What if you are fixing the wrong things?

05 Jun What if you are fixing the wrong things?

“The thing about dentists is that they like to fix things, which is fine if they are fixing the right thing, but what is the right thing?”

That was the first of two main takeaways for many practice owners at last month’s Dentinal Tubules’ Thrive Day’, and it provided insight into what needs to matter the most right now if you are a practice owner: that the relentless pursuit of ‘more’ is contributing towards dental practice owners fixing the ‘wrong thing.’ It’s easy to move the needle on the dial in the short term, including making a profit, but how a business achieves its results is essential. Your results will be short-lived if they expend the things that should come first and matter most, such as trust, loyalty, team engagement, talent, and goodwill.

If you are in the habit of fixing things first, as many dental practice owners are, then the first thing you fix will often be the wrong thing, particularly when we move at pace, technologies change, and we become drawn to the next quick fix. Let’s take something as simple as getting Google reviews. The race to get more Google reviews can easily become a distraction from creating the necessary culture of caring for patients so that they feel motivated to offer their positive feedback. The same is happening right now with AI. It’s very exciting to have quick and efficient ways to record pages of patient notes, but isn’t it better for the same technology to be recording notes about patients who trust you in the first place? 

The second takeaway is that it’s more intuitive, sustainable, and credible for a leader to do the right things in the correct order. If you lead a culture of doing better, not just chasing more, you will get the results we all associate with achieving more whilst maintaining the movement of the needle on the dial. Let’s look at how this might impact your dental practice by either pursuing more or choosing to do better things:

• Marketing. More and increasingly desperate ways to pay for brokered ‘leads’ or better ways to build trust and to attract and retain loyal and motivated patients?
• Patient communication. More and more fanciful ways of note-taking and protecting your privileged license to carry out clinical procedures or better ways of explaining things in ways that patients want to hear, validating consent and trusting that you are not chasing the money? 
• Telephones. More AI and ways to replace human contact, or better ways of resourcing, developing and motivating real people to use technologies to help patients feel valued and understood?
• Profit and cash flow. More and more spreadsheets, KPIs, and measures, or being comfortable with what gets charged and what patients value?
• Working together. More meetings, telling people what to do, protocols and policies, or a better culture that encourages conversation, healthy debate, and agreed-upon outcomes?  
• Recruitment. More ways of writing job adverts and promotions, or is it better to have such a reputation locally that the CVs come to you?
• Growth. More tick-box CPD and training that exists in a vacuum, or better relationships where we challenge, coach and guide everyone to see their contribution, worth, and value to your business.

Businesses have always previously suffered by fixing the wrong thing, chasing more, or racing towards quick wins that lead to undesirable consequences. Doing things better and doing better things is the antidote.