00:00:00When Strengths Create Dependence
00:01:25Dental Practice Heroes Introduction
00:01:48The Competence Trap For Owners
00:05:57Audit What You Own And Delegate
00:10:01Tactical Takeaways And Strategy Call
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Being the most capable person in your dental practice can feel like a superpower, right up until it becomes the reason everything still depends on you. I’m Dr. Paul Etchison, and I see this pattern constantly with dental practice owners: we’re great at hiring, interviewing, running meetings, resolving conflict, smoothing over upset patients, and handling the sensitive admin work, so we keep doing it. Then we look up one day overwhelmed, frustrated, and wondering why nobody takes initiative, even though we accidentally trained the team to wait for us.
We dig into the competence trap and the real cost of “rescuing” the practice with our strengths. When we hold onto too many responsibilities, our team stops stretching, leadership never develops, and we lose the time needed for the work that actually changes the business: building systems, improving structure, spotting inefficiencies, and thinking like a true dental CEO. The turning point is a simple question that cuts through perfectionism and control: “Does this actually require me?” It’s a better filter than asking whether someone can do it as well as we can on day one.
You’ll also get a practical delegation playbook: audit what you own (on paper), pick one meaningful responsibility to move away from yourself this week, and make it the last time you ever do it by creating training, documentation, or a quick video. If you want a dental practice that runs without you, this is how you start building autonomy, accountability, and scalable dental practice management. Subscribe, share this with a practice owner who needs it, and leave a review so more dentists can find the show.
If you are ready to increase your new patients and start growing your practice, visit www.relevanceonlinemarketing.com and see what you've been missing with your current company.
Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life
We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams.
Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.
English
United States
SHOW NOTES 🔗
TRANSCRIPT 🔗
WEBVTT
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One of the easiest ways to become the bottleneck in your practice is to be really good at a lot of things.
00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:16.640
Like you're good at hiring and interviewing people, so you keep doing it, or you're good at leading the meeting, so you keep leading them.
00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:18.399
You're good at conflict resolution.
00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:20.640
So everybody brings conflict to you.
00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:23.920
So you're the one who always gets pulled in when you have an upset patient.
00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:29.359
And just because you're good at those things, it makes perfect sense to you why you are the person to keep doing them.
00:00:29.519 --> 00:00:35.759
Except eventually when you look up and you realize everything important still depends on you.
00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:41.359
And the weird part is that it's probably not because your team is weak and they don't know what they're doing.
00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:47.039
It might just be because you've accidentally turned every one of your strengths into a permanent job.
00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:50.479
And this is the trap that I see all the time with practice owners.
00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:54.079
You tell yourself, nobody's going to care about this as much as you do.
00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:56.079
They won't do it the way that you would.
00:00:56.240 --> 00:00:58.880
This is probably something owners should be doing anyway.
00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:00.399
It's faster if you do it.
00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:02.799
And yeah, a lot of the time those things are true.
00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:05.280
I mean, at least in the short term, they're always true.
00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:13.680
But if your goal is to create a practice that can run without you, you can't keep using your competence as the reason that you stay responsible for everything.
00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:22.799
So today, I want to show you why some of the things that you're the best at may be the exact same things that you need to stop owning now.
00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:34.319
Now, you are listening to the Dental Practice Heroes podcast, where we teach dentists how to be the CEOs of their practice, empower their teams, and build a practice that runs without them.
00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:35.359
Now I'm your host, Dr.
00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:36.159
Paul Etchison.
00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:45.920
I'm a practicing dentist, a dental business coach, author of two books on dental practice management, and the owner of a large multi-doctor practice in the south suburbs of Chicago.
00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:47.760
All right, let's get into it.
00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:51.439
So our goal at the practice is to have the right people in the right seats.
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We've all heard the bus analogy.
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We got to get the people on the bus, but we got to put them in the right seats.
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So we want to play to everyone's strengths because that means we're a good leader.
00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:03.760
If someone's good at something, they should be the person doing it.
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So we then say the same thing about our responsibilities.
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If I'm the best person to do it, I should keep doing it.
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And it makes total sense because you know exactly what you want.
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So it's very easy to do everything exactly the way you want it.
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You interview the way you want, you solve conflict the way you want, you calm down the upset patience, and so on and so on.
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And along with that, you're doing a lot of things because you're saying that it has to stay with the owner.
