As a business grows, almost every aspect of an orthodontic practice gets more complex. For example, clinical work becomes more intricate as we add more team members, and communication between them hits those inevitable bumps on the road. As a result, growth increases complexity, and practice growth can shrink talent density. Training more team members will strain the team’s total experience as rookie staff affects the overall practice performance.
The greater patient volume starts to strain how we do things in a small practice, as those little touches we used to do will keep you in the office longer. The infrequent Clincheck® plan that you could get done in between patients each day turns into a deluge of digital treatment plans that never get to zero pending anymore as a result. Likewise, customer service strategies, marketing campaigns, etc., all compound, and what used to be a simple workday turns into a balancing act. Sound familiar? Most orthodontists have or will experience some variant of the scenarios I am describing. And I have found that we should never settle for this inevitable challenge in life and business.
In the evolution of an individual or team, we venture from enthusiastic beginners who keep things simple because of a lack of experience. Disillusioned learners find that they have gained many skills and get frustrated at the complexity of the process. Therefore, the main goal is to become a peak performer who learns sophisticated, profound simplicity.
“Beginner = ignorant simplicity
Intermediate = functional complexity
Advanced = profound simplicity”
— James Clear
Simplifying office systems
To avoid bottlenecks in your practice that prevent team members from getting things done, consider a productivity mindset. This mindset includes simplifying office systems so the team can deliver great care to patients without complex and bureaucratic steps. Consequently, every business is fraught with organizational obstacles that prevent growth. Naturally, orthodontic practices are no different.
In the book “Simplify: How the Best Businesses in the World Succeed,” the authors offer two main simplifiers:
- Price-simplifiers
- Markets usually respond to dramatic price cuts by multiplying their size exponentially.
- Reduce prices by 1/5th or 1/10th & demand will multiply 10k or 100k times.
- Proposition-simplifiers
- The overwhelming innovation and advantage lie in the product or service proposition, not in its price.
- The product or service must be a “joy to use” and a palpable “wow factor.”
In practice, we have ventured on the proposition simplifier model. That is to say that we intend to deliver a remarkable patient experience and have found challenges in orthodontic practice to make the dramatic cuts that differentiate successful price simplifiers.
However to implement a profound simplicity approach, carefully evaluate all aspects of your practice and before adding more steps to help solve a problem, consider how you can reduce efforts. Often, taking the couple and making it simple paves the road to productivity and efficiency. Ultimately, simple and sophisticated is the common thread with businesses who perform at the top of their game.
