“You Don’t Own A Dog And Bark Yourself”

One of the dumbest things I ever see is people doing something [a task] while they are paying someone else to do that same thing [that same task].

It just makes no sense.

My parents used to tidy their home before the paid cleaners came over to clean, and tidy my parents’ home.

To me that made no sense.

That’s like owning a dog, but barking yourself.

In dentistry, I see dentists doing the job of a dental receptionist, while a paid dental receptionist watches on [in amazement] as the dentist does their job in front of them, while they do nothing else?

Why would that happen?

Why would a dentist walk out to reception with a patient, and then direct the receptionist as to when in the schedule they want this patient to be seen… when the receptionist is fully capable of doing that task UNSUPERVISED AND ON THEIR OWN.

In fact, while the dentist is directing appointment scheduling instruction at the front office reception, is the receptionist going down the back to drill teeth?

I don’t think so…

I’m a contrarian…

One of the things that happened along my journey as a dental practice owner and as a dental practice coach was that I realised that there would be times where I would not follow the masses and would take the road less travelled.

In fact, sometimes I would leave the path of the travelling masses and blaze my own trail where nobody else had been before.

Some of those decisions were well thought out and pre-conceived ideas.

Others of them were decisions that were made on the run.

When I redesigned and renovated the practice floorplan at Active Dental in 1994 and again in 2004, I did so because vacant office space adjacent to our suite had become available.

Although it was very convenient for us to stay put and extend our letting, the fit out was not as exciting as a total relocation because we had to work around existing unmovable structures within the building, such as fire stairs, lifts, toilet amenities and hallways.

Fortunately, the decisions I made, though out of left field, ended up being GAME CHANGERS for how we operated as a dental practice with customer service.

In 1994 I chose to fit my dental operatories with mobile carts for the dental assistants.

This was because I practiced dentistry left-handed, and so if a right handed dentist was going to need to use my treatment room, then everything would need to be reversed and reversed quickly.

Everything that the dental assistant needed to use was able to be put in that trolly. And one of the advantages of that trolley was that because the trolley was on casters, the dental assistant could position the trolley exactly where it suited them best.

They didn’t have to reach for anything.

The time savings for the patient, and the DA and for the dentist, were huge.

Secondly, by good fortune, I chose not to fit the rooms out with walls of fixed cabinetry that occupied too much space and became junk depositories.

An advantage of this was that when our practice became computerised in 1997, our PCs in each operatory were installed on mobile computer desks that could be wheeled to their most appropriate ergonomic position as each dentist saw fit.

Again, the time savings for the patient, and the DA and for the dentist, were huge.

Time is a finite resource. Helping patients spend as little time in the chair as necessary was a game changer.

In 2004

Our renovation and extension in 2004 saw me create a client lounge for patients when they first entered the practice that did not have dental office employees sitting at a desk in the lounge.

This was significantly different to what the industry was doing, and to what patients had become used to.

The lounge we created was for patients.

Dental front office employees worked in private offices nearby to the lounge, but did not sit IN THE LOUNGE at a desk and behind an upstand making phone calls and appointments and discussing treatment plans in sight of and within earshot of a gaggle of waiting customers and patients.

In our new design, all of those “private” activities were conducted in individual glass-walled private offices that each of the front office team worked in.

The result of this change saw our scheduling and our case acceptance rates rise dramatically, and also saw our accounts for unpaid treatment drop dramatically.

And this was because all of these transactions post-treatment were conducted across a table conversationally, rather than across an upstand barrier that really has no place in modern day dental office design.

What’s interesting about these discoveries is…

What’s interesting about these discoveries is that not only were they [and other personal tweaks I made] very successful for Active Dental, they have also been successful for my coaching clients who have embraced them in their own practices.

And although these changes look “unconventional”, the financial benefits to the dental practices and their owners because they have embraced change, have helped those clients achieve greater financial success more quickly.

It’s kind of a weird feeling when I uncover problems in clients’ dental practices that relate back to archaic idioms like “YOU MUST HAVE AN UPSTAND. EVERYBODY ELSE HAS AN UPSTAND. HOW CAN A PRACTICE WORK PROPERLY WITHOUT AN UPSTAND?”

The removal of the dental front desk from the client lounge at Active Dental was LIBERATING to my practice functionality [and PROFITABILITY].

It was something that had never been considered before, yet it was a choice that had always been available.

Kind of like the winged keel of Australia II.

Sometimes having a coach and then ignoring their suggestions is like having a dog, and then barking yourself.

And I know that there are coaches in dentistry that have never been dentists, and have never had to section a wisdom tooth or locate an MB2…

But if something has worked for me, and it’s worked for other clients, then it’s not a risk to do it.

The risk is in not doing it.

The winged keel was not a risk. It was tested and time trialled long before race day.

The results were living proof before Australia II went into those races in Newport Harbour.

In 2002 I was invited to do a flying fox crossing of the Sydney Olympic Stadium, from one side to the other, as a result of a donation I had made to a local charity.

And doing that jump was a big stretch for me, as I have a fear of open heights.

I remember vividly, having all the safety gear on and being harnessed up and ready to go, and having to climb over a railing to get in position to “jump”.

And I remember that I did not want to jump.

But I figured out that it was probably going to be easier for me and a lot quicker for me to just step off that ledge, and into space, and trust the safety gear, and get the flight over with, than to climb back over the railing, and look like a total whimp.

And so I jumped.

And that was that.

Sometimes following your own fears and doing nothing is more risky than taking that step.

And your own fears are unfounded.

Making business decisions is not like Robert F. Kennedy said about daring to fail greatly.

Making business decisions is about daring to be more successful with a coach than you would be without a coach?

Do successful sports stars and business leaders have a coach? Maybe they have more than one coach?

The coach is employed for a reason…

A good friend of mine used to say:

“None of us are smarter than all of us.”

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