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Money and Happiness: The Secrets of Goal Setting and Creating a Motivated Team Rhonda R. Savage, DDS

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Dr. Kalvin Chen hadn’t been the last person to leave his office for the past five years. He sat in his reception area, trying to see what his patients saw every day. He wondered how it’d happened. He had a solid practice and felt, for the most part, that he had a good team. But the enthusiasm and passion just wasn’t there. His work was routine and lacked satisfaction. Some of his staff pulled morale down, berated the front office team and complained about scheduling. The hygiene department lacked motivation and direction. Gossip lingered around the corners of his practice; he wasn’t sure who the culprits were, but he knew for certain the problem existed. The morale of the practice was down. Dr. Chen could feel it; it was as palpable and pulsating as the beat of his heart.

His production was stable, about $150,000 a month. Dr. Chen consoled himself, saying, "Most doctors would be happy with this." But he knew his practice had not reached its true potential. And he couldn’t deny he was at a low point. He closed his eyes, leaned his head back in the reception area chair and thought, "What do I want? If I open my eyes and it’s suddenly three years from now, and everything’s perfect… What would ‘perfect’ look like?" Eyes closed, he pondered, focused and visualized the practice and the life he wanted:
  • Energized, self-starting, motivated team members.
  • Enthusiastic patients who consistently appreciated treatment and referred in their friends and family.
  • Predictable income from his business that would keep his retirement funded and college savings for his daughter on track.
  • Technology and techniques that would improve the quality of his care and challenge his learning abilities.
  • Time off to enjoy his family.
  • Less stress and more fun in the office.
"These are the six major things I want," he said to himself. "Now, how am I going to get there? I know from reading about goal setting that I need to break these big things down into small daily steps. I also know that I need my team behind me or I’m not going to succeed." Patient satisfaction was one of his primary concerns. He knew he needed to make more money to accomplish his goals. Finances were sufficient, but he had a lot of write-offs because of all the PPO plans in which he participated. Where would he find more profit to fund his retirement account and also have additional funds to grow his practice?

With his complicated situation defined, he started asking friends and colleagues for advice. He read all the reports he could get his hands on from the journals. Then, one day, he read an article about implementation of systems and accountability in staff. If he could get his team excited about implementing systems, reorganizing, training, implementing new techniques and improving their verbal skills, he thought, "This is it! The sky’s the limit! And, most importantly, I can do this! But I also know I need help and I want the team to share in our growth."

In his opinion, the first step was to find a consultant; someone who could motivate him to look inward and start the action plan right away. He also wanted someone who understood his practice dynamics and who would suggest positive change accordingly. He wanted a customized plan that he could refer to on a consistent basis.

Dr. Chen interviewed seven dental consultants. He wanted one who was patient, positive in focus and yet direct about what he needed to do. If the consultant wasn’t direct, he felt, "It was just a nice phone call." He told the consultants, "I’m a family man. My time with my family is of the utmost importance to me."

His chosen consultant said, "I understand. But, Dr. Chen, how willing are you to change? On a scale of 1-10, where would you draw your mark in the sand?"

He replied, "I’m about seven out of 10." To which the consultant responded, "That’s great! I’ve had doctors say, ’I think I’m a four,’ to which I had to say, "But Doctor, that’s not good enough!’"

After the onsite visit with the consultant, Dr. Chen said, "How am I going to find time to do all this? Your initial report is 26 pages! I’m overwhelmed but am happy to see that I’m not the only person who realizes that my practice needs help!"

The doctor thought about it. He realized what he needed to give up for the short term to undertake the project. He got his wife, Lucy, involved and made sure she understood the challenges ahead and why they were important. He told his consultant, "My family comes first! I need them to give me the green light on the project." He felt his 12-year-old daughter, Celeste, also needed to understand why he’d hired a consultant. In addition, Dr. Chen loved auto racing and bike riding. He knew that once he committed to this project, he wouldn’t have the time and energy to continue his hobby for the short term.

Dr. Chen listed what he needed to correct right away. The items were well documented in the consultant’s report. He had to be realistic about his business’s financial strength. He knew he didn’t want to overextend himself by buying too many new products or subscribing too many services right away. He knew that the only way his practice could succeed was to have a team of highly devoted and genuine staff. The power of the dental team is tremendous!

