Needed Mindset Shifts for Long-Term Practice Growth
Your clinical skills are the foundation for your practice, ensuring you can deliver quality outcomes for your patients. However, there’s more to running a dental practice than that alone.
You also need the right business mindset to achieve success. Having a CEO business mindset can build stronger leadership, grow your practice, and achieve long-term success.
Start thinking strategically, not just clinically.
It’s easy to focus solely on the clinical aspect of your practice. Your patients should be top priority, but don’t underestimate the importance of strategic thinking when it comes to dental practice success.
Taking time to focus on long-term planning and goal setting is essential, even if it means less time spent on day-to-day dentistry. Setting clear business goals and monitoring your progress will let you build a resilient practice geared toward growth. As a result, you’ll have the stability needed to continue providing quality care.
Focus on areas such as revenue, patient retention, and team development when setting goals. Having clear targets in mind lets you develop a concrete plan with a realistic budget and investments to move toward dental practice success.
Know your numbers.
When it comes to running a business, you need to rely on concrete data instead of playing it by ear. If you aren’t leveraging metrics to guide your practice’s path forward, you are likely to face unforeseen issues in the future and fall behind your competitors.
There are many key practice metrics you should capture, track, and seek to improve. For example, you likely already track production, including the total number of procedures performed and billed. Take it a step further: Break that data down into specific types of procedures. This will help you identify potential opportunities.
Case acceptance is another key area to watch. Are you leaving money on the table because your practice doesn’t offer a service your patients need? Financial metrics, such as collections and overhead, are also vital. Instead of leaving these details to chance, review reports regularly to make informed decisions for your practice.
Build and empower a strong team.
One of the hallmarks of a successful CEO is their ability to delegate and invest in their people. To do this well in dentistry, you have to focus on being not only a good dentist but also a good leader. That means giving your team the trust, resources, and opportunities to contribute their best to the overall success of your practice.
A business CEO understands that developing their team is an investment with some expected return. Forgoing that investment means lost opportunities. You can improve the value of your practice by investing in training for your team. This develops their abilities, potentially expanding to new areas such as orthodontic treatment.
Delegation is also vital. You need to trust your team to perform their roles. Spending your time on tasks your team could handle means you have less time to spend on tasks only you can carry out.
This leads to inefficient workflows, reduced caseload capacity, and potential patient dissatisfaction. Make sure that you aren’t unintentionally creating a barrier to your team reaching their potential.
Focus on systems and efficiency.
Successful CEOs put systems in place that make running their businesses easier. You can apply the same principles to your practice. Having scalable systems for key tasks will ensure consistency no matter how busy your schedule or how much your practice grows.
Scheduling, billing, and patient communication are all prime areas where you can (at least to some degree) implement systems. A variety of software options are available to handle these and to reduce stress through automation. This makes things easier for you, your team, and your patients.
Make sure to review and refine your workflows regularly to ensure they’re addressing both your practice’s current and future needs.
Keep learning and adapting.
You should never stop moving forward, in practice growth or your own professional development. There are many opportunities to keep learning, such as courses for orthodontic skills. The right courses focus not just on the clinical aspect but also on how you can leverage new services effectively to raise your revenue and attract new patients.
Taking this kind of approach lets your practice continue to grow. Investing in continuing education is a great choice financially and can also improve your work satisfaction and fulfillment.
Develop the right business mindset for your practice.
Having a CEO mindset positions your practice for business success. You’ll have the clarity, purpose, and strategy to be an effective leader for your team. While the importance of patient care can’t be overstated, you also have to step into your role as a business owner for long-term success.
General dentist orthodontics courses from the American Orthodontic Society focus on all aspects of providing orthodontic services, including both clinical and management skills. See our upcoming courses to find your next opportunity.
To learn more about our popular orthodontics courses for pediatric and general dentists, check out one of the upcoming events below.
