Many orthodontic practices follow a lifespan of creation, growth, plateau, and decline. When growth begins, we start seeing the bottlenecks and issues that restrict an orthodontist’s development and his or her practice. Therefore, a lack of nimbleness and adaptability can often be at the heart of these issues and growing pains.
The goal is to work towards accelerating processes or simplifying how the practice performs. Nimbleness allows the orthodontic practice to become more strategically, operationally, and culturally agile. In addition, we implement and nurture this flexibility that allows an orthodontic business to be agile, including developing an ability to detect and respond to changes. We create this capability by monitoring key business indicators and trends in our environment.
When practices measure and review important factors regularly, they are capable of adjusting as changes occur. Sometimes those changes are in the local economy, or they could be a new practice nearby that will change referral patterns. For that reason, we must be proactive to be nimble.
Leverage diversity in your team to gain opportunities
You want a variety of opinions, skills, and perspectives. This diversity builds strength and reinforces the abilities of some team members, the weakness of others.
Focus on training systems so you can implement new changes quickly
If you choose to integrate a new appliance system or onboard new team members, it is extremely important to respond rapidly and adjust to change. As you make changes, standardize what works in your practice. Best practices that show predictable improvements in performance and outcomes are paramount. Therefore, it is important to follow techniques and processes that deliver measurable results.
Avoid red tape and poor communication
These are the kiss of death in a growing practice. As a business grows, so does the complexity of what we do. Managing a small team does become much more difficult with a larger group, even though it is the same orthodontics.
Cut your losses if something isn’t working
Accept sunk costs and focus on future gains. When you focus your sights on growing your team and practice, it is best not to dwell on issues. Resolve them, remove them and learn from them. Ultimately, move on.
