Exceptional Dental Practice Management

A little something to think about so we can discuss it later: What do you resent? What makes you seethe on a daily basis? Who steals your peace? How much pleasure does that take away from your day? I think we can change that, but first, really think about it. You can even email me about it so I'll use it in my post.

"God bless every soul that was lost. God bless everyone who has to endure that loss. And God guide us to our reunion in heaven. God bless America." ~Rudy Guiliani on the 10th Anniversary of the 9-11 tragedy.

Success

 

"What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do."   ~Bob Dylan~

 

We've been talking about what we need to be ok, but what do we need to be a success?  Does having enough make us successful?  Ok, if that's it, when do we know we have enough?  Is it enough to be able to pay the bills on time and keep the staff employed, or is there more?  Do we have to be able to take as good a vacation as we had last year?  Keep shopping in the same stores?  Do we have to be able to keep up our memberships to the clubs that are important, go to the restaurants that everyone goes to, the events that we want to see and be seen at?  If we can do all that, will we feel successful? Will we be successful?  At what cost?

It seems that everyone is focused on scarcity these days.  Maybe you're worried that your patients will leave and find someone whose fees are lower, who takes their insurance, or even, who takes their insurance and writes off the balance.  Tough times can bring out the temptation to cheat and the propensity toward greed.  How do you respond?  Maybe you're noticing that patients aren't accepting the treatment you feel they need?  Do you panic and see it as the beginning of a downslide for you, or are you more concerned about the beginning of a downslide in their oral health?  What's your gut feeling?  What about your staff?  Do they care about your success?  Do you care about theirs?  Do they care about the success of the practice?  Do they feel that when the practice succeeds, they succeed and are an integral part in that success?  How about the guy across town?  How's his practice doing?  Do you care?  Can you help?  Would you care to help?

Success begins with sharing.   Even when it's seems like there's not enough to share.  In between getting up in the morning, and going to bed at night, are you getting to do what you want to do?  Are you enjoying it, or worrying your head off?  Then share.  Share first your joy in what you do.  Share it with your patients and your staff.  Tell them how much you love what you do.  That joy is infectious and that makes you a joyful success.  

Share your concerns with your staff, let them share your burdens.  You might be surprised by what they will do to help.  Listen to the concerns of your patients.  They're not being stubborn, they may have the same worries you do.  Share their burden.  Help them afford the treatment they need.  Offer payment plans with no interest.  Phase treatment where you can.  Work with them to maximize their insurance coverage.  Take the time to explain the reasons for doing some treatment immediately, and then why some can wait a little while.  Be patient with them.

Don't ever give in to pettiness.  Don't panic over small setbacks.  Don't see doom in every cancellation, or worry that it's the beginning of the end if someone leaves the practice.  Patients cancel appointments for many reasons, half the time they just forget.  People switch dentists on a whim, and you can't be everything to everyone.  If you try you might not enjoy what you do between waking up and going to bed anymore. 

Give.  Praise your staff for the good things they do.  Notice the little things and make a big deal out of it sometimes.  Bring in bagels now and then, or treat everyone to lunch just to say thanks.  They'll think you're a king.  Give to your community.  It's good advertising and it helps others succeed, too.  Find out if there's another dentist who's really just hanging on and try to help them succeed.  Share what you can, whether it's knowledge of how to improve their practice, or even a new patient now and then.  They will never forget you.

If you can do all this; when you get into bed at night, you might realize that you forgot to worry that day.  That's because you were focused on success.  And now you know that when you wake up in the morning, you get to succeed all over again.

Count The Ways

In my last post I asked you to think about what makes life good when things are going good, and what makes it good when things are hard.  I'll bet that when things are going good, the things that seem to make you happy are the things that are so easily lost and that are dependant on the whims of fortune.  Hey, I'm with you on a lot of that!  It's great to have extra money, easy success, and few worries.  As I remember it was also fun to ride on a seesaw...until the kid on the other end jumped off while you were up in the air.  Once you realized that might happen, wasn't there always a little anxiety associated with the seesaw, despite the promise of fun?  It didn't make you stay off the seesaw, but you tried to be ready for the big fall, didn't you?  

Depending on the economy to be predictable is like expecting every kid you ride a seesaw with to stay on and to tell you when he's getting off.  It's not realistic.  So, let's look at the things that keep you happy when things are tough.  I'll start:

I have three great kids who love me no matter what.  They're funny, kind, loving, devoted, dependable,and they have great character.  I even have a granddaughter on the way.  They love each other and they love me, and that makes me happy.

I have a deep faith in God that sustains me and inspires me.  I am part of a very supportive faith community.  

I have a wonderful extended family, especially my brother, Charlie.

I work for a great human being who is a gift to everyone he comes in contact with.  Our staff is filled with good people who are committed to what they do and who help and support each other and take great care of our patients.

