In our last installment of the Leadership Corner Blog, “The Worst Advice I got in Dental School,” I introduced the three leaders in your practice: the Entrepreneur, the Boss, and the Clinician. If you are the practice owner and wondering who these three are in your practice, the answer is you. All three are you!
“Just do good dentistry and the rest will take care of itself.” We all heard this same advice in dental school. At the time it was comforting as it allowed me to continue to simply focus on attaining clinical skill. However, as I approach my 20 year dental school reunion, I can confidently say this is poor advice. While the intent comes from a good place, the application is certainly flawed.
There is a saying we often use here at ACT, “You can’t fix the place while it is flying.” Obviously, but we see dentists every day wondering why progress is so hard to achieve. Yet these same frustrated dentists are seeing patients around the clock, rarely setting aside time for team meetings much less time for them to think strategically. Quite frankly, dentists can’t work ON their practice while they are working IN the practice. There is a certain mindset needed for successful day to day operations of your practice and a completely different mindset to think strategically about the long term vision for your practice and the path to get there. I experienced both these mindsets last week. Let me share.
It happens to all of us. A key team member quits. Someone you thought you were tight with, someone you thought would be there forever. Someone you thought was all in and completely committed to you and your practice. They pull you aside and let you know they are moving on to another practice, one they feel is a better fit for their life. Ouch.
You know that tradition right after the new year where people pick a word and resolve to use that word throughout the year to guide them? This is the first year I am participating, and the word I chose was “calm.” Not because I am calm but rather because I often feel and react in a way opposite of calm. In addition, recently I humbly realized that the way in which my youngest daughter deals with stress is partly from watching me handle my own stress. Unfortunately, the model I have given her isn’t ideal. You see, I am improving greatly at staying calm under pressure but historically it hasn’t been my strongest attribute. Parenting is hard!
The three steps to transition your thinking during times of feeling like a failure.
The first time I fired someone, I had no idea what I was doing. I thought I did but looking back, I really didn’t. I was functioning well outside my comfort zone in an area I had little to no experience with, and I was figuring out this “being a boss” thing as I went. This was it. I was going to let a team member go. I recall the day in vivid detail.
