Are You a Dental Practice Super Leader?

The economy is shaky again. The millennials are now your employees. Regulations are expanding their reach into your practice. How does a leader in today’s dental practice sift through to become a Super Leader.

Here are 7 focal points for Dental Super Leaders:

1. Personal self-mastery. To lead others you must first understand yourself with all of your strengths and your foibles. Leaders are not perfect, you are not perfect. Super leaders know how to use their strengths and minimize the impact of their weak areas. Study your own behavior style and the ways in which you can turn people off. Study emotional intelligence so that you understand how your moods and attitude can influence your team and your patients. (Suggested reading: Travis Bradberry’s Emotional Intelligence 2.0), Email me if you are interested in a profile: linda@drevenstedt.com.
2. Focus on the main purpose for the practice. Leaders need to keep the team headed in the direction of your mission and values. Be sure EVERYONE on the team knows where you are going and why. This brings in the millennials. They, above all other team members, want to know the big WHY. They are particularly interested in making a difference. Think Toms’ shoes and Zappos as examples.
3. Focus2 the team on what is important. Every team member needs a clear definition of their main job focus. Is the focus productivity above all? Is it to leave no chair empty? Is the focus superior customer service and TLC? Is every patient to be treated as King or Queen for a day? Is the focus to be super clean, neat and compliant with every OSHA and HIPAA rule and guideline? No lip service here. Is the focus “Show me the money” with little communication about financing options? Is the focus to work with every patient to best find the way they can afford the dental care? As a leader you define and decide with respect to each of these focus points.
4. Relationship management. Dentists may naturally be introverts and may even be shy. Dentists and office managers can be non-confrontational by avoiding conflict at all costs. They may be so concerned that they may hurt someone’s feelings that they don’t tell the truth either to a patient or to a staff member. Super leaders learn to tell the truth in a respectful, non-hurtful way.

Relationships are built on deposits, such as praise and sincere appreciation, as well as withdrawals such as honest feedback. That is what relationship management is all about. If you tell the new hire that they will have a review in 90 days, you as the leader must deliver on your promise. Super leaders keep their word.

If a patient has a problems, you tell the truth with care and concern and seek to hear their side. If a team member is underperforming, you step up to the plate and give them honest feedback. Withholding feedback only creates a green cloud between you and the other person. Every time you see them you are silently beating yourself up for not speaking up. Confront with courage and concern.

Conversely, being a micromanager and always finding fault does not build loyalty or a good relationship. You cannot do it all yourself, AND no one may care as much as you do. However, everyone needs to feel that they are contributing and can do the job without anyone breathing down their neck. Let go of being a workaholic or a perfectionist. The goal is excellence combined with compassion.

1. Know and teach the important practice statistics. No one person should be responsible for gathering all the practice data that needs to be evaluated by you, the leader. Each statistic that is important should be the responsibility of the person in a position to do something about that statistic. The collections percent is the responsibility of your collections person. The hygiene production is the responsibility of the individual hygienist. The broken appointments are the responsibility of the person who is scheduling. Managing by and with the critical practice numbers is important. Know what the numbers need to be and then delegate the task of keeping the number on target to the person responsible.
2. Extreme Customer service. The practices that perform the best overall are highly tuned to the patient experience and  the team experience. The team is the internal customer and the patient is the external customer. Managing both experiences is the mark of a Super Leader. Be willing to ask for and deal appropriately with feedback from both your team and from your patients. Conduct a Team Survey and a Patient Survey at least every other year. You can only make better those things that you know are bugging either the patients or your team. Make the survey confidential so you get the truth.
3. Study leadership. There are four leadership books published per day. There are podcasts, e-books, audio books, webinars, articles and regular books waiting for you. You only get better and stay a Super Leader with study of your craft.

Having a title and being an owner are not enough to make you a leader. You have to decide to become a Super Dental Leader.

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