The Dentist/Consultant Connection Part 1

These challenging economic times are not the time to put ones head in the proverbial sand and wish for things to get better. Now is when dentists everywhere must maximize the opportunity that really great dental consultants provide to any dental team that is willing to face these challenges head on. Having a dental consultant who is the right fit for dentist and team will stimulate the growth your practice through team development, systems/technology enhancements, improved communication skills, and more. This two part series will capture this author’s experience as a consumer of dental consultant services and will have experts in the field explain what makes the dentist-consultant relationship really work. Once you have read these two articles, you will be much better equipped to locate, hire and then soar with the dental consultant that is right for you.

A two-fold approach

In this, the first of a two part series I will tell of my own experiences from a dentist’s viewpoint over the past 30 years; both good and bad.

The second article will summarize my interviews with some of the best and brightest in the field of dental consulting to see how their views compare with mine, the ‘consumer dentist.'

My very first consultant: Uneducated disaster

I began practicing dentistry in the dark ages, 1977, after a post-doc, hospital based dental residency. I purchased a very small local dental practice. After a very short time of initial and sensational growth, I realized that I needed to add a dental hygienist. I did not know how to incorporate a dental hygienist into my practice nor how to properly manage the growth we were experiencing. I asked a colleague at the local dental society meeting who he used and ‘voila’ I now had a consultant I will call Ed (because that was his name!).

Ed had a particular philosophy about how a practice should be managed. He merely ‘fit me into his mould’. Once he was finished with his visit, he was literally gone. There was no follow-up. We gained very little. We understood even less. We spent a great deal of money.

My second consultant: The dawning of a new day

In 1979, I went to a local seminar and heard a woman speak about managing one’s dental practice. She was new to the world of consulting at that time. Her approach was clear and well thought out. I liked her style. I liked her energy. I brought my team to hear her speak. I bought her tapes. We all liked her approach. Her name was Linda Miles!

The next year, Linda came into my office for the first time. The experience was spectacular. We doubled our practice in six months!! We were so happy and it showed. This was the beginning of a series of consultations with her that spanned 26 years, two practices and five practice transitions.

What made this experience so successful? Two words summarize it all: Communication and Monitoring.

Linda did the following each time she worked with me and my team:

1. She had ALL of us complete a confidential pre-consultation interview form that let her know what we saw as our greatest successes and greatest challenges
2. Her on-site visit was a combination of close observation and effective teaching
3. She had us send her a monthly monitor that
   1. Gave her information about our progress on which she commented monthly
   2. Forced us to get into the habit of monitoring ourselves

What Linda DID NOT do was:

1. Try to fit us into a pre-determined mold.
2. Make us ‘do it her way’ without our input.
3. Dump overwhelming amounts of information on us and then just walk away

What I and my team did was:

1. Made a better choice: Experienced Linda before she ever came to our office through her seminars and tapes (no cd’s at that time!) so that we felt good about her approach to practice management before she ever walked in the door
2. Maximized the experience: Got caught up in the excitement of our shared successes by celebrating our accomplishments through reviewing the monthly monitors plus setting and reaching monthly goals.
3. Remained goal oriented long after she left: Stayed goal oriented and excited about our growth through the leadership and inspiration I as the dentist provided and my team supported.

To this day, the lessons that were learned from Linda are still carried with us all. I have repeatedly said that ‘Linda sits on my shoulder and guides me’ each and every day. We were lucky enough to be touched by this extraordinary person/consultant.

When I shared this article with Linda prior to publication she offered, “…a good consultant is one who will never hold the trump card of how to do things but teach each client and team members how to become a consultant to their own practices. I want to give my clients and their teams the ideas and let them use their own God given talent to make those ideas work in their own practices… as there is no one size fits all so no one has all of the answers…”

So, those were my own personal experiences. Did I make mistakes with the first consultant? Yes I did. Did I learn from my mistakes? Yes I did. Was my experience with Linda extraordinarily successful? A resounding YES!

Role reversal

In the past few years, I have now become a consultant myself. My current work encompasses three broad areas.

• First, I help dental practices effectively choose then incorporate new technologies into their practices.
• Second, I help dentists define their life then practice plan when moving toward a practice transition.
• Third, I work with an assessment instrument to help in not only in the area of new hires but in talent development of existing team members.

Each and every day, I carry with me the personal lessons learned from both my good and bad experiences. I also listen carefully and note what dentist colleagues and clients say about their own good and bad experiences with dental consultants. Many have a similar sound to my own.

Thus my own commitment is to insure both good communication and appropriate monitoring as Linda did with me. Once a commitment to any change or plan is established for the ‘right reasons’ by dentist and team, my goal, like hers, is to help establish a customized plan that empowers them to improve, grow and, as she put’s it “become a consultant to their own practice.”