Are you focused on your business goals?
Business Coach, Mark Oxenham, is the latest addition to our team of bespoke advisers, specialising in helping doctors & dentists to maximise business performance through operational & strategic planning. This month Mark discusses if you are working enough on your business goals.
The views expressed in this article are specifically those of Oxenham Associates Limited.
Are you Burning the Candle whilst your Practice Dims?
As a dental practice owner, it may be common for you to get home after work and realise that your entire day has been focused on treating patients.
It may also be common for you to then hit the home office and attempt to write the Rota for next week, reply to emails from your accountant and try to muster up an idea for a creative way to promote your latest toothbrush.
Time, or lack of, is a very real issue for dental practice owners. The reason being, that you are trying to be an excellent technician, the financial controller, the marketer and the business manager, all in one.
Even if you do have resources within the practice to help out, perhaps a competent practice manager, the ultimate responsibility lies with you, and that responsibility often means your time is spread too thin.
So if available time is short to tackle even the day-to-day running of the business, you are probably thinking when is it ever going to be possible to allocate time to strategically grow your business.
The Importance of Structured Time for Strategy
Despite the challenges, in order to maximise success in your business and ultimately meet your financial goals, it is essential to allocate time, in your weekly schedule, to operational and strategic planning.
Whilst initially it may feel a little uncomfortable pulling yourself away from your patients, over time you will likely find that your days aren’t as pressured.
The process of strategic planning allows you to continually identify problem areas in your business and systematically take steps to overcome them.
Half a day per week is recommended as the minimum time required for focusing on your business goals, although this could be one-day bi-weekly, if more manageable.
The important factor is that the time is scheduled, and it is regular.
It is also vital that you treat this time slot with the same importance as a patient visit – there are no compromises for cancelling. It is a pact with yourself and your business to commit your time and focus to working on your business, rather than just in it.
An Introduction to Business Growth Strategies
Create Solutions under Areas
To be effective with your business planning, focus is required.
It therefore helps to think in sub-sections, rather than try to find solutions for your entire practice as a whole.
After all, your business is made up of many elements some of which will be working well and others that need attention.
Creating areas is one way to do this and you may find that using the five key business areas of Finance, Marketing & Sales, Operations & IT, Team, and Strategy, is a good place to start.
Start by listing your thoughts under each Area. List ideas for where improvements are needed, as well as things that are really working well, as these can be used as an example to build through the rest of your business.
Put pen to paper on thoughts that have been mulling around in the back of your mind for a while – now is the chance to document them and start to make your dreams a reality.
Create Time-Focused Goals
Creating deadlines is also important, so for each item on your business “wish-list” consider if it is necessary for the short, medium or long-term. There may be some ideas that become immediate too, for example, if you need to firefight an issue to get a quick result.
SMART goals
Making sure your goals are SMART is another important factor. SMART means Specific – Measurable – Achievable – Realistic and Time Focused – more on this topic another time.
As a starting point, perhaps choose one manageable task per week from each business Area to focus your attention on. This will leave you with a sense of achievement as you progress.
Working with a business coach who has proven experience of helping practice owners to change and grow their business, can certainly help to accelerate results.