Would You Kill the Practice?
You’ve been out of your office for 5 weeks recuperating from a heart attack and on your first day back……near the middle of the day, you walk into the private office that you shared with your brother, an orthodontist, and an oral surgeon, to see two notes laid prominently in the middle of your desk. Mind you, this was your very first day back after surviving a heart attack and being out of the office for five weeks…and you requested your staff “lay low” on the administrative hassles for the first week or two so you could gain your bearings back in the practice.
One note said,
“Are we going to get our uniform allowance today?”
and the other said,
“When do we get our bonus checks?”
How would you handle this?
“Gimmy somethin new”
A dental friend of mine was meeting with a group of dentists who gather monthly to “lament” the current state of their practice slow-downs. Being a client of mine, he offered up some ideas as to how to “pick themselves up out of the doldrums”. In a common “I’m a smart dentist” reply they said: “hey those ideas are worthless…they don’t work…I tried them……..gimmy something new!
This is a multiple choice question. What do you think the answer might be? The reason these dentists are in practices that are tapering off is because……
a) These dentists are stuck, never to get out of their rut?
b) These dentists are not as smart as they think they are?
c) They are living in “stinking thinking?
d) They are lazy?
e) These dentists are looking for the “magic pill” that doesn’t exist, they know it doesn’t exist, yet they still want the pill?
f) They need to look in the mirror and know it all begins with them?
g) Each one might do well to ask for help…even the Lone Ranger had Tonto?
Answer: a-b-g; c-d-e-; b-d-f; All of the above
A Solution to Being on the Gerbil Wheel
Recently I made a post describing one of the ways to tell if your practice is killing you: “You find yourself on a weeklong vacation, it takes three to four days to unwind. You feel like a new person for one or two days, then the tension builds again, welling up uncontrollably, tightening every muscle. Sunday nights are the worst.”
I received a BRILLIANT reply from Dr. Dan: “Take a two week vacation like I do so you can unwind. The best thing about a two week vacation is the 2nd Monday.”
I can do it all on my own!
Who are you kidding? There seems to be something with we dentists that we believe we are so smart or so wise or so talented that we can do all the things needed to be successful…and we can do it without any help or guidance. I know you are probably saying this Dental Coach is talking to the wrong guy/gal…I am good at most stuff. While that may be so, notice the operative word “most”. Most implies there are some things you (we) may not be so good at. Let me ask you these questions to determine if you are good at all things:
- What kind of business training have you had around: RIGHT HIRING; setting up your accounting system; HR issues; reading a diagnostic financial statement; when is the best time, if at all, to bring in an associate; how to set fees; differentiate marketing from advertising; cash flow forecasting; industry benchmarks for P&L line items; appropriate community involvement; hiring family; comprehensive financial planning; how to use BBI (behavior based inquiry) to your hiring, employee relations, and patient case presentations; IT systems; and the list goes on.
- How is your life going…family dynamics; spousal or significant other (Al & Tipper Gore after 40 years?); estate planning; raising kids; personal spirituality; home ownership; how much personal debt is appropriate for you; vacations…enough of them?
What would it mean if you had some support with any number of these issues…if, of course you didn’t have all the answers from the beginning? I thought I was so smart. Really I was stupid. The result of this “I can do it all on my own thinking”…a heart attack at 41. I remind you that even the Lone Ranger had Tonto.
How Does A Gerbil Get Off The Wheel?
How does a gerbil get off the wheel? He stops what he is doing.
Work-related stress is epidemic in America. A 2004 survey by the American Psychological Association tells us that two-thirds of Americans say they are likely to seek help for stress and 54 percent of Americans are concerned about the level of stress in their everyday lives.
When I was a young dentist it was a constant for me, too. I was growing a large practice, producing in the top 5 percent of dental practices nationally, and creating a reputation for being a strong dental businessman. I was always working, doing everything I could to grow the practice. My argument was, “Hey, I have to keep working like a mule. I have to do whatever it takes to protect and support my family. What that means is work more, work harder, work, work, work.”
I need to share with you…this didn’t work well. I needed to stop what I was doing. How familiar does this sound for you?
What’s Your Book About?
Now that the word is out that I have a book soon to be published, I get this question a lot: “What’s your book about?” Here’s what it’s about…and I’m sticking to the story. “How a young dentist and business man started his practice, made just about every mistake possible, and survived a life-changing, stress-induced heart attack. His experience convinced him to develop and implement steps that enabled him to take back control of his practice (and his life) rather than the practice controlling him. The book details his journey.”
Core Values
In my upcoming book, Killing the Practice Before It Kills You: How Throwing Out My Business Model Saved My Life, I raise the issue about the importance of developing your own personal and business Core Values. These values then become the precursor to developing your vision.
1. A core value is something I have chosen freely and with consideration for the consequences of my choice.
2. A core value is something I prize greatly and has a positive influence on my life.
3. A core value is something I want to publicly affirm.
4. A core value is something I am willing to act on.
5. A core value is something I would repeat……if given the circumstances, I would respond in the same way.
How has operating your practice guided by your core values made a difference?
More Potential Signs that Your Practice May Be Killing You
Yesterday I posted several of the “tell-tale” signs that your practice is overwhelming you. Here are a few more:
- Your energy level begins to fade, and you make excuses when you know you have not been taking care of yourself. You pass it off as something else.
- You are too busy to play those “goofy” games with your kids, who are so hungry for your attention.
- You read the newspaper or business journals when your spouse is talking to you because you have so much to catch up on. Then you fall asleep after twenty minutes, because you needed “just a little nap.”
- On a weeklong vacation, it takes three to four days to unwind. You feel like a new person for one or two days, then the tension builds again, welling up uncontrollably, tightening every muscle. Sunday nights are the worst.
- If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. Only you can do it, because it takes too much time to explain and delegate a task to another person.
- You hear this voice in your head: “I don’t need anyone else. I’m smart and can do it all on my own.”
If you checked off a single one consider this a “red flag”. Don’t pass it off as inconsequential. The accumulation of these signs slowly and insidiously over time can be deadly.
How many of these resonated with you?
Could Your Practice Be Killing You?
I was asked last week by a dentist how I knew my practice was killing me. I shared with him a few potential indicators. He thought I should share on my blog as several resonated with him. Have any of these shown up for you?
- You find it difficult to get a good night’s sleep because you are thinking or worrying about the business.
- Your attention is on home when you are at work and on work when you are at home.
- You tell your spouse they are number one in your life when silently you are more focused on the success of your business. After all, it’s who you are!
- You act happy and content on the outside. In reality, your insides are churning and you never feel in control.
More Seat-of-the Pants Dental Practice Stuff
As a dental student, business and practice management instruction was absent from our training. Oh, there were one or two classes that were labeled “practice management,” but they were of little value and had no connection to the real world. We were coming out of dental school thinking we knew so much. The dental training was exhaustive and demanding, yet from a business perspective, I was an “unconscious incompetent” and didn’t know it.
I entered my professional life wondering how I would be able to pay back my school loans, start a practice, purchase equipment, and have money left over to repair my beater car. Like a sightless person in a strange city, I set out. My management style could best be termed “seat of my pants.”