Part of leading an orthodontic team entails excellent delegation. Most orthodontists are trained as high performers and often experience delivering outstanding results in almost all areas of practice. In these circumstances, it becomes challenging to delegate. Doctors often want to accumulate tasks, and we fear letting go of things we feel we should do. But we also suffer from work fatigue that affects our personal and professional growth.
Most of us know the benefits of delegation and continuously struggle to balance what we delegate and what we need to handle personally. When presented with a task, consider these six T’s to determine what we should offload.
Tiny
We are inundated with small tasks every day. From booking lunch to registering for a CE event, these small tasks accumulate. They don’t take long, but in a busy practice, these add up.
Tedious
Some tasks are not difficult to manage but take time. These tedious assignments include drafting letters, preparing reports, or inputting patient images for an Invisalign prescription.
Time-Consuming
We often face complex tasks that require quite a bit of time, but we are not required to do every step. We usually do this when bonding brackets on a patient, where we can delegate all the preparation to a clinical team member, and the doctor jumps in at the final step to fine-tune the bracket positions and tack cure.
Teachable
In the scope of orthodontic practice, we can teach many tasks to a supporting team member. Putting on the teaching hat and showing a team member how you want something done can help you delegate this task to them after being well trained and confident that they can do it well.
Terrible At
Tasks that don’t fall in your core competency and you can’t perform well are perfect for delegation. Look for a team member who has that skill, and they can complement your skills with their strengths. For example, a doctor who struggles to communicate with new patients can delegate this task to an excellent TC who wow’s patients with her communication skills.
Time-Sensitive
When there is urgency, we either have to drop all other tasks or find a way to delegate time-sensitive functions to a team member who can be timely. Competing priorities can pull us in many directions, and it helps when we have an excellent way to delegate to complete every task.
The art of delegation is a great skill. In many areas of our lives, we need to review what tasks we must perform and what can delegate. This skill will help us find the time and surpass the overwhelming feelings that often plague orthodontists.
