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January 13, 2008

By Amy Morgan

If you like to project yourself as a no frills, hard-hitting lady (like I do), you might back away from some of the softer elements of leadership. The last thing you want is to appear vulnerable and emotional with your team. It can be difficult for a woman in a leadership position to show sensitivity for fear it will be perceived as weakness. I remember the first time Dr. Jim Pride, our founder, broached the subject of leading with vision. My response was, "Even if we are a California-based company, I don't want to link hands and sing Kum Ba Yah!"

As I matured in my role of leader, however, my respect and acceptance of the softer elements of leadership became more profound. What I now understand is that a woman entrepreneur not only needs to know where her business is going, she needs to take the time to explain her direction and invite her staff, customers, and others to come along. So, yes, I now believe you can be a black-and-white, hard-hitting leader who creates and communicates through vision and values.

Every modern theory of leadership starts with the same "step zero" — creating a vision that really works. For example, authors Kouzas and Posner of The Leadership Challenge observe: "Despite the sometimes humorous references to 'the vision thing,' no serious contemporary treatment of leadership would suggest that a leader should be concerned only about short-term performance and not about the long-term creation of value. It's an accepted fact of a leader's life. No matter what term is used [to describe the leader's vision] — whether purpose, mission, legacy, dream, goal, calling, or personal agenda — the intent is the same: leaders want to do something significant ..."

Ken Blanchard has the same message in his new book, Leading at a Higher Level. He says, "Why don't more leaders have a vision? We believe it's a lack of knowledge. Many leaders ... say they just don't get the 'vision thing.' They acknowledge that vision is desirable, but they're unsure how to create it."

The need for vision holds true in every dental practice. In your day-to-day activities, as you try to inspire dental assistants to hand you the right instruments, financial coordinators to collect at 98 percent, patients to accept ideal treatment, and labs to get your cases back on time, those requests communicate how you want the job done. It is only through your vision that you can provide the why, i.e., the reason for your team, patients, and business partners to do what you want them to do. A secret: The why provides passion. The how (without the why) creates drudgery.

Giving yourself and others the meaning behind the tasks you all perform imparts value to those tasks. Without clearly knowing and embracing the meaning behind what we do, our actions can be mechanical and uninspired. I dare you to examine your practice and ask yourself which of your tasks feel like drudgery. How would you recognize such tasks? Anything introduced by the words "I should" — I should be a better leader, I should have more staff meetings, I should inspire my hygiene staff — can feel like "eat your spinach" moments. I bet those "I should" tasks lack a clear, compelling vision. All of us want to know that our work is for a noble purpose, and the vision is what gives our life and work value.

When I refer to vision, I'm not talking about fluffy slogans like, "I want to help all the little children of the world." You can tune in to any beauty pageant and mock contestants who say the same thing, knowing they're just trying to score points with the judges. Your vision must be deeply, personally meaningful and not merely politically correct rhetoric. Defining what you really want for your professional life is incredibly liberating. It's exhilarating to realize you can create a practice that gives you significant purpose.

There is a common tendency for women to think of their lives and practices as simply vehicles to serve others. However, women must serve themselves, also. Serving your patients with dentistry and providing jobs for your staff are the result of serving yourself — by practicing the kind of dentistry you want to do, living a comfortable lifestyle, providing a good education for your children, and securing a comfortable retirement. Your practice vision focuses on you and the goals and values you want to achieve.

To identify the vision you truly want requires courage. The meaning of this word inspires me as it applies to vision. "Courage" comes from the French word "coeur," which means "heart." We can think of courage as driving the heart, not the head. Approaching your vision with courage means making it emotionally gripping and compelling — first to you, and then to your team, patients, and others.

Creating your special vision

To create a compelling vision, follow three key steps:

• Define a significant purpose. You can't achieve your ideal practice until you know what it is. In clarifying your purpose, ask yourself some basic questions: What kind of dentistry do I want to do? What outcomes do I want to achieve? Why do I want to achieve them? What type of patients do I want to have in order to do the kind of dentistry I want to do? What qualities do I want my staff to possess? What kind of service do I want to provide that will complement the type of dentistry I do? Your answers will provide a blueprint for a purpose-driven practice.

• Paint a compelling picture of the future (that you really, really want). It's amazing how many women dentists are so consumed with day-to-day operations that they haven't identified where they want to be down the road. Ask yourself: What do I want success for me to be in one, five, and 10 years? The answer can't be, "Hopefully, I'll be doing the same thing I am now, with very little change." The future is like the horizon. As you sail closer, it remains in the distance. This is why Dr. Pride often said: "Success is not the end of the journey, but the journey itself." As you achieve your goals, you need to set new ones for the challenges ahead.

Keep in mind that the vision for your ideal dental practice may never be 100 percent fulfilled. This does not mean you have failed. Your vision will have done its job if it moves you to levels of success that you never thought possible.

