The importance of STRATEGIC PLANNING If you don’t know what you want, how are you going to get it? The importance of STRATEGIC PLANNING Strategic planning is a process for aligning a business’s mission and vision with its goals and objectives.  If you don’t know where you want to be, not only will it be hard to get there, but it will also be difficult for someone to follow your lead. There are many ways to organize and conduct a strategic planning session.  These are the 7 steps that have worked well for our clients. Step 1: Review your mission and vision for your organization and ask yourself the following questions: Are the mission and vision for the organization still relevant? Are we using the mission and vision as a compass to direct us when making decisions for the business? Remember, your mission and vision should NOT SAY what you WILL DO but what you currently do.  Remove words such as “try to”, “strive to”, “aim to” and say what you are currently doing.  It should be more of a declaration and a promise than an action plan to achieve. Step 2: Involve your team in completing a SWOT ANALYSIS of your business. What are our strengths? What are our weaknesses? What opportunities are we missing out on? What is threatening our practice? There are no stupid answers as each person’s feedback is valuable to the success of the practice.  Have each department complete one – clinical, business, marketing, accounting, and providers.  That way you will have a wide variety of information to go on. Step 3: Ask your team their queen for a day wishes. If you owned the practice, what changes would you make? What would make you want to refer more friends and family to our office? If someone gave you a large chunk of money to spend on the practice, where would you spend it? What motivates you the most?  (Bonuses. Benefits, Additional days off… etc.) Studies about generations in the workplace all show that employees want to feel valued, want to contribute, and they want constant feedback.  Making their feedback a priority will help them feel a part of the office on a higher level. Step 4: Complete a Broken Windows Broken Business Assessment with your team. If you have never read the book Broken Windows Broken Business by Michael     Levine, I highly recommend that you read it.  Review your practice from an outsider’s perspective.  Walk around your practice, look at your website, sit in your chairs, and even review any papers that are being given to your patients. Provide your team with a blank worksheet that looks something like this: Items that need attention $0 Items   Under $500 items Over $500 items Wash the baseboards in the reception area Use the touch up paint in the reception area Repair the chair in Op 2 that is ripped Pick up the cigarette butts that are outside of the office Pressure wash the outside of the building to get the cobwebs off Shred all the old charts and get them out of the office Clean the dead bugs from the lights Please consider this a treatment plan for your practice and don’t take it personally.  Often, we don’t even walk in the front door often enough to know  Some items might be hard to take but most are simple fixes that will increase the overall appearance of the practice for your patients.  By conducting this exercise before your strategic plan, it will allow you to set time frames and goals for those projects. Step 5: Now that you know where you are, let’s determine where you want to go! Get ready for the day: The easiest way to look at things on timelines is to get large sticky poster board size papers and put them up all around the room.  Label them Q1 – 2024, Q2 2024, Q3 2024, Q4 2024, 2025, 2026 Bring your KPI’s with you as a reference. Bring your P & L with you as a reference. Have your leadership team available for the exercise without interruptions. Step 6: Let’s GO! The timelines are on the walls.  Take each objective for 2024 and add it to the selected.  Just lay out the groundwork first so that it can be visual and balanced. Ask yourself:  Where should our KPI’s be now, next quarter and so on. Which of the items on the repairs list should be completed and when. What items are high priority threats that we need to work on right away? What opportunities are we missing that we need to take? Where do these items fit in our budget? You are creating a high-level roadmap for your office and hopefully the mission and vision are the compass that will guide you to success. Step 7: Prioritize, Delegate, Execute, and Evaluate Where do we start and who needs to do what?  Look at people’s job descriptions as well as their talents to delegate tasks.  Make clear deadlines and allow them to ask questions about the tasks that are assigned. Fully commit and have your team on board with the plan to see the best success. Accountability of these tasks will be imperative to the success of the strategic plan.  Monthly meetings that specifically address your objective should be conducted and make sure to celebrate your successes along the way! Sometimes, your strategic plan needs to be adjusted.  You may accomplish things early and can move items from quarter to quarter.  Evaluate what is working and what is not and determine the next steps.  Do you have the right team on board for you to achieve your goals?  You may see people elevate their skills or decide that their internal compass is pointing in a different direction.  Constant communication is essential.  Clear communication + clear expectations will deliver the best results. Here is to a fun-filled, action-packed, goal-achieving year for you and your practice!

