One of the greatest challenges many dental CEO’s face is how to effectively use their time in the slower, summer period.
We all love “those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer!” And we know that Canadian summers are far too short to spend our entire time working. But true CEOs know that downtime does not last. Let’s face it, we are already into August and that means the summer months will soon be winding down. The final quarter of the year is approaching fast.
That means the demands on your time will increase. People will want you to march to the beat of their drum. They will tell you they need you to do something now and will make you feel their priority needs to become your priority.
Sometimes, those people are right. But not always.
Sometimes you need to have your priorities. And that requires a plan. But it also requires an ability to stick to the plan.
So many dentists invest time in developing the perfect plan for their practice only to have it fall apart because they cannot execute that plan. When that happens, it creates a sense of failure…of frustration…of questioning why waste time planning when it makes no difference at the end of the day.
Let’s make no mistake, in a world with so many distractions, so many demands on our time, adhering to a plan is challenging. The key is to find strategies that make it as easy as possible.
And easy is the key to success. If you have read the book Atomic Habits, you will know that we are much more likely to stick to a new plan or process when we make it easy to do so.
So, to help make it easy, I recommend you adopt a process many of you may have already followed with the scheduling of your clinical time. Think about how many of you plan your perfect day. If you know you are at your best between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., you may schedule your most complex procedures at that time. Perhaps you thrive when your recare appointments are booked first thing in the morning and/or right after lunch.
So apply the same principle to your business planning. If you know your best time to review monthly financials is the first Monday morning after the end of the month, block that time out now and every such Monday for the year.
Want to check if your marketing efforts are leading to patient conversions on a weekly basis? Maybe you like Friday afternoons for that. So, block that time in your calendar as well.
Repeat this process for every business task you need to complete so you block out the time you need to be your best Dental CEO.
There are two critical elements here:
- Pick a time for these tasks that you are most likely to actually do them. If you know you just cannot get your head into financial analytics on a Thursday right after lunch, don’t think you will be able to force yourself to do it. Make it a time that works best for you to undertake that work and stick to it.
- Schedule those tasks. Don’t just make a mental note to review financials every month. Go to your scheduler and block the time you need to do it. Let your team know that time is blocked off and can only be changed by you. Your team needs to see that this time is critical to your success. If you do not block it out, they will schedule it for you. And that means those vital business tasks that are critical to your success will never be completed.
So if you have not already done so, take advantage of the slower month of August to review your schedule and see where you could block off time for those business tasks.
And imagine how much more focused you can then be on patient care when you know you have really looked after your business needs.
About the Author
Shawn Peers is the President of DentalPeers. DentalPeers is one of Canada’s oldest, continuous operating buying groups exclusively for dentists.
