The Level 1 Dentist -  Is the least mature, the least developed (as a human being) the least evolved of all dentists.  As I wrote in a previous Blog and perhaps elsewhere, there are so many Level 1 dentists because it’s so easy to be one.

• You don’t have to plan your days, you can just show up at work and react to whatever shows up that day.
• You can simply treat people’s disease (isn’t that what we were trained to do?)
• You don’t have to spend time or money on organization, leadership or advanced technical skills.
• You get all your CE at state meetings and have your staff run around to various meetings and pick up all the ‘nuggets’ they can.
• You don’t have to join study groups or get better at much of anything.
• You don’t have to be challenged by anything.
• You don’t have to spend money on Advanced Technical, Management, Leadership or Communication Training and Development.
• You don’t have to form relationships with people and help them establish goals. Heck you can’t—you don’t even do it for yourself.
• You don’t have to learn about human behavior and behavior modification.
• You really don’t have to Care about people and interact with them very much.
• You can just put them to sleep with IV Sedation and fix their disease and send them on their way. (Rescue dentistry)
• You don’ t have to have a really excellent Preventive Program.
• You can just run 25 hygiene patients through every day. What the heck it’s money making isn’t it?

There are advantages to being a LEVEL 1 DENTIST. I think most of them are just plain lazy and disinterested.  They lack self-image and self-esteem. They are too busy treating disease to ever stop and think about preventing it.  They are the least developed, least trained and least evolved group in dentistry. They are  NOT PROFESSIONALS in any sense of the word PROFESSIONAL.

Employees ARE Assets – NOT Liabilities!

I received a wake-up cup of coffee in the form of a direct mail “letter” and I simply am compelled to respond. Normally, I can’t take the time to read a 4-page formatted letter, but since if was from one of our wannabe competitors, I was curious. Then by the 4th page, I was downright appalled at his message to dentists to FORSAKE your employees so you can make ALL THE MONEY and that money is the ONLY IMPORTANT thing!

If ever someone had something so wrong, this letter is a perfect example. I hope his direct mailing list was short because I don’t want to think of the damage this may have done to the profession we represent and their employees!

If there’s coffee in the cup that this letter is serving, it’s straight black with no cream and definitely no sugar! In fact, it was brewed in a witches cauldron along with toad’s ears and snake tails.

BEWARE Dentists! Don’t drink it!

The old adage, “You get what you pay for!” is repeated in the book referring to employees of a business in, The Vital Corporation, by Garry Jacobs and Robert MacFarlane. I suggest that the direct mailer of whom I’ve been referring, read at least Chapter Nine, Energizing Your People: An Inexhaustible Resource, before sending out any more coffee cup letters of this nature.

I know times are tough – very tough – right now. But below is just common sense information:

No matter what business you’re in (even dentistry), models and protocol must be followed for a business to be successful. All business owners want to make money and create a sustainable business because they “love” their business and spend so much time in the office working at it. It’s gratifying and rewarding to do something you love and get paid for it. Making money makes the business run, which makes the owner happy and successful.

But for God’s sake, don’t do it on the backs of your employees – as the direct mail piece I received suggests! The fellow who wrote this must be a direct descendant of Ebenezer Scrooge. He argues that YOU are in business solely to make money and therefore reward yourself first, the employees can have the crumbs. “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!”

Well, if you are in business only to make money for yourself, then ask the man or woman business owner who is having problems why he or she has now started putting his/her personal money back into the business to keep it going? Why he hasn’t fired every employee but keeps them on because in tough times – a company needs to pull together, not apart.

To be a “smart” business owner you must look at your employees as “assets” – not “liabilities”. Freezing pay raises and raising only employees whose performance you deem “beneficial” is blind bigotry and frankly stupid. If people don’t perform then you know what you have to do. If you keep them, they deserve raises.

How do you think your employees will feel when they do not get raises or see some “favorites” getting raises? Then, to add insult to injury, you drive up in your brand new mercedes, talk about your vacation home, new boat, etc. while they are driving 10-year-old cars and can’t buy the things they need for their children because you tell them the business can’t afford to give them a raise? Apparently, the business can afford to give YOU everything YOU want!