Are you thinking about outsourcing? THINK AGAIN! The cost of hiring in office skilled team members is skyrocketing and it has caused many businesses to start to look for other solutions such as outsourcing. THINK AGAIN! Not all companies are created equal, and it is important to do your research before you pull the trigger on a disappointing experience with an underwhelming partner. Think about the impact using remote team members will have on your team and your patients. Will this remote team member represent your brand in a positive light? Will your patients be able to clearly understand them on the phone? Will the RED CARPET be rolled out or will this be JUST a JOB to your remote team? Talent can be found everywhere, you just need to find the right talent for your patients and team so find a company that allows YOU to select who works with your office. Think about your mission and vision. Will outsourcing get you closer or further away from your mission and vision for your practice. Always utilize your mission and vision to act as a compass to guide you to the right decisions. When you find yourself drifting away from the initial goals, it is time to reconsider your choices for partnering with your business. Think about your cost savings. Think about all the things your current team members could be doing but they don’t currently have time to complete. A remote team member is a far more cost effective option for keeping your roster full. Many states have different employment laws for offices who employ more than 50 team members. With remote team members you shouldn’t be paying unemployment, benefits, or taxes. Think about how much it is costing for the remote team members. It isn’t all about the cost of the services. There are hundreds of outsourcing companies, and you will always be able to find a company that costs less than your current company but make sure you compare apples to apples. Hidden charges can be lurking around every corner. Consider a company that charges a flat fee for the tasks you are requesting. Think about what you need. Are you wanting a service or are you wanting someone that can act as an extension of your practice? Service providers can quote you a fee for one particular task such as insurance verifications but they might fail to mention additional fees for extra codes or urgent verifications. Some services can be completed adequately for your office by using AI – it just depends on if your patient base is insurance dependent. Someone who is a remote team member, and not acting as a service, will do things the way you want them done by using your forms and systems. Think about security! Verify that any company that you have that is working remotely has the right security measures in place. They should have a reputable company such as Black Talon who monitors and secures connections. Speaking of security, when a team member works from home, without any supervision, things have been known to happen! Your outsourcing company should have a state-of-the-art facility for all team members so monitoring and mentorship is available. Have you ever been on a call with someone from another country and heard outside noises? Call quality and internet connection are essential for a successful partnership. Think about your commitment. Long term contracts are for companies that need to trap you into their services regardless of the productivity. Look for a company that cares about your team member’s performance and allows an easy exit strategy. You will want weekly or monthly KPI reports to track the progress. Don’t forget to ask what the retention rate is for their clients and their team members! Think about how to use your outsourcing. Are they able to cover for a team member who calls in sick? Can they call patients when they find out their insurance has been terminated? In their downtime, can they be updating your social media or calling past due recare patients? What about booking your travel to your next CE event? How does one company outweigh another? How many team members will you need to accomplish your goals? All valid points to consider when investing in outsourcing talent. You want to outsource? Think again about your WHY. Think about your HOW. Think about your WHEN. Remember, the longer you wait the more money you are losing. Need additional information about OUTSOURCING? Schedule a call with me to learn more about the Do’s and Don’ts to make outsourcing successful!

