By Dr. James Anderson, DrBicuspid
June 10, 2021
Being a proactive dentist means always looking for opportunities to enrich the practice. To recognize opportunities and be bold, one must be prepared with knowledge from the past, present, and future. With opportunities comes the possibility of change.
Leadership means engaging the team in the direction of the opportunity. The team, in turn, can guide the patients and anticipate, prepare, and actively search for the best solutions for them, even if it means putting in extra time. The reward is the trust from patients, and the result is growth and improved patient retention.
A crisis can come from a virus. But it can also come from losing a key staff member, economic downturns, or a health concern. Sitting idly by and waiting for things to get better or accepting that "this is the way it is" does not lead to a proactive future.
The pandemic changed the way we relate to and process patients in our practices.
Suddenly shutdown, we scrambled for answers and new ways to serve our patients, such as teledentistry and delivering emergency care and maintenance care under government guidelines. Now that the world has opened up, we are looking at what we can do to develop a better way to practice and a more prepared way to meet a crisis.
Those who shut their businesses down entirely and did not see any opportunity in the crisis are no longer in business or are now struggling to regain what was lost. To be proactive, let us consider the three scenarios of time.
Analyze your business systems.
If you are scheduled with no time to breathe and struggling with administrative duties along with patient care, you should reexamine your processes to see if there is anything you can streamline or automate. If there is something you're wasting time on that can be done by another member of the team, delegate it! If a process can be automated, learn how to make it happen. The more useless processes you cut, the more time you'll have, making it easier to get back to being proactive.
Be proactive and take the lead in building your practice's future resiliency. Your patients and your team will notice how much you care when you take the time to connect and create a better working future.