00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:40.560
You have to do the payroll, you have to do the reconciliation, anything having to do with wages or benefits, or maybe it'd feel weird for someone else to do it, or you don't trust people to see this information or do it correctly.
00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:42.080
And again, none of those.
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I mean, not irrational.
00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:48.560
But the mistake is assuming that since they're true today, they should remain true forever.
00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:54.719
So the better you are at something, the easier it is to accidentally make yourself permanently responsible for it.
00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:58.639
And if you always continue to do everything, the practice stays relying on you.
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Your team doesn't get the chance to grow and take on more things, and you eventually become the bottleneck, preventing the growth and stability of the practice.
00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:07.759
You will hold the practice back.
00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:10.319
And then the more things you do, the team learns.
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They're trained in a certain way.
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They realize that you are the one that handles that.
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They then that might become that you're better at that.
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So you're the person that's going to do it.
00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:21.280
And eventually it's like, well, I should wait for you.
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I should wait for the owner.
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I can't make a decision because I have to wait and ask the owner.
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And here's your sequence.
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If you want to die a slow and painfully overwhelming death as a dental practice owner, here's the sequence.
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You're good at something.
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So you keep doing it.
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And your team stops stretching.
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The dependence on you grows.
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You become the bottleneck.
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You get overwhelmed because you are handling way too many things and you're just so frustrated that nobody else will do anything.
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And oh God, isn't that the worst?
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You start wondering why nobody takes initiative.
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But honestly, you've trained your team to do that.
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You've trained them to be exactly like that.
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You have created the culture, and that culture is that you are the person who does all these things.
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Yeah, let's face it, you're important.
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You are a strong member of the team.
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But every time you do something, every time you rescue the team with that strength, you are weakening their ability to operate without you.
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And it's costing you a lot.
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Now you have no space left for the work that changes the practice.
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You have no time to talk with your team.
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You have no time to listen for inefficiencies or frustrations.
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You have no time to strategize systems or improve the structure.
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You can't develop your leaders that are going to take the things away from you and take things off your plate.
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And you, it's ultimately you don't get to create the practice that you want.
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So you're doing these things out of good intentions, but the team suffers and the practice suffers.
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And at a certain point, when you're overwhelmed, patient care is going to suffer.
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And then you start this cycle of like where you just consistently become reactive and it's not a good place to be.
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So if you ever find yourself saying, I'm good at it, so I should keep doing it.
00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:06.879
I want you to instead think that being good at something doesn't necessarily mean that you should be responsible for it.
00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:11.759
The better question is not that can somebody else do it better than you.
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The better question is, does it actually require you?
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I mean, does it require you?
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And that's the shift.
00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:22.879
If you're saying to yourself, I don't mind doing it, that is not a good enough reason to keep owning it.
00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:30.000
And you can manage this when your practice is small, but your job as a dental practice owner, it needs to evolve as the practice grows.
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So if your responsibilities don't ever shrink, your freedom, it's not growing either.
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And as your practice grows, I promise you, your highest value contribution should change.
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The things that you own should get smaller over time because your time is incredibly valuable.
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And because you can start to be used in so many high-leverage ways.
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So protect your time.
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So shrink your responsibilities and protect your time for the work that only you can do.
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So, how do we get out of this cycle?
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How do we notice it?
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How do we peel back the layers and dig ourselves out?
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So, first, you've got to audit it.
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You've got to know, you've got to write this down.
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Don't do it in your head.
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I know you're thinking, I do it in my head.
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Don't write it down.
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Write it down.
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Write it down.
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Seriously, write it down.
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It's gonna make a difference.
00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:19.920
So audit what you own.
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Look at the recurring responsibilities that you carry.
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Maybe staffing, interviewing, onboarding, leading meetings, doing all the one-on-ones, resolving conflict, dealing with PTO and upset patients and motivating your team and being the cheerleader and all that stuff, training, onboarding, and ask yourself does this actually require me?
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Not am I good at it, but does it require me?
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And could someone else actually do it like me?
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And a great place to start is like staffing and onboarding.
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I mean, this is one of the biggest early opportunities.
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I mean, owners often stay so deeply involved in the interviews and the hiring process and the onboarding and the initial training and just teaching someone the standards of your office because those feel to you way too important to hand off.
00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:05.199
And they are important, but you need to build up somebody else capable of owning them.
00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:13.120
Even if those responsibilities feel to you that they're too important to delegate, I promise you you can develop somebody on your team that is strong enough to do those things.