I have enough of everything I need, and more than enough of some things.

I have just enough wisdom to know that anything bad that happens to me will make me stronger, and that if I wait long enough and have enough patience and faith, good things will happen again.

How about you?  Have you take the time to count the ways that you are fortunate, or are you too busy worrying about what's wrong?  Ok, so if you can't stop looking at what's wrong, can you step back just a little and see if you can use the good things to help you overcome the things that are wrong?  Start your good list and go from there.  You might be surprised.

 

Prosper

Yesterday I asked you to think about what you truly need, want, and what you could do without.  I also asked you if you could do with a little less, if you could help someone else survive.  What I'm talking about is this:  what does it mean to you to prosper?  The dictionary defines prosper as: to thrive or succeed, or to cause to thrive or succeed in a healthy way.  So, it can be something we do ourselves, or that we help others do. Sometimes we just decide that we want to prosper and we set about doing things that will make that happen in a way that our experience, to that point, tells us will make us happy and secure.  Other times, other people, or circumstances make us redefine what prosperity is for us.

I'm going to share something with you that I haven't discussed here before.  After 31 years of marriage, I am going through a divorce.  I never, in my wildest imaginings thought that I would ever be facing this, but here it is.  Sometimes life hits us from our blind side.  To say I was devastated is putting it mildly, but I have found that I am lucky.  I have family, friends and co-workers who love me and have rushed in to help me prosper again.  This is where redefining prosperity comes in, by the way.  When, after trying to find a way to make my marriage work, I was dealt a second blow late one evening, I emailed a friend who lived on the other side of the country.  She desperately want to help me make it through the night and sent me this Scripture passage to give me strength and hope:

"For I know well the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans for your prosper, not for your woe!  Plans to give you a future full of hope."  Jeremiah 29:11

I doesn't matter if you're Christian, or not, those words are full of hope in despair.  It made me think of what it meant to prosper in a new way. At first, to prosper meant to get through each day with my sanity intact.  Then it meant to get through each day with my dignity intact.  Now it means to know that each day is a new gift, full of opportunities to be happy and grateful.  

I realize that eventually I will probably need to move out of my house.  I looked around my living room at all the stuff I really wanted once upon a time.  Now, it's just stuff.  Nice stuff, but really pretty meaningless, and now, almost a burden.  The things I want are the things that have meaning: pictures of family, things that my kids made for me, things with memories.  That's what I'll take when I leave this house.

To me, prospering means having real meaning in my life.  Spending time in prayer, meditation, and reading relax me.  Spending time with family and friends fill me with love and satisfaction in a life being well-lived.  Helping others in any way I can makes me feel that I am giving back a fraction of what has been given to me.  

In the end, it is the way we live through both good times and bad times that give us a measure of who we are.   Trials and trouble bring us face to face with the reality of who we have become and let us know who and how we want to be.  This is the place in which we choose.  We can choose to fall apart and become pathetic, or we can choose to be strong and to be happy.  No matter what, happiness is something you decide to be.  Strong is inside all of us, we just have to drag it out; every day, as much as we can.

So, today I'll leave you with another thought.  What has it meant to you to prosper when things were good?  What can it mean when things are not so good?

Choose Your Own Way

Is the economy as bad as it sounds?  Maybe.  Actually, probably.  Well, really, yes it is.  But…it is what it is.  You can make it better for yourself, or worse.  Victor Frankl faced one of the worst trials in human history, the concentration camps, and he discovered something that enabled him to survive:

 

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread.  They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man, but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

 

Maybe this sounds familiar:  The economy stinks!  Production is down!  New patients aren’t coming in!  No one is accepting treatment!  My staff doesn’t get it, and now they want raises!  How much longer can I make it?  These are the things we tell and ask ourselves, and others.  These are the things that keep us awake at night.  These are the things that make us feel hopeless and helpless.  They will keep having that effect if we don’t face them head on and deal with them.  That’s the hard news, but wait, there’s good news, too.  There are things you can do to ride out the economy, and even proper while doing it. 

 

When I say you can make it better, I don't necessarily mean you can make it easy.  I can't tell you how to go through this economy without any difficulty,  But, I think I can help give you a different perspective.  We have to learn to define what is important.  What do we absolutely need, what do we want, and what would it be nice to have, but could wait?  Is it more important to prosper alone, or more gratifying to have a little less, but know you’ve helped someone else hang on?  Can you look at difficulty as an opportunity to grow stronger and help others do the same?  If you can, this economy may just offer you a chance for so much more personal growth and satisfaction than you ever imagined. 

 

What I want you to do now is this:  think about the questions about what you need, want and could do without if you had to.  Think about how you feel about reaching out to help someone who’s struggling more than you are.  We’re going to talk about this some more, but first, you need to know where you stand right now.