Page 10 - CEREC Q4|2012

6 | cerecdoctors.com | quarter 2 | 2013
outset to make sure they want it as much
as you do. It pays to get them excited.
step 2: Break it down to get started.
Excitement is not enough—you also
have to give people a reasonable path
to success. It’s human nature to want
to do new and exciting things. But it’s
also human nature to want to be good at
your job and to want a life that is as free
as possible from disturbances. Intro-
ducing change can be upsetting to those
desires. That is the fundamental conflict
people feel when faced with something
new. They may be excited at first, but if
changes are implemented too quickly or
too broadly, or without the right under-
standing for the ultimate goal or their
role in the process, they’ll start to put
the brakes on — because it’s “too hard,”
or because they are afraid to fail or look
foolish, or because they simply don’t
know where to begin with a big task.
This is where you have to make change
manageable. You have to break it down
into distinct steps and you have to give
everyone clarity for exactlywhat they need
to do. They have to be energized by the
ultimate goal but, just as importantly, they
have to see how what they are doing right
now fits into the plan. It’s about putting
their actions in context so they can see the
purpose behind each task. And it’s about
giving them the freedom to explore and
make mistakes as they figure things out.
Most of all, it’s about getting them started,
which is the biggest step of all.
step 3: Provide structure for account-
ability and momentum. Once you have
workedout the steps that need tobe taken,
you need to introduce accountability
around those steps to ensure that the
pull of the “old way” doesn’t defeat your
progress. Often, that means weekly or
even daily monitoring and evaluating
until a new idea takes hold and becomes
automatic.
To take a simple example: Say you
intend to make it part of your morning
meeting to identify anyhygiene patients in
the schedule with incomplete treatment
that could be treated by CEREC that day.
That’s a concept that can be introduced in
a simple teammeeting, but it can’t just be
a matter of having everyone agree that it
would be a good idea and expecting it to
occur. You have to assign responsibility
and create a structure for follow-up.
Who is going to look through the
hygiene charts in advance? The front-
desk admin person? Each hygienist? The
treatment coordinator? Who will talk
with the patient? Who decides? What
will be the protocol for reporting back
to the team on the results of that discus-
sion? These are all things that needed
to be decided and understood. And, for
the first several weeks, you should be
following up to ensure that the plan is
being implemented as discussed and
addressing any speed bumps before they
become roadblocks. Before long, it will
be a fully integrated part of the morning
agenda, and you can turn your attention
to introducing the next new thing.
•
This method of implementation is really
a summary of what being a leader is
all about: creating an inspiring vision,
showing each team member how they fit
within that vision, and giving the clarity
for what they need to do now and what
they need to do next.
Help is Out There
There are some dentists who are natural
leaders for whom this all comes easily.
They just seem to know how to inspire
their team, how to communicate exactly
what they want to accomplish, and how
to engage everyone so that they execute
fully at every level.
For most, however, the process is a
little harder. Maybe you have no trouble
getting everyone excited at the begin-
ning, but you find it difficult to sustain
that initial enthusiasm. Or maybe you
are great at working out the details and
systematizing the process, but you can’t
seem to motivate the team to get as
excited as you are, and you want to get
them in front of someone who will light
a fire under them.
This is why I suggest you seek out the
resources that support your style of lead-
ership. And you don’t have to look very far.
For instance, at Spear we offer Creating
The Yes Practice, an annual workshop for
CEREC dentists that is all about making
the most of the possibilities in digital
dentistry today. Many dentists bring their
teams to this event. Thosewho don’t often
wish they did because they want their
teams to feel the excitement they feel
when they walk out into the warm Scott-
sdale night with a head full of ideas and a
weekend full of memories.
We also have many dentists who use
our Digital Campus courses as the center-
piece of regular team meetings. It’s a way
of keeping the team engaged and growing
onaweek-to-week,month-to-monthbasis.
By having a series of graduated lessons to
follow together, to discuss and to imple-
ment as a team, you build a way of creating
that special philosophical alignment.
Finally, here is the biggest secret about
what it takes to get to the next levels of
success: the ideas and strategies them-
selves are not that difficult to learn. The
hard part is always putting them into
practice. Solve the riddle of execution
and you are well on your way.
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Seek out the resources that support your style of
leadership. And you don’t have to look very far.