The power of creativity
Constantly experimenting with new ideas is a way you can make big progress in your practice.
If there is one thing that I would put my success in practice down to it is being open to trying new ideas.
At our monthly staff meeting every person had to bring along at least one idea for improving the practice.
We would then implement the ideas and measure the results. The ideas that worked would be integrated into the practice and the ones that didn’t would be discarded and we’d go back to how we did it before.
Using this approach I was able to work four 8-hour days per week (every weekend was a long weekend) and only 46 weeks a year. Despite this my practice was in the top echelon in terms of annual collections and profitability.
I’m not saying this to be boastful. I don’t claim any special abilities. I’m saying this to indicate how powerful it is to be open to constantly trying out new ideas.
Here’s an example
Many dentists and conventional wisdom says that it is necessary to chit chat with patients in order to get them to trust you. The story goes that you should talk about the weather, football, or practically anything else before, after or even during treatment.
I wondered if that was true so, for one month, I did no chit chat at all.
Guess what. Everything went on the same as before except I saved 30 minutes per day. Patient still trusted me and still accepted treatment at the same rate as before. I still got the same number of referrals.
Ultimately I did go back to having some chit chat but I no longer did it as an obligation. I did it when I felt like it and I had spare time.
Running this experiment gave me more freedom and time. But, had I never run the experiment I would have never discovered that.
There is an old saying…
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it
I disagree.
Just because something “ain’t broke” does not mean that there is not a better way to do things.
I would say that no matter how well you are doing there is almost always a better way, if you look hard enough.
The thing is to be constantly looking and thinking and then be open to putting your ideas to the test.
