‘Help! Things have got to change!’

Team dynamics, history, patients, practice culture and technology all play significant roles in the transformation efforts, and each can erect seemingly insurmountable barriers to achieving the goals unless outside help is brought in to effectively and constructively remove those barriers.

Most likely, what you really want is not just change, but excellence. Excellence can be an intimidating concept. After all, an entire industry has been built searching for it since Tom Peters released his best-selling book in 1982.

With all the guides, books, formulas and motivational speakers who have dedicated countless pages of wisdom and endless hours of inspiration, we’ve learned this: Achieving excellence comes down to hard work, commitment and, most importantly, leadership.

At the root of excellence — or even just “very good” — is change. Change in any organization, be it a corporate giant such as Microsoft or your own dental practice, is a huge undertaking. In fact, studies have shown that 60 to 90 percent of the efforts to change the way things are done never come to fruition.

Why? It’s because the culture of most every business is “hardwired” from the top down. In other words, if those driving the train don’t change course, everyone else is just another cart on the same track, along for the same journey, and on their way to the same destination yet again.

Creating change begins with you

The beauty of the dental practice is that if you, Mr. or Ms. Dentist, are not satisfied or don’t like the direction of your practice, you have the power to change it.

In reality, only you have the power to change it. Yes, you need your team to be actively involved, but real change begins with you.

From there comes the development of the plan, which involves asking a few fundamental questions, starting with: What’s your vision for your practice? What does a really good dental practice do differently? How do we get there?

Next is fact finding. Talk to your patients about their experiences. You don’t need to conduct a formal survey, although it’s helpful if you can. At a minimum, ask how your practice can do things better.

Just remember that only a handful will be honest with you. Those who share less than stellar comments are doing you a huge favor in offering their candid opinions.

Studies indicate that if one person complains, at least seven others have had the same negative experience and each of them has told nine others about the problem.

This means that at least one negative comment about your practice has been shared with 63 others in your community. Thus, this is not exactly the word-of-mouth marketing you want circulating.

Begin to assemble the building blocks of practice excellence by examining each individual system and how it fits into the vision of the office that you have chosen to create.

What does the new patient experience involve in a practice that is dedicated to setting itself apart from others in the community? How do patients feel when they call a practice that is committed to excellence? How is the team involved in carrying out the practice culture that the dentist wants to create?

Once the broad-brush concepts are identified, take an honest look at how your team currently handles specific systems. Don’t sugar coat it.

Then ask your employees for their input. What do they see as the strengths and weaknesses of practice systems and protocols? What changes would they recommend to improve them?

What protocols could be developed to reduce stress and improve the patient experience, practice productivity and the total culture of the office?

Develop your plan for each area and put it in writing. Focus on the specifics of each practice system and create a timeline for addressing individual areas.

Remember, keep it manageable and establish realistic goals. Change efforts frequently fall short because businesses attempt to take on too much too soon and quickly become overwhelmed. Some system changes can be implemented in a few weeks while others may require up to a full year.

When to seek additional help

Face the reality of your individual situation. In other words, recognize that there are many dental teams that simply cannot make the necessary changes on their own. Some dentists can successfully direct true system and cultural change in the practice on their own.

However, most don’t have the time, the energy or the mental fortitude to push through when seemingly everyone else is pushing back.

Often, dentist and staff are too close to the situation to be able to objectively consider what is truly working and what needs to be corrected.

Tough decisions become clouded by personalities, turf wars and tenure. In those circumstances, it’s critical to seek outside help from a professional.

Nevertheless, how do you distinguish between those that can deliver results and those that can’t? Like dentists, there are excellent consultants, good consultants and, unfortunately, bad consultants.

Rather than lumping all practice management consultants in the same category, I suggest you conduct a simple evaluation. Consider the following questions.

First, is the practice-management consulting firm you are considering endorsed by a credible outside organization, such as your state dental society?

For example, McKenzie Management is the only national practice management company endorsed by the California Dental Association.

Does the company or consultant you are considering come to you or must you and your team go to them?

Certainly, it’s valuable for your team to go off-site for a team retreat and continuing education, but there is no substitute for what happens on-site, day-after-day in your practice.

If you are trying to make major changes to critical systems, a consultant cannot make effective recommendations until he or she stands in your office, witnesses the challenges you face, understands your goals and vision, studies your practice data on-site, evaluates the demographics and psychographics of your community and stands alongside the team that makes or breaks your success.

Does the company have a record of proven success? You want numbers, you want data and you want references. The credible companies and consultants will not hesitate to share this information with you.

Can this company tailor its recommendations to address the specific needs and uniqueness of your practice? Perhaps yours is a specialty practice or maybe you have certain economic challenges in your community.

Possibly yours is an HMO office or maybe your practice is in a rural setting. Certainly, there are management systems that every practice must implement — such as scheduling, collections, production, etc.

Yet, no two practices are exactly alike. You want a consulting company that has the experience and breadth of knowledge to address the uniqueness of your practice.

What type of follow-up will this company or consultant provide? Is this a once-and-done operation?

Does the company representative spend a day or a few hours with you, hand you a manual to follow and leave you to implement the recommendations on your own?

In most cases, that’s a strategy for failure. The dentist cannot make major changes in his or her practice singlehandedly.

Alternatively, are the consultants on-site for as many days as the dentist would like? Regardless of the number of onsite days, it is imperative that you have a partner walking through the change process with you and your team for a full 12 months.

Ultimately, you want to work with a consulting firm that is prepared to provide individual attention and specific assistance to your practice over the long haul.