the pandemic, blaming the weather or blaming any other outside office reason doesn’t hold up after a very short time. Looking within your practice is where the change needs to happen and there can be some uncomfortable feelings but keeping everything the same shouldn’t be an option.
Weaknesses in your office systems could be detected by patient complaints, hygiene open time, dentist open time or stagnating production. If you are finding these “leaks” in your office systems be sure to connect with me and I will be happy to help detect and fix any issues you may be having.
