Each year, Levin Group encourages practices to set 10 goals. This should include three large goals, three medium goals, three small goals, and one big, hairy, audacious goal (BHAG), a term coined in the 1980s and used to describe a super challenging goal. Your BHAG goal should be worthwhile and, if achieved, should significantly improve practice performance.
One of the goals we always recommend is a production goal. Almost any practice can increase production by 18% if they take the right steps, and the first right step is to replace practice systems. Systems are the DNA of the dental practice. They determine the level of production, profit, income, and overall practice performance.
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Perhaps this is the year that you should implement new systems that are proven and documented step-by-step. Knowing the steps allows the team to understand exactly what to do, the steps in which they should do it, and how to “wow” every patient every day. Ultimately, great systems improve and increase efficiency, production, patient satisfaction, customer service, referrals, case acceptance, and positive reviews.
We recommend practices begin to meet their goal with their scheduling system, the command-and-control system that affects all other systems. If you get the schedule right, all other systems benefit. However, if you get all other systems right and not the schedule, then everything operates at a lower performance.
Scheduling is a mathematical analysis where you look at annual production goals, daily production goals, power cell scheduling, and blocking of the schedule. If you save just 10 minutes an hour in a four-day workweek, you’ll have two months a year of increased doctor production time. This equals six extra years of doctor production time in a 36-year career. That’s a big win!
Why not make this the time that you upgrade your systems, eliminate old habits, maximize efficiency, and decrease stress? Dentistry should be rewarding. You help people and change lives every day. By having the best systems, you can enjoy the benefits of creating a phenomenally successful and enjoyable practice.
This article originally appeared in DE Weekend, the newsletter that will elevate your Sunday mornings with practical and innovative practice management and clinical content from experts across the field. Subscribe here.
