As dental practitioners, we all have a long list of responsibilities on our plate, and sometimes it can be overwhelming. However, delegation can be an excellent way to ease the burden and get more done. So, in this episode, we’ll be talking about how to duplicate yourself and how it can help enhance your dental practice. Let’s get started!
HIGHLIGHTS
- [01:09] Get comfortable with delegation. Duplication is not possible
- [02:35] #1: Get rid of “the problem of one.”
- [02:46] #2: Rely on systems
- [04:42] #3: The enjoyment of delegation
- [05:05] #4: Be brutally honest with employee feedback
- [05:25] Applying these tactics to your dental practice
- [05:41] #1: Don’t mix being a producer and a CEO
- [06:17] #2: Making the investments in the team without fear
- [06:36] #3: Accountability and coaching
- [08:37] The prerequisites to success and delegation
QUOTES
- [00:47] The goal is freedom. At the end of the day, that’s what we’re looking for. Freedom to pursue happiness, to do what brings us joy, ultimately.
- [03:07] You have to make sure that you have redundancies in place, that you have a support system and a delegation system, that you run your business like a business, not just a job.
- [03:52] If you want to perfect delegation in your business, you have to have the right people. You have to find the right people and you got to pay them appropriately. You have to support them and coach them.
- [08:40] Success in delegating your business can only be achieved by consistently training yourself and your team on practice management and leadership skills.
- [09:43] Coaching is very important because when you work with a coach, you’re looking at KPIs to optimize your business so that you can see what your providers are doing and optimizing properly to run your business.
- [10:48] Everything starts with you, the clearer you are and the better choices you make, the better actions you will take, and then you’ll start getting results.
Delegation Podcast Transcription
Hi, everyone, I’m Alex Nottingham CEO of All-Star Dental Academy, and welcome to Dental All-Stars. Our guest is me. Our topic today is delegation.
A mastermind member asked me, how do you duplicate yourself with All-Star Dental Academy, I would like to do the same. I would like to operate my business well while I’m not working. If I’d like to go on vacation because the goal is to have freedom. It’s freedom. It’s not making more money where money is nice, But more money gives us more time. We can use the money to buy back time to do the things we choose to do, and love to do, and dentistry becomes fun. Not a job. So the question is about duplication.
Is it possible?
And I had this discussion with my friend Dr. Todd Snider, and his answer was simple. No, you can’t duplicate yourself, So I went back and forth with that. That’s his opinion, and I tend to agree to some extent you can’t duplicate yourself.
Visionary of Your Practice
You are special. In your way, you are the visionary of your practice, so you can’t fully duplicate yourself. You have to recognize as well that not every person that works with you is a racehorse.
They’re still helpful to your business, but they’re not you. But here’s the thing… when I worked with Tony Robins and Chet Homes, Chet told us you still have to delegate. Even if you know that you can do a better job. That’s the only way you are going to be able to scale your business and have that freedom. So what do I do? So what do I do at All-Star Dental Academy?
Learn to Love Delegating
Well, I love to delegate. Sometimes I get into trouble because I delegate too much and I don’t make sure the proper systems and support are in place to make it happen, But I got better at that because here’s the deal. All the great businesses that I study, they all are amazing at delegating, not just letting it go, because you have people that are micro-managers, dentists a lot of them, and you have others that just are hands off. So in dentistry, you have some dentists that are micro-managers, they have no control at all, and others, they kind of let it go and they let their team do what they want to do, and sometimes that doesn’t end with a great result.
Either, there’s a middle way you got to be able to delegate and make sure there’s accountability. And here’s the problem. There’s a problem of one. If it’s only you or only one team member in your Practice that is good at this particular task. You’re in trouble, so you have to make sure that you have redundancies in place. that you have a support system in a delegation system that you run your business like a business, not just a job in a business.
You have to report to shareholders and you have accountability, and that’s a problem with dentists. They only report to themselves, So there are mechanisms to make sure that you have an accountability group around you to support you, and it all starts with you.
Be Okay with Good Enough
I know it’s important that we do things well and do it over until it’s right, but there’s sometimes good enough, and then you’ve got to move forward because then you’re going to get into the weeds. We’re running a business and there’s like a range. There’s an area in which we have to provide great patient service always. But you have to be able to run a business as well. Okay, so that’s where we have to find those that balancing act. So watch the perfectionism. I know a lot of dentists get, to that myself included at times you have to have the right people, you have to find the right people. you got to pay them appropriately. You have to support them and coach them.
And I do many podcast interviews with our director of hiring Robyn Reis, where we help hire team members from start all the way to the interview or the job posting to the interview to the personality profiles, the background checks right there, So it’s important to find the right people, but you have to keep them, And we did a podcast recently about how to thrive in a dental office. How to build culture, because we see that we have issues of quiet quitting going on where team members will do the minimum. They’re not engaged, and we have to make sure they are engaged in what they’re doing, and I like you to start enjoying delegation, enjoying seeing others SUCCEED. That should be a standard that they’re succeeding in. They’re happy and part of helping them succeed is making those investments in them, whether it be coaching events or training support. because never a waste of time or money.
