It’s critical to know how organization works if you’re going to do more than just get by. I mean if you’re going to be happy and productive as you’d like to be.

There are crucial differences between a family and a business organization, but there are also similarities.  The primary role of a family is to nurture its members. No matter what other roles if might play, a family that doesn’t nurture it’s members (which is often the case) will essentially be a failure as a family.

The primary role of a business is to produce a marketable product or service above and beyond itself. No matter how much it might nurture it’s employees, a business that fails to market an effective product or service, that is to serve its customers/clients/patients effectively, and today, in a unique, distinctive, compelling way, will become obsolete and be demolished.

Very few business owners can  operate as one-man shows anymore. Most all of us have a technical expertise, but technical expertise operating in a vacuum of organizing all the resources at hand to provide a series of unique, distinctive, emotionally positive experiences falls short of what is required today to grow, to evolve, to thrive.

Organizational behavior is a term given to the study of how human beings behave in organizations.  The discipline includes not only how ‘individuals’ behave, but also how groups –even organizations themselves behave.

In the broadest sense, organizational behavior encompasses virtually the entire field of human psychology, since almost all human behavior occurs in the context of organizations.

We are organizational creatures. We are born not only into a society and a culture, but usually into a specific, complex organization: a family.  Our marriages are organizations. We study in schools that are organizations; we earn a living in organizations (communities); at some time or another we will likely worship in an organization (community); and when we die there will be an organization to usher us out of this world.

From birth to death we live in some sort of community.   Within the context of organizations and communities lies both our opportunity and potential.

A community, an organization attracts and keeps it members because of shared beliefs, shared values and a shared purpose. In my life I’ve belonged to many communities and every community/organization I’ve been a part of had a PURPOSE based on ‘shared beliefs, shared values, and a high level of commitment to what that individual community stands for, represents, believes in and values.

A marriage without a Purpose isn’t going anywhere.

A family without a Purpose is somewhat meaningless. We may be related but we aren’t a community.

A professional practice may have people we call patients visiting it, but without a Shared Common Purpose, I doubt that the practice will grow, evolve  and become a true community.

As you think on these few paragraphs, think also regarding your closest friends. What do you have in common with your closest friends. Think also about your most significant staff members and you TOP PATIENTS or REFERRAL SOURCES. What do you have in common that makes these relationships last; seem vital to your life and brings you joy, fun, fulfillment and of course Profitability in your practice.

Maybe name your TOP 20 closest friends, patients, team members, family members.

Michael Gerber wrote a book and sold millions of copies under various titles because of a key true statement he wrote which is the foundation of all his books.

“You go to dental school, medical school, law school and you learn the technical skills of your profession and you have an Entrepreneurial Seizure and you think you can start or buy a business that does that work.”

A dentist (any professional) with a ‘Technician Mindset’ does what he or she does for ‘inside results’ for themselves!

A dentist (any professional) with a ‘Entrepreneurial Mindset” does what he or she does for ‘outside results’ for their patients.   As we witness the speed of change in our Economy and in our Culture, vastly different expectations and demands have occurred in the minds and hearts of the people we call patients.

If you happen to be stuck (trapped) in a ‘technician mindset’ then you can be sure that you’ll be left wondering what happened to your practice, your life, your enjoyment, your profits.

But, if you are so fortunate to understand that you are both; a Technician and an Entrepreneur then there is more opportunity today than there ever has been before and it’s right in front of you…your next patient.

I’m a fan, a huge fan of M. Scott Peck. I’ve probably read The Road Less Traveled a thousand times.  I take it with me on every trip I go on as it has such powerful meaning to me in my life and in my life’s work. He wrote another landmark book, A World Waiting to be Born ,and in that book he wrote this powerful and true statement:

“While nothing more needs to be said about professional vocations in general, much more deserves to be said about one profession in particular.  This is the profession of management. There are many reasons to single it out for special attention.

First, it is generally the most powerful of professions.  Indeed, it might be referred to as the ‘profession of professions’.  It is the manager who generally manages other professionals.  It is the manager whose decisions and behavior generally affect the most lives—thereby either enhancing or damaging those lives.  Far more than anyone else, it is the manager who determines whether the organization will be a civil or uncivil institution.”