5 Senses There is one thing that I know – and that is none of us know what the dental field will look like when we are finally able to open our doors and fill the chairs with patients.  Now is the time to think outside the box.   Remember our 5 senses – taste, feel, smell, sight, and hearing.  Think about your practice.  What can you do to improve the patient experience in your office with their 5 senses?  Here are 5 tips and tricks for our 5 senses: Taste:  What flavors of prophy paste do you offer? Should you use an Isolight or IsoDry to limit the taste a patient experiences? Do you offer beverages in your reception area for your patients? Do your flavors of fluoride varnish taste good?  Have you all tried them? Have you considered an alcohol-free mouth rinse that doesn’t burn or taste bad?  Try OxyFresh products – you’ll love the taste and the effectiveness of the products. Feel: I love a warm blanket during treatment or a hot towel after dental work.  Warmth is calming and relaxing. Have you ever thought about weighted blankets in your practice?  The weighted blanket has been proven effective with all types of patients, not just special needs. No one likes a sticky surface – make sure all toys, books, surfaces are wiped down often. A slight gentle hand on the shoulder of a patient can go a long way to calm their nerves.  A little tap can make a patient feel more relaxed. Give all the feels by sending heartwarming cards to your patients – get well, sympathy, congratulation, and birthday cards make your patients feel special. Smell:  You want your office to smell clean but not be overpowering.  Step outside your office and then walk back in.  What does it smell like?  How many different things can you smell?  Do this often to put yourself into the shoes of your patients. Plant flowers or have planters by your front door.  Have fresh flowers delivered to your office weekly if no one in your office has allergies. Consider scented Nitrous Oxide masks. Do you use an air purification system in your office? Keep your breakroom smell free.  Prop open a back door when cooking smelly foods. Sight:  Be a patient and come in through the front door.  Look up, down and all around.  Do you see cobwebs, trash, cigarette butts?  Are your carpets and floors clean? How is your signage?  Does it need to be updated or cleaned? Speaking of your signs, what about nametags?  Are you wearing them? Check your SEO – can you be seen online? Do you have equipment that is less than ideal?  Is ducktape your friend?  Remember, your patients can judge your dentistry based on the look of your equipment. Your patients will want to feel safe and helping them see your safety measures will be important.  Open your instrument packs in front of the patient and have privacy screens on your computers.

10 Actions Your Remote Team Members Can Be Doing Now Your office can be extremely productive using remote team members.  Now is the time to activate your resources to  clean reports and start 2024 with a BANG! #1  Your remote team member can be checking the status of outstanding claims.  Insurance companies are still working.  Online access is still available to the insurance companies.  Your remote team member could be able to resend claims that were not received, close claims that have been previously paid, and send the additional information that the insurance that has been holding up the claim. #2  Your remote team member can clean up the employers list.  Certain software companies, Eagelsoft is an example, insurance is attached to the employer.  If you look at this report and see multiple employers with the same insurance and same group number then these duplicate employers should be condensed into one plan.  This will eliminate the need to get run down of benefits on multiple plans that are the exact same. #3  Your remote team member can inactivate patients that haven’t come into your office in the last 18-24 months.  (whatever time frame you decide)  Keeping them active is costing your practice money through recare systems and inaccurate patient counts. #4  Your remote team member can complete chart audits on patients that have credits.  They can review EOB’s (most are found online) to determine if the patient’s credit is a legitimate credit balance. #5  Your remote team member can complete a full run down of benefits on larger employers in your system.  Make it perfect and accurate.  Then make sure the plan is in the system correctly using coverage books or blue books to make sure that a treatment plan clearly reflects the correct estimated patient portion. #6  Your remote team member can assist with cleaning up your recare system.  Those systems that allow multiple recare systems may be being used incorrectly.  Watch the training video on the recare system and make recommendations to the dentist on how to proceed.  You might need to remove some recare from a patient or you might need to assign a recare system. #7  Your remote team member could help with your social media posts.  You can schedule these posts in advance.  Get yourself set up for the next few months with outstanding posts that promote your practice and make your practice unique from the other cookie cutter posts. #8  Your remote team member could be assisting with auditing accounts for the A/R reports.  Do you know for sure the account balances are accurate before you send out statements?  Sending out a statement with an inaccurate balance will create a major headache for your team. #9  Your remote team member can help you gather the information you need to renegotiate your PPO contracts.  Ask them to determine the process for negotiating and get an action plan.  Provide them with your Provider Relations Representative contact information or they can simply reach out to each insurance company to ask the difficult questions. If you need additional information on how to implement any of these 10 tips please reach out.  We can even assist you in evaluating the greatest need for your practice at this time.  Take advantage of this down time to maximize your remote team members so when your team returns the practice reports and systems are in a better place than where they were when your doors closed.