The doctor prepared a "practice improvement master plan" from the consultant’s report. He had a vision of what he wanted to do with his practice. He presented it to his staff after reading the consultant’s report. "We started with morning huddles," he said. "I was met with resistance, but now, none of my team would want to go back to being without them! The increase in communication is huge! Our production went up and teamwork went up, because we were all on the same page! From the morning huddle, we knew the financial status of the patients, their medical needs, pending treatment, past due X-rays, and if someone didn’t make their appointment, we had the ability to ’slide a patient over’ if the finances were OK with the patient."

Next, Dr. Chen listed the job responsibilities for each team member, with their help. "I asked them to list out what they did with 80 percent of their time. From that compiled list, I redistributed job descriptions. That enabled me to challenge those whose talents were underutilized. What I got was an excited, amazing team. But it didn’t come overnight. The entire process took about a year, overall.

In the yearlong process, Dr. Chen implemented meetings by departments to facilitate and increase communication. "I also had extensive meetings with each individual team member to discuss my plan," said Dr. Chen.

Along the way, he noticed some staff members were definitely not team members. They either had to change their attitude or eventually leave the practice. You might feel its complicated, reviewing and assessing your team, but Dr. Chen knew he needed to weigh the problems against two very basic questions:
  1. Is whatever that’s happening in the best interest of my patients?
  2. Is whatever that’s happening in the best interest of the practice as a healthy practice?
"I reevaluated each staff member every two months to ensure they adhered to their job responsibilities," said Dr. Chen. These are some very small steps, yet incredibly important to the change process.

Dr. Chen kept a list of his six major goals on his desk. He looked at them daily to reaffirm his vision and direction. Together with his consultant, they broke out the small daily steps necessary to reach his ultimate goal. You might wonder how he found time to do all this?

Each month, he set aside a few projects to complete, like: creating sample change-of-policy letters, new patient experience training, staff training, verbal scripting, financial policy guidelines, creating a thorough employee manual, improving technology, etc. All these projects required a lot of effort, but the team members were involved, engaged and made it happen!

Making deadlines were important to Dr. Chen. His normal day was demanding and he didn’t usually have time to perform any administrative duties. Beginning in 2008, he arrived at the office at 8 a.m. That gave him an hour to work on the project at hand. Then, he stayed for one-to-two hours after work each day, Monday through Thursday, to continue with the projects at hand. He also delegated an occasional half day on Fridays when he and his team had regular monthly meetings.

As amazing as it might sound, Dr. Chen still takes seven weeks off each year and spends every weekend with his family. He also managed to attend many hours of continuing education to keep up with the current techniques and trends in dentistry.

Dr. Chen realized that, to reach his goal, he needed to involve the team. But most importantly, he needed to be willing to change himself. With a solid beginning plan and a focused, concentrated end goal, Dr. Chen now has the practice of his dreams. His team produced $207,000 in March 2010. His practice has grown despite the recession. Most importantly, he believes he has one of the best dental teams in town! His goal for the next one-to-two years is to build up his associate’s schedule and his specialty department. He has visiting specialists onsite providing endodontic and implant services for his patients.

Change is hard. When faced with a large project like revitalization of a dental practice, it’s easier to procrastinate than it is to change. Yet growth is possible, even in today’s economy. You can do the same for your team! Close your eyes and concentrate. Ask yourself, "Where do I want to be in three years and what are my major goals?" Then break them down into two-to-three small steps to do each day to reach your goal.

Begin by assessing your team’s cohesiveness:
  • Are your team meetings compelling?
  • Do you discuss important topics during the meetings?
  • Do your team members engage in meaningful debate or are they silent?
  • Does everyone follow through with team meeting decisions?
  • Do your team members understand and communicate with one another?
  • Do they avoid gossiping about each other?
The next step is to create organization and clearly defined job descriptions. Identify what sets you apart from your competition. With all things being equal: similar location, training of team members, variety of services and fees, what will set you apart is fanatical customer service.

What seemed impossible yesterday can become commonplace today, with tomorrow holding the promise of ever greater performance and success.

Author’s Bio
Dr. Rhonda Savage graduated from the University of Washington, School of Dentistry in 1989 with multiple honors. Dr. Savage was in private practice for 16 years, has authored many published peer reviewed articles and has lectured internationally. She is a past president of the Washington State Dental Association. Dr. Savage is a noted speaker on lectures on women's health issues and practice management. She is currently the CEO of Linda L. Miles and Associates. She can be contacted at rhonda@milesandassociates.net or www.dentalmanagementu.com.
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