How disgruntled do you think they might get? How much goodwill do you think is going to be spread in the office and even to your patients? How soon do you think their work habits are going to deteriorate – resentment taking over instead of friendship and camaraderie?

In a service business you are “in service” to others. In dentistry you are very much “in service” to others. Dentists should be astounded at their ability to help someone whose health may be failing; as well as educate them on the importance of systemic whole-body health which includes a healthy mouth.

The employee of a dental practice is there to help as well. Health care professionals aren’t simply in health care for the money. And if they are, they shouldn’t be. A dentist must also educate his employees and reward them. The dentist, or business owner, can sure make the big bucks, but he must be willing to share a piece of the pie.

Can you hug your mercedes? Car manufacturers don’t make them as one-seaters. Must be they expect you to share with family, friends and those you love; and IF you’re a good business owner, you will begin to love your employees.

Author’s Note: “I’ve been there, I know!”: Prior to working in-house for The Schuster Center starting in 1998 (the Center was one of my clients since 1981), I owned a graphic design business employing an office of 8. All worked for me and my business partner for 10 to 14 years. As the traditional graphic design studio lost clients to the electronic age of “in-house” computers for graphic design, many graphic arts industries failed to grasp the rapid technological changes taking place. When this happened in my business and as clients dwindled and revenues declined, some of my employees chose to move out-of-state or retire. I found jobs for the rest. I still receive thank you notes, text messages and phone calls from most of them every so often. One, who was my office manager for 14 years and now lives in Denver, became a best and life-long friend.

Brenda Penwell, President

25 years with The Schuster Center! Whew! That blew by fast!!!

Congrats go out to our own Brenda Penwell, President and CFO of The Schuster Center. She just celebrated 25 years with the company!

Brenda has worked tirelessly over the years to help create the vision of Dr. Michael Schuster as The Schuster Center endeavors to “spread the word” in helping dentists throughout the country reach their full and limitless practice potential.

Brenda has been instrumental in helping develop our Dental Management Program. She developed our Life Planning program. She teaches and travels, lecturing dentists throughout the country on how to successfully manage a dental practice. She also teaches team development and keeps a sharp eye on our company finances and management. In other words, one busy woman!

Brenda’s office was filled with streamers and balloons when she arrived to work. It was decorated so gorgeously by two of our staff members it looked as if we had hired an event planner to stage it. Pictured is Brenda amidst her blow-up balloon numbers 2 and 5. Everything done is silver – naturally.

The staff greeted her with flowers and cards. Dr. Schuster may have slipped her a new Mercedes but we haven’t seen it yet. Of course, I don’t think Brenda would give up her classic 1980 SL450 – silver naturally. (She plans ahead!)

Only thing that hasn’t gone silver around Brenda is her hair – clever girl! Stay young, stay strong, we need you and love you. Now where is that gold Mercedes for the 50th coming up?

Successful practices aren’t any more talented or intelligent than you are. They simply have learned to do things in a different way and make money in the process. The key to improving your practice performance is to “Out think your competition vs. Out Spending” them. The suggestions below are in no specific order of importance:

1. Know Yourself  – Having your own practice is more than just creating a job for yourself. Your basic roles are in delivering dentistry, marketing, finance, administration, and the responsibility of personnel. To get the best results, it is rare for one doctor to play all these roles equally well. You must know which parts you can handle yourself and which parts you’re going to need help with. As the technician in the practice your time is leveraged best when you are concentrating on activities that ensure future revenue for your practice. Empower your team to run your management systems and stay focused on what you do best.

2. Plan Ahead – well-intended team members but who don’t have all the information they need to do their job run most practices. This includes a clear idea of market segment, target markets, customer service, marketing mix and promotional activities. If you want to succeed you need a well thought out business plan that helps you make the right decisions? If you don’t have a business plan, consider enrolling in The Schuster Center’s Strategic Planning program.

3. Know Your Industry – You can gain the greatest competitive edge if you have an intimate knowledge of your business. Unfortunately dentistry is a very isolated profession. Exposure to your colleagues and their practices is very limited.  To thrive and prosper, you must be committed to learn and have the desire and energy to accomplish your goals. These are five main reasons why most practices don’t prosper.