Any professional who abdicates their ‘managerial responsibility’ can be assured that someone else will be managing their lives and their patient’s lives.

Every professional has three central responsibilities:

Management—organizing time, money and delivery of the best that can be done.

Leadership—inspiring, engaging and creating compelling experiences including communication, sales, and establish the direction and purpose of the practice.

Technician—learning to produce the best technical result when needed and wanted.

Have you ever lost a life changing opportunity?

Did you ever pass on a great deal?

Have you ever regretted waiting for a better time to act?

The strategy of acting before you think keeps you from rationalizing your way out of making a decision you know in your heart is the right thing to do.  Don’t stop and consider what you should do, instead trust your gut!

Too often people fear looking foolish, and, as a result, end up getting left behind and becoming victims. The rule doesn’t remove ‘thinking’ from the process.

The power to act before you think was advocated by one of the world’s most notable psychologists Carl Jung, whose work led to today’s personality test scales of introvert and extrovert. Jung said: “the creation of something new is not accomplished by intellect but by instinct.”

Jung’s phrase: “creating something new” is the same thing as:

• Problem solving.
• Decision making
• Productivity and Creativity

The three parts of our mind must work in harmony with each other, but conative, or the Instinctual mind is the part of us that determines whether we act in accordance with our truest selves or are influenced by the chatter of the masses.

When you think before you act, it kills your momentum. Your mental hard drive stalls forward, future focused action. You freeze the creative flow that moves towards creative solutions.

Portions of this article were inspired by Kathy Kolbe’s Powered by Instinct.

There are two main causes of Success in your life.

1.    Your beliefs.

2.    Being in the right structure.

Everything else is secondary.

WHY?

The beliefs contained in our minds to a large degree determine what we see, how we think and how we behave. 

Our beliefs serve us or cripple us.

We each are in a structure, a structure which to a large degree we have created or accepted. 

Whatever ‘structure’ we are in determines our behavior and our behavior determines our results. Period.

You are free to continue as you are and also free to change the underlying structures of your life and practice to create the outcomes you really, really want.

Your life is in your hands. Choose wisely.

At every price level and in every market there is competition (dentistry, accounting, car making, etc). But some stand out, and not simply because they are costly or expensive. Often, the services and products that are most in demand amaze or capture the emotions or feelings of buyers.

Since 1990 when the supply of dentists outstripped the demand for dentistry, the supply of patients has diminished and markets have splintered. We’ve all heard the surest way to fail is to be all things to all people. 

People who have a job and money have a choice. They can choose who and where they go for services. I’ve suggested that patients vote with their feet and their dollars. People choose to go where they believe they will be treated the way they want to be treated.

People make choices based on their perception of what is in their best interest. You do, I do, we all do. The key word here is perception. Often what people think or perceive is best, is not.

Therefore, any professional practice who wants to thrive must become a learning organization. Patients can learn and often do in the right circumstances. The more you and I learn about any product or service, the better our decision making becomes.

Patients, like all people, can make poor choices when they have incorrect or inadequate information. There is a way out of the maze and the difficulty of misinformation and misperceptions of dentistry.

There are specific strategies and steps that enable you, like me, to differentiate and distinguish ourselves from all the others. We must stand out. We must be better in many ways. Average, normal, being middle of the road no longer works.

We must become the best value creators for a specific segment of the population.

Often dentists think there is too much competition in their area. If they could only move to the ‘wealthy’ part of town and attract the wealthiest patients, they would be just fine. But, people are the same everywhere and they all have human needs and values. They need to be able to eat, chew, breath, swallow, speak, smile, be pain-free, feel good about themselves, preserve their youth, and protect their health and well being. Our challenge is to become the best we can be at serving these needs (technically) and help our patients want this for themselves (no manipulating).

Each of us thinks, feels and acts differently and has differing needs or wants in various stages of life, but the fact is, we are all pretty similar. I have never met a person who doesn’t want to be and feel more alive, more complete, more whole, more balanced. Not one.

