Custom Culture by Jay Geier

3 steps to creating a winning experience in your practice

by Jay Geier

When you hear about the importance of culture in business, I understand if it’s difficult to visualize how it relates to your practice. Sometimes it can come off as an abstract concept that’s not easy to define.

However, culture is one of the most important parts of business. Think about some of today’s most popular and successful consumer companies, such as Google, Zappos and Disney: They put huge emphasis on company culture because they know that the positive mindset that runs through each organization extends to its customers. That’s why people ultimately like doing business with them.

Why culture should matter to you
Culture is not something you either have or don’t; every business or organization, including your practice, has one by default. So, the questions become: Is your current culture working for your practice? Is it holding you back ... or, worse, pulling you down? Culture permeates every aspect of your practice—you, your team and your patients—no matter if it’s good or bad.

It’s especially important for an independent dental practice, because dentists must juggle the multiple roles of doctor, manager, cheerleader, visionary and business owner. To be successful, you have to depend on specific processes and systems to provide clarity about expectations and performance. First for you, then for your team. It helps guide the decision making and actions of every member of your team in a way that ensures they’re doing things the way you want—even when you’re not there.

How to improve your office culture
The good news is, no matter the current state of your practice’s culture, it’s something that can be improved by taking specific action steps. And like anything worth achieving, it takes consistent work and commitment. But trust me, your culture is worth fighting for. It’s a foundational piece to building a business that gives you more money, a more cohesive team, and an overall more fulfilling work and personal life. And in your case, great patient care.

Your first steps are to make three mindset shifts. These are critical to successfully improving your culture. Trying to install a strong, positive culture in your practice without making these changes first would be like building a house without a foundation. It just wouldn’t work.

1. Eliminate excuse-making.
Accountability is a major component to culture. In fact, most successful cultures are built on accountability systems. Consequently, nothing can turn a culture toxic like a lack of accountability and an environment of excuse-making.

This has to 100 percent start with the owner/dentist and no one else: You must be able to force accountability on yourself and take away the excuses. How can you ask your team to be accountable if you’re not?

The most dangerous part of constant excuse-making is that it eventually makes you feel like you have no control. You convince yourself that your circumstances are unique and there’s just no way to improve. Then only outside factors control your outcomes.

But you do have control over yourself. The key is to always make yourself the problem. Why? Because that also makes you the fix. You can’t control the actions of others unless you first get yourself in order. So put in the effort and be honest with yourself. The next time something is not happening or being done the way you want, work on catching yourself before you revert back to excuses, and then look in the mirror. Think, “What can I do differently to improve this situation?” Once you take this initiative, you’ll be amazed how positive things start to happen around you.

2. Abandon “something for nothing.”
Wanting something for nothing is one of the most dangerous attitudes you can have when trying to build a winning culture for your practice. For example, you want a great team that does things the way you want them to be done; however, you don’t want to invest time in communicating your vision to them and continually reinforcing it. These are competing intentions that bring you no results.

Realize that your attitude has a huge impact on your practice because everything in your practice is a reflection of you. You may think what goes on in your head stays just with you, but that’s not the case. You’re the leader of a relatively small office environment. When everyone around you follows your attitude and behavior, your thoughts don’t end in your head—they become your company’s culture. That puts an enormous amount of power in your hands, which can be a good thing or a bad thing.

Abandon the mindset of wanting results without taking action. You’ll see a positive impact almost immediately. The excuses will disappear. You’ll find that you’re not only coming up with new ideas for improving your culture, but you’re also taking action steps to implement them.

3. Develop a founder’s mentality.
Think back to when you first got started as a practice owner. You had a vision of the type of practice you would like to build, and I bet you even had a vision of how you’d interact with your team and patients. If your reality has not lived up to the vision, that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. Instead, it means you haven’t yet developed what I call your “founder’s mentality.”

Basically, this is about setting the tone and creating a standard for what you believe in and how you want to do things in your practice. And culture is the foundation that all this is built on. It’s about being intentional with how you want your practice to run. This includes how you want to feel while there, what you want it to feel like when you’re not there, and how you want your team and patients to feel.

Part of this process is learning to accept that your practice is a business and treating it as such. This a recurring struggle for many independent dentists because many don’t consider their practice a business. Don’t ever forget this important fact! As a business owner, you have the enviable and wonderful ability to choose the culture of your workplace. There are many people out in the world who are going to a job every day and would love the opportunity you have right now—the ability to design their own work environment that reflects their unique values and beliefs.

You can’t allow anyone else to define or decide what your practice’s culture will be. You have the ability to not only shape your life, but also the lives of your team, patients and family.

Recommended next steps
Work toward retraining your mind, and you’ll lay the foundation for an improved practice culture. If something isn’t going the way you planned, check in with these three changes and see where you’re getting off track. Don’t forget to keep your focus where it belongs, on the one thing you have control over the most in your life—you. If you change for the better, the people around you will, too.