Daily Huddle If you are not having daily team huddles, you are missing out! Hopefully you are utilizing a DASHBOARD for your practice, but if you aren’t then a DAILY HUDDLE is even more of a necessity.  Your team needs to know what they can do with today to make it count!   Let’s start off by EVERYONE showing up on time for this all important meeting.  Even the Dr’s need to arrive and be PRESENT both physically and mentally.  When people are listening to understand you will have a productive meeting.   TRUE STORY: During a morning huddle, it was stated that Bobby who was seeing Dr. XXX at 3:00pm COULD NOT have radiographs.  Mom called to make sure he wouldn’t be getting any radiographs that day.  There were flags, there were notes but not everyone was paying attention.  There was an assistant that was only listening to details that involved the patient’s in her column.  Well at 3pm the office was running behind and this assistant wanted to be a team player so they took Bobby back.  She noticed that he hadn’t had radiographs in 18 months so she was proactive and took the pano he was due for.  MOM WAS FURIOUS – it has nothing to do with the cost.  Bobby was having some medical issues and needed more tests.  The medical doctors had told mom no radiographs for 3 months before his big procedure that she had been waiting to take him in to get completed for a long time.  This small misunderstanding had a very large impact both on the practice and the patient.  Why doesn’t everyone take notes?  Why doesn’t everyone pay attention during these huddles?  I fixed it – A simple change that made a huge impact.  I passed out physical schedules for everyone in the beginning of the huddle.  Everyone was required to take notes on their schedules.  Then at the end of the huddle I gathered the schedules and passed them back out to other people.  Now they have to show teamwork, take good notes, and know about EVERY patient on the schedule.   How are your daily huddles?  If you need some help, here are some pointers.   Dental Daily Huddle Instructions  Facilitator – gets everyone there on time.  They have to gather everyone up and make sure the huddle runs as planned.  Checks in with team ahead of time to make sure they have all their needed information.   EVERYONE needs to have a schedule in their hands and in fact conducting the huddle in front of a computer with a schedule has also been proven to be highly beneficial.   Each assistant should be given a route slip the evening before the huddle to review.  They keep their own route slips, make their own notes on them, and are prepared for the huddle using these as tools.  They can all be turned back into the front if needed after the huddle but often times works out better if they keep them on a clip board for themselves for the day.  Start with each column and go through the patients – Laser beam focused on what your team needed to know.  Do not simply read through the schedule – make it efficient and timely.   BEFORE HUDDLE:   Everyone needs to come prepared.  Once you are on the clock you are on company time, not coffee time, breakfast time,not makeup time, hair should be up ALWAYS for clinical team, rooms should be stocked.

Sweet Treats I know, I know, I work with dentists but sometimes you just have to treat yourself. Here is a recipe that was passed to me for the WORLD’S BEST PECAN PIE and it lives up to it’s title. Give it a try and let me know what you think! Pecan Pie Mix in medium bowl on slow speed, 3 eggs, slightly beaten 1 Cup sugar 1 Cup dark corn syrup (lite ok) 1 Tbs salt free butter, melted 1 tsp vanilla ¼ Cup heavy cream ½ Cup or more broken pecans When thoroughly combined, pour into uncooked, deep dish pie shell Top with unbroken pecan halves – I use concentric circles. Bake at 350 for 50 -60 minutes. I usually check after about 20 minutes, reduce heat to 325, cover the pie crust edges with foil, and continue baking until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Takes patience!

SOP’s in the dental office Standard Operating Procedures or SOP’s are essential for consistency and stability of a dental practice.  There is an easy way to get started on your very own practice manual. Step 1:  Know what SOP’s need to be created.  Have each team member carry around a piece of paper in their pocket for 2 weeks.  When they do anything as part of their job, have them write it down.  EVERYTHING.  Take out the trash, process returned mail, clean the traps and even get the mail – write it down. Step 2: Create 1 master list of all tasks that are completed by the business team, hygiene team, and clinical team. Step 3: Set priorities on which tasks need SOP’s created first, 2nd and so on. Step 4: Create an SOP for creating an SOP.  For instance, tray set up SOP’s need to have photos, the names of the instruments, and where they can be found in the office.  A business team task may require screen shots of each step.  These SOP’s should be so simplistic that your 12 year old child could do the task by reading the instructions. Step 5: Distribute the tasks with timelines.  Ask the team what a reasonable expectation is and then provide additional time so that there are no excuses.  Also, define what completed means.  Does that simply mean written out or does that mean tested and tried by multiple people to make sure it is correct? Step 6: Once created, tested, and tried, create a manual.  Consider rewarding your team when a task’s SOP is created or offer incentives for when the entire manual is complete. Step 7: Review these SOP’s often – everyone in the office should know where they are and how to use them.