1. Lack of Industry Knowledge
2. Lack of Vision
3. Poor Market Strategy
4. Failure to Establish Goals
5. Inadequate Cash Flow

4. Understand Your Clients – Make it your business to give your clients what they want, and they will continue to buy from you. The services you provide should reflect your client’s needs and wants.  Many doctors position themselves as a commodity-based practice and focus on selling Crowns, Veneers, and Restorative.  Think in your client’s terms; buy, show, sell, and say things that interest them, not just what interests you. Remember, they want NO dentistry. Sell yourself!! Focus on your services such as trust, being on time for their appointments, and your attention to patient comfort.

5. Keep Good Financial Records – If you don’t know where your money is going, it will soon be gone. Good financial records are like the instruments on an airplane, they keep you posted of your height, direction, and speed. Without them you’re flying blind with no controls to guide you to your destination. If you are not tracking your statistics get back into the routine of this with your staff. If you need assistance contact your support coach for a review.

6. Use Sound Management Practices – As a practice owner, you are also a manager. You have to make decisions, offer client service, manage time and resources, and know how to run the practice better than anyone working for you.  Your team not only includes your immediate staff, but surrounding yourself with a professional advisory team is also critical. Remember the concept of a level one dentist vs. level two dentist. This same concept can apply to your accountants, insurance agents etc. Are you working with a level one accountant or a level four? Are they simply organizing your money on a P & L or are they coaching you towards future goals?

7. Develop A Distinctive Image – Your image is important and is a function of your marketing efforts and materials.  Clients create their perceptions of your practice from your name, web site appearance, practice location, displays, business cards, newsletters, and anything else that relates to your business.

8. Learn From The Pros – In today’s explosive markets, making the right moves is absolutely essential; there is little room for error.  Stay connected with The Center so you can interact with dentists from all over the United States.  The support department is also a terrific resource for your practice. Each year we have the privilege to communicate with literally hundreds of doctors.  Because of the emotional and sometimes difficult decisions that must be made, the crucial difference is having fresh ideas with an impartial business position. This is one the primary reasons we use statistics in our coaching calls. Our job is to minimize the emotion and give you guidance based off of objective data.

Case presentation skill development is a critical component to your success. You will need to constantly improve and refine your skills. If your case acceptance is less than 85%, then consider attending an Advanced Case Presentation Seminar with Dr. Schuster.

One of the goals of the Schuster Management Program is to teach your team to better define your practice systems, thereby enabling you to work in unison toward a common goal of success. Staff meetings not only allow opportunities for enhancing communication within your practice but they give your employees an environment of predictability and stability. A common comment we hear from our graduates is that after they have completed the Management Program, they are not certain what they should be working on during staff meeting times. The purpose of this article is to give you some suggestions and topics to ensure the success of your staff meetings for years to come!

1. Case Studies - Many of our clients have told us how much they have benefited by reviewing a completed case as a team. Questions such as, “What could we have done better relative to the patient’s treatment”, and “Clinically, what could we have done to improve the outcome?” are great customer service questions.

2. Recare Review - Once a month, the hygienist should report on the patients who were due for hygiene this month, who is accounted for and who is now missing in action. What is their strategy for contacting those patients and more importantly, why did they not respond to the retention efforts?

3. Structured Messages - This should be an ongoing project. You created a number of messages during your Management Program but your practice has an enormous opportunity to refine and create more as a team. Many offices only use structured messages for phone conversations but you can use these for virtually any face-to-face interaction. The format can be used to help with your pre-clinical interviews, chair-side education, and financial arrangement conversations.

4. Communication – Your ability to communicate your thoughts, feelings, ideas, values and beliefs are determined by how well your practice runs. We often limit ourselves by only thinking about how we communicate person to person. However, you might consider reviewing all of your printed materials to check for the consistency of the appearance and the message you are sending. Your web site, yellow page ad, signage, phone messages, collection calls, etc. should be evaluated on a consistent interval.

