Supplement to Section 4: Organizational Team Structure
Posted January 1, 2016 by David Hough, Principal, Dentistry Simplified
Perhaps the greatest difference between successful practices and struggling ones is that successful practices have a dental owner fully engaged in the practice facets that affect performance.
Active business leadership is required of all practice owners in order to thrive in today’s competitive environment.
Most dental owners have not had the business experience to know instinctively how to lead. Leadership starts with the desire to be better each day and to imbibe all your team members with that same inner goal.
Without someone at the helm showing direction, enthusiasm and goal setting, your workforce is not really a team. A team needs coordinated direction, meetings, goals, resources and communication. It needs the dental owner to lead.
Lead by example—personally display and exhibit the qualities you would want in a team member. If you don’t know how to perform some practice management role, learn. Better yet, learn with your team. They will respect and follow someone who is giving the effort.
You may have to bring in outside professionals in many cases. That’s okay. Even big business hires advisors and consultants. Learn from them.
Resources such as Dentistry Simplified were developed to help give dental owners a structure for management and leadership. The entire Dentistry Simplified program can be used as a course curriculum and provide an outline to success. Whatever you do, you must continue to learn and grow in the area of leadership and practice management. Your dental training got you to the arena—your business acumen will make it pay off.
For more on leadership, refer to Section 4: Organizational Team Structure, “Why a Dental Owner Must Become a Team Leader.”