Sinking Ship Quick – You are on ship and its starting to sink, what do you do? I took a poll of over 100 people and I asked them what would you do if you were on a sinking ship and not surprising, 84% of the people said grab a life vest and get off the boat.  If questioned further most of these individuals would say “ I had no choice I had get off the boat!  Sure, I would have saved the boat if I knew how!  But safety, first right?” This is not unlike a dental practice that is understaffed and overstressed. Many feel there is nothing left to do when their cries for help have gone unheard.  And yet we wonder, why do we continuously find ourselves understaffed in our dental offices and feel as if we ourselves are drowning.  Your team knows when you are taking on water and if you don’t throw them a life vest, you’ll see that they will gather up their friends and jump ship leaving you stranded at sea! You need to KNOW to prevent your practice from taking on water.  You’ll learn what steps you need to HAVE in place when you become understaffed and how implementing these techniques will ultimately make you Feel as if you are once again the captain of your ship.  If the sea gets rough your crew will have the support needed to weather any storm and your ship ….YOUR PRACTICE will remain strong with minimal stress and a happy team! We KNOW your strong ship needs a navigation system to keep you from steering off course.  That is your mission and vision. When you are making decisions for your practice or even hiring a new team member concentrate on who can represent your brand and fulfill the mission of your practice. Listen for core values during the interview process.  Hiring someone without your same values and vision will run you aground. Once, your new team member has boarded the vessel…make sure they fully understand expectations through a thorough onboarding process.  This sets them up for success in a proactive manner.   You are a transformational leader by showing your team the big picture and asking for an all hands on deck approach to resolving problems.  Talk to your team, ask open ended questions to see if they need a lifejacket before they start to drown.  As the captain, your job is to ensure that your team is safe both physically but also mentally so they don’t jump overboard at the first sign of distress.  When team members do decide to exit your ship, talk to your remaining crew to see if there are things in your practice which could be making it difficult for people to be able to do their jobs.  Are they trained enough?  Do they need to join an  Office Managers Chapter so they can gain knowledge?  Invest in your team and use each challenge as an opportunity to plug any potential holes in your vessel.  This will ensure growth! Remember this phrase, Clear communication + clear expectations will deliver outstanding results. I learned a valuable lesson early in my career in dentistry. I returned from lunch one day to find my two co-workers had simply walked off the job. I met my boss in his office, and he said, “It’s just you and me. Are you ready?” He encouraged me and told me we would get through this together, but he asked only one promise from me: the care of his patients could not suffer. Let the phones go to voicemail, enter payments later, but the passengers aboard our ship would have the best experience possible. As captain of the ship he empowered me to take the helm and steer the ship because I believed in his vision/mission for the practice.  Looking back, this would have been the perfect opportunity to put out an SOS call and bring in a rescue crew to help keep the ship afloat.  At the time, the terms out sourcing, in sourcing, and remote team members were not in existence… today we have better options. What do you as a leader do when your ship is taking on water and YOU ARE feeling overwhelmed? Stop, take a breath and make a plan.  Lead your crew through some problem-solving techniques by asking them to brainstorm.  Your goal should be to find 4 solutions and one of which can’t cost any money.  You’d be surprised what your crew is able to come up with!  A transformation leader will value their opinion and lead the discussion rather than dominate and direct the outcome.  Your goal is to explore possibilities with your team!  We as transformational leaders ask questions that can’t be answered by yes or no.  There is great power in open ended questions such as “what are you good at, what do you like doing and what do you not like doing?”  What I have found is that if someone thinks a task is below them or they dislike that task chances are they are no longer vested in it’s success. Do you remember your first job in the dental field?  Think about the first time you walked into the office, fresh out of your dental training, and you are ready to go.  Tell me what to do and I’ll do it!  I’d pick up the phone with a smile on my face and confirm appointments all day long and love my job.  Fast forward 25 years and I have more important things that I should be doing right now than confirming appointments.  I have a $10K treatment plan that I need to go over with a patient so I better whip through these confirmations so I can say they are done never realizing that my failure to perform the task correctly could result in more cancellations or rescheduled appointments.  Throw them a life vest to preserve the life of your practice. Think about the tasks