How to Balance Ego and Leadership in Your Dental Practice

Owning a dental practice, especially when starting one from the ground up, comes with a lot of managerial responsibilities. Many of these ultimately take away from your time with patients, which was the reason you got into dentistry in the first place. Recently, Professional Transition Strategies (PTS) Founder and President Kyle Francis sat down with Growth Think Tank’s Gene Hammett to discuss the relationship between your ego and leadership. Here’s a recap of how, when and where to let go so you can move your business forward. 

Take a step back

It can be easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day motions of running a business and think that no one can do all the day-to-day tasks as good as you. But taking a look at all the managerial tasks you take on throughout the day will help you realize where you can free up time to focus on more valuable, strategic work that will ultimately keep your business heading in the right direction. Ask yourself where you are today and where you want to be, then figure out what’s getting in the way.

Find your niche

The truth is, most dentists don’t receive much in the way of business training. Sure, you’ve kept up with your continuing education, but at the end of the day, you can’t be everything to everyone. It’s natural to wear many hats when owning your own business, but it’s important to identify your strong suit to help build up your dental practice. Carving our your niches is the best way to grow a business fast.

Define value

It’s hard to know where to make changes without first asking yourself how you define value at your dental practice, especially when considering a sale. Is it getting the biggest dollar for your business on day one? Maybe it’s figuring out the best structure or bringing in a partner to grow the business. By figuring out your true value, you can then find a transition that matches. A professional dental practice transition broker will help figure out what that is.

Hire the right people

Francis says it’s important to hire for culture, not skillset, adding it’s better to hire slow to ensure a good fit rather than take on the first qualified person for the job. “Ego can come from a genuine place,” Francis notes. “But if you’re afraid others won’t do it as well or fast as you, that will be the bottleneck of your company.” Empowering your team to do their best job will allow them to grow their skills while you’re freed up to take on bigger tasks that have been on the back burner.

Don’t wait too long

“Be intentional about creating space to think about the things you might look back at in order to move forward,” Francis says. “When so many things get backlogged, you miss the chance to focus on more valuable tasks,” which, in turn, could lead to missed opportunities. Francis notes this could also be said about hiring the right person at the right time to keep things heading in the right direction. You’ll save yourself a lot of burnout in the end.

Stay in constant communication

The best way to keep your business heading in the right direction is to constantly communicate with your staff. This could be as lofty as reiterating the culture goals of your company or as productive as reviewing workloads with employees to figure out where there’s room for improvement or shifting (and re-shifting) responsibilities. With everyone on the same page, you’ll know where your true strengths lie and what needs your attention.

What’s next?

Contact the experts at PTS to learn more ways to keep your dental practice on top of its game.