Summer is here, and many dentists look forward to a well-deserved break. However, taking a vacation when you’re a dentist business owner can also be stressful. Many dentists pursued the profession to have autonomy, and “be their own boss.” Yet far too many find out that they can’t take the time they need for vacation when they want.
Why is this?
Many dentists feel like their practice will fall apart if they leave for a week or 2 – and they’re not always wrong! Unfortunately many dental practices rely too heavily on the dentist business owner to be there to keep things running smoothly and productively. It takes building a team you trust, and creating the proper systems so that the practice runs beautifully in your absence. Then you can fulfill your vision of being autonomous and having control over your vacation time.
Learning to Delegate
Too many dentists shy away from delegating tasks to their team members. In many cases team members are more than competent, however the dentist feels like s/he has to control every aspect of running the practice.
Learning to delegate means mentally letting go of the reins. This is often more of an internal process than external. Your team is ready and waiting to help, you need to empower and inspire them to do so.
Recognize that team members may do things differently than you do. As long as they’re done to your standards of quality and patient care, it’s okay if the method isn’t exactly your own. Part of the process of letting go of the reins, is allowing your team to find their own way to complete tasks.
Trusting Your Dental Team
Being able to leave your practice on your schedule means trusting your team to keep things running smoothly in your absence. They need to care about the business, and be competent enough to take care of things on their own.
One of the 1st steps is making sure you have the right team in place to do this. We’ve all seen dental practices where even 1 non-committed team member can throw off the whole dynamic. Dental practices are unique in that every team member is crucial to the success of the business. If you have a team member who is a weak link, it’s hard to trust your team to run the business when you want to take time off.
Once you have a stellar team in place, it’s important to inspire them to do their jobs to the best of their ability. Get out of the trap of managing your team, and start empowering them to be great at their positions. This might mean sharing more about your business with the team, or incentivizing them based on production, new patients, or other metrics.
Lastly, ensure that your team is properly trained for their positions and understand what’s required of them. This may also include sending them to outside training and professional development courses.
Build Sustainable Systems in Your Dental Practice
In order to step away with ease when you want to take vacation, you need to have sustainable systems and processes in your practice. Team members need to know what to do day-to-day whether or not you’re in the office.
A great way to do this is by implementing checklists for daily processes and team members. Checklists in the medical profession are proven to dramatically reduce errors, and improve efficiency. Team members enjoy them too because it makes their job easier – it’s mentally taxing to remember every task, even if it’s something they do every day. Having it conveniently in front of them helps to streamline processes and provide better patient care.
Your business with run smoothly if everyone on your team knows what they need to do every day. When you’re building these systems, make sure you stick to them. Hold team members accountable until the processes become habitual. If you’re lax on enforcing adherence to new systems, your team members will think it’s not important. Remind your team of the big picture of why you’re implementing a system, and always be open to their feedback if a part of the process needs to be changed.
Taking Vacation With Ease as a Dentist
Owning and operating a dental practice is a tough job. Taking vacation is necessary to recover and rejuvenate. Creating the right systems and empowering your team will make your time off much more enjoyable.
At ClearEdge, we can help you set up the right systems in your office to ensure business runs smoothly in your absence. Contact us today to learn more!