I talk often about playing to win. It may seem obvious to some (but not enough), that it’s the only way to play and, certainly, the only way to win. This must be ingrained in the culture of your practice.
What is winning?
It isn’t getting through the day.
It isn’t seeing a lot of patients.
It isn’t hitting your minimums.
It isn’t a lot of things.
Winning is about achieving your potential in both financial terms and in your patients’ mouths. You know this. You wouldn’t be here reading this right now if you struggled with this concept.
You win by helping others, by helping your patients get healthy.
If you are winning now, it’s because of the trust, influence and relationship you have with your patients. Good for you. Anything less than that is unacceptable.
What we are going to do over the next few weeks is dive deeper into characteristics of championship teams and see what you can do to improve yours.
First and foremost, each player on the team must have a dedicated and committed ownership over their respective responsibilities. This is not just a mentality. This is a reality.
You ask yourself today, “What do I own?” The answer should be an outcome based on your performance that goes above and beyond just showing up and seeing patients.
The key of this ownership is it must attach back to the goal of winning. Everyone’s critical contribution has to drive the overall goal of the practice: helping patients get healthy and growing profitably.
This is supported by each team member’s individual abilities and strengths. The growth comes from continuing to develop these skills both in dentistry and in dealing with people in general.
If someone does not have a clearly defined and specific metric to track back to her/his ownership piece within the practice, then she/he has no way to monitor any progress towards the success of your team.
Champions want this. They want to keep score. They want to know how they are doing. They thrive off of challenge and opportunity.
Today ask yourselves three questions…
1. What outcome do I have full responsibility over in order to help my team win every day?
2. How do I track and quantify this in order to hold myself accountable?
And…
3. What can I do right now to consistently improve for the benefit of my team and patients?
These questions matter and should be revisited frequently.
Next week, we’ll talk about the secrets to improving yourself beyond whatever limitations, fears or doubts you may have about your greatest potential.
