There seems to almost always be more things to do in a day than there is time.
Working as a dentist or in the dental field, this couldn’t be more true. As a doctor, owner, or office manager, it is important that you carve out time to work ON the business as well as the day-to-day tasks of working IN the business. If you do not set aside intentional time to work on the business, the moments will most certainly fill up and when that happens, it’s difficult to push forward with business goals, new initiatives, etc.
TIPS:
• Start small and plan for an hour every other week. As you see how valuable this time can be to the practice, you can plan for more as you need it.
- What tasks would be ideal to do during this time of working ON the business? Look at your KPI reports, P&L reports, do a schedule analysis of things that worked or didn’t over the past couple of weeks. Assess the practice’s progress toward weekly/monthly/yearly goals and make adjustments to work towards meeting those goals. This may be a good time to discuss marketing initiatives, new types of procedures you are planning to implement, and team development/training.
- If you are the doctor/owner, it may be helpful to have your office manager or other doctors that work in the practice meet with you during this time to all get on the same page with planning and to all brainstorm ideas for improvements.
The other way you can find more time to work ON your practice is to delegate what tasks someone else could reasonably do. Doctors often like to be superheroes and handle everything when it may not be the best use of their time. Think about the types of tasks only you can do and decisions that only you as the doctor/owner can make. Everything else can be delegated and once you’ve found a way to delegate those other tasks that can be handled by others, you will have more time to do the things that only YOU can do. This can be a difficult process of letting go and does take some time to train others to take on new tasks. Pick one or two things at a time to pass off, train and watch the development of the employee taking it over, and once it’s mastered, you can move on to delegate the next thing. There are likely people who work with you that are eager to have more responsibility and take on more. Empower these team members and free yourself up to work smarter, not harder! Your business will thank you!
