Why dentistry is the problem

07 Oct Why dentistry is the problem

What makes you successful as a dentist will hold you back as a leader.

Procedures, protocols, checking on people, and monitoring activities are often valid and necessary in a regulated and clinical environment, as they help prevent mistakes. However, when that culture permeates the entire business, the fear of getting it wrong, along with the constant narrative about avoiding mistakes, stifles creativity, and it is exhausting.

Whilst you can mostly legislate your way out of making mistakes, you cannot legislate for kindness, empathy, creativity and care. These things require people to think and to act upon the subtle nuances that occur between human beings. If you do your dentistry to a high standard, then you can imagine that it matters to your patients. However, what they will mostly remember is how you made them feel.

Many successful leaders will therefore tell you that one of the biggest challenges we face right now is how to embrace the current generation entering the workplace and create a culture of thinkers who allow us to carefully balance ticking all of the necessary regulatory boxes with a team that interprets your ideas and leadership into voluntary, virtuous behaviours with your patients. One of the simplest ways to do this is for a group to review successful decisions made by team members, explore why those decisions were made, and how they align with your business objectives. Learning in this manner as a group works because people tend to remember stories more effectively than protocols and procedures.

Our Club Connect leadership and business development group has also been working on this, collaborating with their dental teams to provide the necessary insight and direction. Club Connect is full, and a waiting list is in place. However, because so many practice owners have been asking, we will be sharing a lot of our learnings at the ‘Tubules en Tournee’ event later this week, as well as in future blog posts, on social media, and at future ‘Tubules’ events.

See you there.