Marketing and differentiation is appealing to the mental, emotional, self image, self esteem, health and well being of each person we come in contact with.

Marketing is every experience that any person has with us at any moment. Everything is marketing and everything is selling. Every experience is a moment of truth about me and about you.

Think on this as you ponder your future; what works in the past, the easy road, no longer works. If you are short of new patients, take a long look at yourself and your practice and ask yourself:

“Why am I not attracting people to my practice?”

If you are concerned about referrals, ask yourself:

“Why are my patients not referring their loved ones and friends to my practice?”

If you are short on cash, ask yourself:

“Why are patients not accepting the treatment I know they need to
preserve their teeth for life?”

As you ask yourself these questions, as I do, only then will the solutions come into view.

In the corporate world if 60% of your time is spent doing what you love to do and what you are really good at, then you are in ‘ideal space’. My good friend Jack Higgins, a corporate coach, teaches his clients to spend 80% of their time doing what matters most to them.
Doing what you are good at and what you love to do enhances your chance of success and enhances your identity. Conversely, if you are controlled by someone else, in time you lose your identity. Of course no one can control everything that happens to them in work or in life, but the more ideal our days, the more ideal our life. Pretty straightforward.

Most of us start out just trying to make a living. Our idea of success changes as we gain experience and knowledge. For me, success when I was in high school was pitching a winning game. success was getting a job to save for college. Success later was getting into dental school; then graduating from dental school; then gaining more knowledge and education while I was in the Navy; then starting my practice; and raising my kids; spending time with my kids; making enough money to save and invest for their education and our future.

My mother was like a cheerleader and a coach for me. She told me to always have a goal to work towards, and when I completed the goal to sit right down and make a new goal. Success was achieving what I thought was important. I started working when I was 11 years old, caddying at Westborough Country Club in St. Louis so I could buy a bike and then buy my clothes. Later, I worked so I could buy a car.

I don’t know what your definition of success is, but I would guess that what success means to you today is more than likely not what it meant 10 years ago.  Successful people have goals, unsuccessful people don’t.  Success in anything depends on having a plan and knowing what key thoughts and actions produce the outcome that you want. A couple of weeks ago one of my students said to me:

“Your license plate should read, Dr. Results!”

I thought to myself, that’s a compliment, but I’d rather it read Dr. Structure. Dr. Bob Lee used to walk around with a button that said: Dr. Form suggesting that form is everything. I believe that structure is vital to success. How I structure my time determines any result that I get.

· I can waste time working with the wrong people. If I sense that I am wasting someone’s time or they are wasting mine, I walk away.
· I can waste time by using the wrong strategies.
· I can waste time by using the wrong strategies.
· I can waste time by not planning my days.
· I can waste time by not knowing what is ideal for me.

We all can be busy but not effective. We can have a full schedule but in no way is it ideal.  We all have to remember that we can’t control everything but without a plan we likely won’t feel worthwhile and certainly won’t be working towards our goals.

Please remember a goal is a structure for the future. The more ideal days you have the more you advance towards your goals. Too often we have come to believe that the goal is the destination, but really it’s the process of creating the life we want, and living it that gives meaning and purpose to life.

The more you focus on creating ideal days, the better you feel, the more you enhance your experience; the more you enhance your self-image and the greater likelihood that you will experience a high level of contentment, satisfaction and success.

]]> http://schustercenter.com/an-ideal-day-makes-an-ideal-life/feed/ 0 http://schustercenter.com/sample-post-2/ http://schustercenter.com/sample-post-2/#respond Tue, 03 May 2016 23:49:28 +0000 http://schustercenter.com/?p=441 View Article]]> Far too often, leader/managers of dental practices get trapped into thinking that if they focus on the day-to-day operation of the practice – the processes, procedures, and systems – they are in total control of management issues.

This is particularly true for group practices that, as a matter of efficiency, must utilize processes, procedures, and systems to manage the complexities of multiple offices and partners as well as large numbers of patients and staff. Efficiency, however, should not be confused with effectiveness.

