What needs to happen with your dental practice and team over the next year for 2020 to be considered a great success? As you consider what you would like to accomplish this year, remember you need more than just goals. As Antoine De Saint-Exupery once said, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
In order to develop an effective plan, involve the entire team. Find out from the group how you can make the patient experience even better. When patients have consistently great experiences in the practice, they are much more likely to schedule and refer friends and family. What are the biggest challenges you need to address? This could range from scheduling effectively in order to run on time, having productive team meetings and huddles that move the practice and team forward, and finding ways to boost practice growth.
After you have articulated your ideas, it’s time to develop a plan of action. Work backwards from what you want to accomplish and outline the steps needed to get there. This step involves creating the goals that make up your plan. A helpful acronym to use when creating effective goals is SMART: goals need to be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely.
If parts of the plan are large (e.g., get 100 new Google reviews during the year), break larger tasks into management steps (e.g., ask for 5 Google reviews each day). Also, put timelines on when you want to achieve certain parts of the plan. For example, if the dentist wants to be a stronger leader, and the leadership plan involves meeting individually with the team at least four times per year to provide feedback, then the first round of meetings needs to be completed by the end of March.
Finally, make sure you review the plan on a regular basis. Mark off what has been accomplished. Revisit and possibly revise parts of the plan that have stagnated. Never lose sight of what you want to accomplish for 2020 to feel like a really successful year.