Back To School – Final Exam Review

Today, I want to finish up our Back To School Series with some a final exam review of our success factors that you can’t ever focus on enough (and actually risk losing sight of the most important principles in your practice without ever knowing why).

As you know, the point of the past several Monday Morning Huddles was to grade yourself and your team as it relates to your experience, philosophy, and principles in order to perform at a high level.

In life, not just dentistry, the ‘busier’ we get the more we tend to get distracted away from the highest value priorities and instead end up focusing on urgent issues that actually matter less.  We become more reactive as the stress and chaos factor increases, all while our intentionality and judgment decreases.

Here’s the answer key… don’t let that happen.

 
Easier said than done, right?  That’s why I took the last four weeks to hone in and narrow it to go back to school on the four most important subjects of your practice performance and patient engagement.

In backwards order…

How well are you aligned with, representing, embodying, and bringing to life your Clinical Philosophy?  Does everyone know it, share it, value it, and live it?  

How well are you actually helping your patients get healthy and to what standard and expectation?  Is every team member on the same page and are you bringing the patients into the fold with it as well?  Patient Health is the application of Clinical Philosophy.

Based on those two foundations of your practice, how are you doing with your patient experience and specifically are all the parts, pieces, and people seamlessly connected?  Are we living up to our own standard of excellence every single time?  Where have we gotten lazy or complacent with important aspects of our experience?

Finally, and I’d say most important of all (which is why we started there first), how are you doing, personally?  How are the people who make all of this possible and create the magic doing with taking care of each other and taking care of yourself?  Do you have good habits and routines that set you up for success?

That’s a quick one paragraph review of each of the past four weeks simplified even more than cliff notes.

As you went through those week by week, if you did your homework for your back to school lessons, you achieved three important things…

1. An honest look at your current reality and state of performance with each subject

2. A reminder of what your state of ideal, A+ standard and expectations look like

3. A guide to help you close the gap from #1 to #2 – which is the entire point

We could say, to keep with the school analogy, that it’s easy to find enjoyment in the extracurriculars and electives.  That’s where students find their passion and future pursuits – just like a clinical focus in your practice or new procedure or technology or anything else.

However, at the end of the day, everything is elevated to higher level when you master the core subjects.  Stay true to these and you will always do well and make the grade.

Lastly, I leave you with this, remember it’s far easier to pace yourself and perform day by day with each ‘assignment’ than to blow it off and delay until the very end when you are forced to cram.  It just doesn’t work and it is actually far more stressful.

Therefore, use the approach we have worked together on to WIN THE DAY every day with your Morning and End of Day Huddles to stay ahead of the curriculum and put yourself in position for that A+.

 
We have created the Dental Success Today System for a reason.  It works.  And it keeps you future focused and proactive so you can reach your true potential.  That’s who you discover new breakthroughs and stay ‘top of the class’ where you belong.

Follow this throughout your day, week, month, quarter, and year for consistency and forced progress with disciplined actions to increase your results, decrease your stress, have a greater impact on everyone you serve, and most of all on yourself!

If you follow the Back to School Principles and apply the success system you will work smarter not harder and have more to show for your time, efforts, skills, abilities, and investment.  I know you’ll be proud of this year’s report card.

Besides, if there’s going to be a final exam, you might as well pass with flying colors and graduate with honors.  Now, that’s how you go Back To School… DST Style!