Beware the knowing - doing gap

 

 

I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine, Michelle, who was really worried about the increasing number of white spaces are appearing in her appointment book. Michelle went on to tell me that she had also noticed her patients were returning infrequently or examinations, patients were deferring more non-urgent treatment and her new patients enquiries and visits were also down. Michelle asked me what I would suggest that she does to make sure her appointment book is full that she could generate sufficient revenue to pay all her bills on time.

I shared with Michelle strategies from my ‘4 R’s to filling your appointment book’ module. To which Michelle replied “Yes, yes, yes, I know that, what next?.” So I asked her “You know all this, and what are you actually doing? And Michelle's response “Nothing” Is it any wonder her books were getting empty?

I worked with Michelle creating a step-by-step reproducible system that was implemented on a consistent basis I her team. Very quickly books are full again so was her till. In fact one strategy I shared with Michelle generated £20,000 in eight weeks.

 

Yesterday I had an initial conversation with a new client who is having some problems with his finances; despite his current pickle, fortunately Mark he seems to have adequate day-to-day funds. Delving deeper, Mark revealed he had a mountain of financial paperwork that was unattended to, his bank statements were un-reconciled, he panicked every time a tax bill was due because he didn't know if you have enough funds, if he doesn't know how can fund a decontamination room and he described himself as an ostrich with his head in the sand hoping for the best. We started working through my “five steps to financial freedom” which is part of my “financial controller module”. As we were talking Mark was making copious notes and muttering to himself like the white rabbit in Wonderland, “I know all this”, “I know all this”, ”I know all this”. Mark became increasingly frustrated with himself because he recognised that he knew what he should be doing and wasn't doing any of it, he had a large financial knowing doing gap. Consequently he was running his practice the position of being financially blindfolded. Fortunately for Mark we were able to break down what needed to be done into small manageable chunks so that Mark can now implement what he knows needs to be done. He told me, “You made it so simple, now I can do it you helped me bridge the knowing doing gap.”

Where are the knowing doing gaps in your practice?

Knowing doing gaps fall in to any of 10 areas of practice; vision, time management, team, customer service, marketing, sales, systems, leadership, environment, clinical skills, self-care.

Common examples of knowing doing gaps in dental practices include;

·        Knowing you should have regular and frequent staff meetings and not having them.

·        Knowing you should have three monthly staff appraisals and not doing them.

·        Knowing you should have staff contracts and not having them.

·        Knowing that you should have a skilled trained practice manager and not having one.

·        Knowing you should have monthly financial review meetings and not having them.

·        Knowing you should have a system for everything and not having them.

·        Knowing you should have a practice manual and not having one.

·        Knowing you should have flexible opening hours and not having them.

·        Knowing you should have a website and not having one

·        knowing you should look after yourself and not doing it.

·        Knowing you should seek professional advice and not doing it.

Write down your top three knowing doing gaps

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What are the consequences of you not bridging knowing doing gap?

Knowing doing gaps result in, frustration, stress, anger, increased costs, resentment, despondency and many other negative feelings

Common signs and symptoms of a knowing doing gap in practice

·        Dysfunctional, disjointed or even resentful team when mistakes happen frequently because of lack of communication.

·        High levels of staff sickness, absence or high turnover of staff.

·        Too much to do, not enough time to do it, high levels of stress.

·        Very tight financial situation, unable to pay bills on time, increasing levels of debt.

·        Inconsistency on how tasks up for high levels of mistakes, patient complaints

·        Staff disputes and costly employment tribunal's

·        Practice deteriorating in relation to practices around you

·        Low morale, poor physical and psychological health.

 

Write down the consequences of you not bridging your knowing doing gaps

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Not bridging the knowing doing gap will destroy your practice.

It is a joke among many dental nurses that you the dentist will invest valuable time and money on a course, by some new kit and materials, return to the practice enthusiastic about your new way of doing things and within three days you have returned to the status quo of how things have always been done. When this happens you are wasting time and money.

How do you fill the knowing doing gap?

Accountability is the only way to bridge this gap.

 

Who can hold you accountable?

·        Self?

“I will just make sure I do it.”

Really?             Is this a strategy that really works for you? If you really can hold yourself accountable why haven't you bridged your knowing doing gap before? Experience shows holding yourself accountable is doomed to failure.

 

·        Friends, family and colleagues.                                                                                 

You can ask those around you to hold you accountable, and how will you really feel when your partner, nurse or best friend repeatedly asks you constantly “Have you done…?”“Have you done…?”,  “Have you done…?” If you are like most people, they find this intensely irritating, unacceptable and feel like they are being nagged and not supported. This this is a recipe for disaster and difficult relationships.

·        A coach.

Have you ever noticed that when an athlete wins a medal championship or has a significant achievement the first person they always thank is that coach? Why do you think this is? Their coach has helped them accountable for doing all the training and preparation that they needed to do to be a success and win. Because of their coach holding them accountable they are training twice or three times a day come rain or shine summer or winter. The athlete’s coach bridges the knowing doing gap. So to in business and dental practice with me as your coach I will enable you to bridge the knowing doing gap so you can successfully implement what you know to get the results you want, and where you don't yet know need to do I will help you find the answers.

 

When are you going start to bridge your knowing doing gaps?

 

 

If you have any thoughts about this subject please comment below.

To find out more about how I work with dentists and their team making their good practice great call me on (07989) 757884 or e-mail Jane@IODB.co.uk

I look forward to hearing from you soon.