Growing a business has its challenges. Often what we implement early on to build our practices can lead to many limitations as a larger team. Furthermore, a growing set of responsibilities can become difficult to sustain. Let’s take a look at three of the top engines for practice growth.
1. Growing leadership
Orthodontists are an important source of leadership for a practice. We build a team to follow us through our journey. Hence, remarkable leadership from the doctor is critical to growth. The challenge with the leader-follower model that most workplaces implement comes when that business grows. For example, one leader has a limit when their followers are constantly dependant on their leader for solutions. Implementing a leader-leader model becomes paramount to gain reach amongst a larger team and a growing set of responsibilities. In other words, leadership amongst the ranks is a critical step for a growing practice. Instead of a hierarchy that pushes most decisions to the top, leaders who nurture leadership across all levels of the organization see greater empowerment and incredible team dynamics. Growing leadership within a workplace is rocket fuel to growth.
2. Developing systems
Systems thinking helps us develop repeatable and reliable methods for our best work. Custom crafting and modifying our procedures can work in a small practice. It drives all decisions to the doctor, who must decide every step. In this scenario, the doctor is the genius with a group of helpers. However, a lack of systems will limit practice growth and add stress to the team and the doctor at a certain point. When we develop systems in orthodontic practice, we can scale infrastructure to meet demands. Higher demands require more effective protocols. Remember that complexity is often less desirable. Thus, sophisticated simplicity is the goal for the best designs.
3. Effective Marketing
Our third engine for growth is an effective marketing strategy. Marketing to multiple sources will ensure an orthodontic practice has a healthy flow of patients. Relying heavily on a single or limited source of referrals is loaded with risk. Today’s orthodontic team needs to approach almost every aspect of what they do as a marketing technique. Besides growing professional referrals from dental colleagues, today’s ortho practices need to design a remarkable patient experience and a strong digital marketing strategy.