Train Your Team
Sometimes I’ll hear well, I don’t have the perfect team. I don’t care. You have the team. Now train them no matter what, because it may be all you have for a while. Also, be honest with your team. And what I mean by honest, is you can use this feedback sandwich. Say something positive. Provide a couple of constructive criticisms. Not too much because they won’t listen after that and get defensive and then something nice after and then follow up is very helpful and delegating. Now a dental office has its specialties, but it can learn from all types of businesses.
Think about a dentist as two things, two people, your producer, a dentist, and CEO don’t mix them. The CEO runs your business, the CEO cultivates leadership and strategy. Don’t let the dentist run the business, Because a dentist is an artist, A dentist is good at making money and doing the job. But if you are having the dentist run a business or present cases now we’re you know, in a different skill set, so you want to cultivate almost multiple personalities. In a sense, when you’re doing business work, you’re cultivating the CEO. When you’re doing treatment acceptance. you’re cultivating a customer service agent. You’re cultivating those soft skills that are important Because dentists I find in general lack leadership training.
Coach Your Team
You all love C.E. but you got to make sure you’re making the investments in yourself and your team on those soft skills. In addition to that I mentioned earlier about this lack of accountability, get a coach, preferably a dental coach. This is the fastest way to grow your business.
Logistically you’re going to need more providers. You’re going to need a hygenist. You’re going to need associates at some level to generate money while you’re not working, and then have the proper team members to support your absence. And this isn’t necessarily an office manager and might be one team member or multiple team members that do a certain role. The other thing is very important.
The ethic in your business needs to be that I have stakeholders. They may not be shareholders, but everybody buys into the vision. Everybody holds each other accountable, and they love the business. They feel that the business is a part of them, or they’re part of the business. When they’re doing that, they’ll treat it like their own, And that’s a big thing. that dentists always ask me. Well, How do I get them to appreciate the business? Well, you have to get them to drink the cool aid. So it’s not just telling them, but it’s creating experiences. it’s invested in them. It’s you can say all you want, But it’s your actions that speak to them, and when they feel a part of it they will respond accordingly. Part of this has to do with exposing them to other practices.
Model the Best
Seeing how others do. This is a big thing Tony Robins always taught us, model the best, be around the best. This is where I love live events. If you can go to a live event where there’s focused on practice management, leadership training, communication skill, And you can network with other great businesses. Do it. We do that at All-Star Dental Academy You can go to our website. You can see we do coaching. We do hiring, and we do live events. Check them out and come, because all the best come and we all share, and we have great speakers at our events.
Now there are some prerequisites to success and delegation. The first is you have to consistently train yourself and your team on practice Management and leadership skills. One easy way to do this is certainly, you can listen to our podcasts. you can read. Our blogs are all material online. We have a lot of books we give away for free and webinars. You can also do our online training program, which is very affordable and you’re doing twenty minutes a week with your team on practice management, leadership, broken appointments, and phone skills, all, incredibly valuable exercises and modalities to help you make more money, save time and enjoy what you do.
The other thing is I mentioned, work with a dental coach. We provide dental coaching but get any dental coach that you relate to. It’s important that you’re working with a coach. In some capacity. I prefer dental coaching, but it could be even outside of dentistry. Make sure you’re when you work with your coach.
You’re looking at KPIs – Key Performance Indicators so they can optimize your business. They can see what your providers are doing, being you as a provider, and maybe your hygienist, or assistance unto assistance, but associates, and optimizing properly to run your business, always check the numbers and what we believe in coaching. and I employ you to do this with any coach you work with is make itself funding. Make it where you can demonstrate that coaching is paying for itself at least every ninety days. It’s making money paying for coaching.
I really believe in that, and as I mentioned before, come to live events to learn to experience with other top teams networks, other great dentists in that order, have something you’re training consistently do coaching and come to live events Go in that order. That’s the priority. Do it all if you can, but that’s the best way to get the most out of your time and investment
The Buck Stops with You!
See how you’re helping the situation or sabotage in the situation. Everything starts with you. The clearer you are and the better choices you make, the better actions you will take, and then you start getting results,
Are you self-sabotaging or are you being a perfectionist? Are you micromanaging or you’re not managing at all? Are you deficient in some learning that you have to do on leadership? Are you providing your team with proper training and support and coaching? Doing an inventory?
See where you’re at, but start with yourself and then get a plan. That’s the one thing I would do, tomorrow.
Because often you try a bunch of things and hope something works, that’s called Pay and Pray, and hope something works that doesn’t work.
I trust that you enjoy this podcast. Please subscribe on Youtube and follow us on Apple Podcast and Spotify.
Until next time. Go out there and be an all-star!
About Alex Nottingham JD MBA
Alex is the CEO and Founder of All-Star Dental Academy®. He has authored the dental practice game-changer book “Dental Practice Excellence” and co-wrote a bestselling book with Brian Tracy. Alex has shared the stage with Michael Gerber (the author of “The E–Myth Revisited”), and lectures nationally and internationally to prestigious dental organizations. He is a former Tony Robbins top coach and consultant, having worked with companies upwards of $100 million. His passion is to help others create personal wealth and make a positive impact on the people around them. Alex received his Juris Doctor (JD) and Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Florida International University.