• Establish clear values that change as your vision evolves and guides your daily decisions. One of the most important lessons I've learned as a long-term leader is that business values shift dramatically throughout a person's career. It's desirable for character values such as honesty and integrity to remain unchanged; however, our business values do indeed need to change. If you run your practice on the same values you had straight out of dental school, your vision might be: "I'd like to do dentistry on someone, not get yelled at, and get paid for it." Ten years into practice, your key values may shift to: "I'd like to have a practice that's balanced and efficient in order to provide me with an excellent income and also allow me to spend significant time with my family." Five years later: "I'd like to invest in the latest and greatest in state-of-the-art-technology and use my practice to express my clinical creativity." All of those visions are valid because as the leader changes, her values shift. Rather than fear new horizons, a leader can gain fulfillment by recognizing shifts and creating new visions.

As I mentioned earlier, a common flaw in women dentists is to base their practices on the value of being liked by others. If you attempt to run your practice on the value of service to others because you think it's what your patients and team want, you will not have the passion to make your vision a reality — because you left yourself out of the equation. If you wake up every morning and hit the snooze button, chances are there's something lacking in your vision. Re-examine it to be sure it reflects what you deeply desire for your fulfillment and happiness.

Getting your team on the bus

In developing a team banded together toward a common goal (your vision), each member, by his or her very nature, has a personal vision. The practice vision becomes the mother ship, the vehicle that all team members can hitch a ride to in order to accomplish their personal goals. While a democratic process should not set your vision — you don't need your staff's permission to set your goals — you do need your team to consider how their goals can be accomplished within your vision.

For example, a classic practice vision could sound like this: "Our mission is to provide excellence in dentistry with warmth, caring, and humor in an environment that leaves everybody smiling. Our patients enthusiastically appreciate our level of care and therefore commit to a lifetime of oral health and pay us the highest compliment by referring. We accomplish our goals as a team of individuals who genuinely care about the process and results. Excellence in everything is expected and applauded."

This practice vision can be a vehicle for the leader to accomplish her personal goals, which could include supporting her family, allowing time for outside interests and hobbies, and providing the profitable environment to practice the kind of dentistry she desires. If the practice vision is accomplished, staff members can look forward to accomplishing their goals, which may include being well compensated so they can provide a good home life and pursue outside interests.

Committing your vision to writing

If you are the only person who knows about your vision, then it is more like a hallucination. It must be committed to writing so that it will be real to you and communicable to others. In developing a full, precise, written statement, include the following:

• Define what the practice will provide to its patients. Specify the clinical care, customer service, and practice culture you want your patients to experience.

• Define what you would like your ideal patients to give back to the practice. Very often dentists leave out the role of the ideal patient they want to attract. This omission overlooks the fact that the strongest relationship you have is your partnership with your patients. A partnership indicates that if one partner gives something, the other partner gives something in return. Vision statements often sound like religious vows taken selflessly by the dentist, thereby denying patient accountability. Of course, you will want your patients to pay your fees. For you to be completely fulfilled, however, you may also want your patients to commit to long-term oral health, be responsible for accepting and following through with treatment, pay in a timely manner, and refer friends, associates, and family.

• Define the role of the team in accomplishing your vision. Your greatest asset is your staff. Unless you provide your team with black and white expectations for ideal behavior, you may get potluck.

Practicing your dream

Once you have a written, formal vision, its strength doesn't come from merely framing and hanging it in your reception area. Its strength comes from being a guiding principle for everything that you, your team, and your patients accomplish in your practice. The mark of an excellent vision is how many times it is referred to daily, in highlighting excellent behaviors and results, as well as in correcting ineffective attitudes and outcomes. Patients will feel your practice is guided by a vision through your marketing, their first phone call into your practice, and your welcome packet and new patient evaluation.

Staff members should become aware of your practice vision in your employment ad, interview process, job descriptions, and training plan. Your vision should be pervasive. It should even be in the background music, setting the tone for all the team and patients' encounters with your practice.

Dancing to your new tune: 'Me and My Vision'

What I love about vision is that once you've created something you feel truly passionate about, it becomes as attuned to you as your shadow. When you're making tough decisions, such as "Is it OK to let a key staff member arrive late for huddle every day?" or "Should I invest in an expensive piece of equipment?" you will never feel alone again. You have your vision to keep you company. You can say to a staff member, "I understand that you're arriving late to get your kids to school, but it violates our vision." Or you can say to the salesperson, "I'm interested in purchasing this equipment because it promotes my vision." Your vision gives you a guiding principle to aid you in decision-making and moving forward.

Being a woman leader that has to confront, communicate, create, and collaborate is risky business. Without a vision, the risk increases tenfold. Protect yourself. Find the ideas and words that communicate what you're passionate about, and then wear your vision like a suit of armor, protecting you against all threats and displaying your honor to the world.

Amy Morgan is CEO and lead trainer of Pride Institute, the practice management firm that for over 30 years has helped dentists better their lives by mastering the business side of their practices. To get more of Amy's leadership tips, enroll in her popular seminar, "The Dentist's Voice." In this intimate, small-group setting, you will be able to discuss your practice issues with her personally. Call (800) 925-2600 or visit www.prideinstitute.com.

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