Many times, leader/managers remain stuck on simply fine-tuning the systems until a recurrence of problems signals that management issues go beyond day-to-day operations. The symptoms can be as clear as a high level of stress, bickering among staff, and an increase in human resource costs; they can also be as oblique as decreased communication and erosion of the patient relationships.

How can a practice make the jump to effectiveness and prevention of these problems – the elimination of chaos?

The process begins when leader/managers of the practice begin to think through the seven key concepts critical to any organization, then answer the associated questions and communicate the answers to everyone associated with the practice – each member of the team and even the patients.

Because the seven concepts focus on basic needs of persons operating in organizations, they are questions everyone wants and needs answered. They are:

1. Why are we here?

This question addresses the issue of “purpose”, what the practice is trying to accomplish and its long term goals. It represents and directly communicates the values of the organization, and it answers the question, “Why does this practice exist?”

2. Where are we going?

This refers to the practice “vision”. It answers questions such as “Where are we headed?” and “When we’re finished doing all the work, what do we imagine the practice will look like?”

3. What is expected of me?

This addresses the “accountability” issue. Whether posed by a doctor, hygienist, chairside assistant, or receptionist. It answers questions such as “What is my part in this? What are the expectations?”

4. How am I doing?

Everyone wants to know if what they are doing is on target. This is the “feedback” mechanism.

5. What’s in it for me?

After members of a practice “buy into” its purpose and vision and begin to do what is expected of them, they want to know what the rewards are – a challenging workplace, a chance to change people’s lives, adequate compensation, and so forth. This answer clarifies the “rewards” of association with a given practice.

6. Where do I go for help?

“Where can I find support?” The answer may be different for each person associated with the group. For some, support comes from the administrator/office manager or the leader/managers. For others, it may come from the dentist him/her self.

7. How do things work?

This refers to the “systems” of a practice – how we get things done, how we accomplish our purpose and vision. This is the are most practitioners attempt to manage at the exclusion of all others.

Simple as they seem, these seven questions provide an all-encompassing list of issues that many practices fail to consider. They are particularly critical for dentists in today’s challenging economy. It is no longer possible for staff members to learn the philosophy of the doctor(s) simply by observing their behavior. The entire team needs to spend some time considering the answers to these seven questions.

Fixed costs aren’t really fixed, just constant. Dentists soon realize that they must add staff, increase office space, or keep more materials on hand to handle a larger practice. But when fixed costs increase, the overhead percentage increases and net profit decreases.

Most dentists are not aware that their introduction to marketing and management of their practice was influenced by research of manufacturing. This manufacturing/production model  doesn’t apply to dentistry or other service industries.

Those dentists who believed in this model now find themselves spending more time managing the business side of the practice and less time with their patients. As the pressure increases to produce more business, neglected patients go to another dentist who cares about them. Eventually, dentists realize that they can’t produce their way out of the “bigger is better” trap.

What do they do then? Some dentists sell their businesses to a management firm and become a paid employee of “their” practice. Others file bankruptcy or use consultants for a “quick fix.” Most continue to struggle day to day, looking for a way out. Let’s look at a model that does reflect what actually happens in a dental practice.

Costs are very high at the start up of a new practice and decrease as the practice grows. At some point, the dentist will be faced with a decision to hire more staff, increase office space and buy more materials. When this happens, “fixed costs” per unit and the overhead will increase.

Revenue per patient seen is very low at the beginning of a new practice and increases significantly as the practice grows. At some point, however, the dentists will see less return on investment with every additional patient. Efficiency is lost due to the limitation of the dental practice. As the practice grows larger, dentists are forced to spend more time in managing the business of the practice or pay someone to control the practice. There is a point where more patients means more money but a diminishing profit margin.

What this Means to You… Since 1978, Dr. Michael Schuster’s Center for Professional Development has helped thousands of dentists identify and reach their optimal profit zone. In fact, 97% of the dentists who have learned and applied his strategies and methods have achieved or exceeded their practice goals within the first year. If you’d like to learn where your optimal Profit Zone is, contact us to schedule a complimentary assessment.