5. Career Development - The best practices hire and retain the best people as employees and are responding quickly to changing market conditions. The doctors are not satisfied with the status quo. They continually upgrade facilities, processes, and the skill of their employees. Many of my doctors lament about not having enough time to get trained on power point or digital photography. Why not send a team member?? Don’t forget to invest in talent and keep them intellectually challenged. Many of my best clients have mismanaged very talented team members by not investing in their development. Take time to plan out your employee’s career path so they continue to be renewed and recommitted to your practice.

The opportunities for creating the practice of your dreams are unprecedented. But so are the difficulties, for competition is more intense than ever. The critical success factor for your practice is the quality of your team. Authentic team members who are mature and committed will make your vision become a reality. However without meaningful staff meetings in place, your opportunities for success will be limited.

The major ingredient to successful leadership is effective followers. Effective “followership” begins with the leader’s decision to hire an individual for a specific position. Your ability to choose effective people will not only determine your ultimate success as a leader but will greatly influence the amount of energy you expend to achieve that success.

Peter Drucker says that, “to make a decision is the specific task of an executive; effective executives, therefore, make effective decisions.” People decisions are not only the most important and difficult decisions a leader will make, they are time consuming and complex.

People, not plans or products, are the wellspring of organizational success. Individuals are the basic building blocks of any group or organizational effort. Your success will ultimately be determined by the quality of people you recruit.

The objective of any placement decision is to obtain the best possible fit between the person and the position. The better the match, the greater the potential to succeed. To achieve the greatest match, the decision maker must know the demands of the task as well as the gifts, skills and temperament of the people being considered for the position.

The selection process may appear straightforward, yet we tend to blow it for a few reasons:

1. FIRST, the selection process involves many more unknowns than knowns. Jobs are difficult to define, and the people who fill them are infinitely complex and their behavior somewhat inconsistent. People decisions are fraught with subjectivity, uncertainty and risk.
2. SECOND, the selection process is hard work, the complexity of which prompts many leaders to unfortunately make too QUICK decisions, leaving the results to chance.
3. And FINALLY, making good people decisions is a skill. It involves knowledge of human nature and proficient application of certain processes and principles. Not knowing the process and how to apply it causes us to fall back on the old standbys of intuition and gut feeling.

Generally, mistakes in people decisions aren’t immediately obvious. But when they do become apparent, we invariably go through a long, drawn out expensive process of analysis and attempted solutions. Instead of taking fast action to solve problems, we often delay, hoping the problems will solve themselves. They seldom do. When the basic fit between the person and the position is flawed, things usually become worse over time, not better. Often, another cause of delay is some feeling of guilt on the part of the person who did the hiring – usually the doctor.

Cost of Mismatches
Poor hiring decisions are the costliest mistakes practices make. The doctor too frequently finds that a newly hired employee performs unsatisfactorily on the job. Both the doctor and the hiree suffer the consequences. A poor hiring decision effects productivity and morale and can have grave economic consequences.

By definition, the selection process means choosing one applicant in preference to others. This decision is based on a set of characteristics which the doctor believes must be present in order for the job to be performed satisfactorily. The question is whether or not an applicant’s suitability for a job can be predicted with any measure of success. The answer is YES!

These statements we know to be true:

• Exceptional people are less accessible and are difficult to find.
• Finding exceptional people is hard work, but worth the effort.
• We are often too quick to settle for acceptable versus exceptional ones.

Steps in the Selection Process:

• Determine critical or essential job requirements
• Screen resumes
• Interview candidates
• Check references
• Evaluate all data
• Make the offer

There is no guarantee that by using these suggested practices you will hire only winners or avoid personnel problems. However, by considering the issues presented here, you will be improving your abilities, as a professional, to hire effective performers.

–If you’ve enjoyed this article, visit our website for more free practice success tools. www.SchusterCenter.com

Schuster Center student, Dr. Brett Thomsen is a handsome, unassuming dentist from Nebraska. He recently joined forces with Schuster graduate, Dr. Mark Frill in a very worthy cause. The Mission of Mercy helped thousands of needy patients for free over a two-day period in Omaha, Nebraska. We are incredibly proud of our Schusterites! Please view the links below for this wonderful story: 

KETV 7 Article

Action 3 News Video

Dentist – Being a good leader requires good followers!

