I admit that I’m a statistics junkie. I also bow to the fact that you can prove anything with statistics, and that can sometimes be bad. The reason I tend to pull up studies that eventually use statistics to define a problem is that most of us need not only social proof, but a down and dirty study that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that we need to take a hard look at the numbers, our own situation, and decide to act or suffer the consequences of procrastination and denial.
Since I spend a lot of time speaking with dentists as well as taking a deep dive into their numbers and results, I think there is a phantom specter that most dentist don’t recognize as a fundamental cause of much of their stress.
This commonality in almost every practice I see isn’t the real problem, but a multiplier of any problem. While a “fire” burns hot, it grows and spreads because of the materials it is consuming. Wood and paper burn easily, but gasoline acts as an accelerant and causes the fire to rage. This commonality in practices is that accelerant that multiplies what might normally be a simple problem. The scary part is that the owners of dental practices are almost totally unaware of this factor. They hire coaches, fire employees, hire more, fail to train properly, alter systems, chase numbers they don’t understand, and beat their head against the wall to finally feel like running a dental practice is impossible to master.
This common flaw is “engagement”. For our purposes, it is more accurate to say the lack of engagement. In the latest research, from a November 2023 Gallup poll, employee engagement trends show only 33% of U.S. employees are engaged, and 17% are actively disengaged. Of that 67% that were not engaged, a large percentage actively sabotaged their employers and job results. You and I need and want engagement. Even more, we should strive for commitment from each of our team members. Compliance to a bunch of rules and regulations does not a make a team. Too many of us just have a bunch of people who work in the same office, and this is a far cry from actually have any kind of “team”. To quote the Gallup report: “The importance of having an engaged workforce was never more urgent. Organizations with high employee engagement are more resilient and able to weather the many challenges that came with a pandemic, an economic collapse, and societal unrest.”
So, what is to be done? Why are we blind to this common flaw in leadership and teams? Are we so busy putting out fires that we fail to understand what caused them in the first place?
A common complaint I hear from doctors is that they are so busy and burned out. They just can’t seem to find the time to work on anything other than the patient right in front of them. Leadership is a familiar word, but a distant task that never seems to get started. I, for one, tend to think that too many of us get our news from some dental social media site, our financial advice from that classmate that is making billions in Bitcoin but couldn’t chew gum and walk in dental school, and our legal and accounting advice from TV news. If we were to categorize our priorities on the journey to a great dental practice, leadership would be job one, and engagement would be the metric that proved our leadership effectiveness. Disengagement, poor results, constant stress, falling short and becoming average in our results, and staff turnover only support a lack of effectiveness in leadership. Any change has to begin with us, the doctor owners. So, tip up the mirror and take a hard look.
Leaders create the conditions where people choose to commit to new actions. People fail because they give up on what they want most, so they can get what they want now.
I was reading a blog by Steve Graves where he goes into details about three kinks of leaders. While his article was about CEO’s and corporate business, allow me to use his idea and “dentasize it”. While there are thousands of ways to classify leaders, their qualities, and various organizational needs, Graves noticed three distinct kinds of leaders. I will use his titles but create a dental example for each.
The three common leaders are: launch-the-business leader, run-the-business leader, and change-the-business leader.
Launch-the-business leader. You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room, but it helps if you have strived, have a mentor, never give up, and feel driven to succeed. This group of leaders have learned a lot of lessons and understand that anything worth doing is up hill. They approach a challenge by benchmarking those who have gone before. They are lifetime learners. Their attitude is that they can overcome any obstacle. These are the group that have competence and confidence: Twin traits of the winners in life. Launching a new business as opposed to buying an existing business, or just working as an employee, means putting it all on the line with a dedication to a full court press for as long as it takes.
Run-the-business leader. Because each of these are leaders, you can accept the fact that they have all mastered communication and people skills. Their minds and culture run on commitment from their team and build on their vision for the future. It’s never a given. They are planners and doers. At times they come in second place, but they always get back up when they fall short. Run-the-business leaders may have made it past a practice purchase or start up and are reaching their stride. Many obstacles have been overcome, but this group goes from doing to mastering their businesses. They don’t coast. They set goals, knock them down and set new ones. Their teams are committed to the vision of the doctor. While being the leader, this doctor partners with his/her team to constantly adapt to the new dental challenges that continue to come along. They don’t ever arrive at a point where “OK” is good enough. These are not the average doctors, teams, or practices. They are driven by a vision of more, and better. They covet the relationship they have with their patients and strive to continually improve their clinical and practice results.
Change-the-business leader. This may be the leader I like most. They have struggled and fallen short. Like far too few of us, they realize that there is more to practice success and that what got them to where they are won’t carry them to the next level. These doctors are hungry and ready to do whatever it takes to alter the course and results of where they currently are. They realize that everything they have been doing is precisely designed to give the results they are getting, and they are ready for a change. They understand that there is nothing they are doing that shouldn’t be changed if they want to improve where they are. It is at this point, where you know there has to be a better way. You are up for the journey and ready to lose your excuses and find your results. While exciting, these doctors understand that there will be difficult decisions to be made. Some team members won’t make the trip. Everyone that stays in the practice needs to commit to the journey, knowing that there will be missteps and hazards they will have to cross. Maybe for the first time, each team member decides to be fully engaged in the process of change. They see the future and are willing to step up and accept the challenge. The leader steps up and understands that the buck stops with them and they, too, accept the challenge. The whole group decides to have a staff ownership mentality as they forge a new future for their practice.
“The reason some people do not recognize opportunity when they meet it is because it usually comes disguised as hard work.” Unknown
Children think of something being too hard because they want instant gratification. This might be described as “seeing and doing” entitlement. The reality is that if you want to do something well it takes time, practice, failure, adapting, trying again until you get it right. Once you do it, you still have to perfect it. It is difficult at first; it is hard; it isn’t done perfectly; but you persevered, and you did it. Now the hard part is becoming a master at it. This is where the very doing looks effortless and the accomplishment of it seems so natural and easy. Kind of the harder I work, the luckier I get.
Young graduates remind me of my neighbor whose family was pretty well off. He had the only real regulation football in the neighborhood. He always got picked first because without him there wouldn’t be a ball to play with. When he got hit, missed a block, or dropped the ball, he got frustrated. The frustration led to more failures, and we could almost count on him giving up at some point and taking his football and leaving. Kind of a punishment to the rest of us for his shortcomings.
Life is fair in that it rewards excellence, persistence, truth, honesty and hard work. It’s those people that think life owes them something that creates a problem. Anything worthwhile is always uphill and difficult. It is from striving, failing, getting back up, trying again, altering your approach, but never giving up that will fine tune your life and your success. A river stone is smooth because the current pushes against the rock and the small grains of sand brush and batter it for years, eventually creating a stone that is polished and smooth. Why should you ever think that your journey should be easier than a rocks journey? It takes time to learn.
We always start as unconsciously unskilled, move on to being consciously unskilled, and finally come to being consciously skilled. Many stop here and never progress. Your journey should progress one step further, to being unconsciously skilled. You have studied beyond a degree. You tried, strived, and failed only to get back up and try again. The unconsciously skilled have honed their habits and culture to accept the challenge of an up-hill battle. Never giving up. Never sitting down. Never accepting just “OK” or average performance. They are life-long students that constantly hone their skills and forge their practice in the fires of change and challenge. These few tend to make decisions quickly, observe their results, and adapt by accepting change as a constant. They have created balance in family, life, and work, with the emphasis on excellence in each. I know you want this. I know you can do this. I hope that you will begin the journey now.
Michael Abernathy DDS
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