Leadership is one of those things that does not naturally occur, sometimes it needs to be taught. I find that most dentists and specialists admit to me that they hate this part of their job the most. Let me make this easier for you – if you call the people that work alongside you a team, then that makes you the head coach. There are aspects of coaching that you are already doing naturally, and I can show you how to take advantage of those.
You are already educating and encouraging your patients regarding their oral health. The same thing is done as the head coach. As a seasoned basketball coach myself, I love to teach leadership using the coaching method and part of that method is using the strengths you already have. My goal is to make this easier for you since none of this was taught in dental school. It does not matter if you are a new graduate or you have owned your practice for over 20 years, leadership is something that needs to be worked on; it is not a one and done kind of thing.
By teaching leadership using the coaching method, it takes something that can be vague and makes it very structured and easy to do. As the head coach, you need to prepare and have a plan for practice time and a plan for game time. The hard work is in the preparation. Practice time is when you are not seeing patients and game time is when you are seeing patients. Once you have prepared those plans, it is easy for your team to understand, get on board, and work your plan for your practice success.
If you would like to get more information on how you can learn to be the head coach of your team, please email me at [email protected]