At first glance, Followership seems to be the antithesis of Leadership. In sharp contrast to leadership, there is a dearth of writing on the art of following. The superhighway is replaced by the dirt track. While some authors make reference to it in their writings on leadership, relatively few have focused on the follower as a key player in successful leadership.

Developing an adequate definition of a “follower” is made difficult because the concept is seen as trivial, obvious and lacking substance. The words “minion”, “subjection”, “underling”, may come to mind when conceptualizing followership. The following definition draws on the thoughts of R. Kelley (not to be confused with the singer), a major contributor to the literature on the role of the follower.

“A follower is one who pursues a course of action in common with a leader to achieve an organizational goal. Effective followers make an active decision to contribute towards the achievement of the goals and demonstrate enthusiasm, intelligence, self-reliance and the ability to work with others in pursuit of the goal. Effective followers recognize the authority of the leader and limitations this imposes on their own actions, consider all issues on their merits, make their own decisions, hold their own values, speak their minds and hold themselves accountable for the consequences for their actions.”

In other words, effective followers, given the necessary information and room to move, can be trusted to take independent action to achieve a specific objective, subject to their receiving ongoing assistance and support to resolve issues beyond their spheres of competence and influence and to their receiving recognition for the work they are doing. It is important to note that while the behavior of the followers may be seen to be simply doing as they are told, their actions are the result of independent thought and decision making and would have been seen the same in the absence of the direction from the leader.

Followers actively evaluate their leaders and in many cases find their performance below par. Often it is the limitations imposed by a leader that stops the follower from performing at their best. From the follower’s viewpoint, effective leaders embrace them as partners and are influenced by their words and actions. Effective followers choose to follow a good leader (regardless of whether their participation in the team is a matter of choice) and accept all the consequences of that decision. In exchange, followers want their leaders to share information, involve them in decision making and create working environments in which the efforts of the followers are recognized, respected and rewarded.

• Principles of ideal followership include:
• Demonstrating respect
  
• Thinking win/win
  
• Working within the system
  
• Acting proactively to fulfill or exceed expectations
  
• Appreciating differences
  
• Striving for a common goal (one shared with leaders)
  
• Recognizing authority leaders possess
  
• Being enthusiastic about organizational goals without complete reliance on the leader
  
• Recognizing the hierarchy of leadership while becoming a self-motivated mini-leader

Followers must have the confidence to speak out. They understand the necessity of the discomfort they may feel while communicating concisely with the leader, and they realize their role in helping the leader to make better decisions. Having the fortitude to speak candidly with the leader also comprises a leadership trait. Followers, according to this point of view, must regard silence as unacceptable. Becoming an “effective” follower within the leader/follower conceptual universe takes just as much work as becoming an “effective” leader.

–For more information on effective dental practice management and team development, go to www.SchusterCenter.com or simply call 1-800-288-9393.

There are several major fears that activate PROCRASTINATION:

• Fear of the unknown
• Fear of rejection or looking foolish
• Fear of failure
• Fear of success

Many dentists fear success or making a commitment because it carries added responsibility that can seem too much to handle, such as setting a higher standard, or moving from GOOD to GREAT in any area of your life or business. Every additional commitment takes additional effort and energy and the willingness to take the risks that are associated with it.

Many do not have adequate SELF IMAGE and the highly positive SELF ESTEEM that is required to take the risk of GROWTH or CHANGE or DEVELOPMENT. High achievers have HIGH SELF IMAGE and HIGH SELF ESTEEM. Playing it safe is what low achievers and low risk takers do.

