Are you being paid enough as a principal?

Are you being paid enough as a principal?                                I have recently been approached by several principals to explore how they are paying themselves and all members of the team appropriately. The principals are telling me they are fried, too much to do, too little time to do it and they are resentful because their earnings do not reflect the time and effort they put in especially, lunchtimes, early morning, evenings and weekends. Does this sound familiar? Experience has shown that most principals are paying themselves a lower percentage of gross than they pay their associates, for the clinical work. Is that appropriate? I don’t think so, what do you think? Moreover, when working with principals I discover they are not paying themselves for their other roles and responsibilities. As a clinician / principal you have three roles; each with their own job description, skill set, responsibilities, accountabilities and remuneration package. Your roles are Principal / business owner. To set the vison, mission, purpose, direction and culture of the practice. In this role you are the creator, innovator and primary strategist. To perform this role at your best you need space and time to think, read and meet with your coach/ mentor to explore ideas and approaches. To do this you will need to schedule adequate time for recreation and renovation.  Business Manager  In this role you are the planner, strategist, organiser, problem solver and systems creator. You may have a business or practice manager and because the practice belongs to you, you must manage your manager. To do this role to the standard the practice needs you to, you must schedule renovation time so that you can work on your practice and not in your practice. Clinician In this role you are a dentist, and this is probably the role that you are most accustomed to and comfortable with, this work is completed in your remuneration time. We find that clinician-mangers spend most of their time in the role of clinician, because as soon as you put down your mirror and probe, there is a significant drop in income and profitability for the practice and your personal income. In addition, because many dentists are unsure of their roles, responsibilities and skills as the business owner and business manager, primarily because you were not taught business at dental school, these roles are avoided and neglected, to the detriment of the practice growth and sustainability. Questions for you to consider. ·      Do you know what you need to know about how to be a business owner and manager? ·      Do you have sufficient time allocated for remuneration, recreation and renovation? ·      Do you and your team understand your three roles? ·      Are you being remunerated appropriately for each of your three roles? If you would like to learn more about how to run a financially successful stress-free dental practice, call us on 07989 757 884 or email Jane at IODB.co.uk to learn more about our practice development and management programmes including, Transform your Practice in 10 Days