Dental Practice Success is a Habit

 
 

As we approach my 2014 presentation of Case Acceptance: Getting to 'YES' workshop, I want to play an encore presentation of this video tip from last fall to remind you of how important it is to have an implementation plan for new ideas and strategies. My hope is that you will not only learn new ideas, tips, scripts and strategies from my video tip series and workshops, but that you will also find the time to implement them creating new habits that will make your practice more successful. I hope you enjoy!

The best strategy when you’re outside of your day-to-day environment can sound perfect on paper, but then something happens when you go back into work mode. Autopilot kicks in when you resume your day-to-day functions, and you lose sight of those new ideas. This happens because you’re a professional, and you’re good at what you do. You can go through a lot of your day on autopilot. To combat autopilot, I teach teams to create new habits around new strategies they want to implement.

It’s best not to try to create too many new habits at the same time. If, for example, we can really integrate a successful hand-off into the practice and turn that into a habit so it happens every single time, the benefit is tremendous. Whether it’s a new verbal skill, or it’s a new technique that we’re using, or a new order for a procedure, or even just how we’re greeting the patient, find a way to make it a habit. 

When I was working in a dental practice, I went through training with a practice management consultant who taught us some pretty neat verbal skills that I thought would be very helpful for me in my day-to-day work. When it came time to integrate it into my daily routine, I was struggling. I’d hang up from a call with a new patient and I’d say “Darn, that verbal skill we learned would have been perfect in that situation.” But, I was on autopilot. So I made cheat sheets and put them right on my computer monitor where I could see the scripting that I wanted to use, and that’s how I made it into a habit. Eventually, that new scripting became part of my autopilot, and I could make room to create another new habit.

It’s really important as a practice that you not only identify strategies for growth and success, but you also come up with a strategy on how to make it a habit. I hope this tip was helpful for you. For more dental practice management tips, visit my website KristinPelletier.com.