Below are some ideas to help you move toward VICTORY OVER CHANGE rather than being a VICTIM OF CHANGE:

1. Get up early. Set your clock to get up an hour earlier than you normally do and keep the clock at that setting. Use the time in the following way:
2. Think about all the things/people/events for which you are GRATEFUL. Focus on every good thing in your life for which you are GRATEFUL. If you want, you can do this while you walk with heavy hands, or exercise or ‘prayer walk’ or meditate, but keep your focus on GRATEFULNESS.
3. Use this time to plan your day, your week, the week ahead.
4. Think about your ‘happy spot’ or ‘happy place’. We all have ‘islands of happiness’ –those places that give us those special feelings. We also have people in ur lives that bring joy and happiness into our lives…we need to let them know that they are that to us.
5. Memorize the following that was given to me by a Priest, who was a patient of mine some 20 years ago:
6. Don’t sweat the small stuff. It’s all small stuff. If you can’t fight or flight…flow!!
7. Handle each piece of mail, literature, e-mail, fax just once and then get rid of it. Focus on handling these things at the beginning of your day and the end of your day.
8. Get in the habit of coming up with a solution to every problem rather than simply focusing on the problem. When people bring problems to you, listen to them compassionately and then ask them to formulate a solution. Give the problem identifier the responsibility for solving the problem. You can do this with them.
9. Always finish what you start. Know that Progress is more important than Perfection. If you say you are going to do it, then finish it. Completion adds an enormous amount to your SELF RESPECT and SELF ESTEEM. CONCENTRATE your ENERGY and INTENSITY without distraction. Create your FOCUS TIME, or PERFORMANCE TIME…do not be distracted.
10. Be CONSTRUCTIVELY HELPFUL rather than CRITICAL of every new idea. Single out someone to praise or recognize rather than shoot them down, and participating in group bitching, grudge collecting or pity parties.
11. Limit your TV viewing and INTERNET SURFING to educational and enlightening programs. Stay away from FOX and CNN and other networks that make the news rather than report the news. The internet has become a great way for procrastinators to hide out instead of focusing on GOAL ACHIEVING ACTIVITIES.
12. Make a list of important PROJECTS that will advance you personally or advance your business. Taking immediate action reduces stress and tension. Procrastination always leads to conflicts, complications and eventually crises. Look at GLOBAL WARMING…the DISEASE CARE CRISIS…the ENERGY CRISES and the FINANCIAL CRISIS. You think this happened all at once??
13. Seek out SUCCESSFUL ROLE MODELS in any area of your life or business in which you want to succeed. Success leaves clues…so does failure. Learn from others’ successes as well as others’ failures can improve your performance in any area of your life or business that is important. Every successful person I’ve ever observed has used STRATEGIES to CREATE MODELS to live their life by. Observe them and you can copy their MODEL.
14. Problems are part of life. In fact, they are the key to life. You either grasp them and do something about them or you stay STUCK. With the rapid change in society today, you have many problems to solve every day…but are you working towards something or just problem solving?

Problems are opportunities to a real entrepreneur. They are opportunities to find solutions that people value and in which they are willing to pay. You only have the freedom of choice. You don’t have the freedom to choose your results. Results are determined by NATURAL LAWS.

Information is FREE. Knowledge is CHEAP. Wisdom is PRICELESS.

Wisdom is knowing the OUTCOME before you take action. Study with wise people and practice the principles and strategies they produce and your life will evolve in positive, life affirming ways.

Dr. Michael Schuster

–Call us about how to integrate proven models and strategies into your dental practice for higher profitability and personal satisfaction,, 1-800-288-9393 or visit www.SchusterCenter.com

Great Values = A Great Organization

There are great causes, great books, great music, great films, great baseball teams, great buildings and there are also great organizations.

We know a great dental practice in the same way we know a great sports team; by the way the individual performers work together, play the game, and consistently achieve their goals.

We know great teams by the ‘spirit’ they express, their level of aspirations, and the values they live by.  We know them because they not only enrich themselves, but they enrich everyone they touch.

A great organization, a great dental practice, takes a stand for its values and its dreams. So it must have real values that are truly lived, not simply expressed and real dreams that are brought to life, not just spoken about.

KEY ELEMENTS OF GREATNESS

• Power is distributed widely and equally
• Relationships are soundly managed with overall interests in mind
• The organization stands for something important and purposeful
• Principles determine policies and systems
• Growth is clearly defined
• Resources are managed in a responsible, consistent manner
• The organization continually aligns people towards it Vision, its Goal, its Purpose

-–For help with dental practice management, dental case presentation, hygiene as a profit center, business plans for the dental practice, dental continuing education seminars and more, go to www.SchusterCenter.com or call 1-800-288-9393