Williams Greatest Leaders Do the Least

1. Auflage 2011
ISBN: 978-0-9836940-5-2
Verlag: Tesla Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 172 Seiten

After years of trying one technique after another, Dr. Williams has designed a system that limits the pressure and stress that you cannot control so you can better concentrate on the areas where you can.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Williams, Dr. Debi

Leseproben

Chapter 1

YOU DON’T
HAVE TO DO
EVERYTHING!

Small business owners wear many hats. They must fulfill the roles of CEO, CFO, and personnel officer. Sometimes they are responsible for marketing, public relations, and janitorial duties. I discovered that owning a business was lonely. Sometimes I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders as I dealt with budgets, taxes, employee issues, and deadlines. The pressure of tackling the business end of the office while treating patients took its toll.

I had devoted years of my life learning to extract painful teeth, restore fractured molars, and replant knocked-out incisors in an effort to preserve a patient’s smile. I realized that I was not making money when I seated patients, called in prescriptions, helped clean operatories, or answered the phone. I made money when I performed the tasks only the dentist could do. This practice was my baby, and no one knew better than me how to run it, but I was burned out. Something had to be done.

One day I wrote down all the duties I was doing at that time. They included:

TABLE 1: DUTIES OF THE STRESSED-OUT,
CONTROL-FIREAK BUSINESS OWNER

Dentist

Payroll Administrator—at this point I was calculating payroll myself with a calculator

Personnel Officer—maintaining employee files

Training new employees

Dealing with disgruntled patients/parents

Accounts Receivable and Payable—paying bills and sending statements

Office Supervisor—dealing with vacation and sick leave, health insurance and retirement, time clock

Safety Officer—dealing with the health department regarding radiation and drugs in our office, ensuring dental licenses were current

OSHA Officer—dealing with new regulations and annual blood-borne training

HIPAA Officer—keeping current and regulating the privacy protection

Security Officer—keeping current and regulating the security of our computers

Public relations—scheduling oral hygiene talks at schools and clubs

Advertising—phone book, newspaper, website and any other advertising

Computer maintenance—monthly upkeep and back-up

Building maintenance—window washing, lawn care, repairs

Dental equipment upkeep and repair

New equipment acquisition

Ordering dental sundries and office supplies—a weekly battle

Was it any wonder I was worn out? Of course my employees helped me complete these tasks when asked, but I was the person who was ultimately responsible for remembering when the tasks needed to be completed. Then I realized the problem: It was impossible to do my primary job (dentistry) while worrying about the minute-to-minute details of running the business. So I gathered all the duties into common themes, and assigned them to individual employees who would be responsible for ensuring the tasks were done on time each month.

TABLE 2: OFFICER ASSIGNMENTS

Personnel Officer

Payroll—daycare checks, retirement, health insurance

Personnel issues—flexible spending account, vacation/sick leave, time

clock

Patient liaison—deal with disgruntled parents

Accounts receivable and payable

Order office supplies

Clinic Officer

Upkeep and repair of all dental equipment and instruments

Acquire new equipment

Maintain repair records

Order dental supplies

Public Relations and Advertising

Schedule oral hygiene talks at schools, fairs and other public events

Order advertising materials—brochures, pencils, lip balm

Advertising—phone book, newspapers, website

Thechnology Officer

HIPAA privacy and security

Upkeep and repairs on all computers

Maintain backup and firewall

Safety Officer

OSHA Officer

Inspect fire extinguishers monthly

Inspect and reorder emergency drugs for first aid kit

Inspect and maintain AED unit and oxygen tanks

Scheduling annual Infection Control update/safety drills

Ensuring dental assisting licenses are kept current

Building Maintenance Officer

Landscaping and lawn care

Repairs of nondental nature

Ordering of janitorial supplies

TABLE 3: BREAKDOWN OF DUTIES

Today I perform three major tasks in my office: dentistry, developing my employees, and playing with the budget. Getting to this point was not easy. I had to realize that I needed to allow the office to operate without my constant input. Decisions needed to be made, orders needed to be filled, and checks needed to be written while I worked on patients. I had to learn to depend upon and, more importantly, trust my employees.

I still oversee and make decisions regarding the delegated tasks; however, now my involvement is elective not mandatory. My maintenance officer asks whether I want input when it is time to plant new flowers in the landscaping beds. Sometimes I do, but most times I leave her in charge of that project. Occasionally, I still attend a continuing education course with my technology officer because I want to stay current, but I usually depend upon her to report any changes to me when she returns from the meetings.

At first the public had a few problems with our new arrangement. The dental supply salespeople, drug reps, computer specialists, plumbers and electricians were accustomed to dealing one on one with me. They still wanted to speak with me directly. Sometimes they fat-out refused to discuss repairs or sales with the assigned officer because I had inadvertently trained them to discuss all the details with me. So, I had to assure them that the employee in charge of this particular area would relay all the pertinent information to me. The staff now has close relationships with these service people, and although I may occasionally talk with them, they know that the delegated employee is actually the person who is “buttering their bread.”

In the past, I had stressed myself out because I thought I needed to know everything about my business and be on top of all the different areas of the practice. However, I’ve learned that I don’t need to know everything because if I have a question I simply need to know who will have the answer. Today, my employees know more than I do about their delegated areas, and I am usually left out of the equation. Each employee keeps a binder full of pertinent information, so any staff member can access the information without interrupting individual employees while they are working or if they are absent on a particular day. It is also important to have this information recorded just in case the employee resigns or is terminated.

I no longer try to manage the entire office. The employees have become experts in their delegated areas, surpassing all my expectations. They are no longer merely workers; now they have a sense of ownership and pride, which has benefited the business in many ways. Instead of “employees” I have contributing “partners” who express their knowledge and opinions. I love going to meetings with them and watching them discuss new products and techniques with vendors or other dentists. At one meeting, I was mistaken for the dental assistant, and the salesperson thought my personnel officer was the dentist. The confidence they now exude is incredible—both the staff and I have benefited from delegation.

The patients benefit as well. Have you ever had a drug rep come in and ask the receptionist for a “minute of the doctor’s time” while you were seated in the waiting room sick as a dog? Frustrating, isn’t it? This happened to me while I was suffering with a migraine. I promised myself right then that no patient in my office would wait on me while I discussed new equipment with a dental supply salesperson or the latest painkiller with a drug rep.

Today I am no longer interrupted during a procedure to take a phone call, or discuss a repair with an electrician. The clinic officer visits with the drug rep and dental supply salesperson. The maintenance officer discusses repairs with the electrician, and the personnel officer handles my phone calls. We no longer run out of supplies, and our equipment is kept up to date. The patients receive my undivided attention. We rarely run behind in the schedule, and that makes everyone happy.

I am not suggesting business owners delegate all their duties so they can sit around and drink tea all day. Instead delegate the day-to-day tasks that could be better managed by your staff so that you can concentrate your energies on achieving the goals you have set for your business. Do you need more customers or clients? Are you in the process of designing a new product to take to market? Is your business financially sound or are you covered up with debt? What do you want to achieve through your business? Delegating tasks to competent people will allow you the time to concentrate on...