00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:15.680
And when you do that, you're not abandoning quality.
00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:21.040
You're building a system and a leader who can protect the quality without requiring you.
00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:29.279
And if you feel unsure passing things to your team, use initial delegation opportunities to create evidence that your team can handle it.
00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:33.680
You give them ownership of something and they're not going to have it be perfect.
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It's just not going to be like that.
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They have to learn just like you learn.
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So you coach them, you watch them, you adjust, they improve.
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And you then you see that wow, my team can actually do this without me.
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And that creates more trust.
00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:50.639
So then you feel better about giving them more responsibilities.
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And then something even more important happens is you start experiencing the value of your freed up time, but your team also values their time and their contributions more because now they have more autonomy and they play a larger role in the practice.
00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:10.319
So you get time back to work on higher value, higher leverage things, and the team gets to feel better about their job.
00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:14.079
But when you keep solving everything, the team learns dependence.
00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:16.720
But as your practice grows, the team has to grow.
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They have to learn how to think and make decisions and they have to handle conversations and solve problems and do all the things that you do.
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But first, you've got to hand that to them.
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You've got to express the trust and you've got to let them make mistakes and learn from them.
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You can't develop strong leaders in your practice if you are keeping all the important responsibilities for yourself.
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And if you want your team to actually act like owners, give them something to own first.
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Like give them something to own and hold them accountable to it.
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We need to understand the goal is not perfection immediately.
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The goal is that over time, they will grow and learn that capability and become very good at it.
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So every responsibility that you continue to keep creates one more demand on your attention each week.
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And every demand reduces your ability to be proactive and create the practice that you want.
00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:11.200
You're trying to create CEO capacity.
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So you can work on the things.
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You can ask yourself, what do I want this practice to become?
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Where are we inefficient?
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What systems need to exist?
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What could make the team's life easier?
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What should I create next?
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And delegation plays into that in such a way it gives you the time and the energy to think about those things so that you can create a practice that you want.
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But if you spend all your time just doing tasks, task after task, you're never going to have time or the energy to work on those things.
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And then you just stay stuck year after year.
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I see it happen all the time.
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It's so common.
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You stay stuck.
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A growing practice, as it grows, should always require less and less of the owner operationally, not more because the team is more complex.
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It requires and needs to require less.
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Otherwise, it is unsustainable.
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Ask me how I know.
00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:03.840
So here are your tactical takeaways for this episode.
00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:05.200
Here's what I want you to remember.
00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:08.639
Stop using competence as a reason to keep ownership.
00:10:08.799 --> 00:10:12.080
Being the best at something does not mean that you should keep doing it.
00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:15.279
And two, ask yourself, does this actually require me?
00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:19.519
That is a much better question than can someone do it as well as you can.
00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:23.840
They're not going to be able to at first, but yes, I promise you, after time, they will.
00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:29.279
And lastly, move one meaningful responsibility away from yourself this week.
00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:38.320
And then you can use that space you created for yourself for higher value CEO work or to continue moving more things away from you so that you have more time.
00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:44.399
So I challenge you, look at everything you own this week, write it down and pick one responsibility that you're good at.
00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:46.639
Pick one that you're good at and give it to somebody else.
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Just decide how maybe you do it one more time, but as you do it that time, you do it in a way that is the last time that you do it.
00:10:54.000 --> 00:11:05.279
You do it in a way that you create a training, you create a document, you create a video, some way to be the last time you ever do that thing so that you can be active in creating the next version of your practice.
00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:14.720
So if this episode made you realize that your practice still depends on you for way too many things, that is exactly the kind of work that we do with dental practice owners, and we help you with it.
00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:18.240
We help you build the leadership, the systems, the team structure.
00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:22.080
It allows the responsibilities to move away from the doctor without falling apart.
00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:28.480
We help you, we train your team, and we get your practice to the next level so that everything operates so much more efficiently.
00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:37.440
So if that's something you want help with and you're interested in that, set up a strategy call with me, dentalpracticeheroes.com/slash strategy, book a call, let's talk about it.
00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:39.279
Thank you so much for listening today.
00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:44.480
I so appreciate that you take me with you on your way to work or maybe on your way from work back to home.
00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:47.120
I hope you have an excellent week this week at the practice.
00:11:47.279 --> 00:11:50.000
And I want you to get rid of some tasks.
00:11:50.159 --> 00:11:51.120
I know you can do it.
00:11:51.279 --> 00:11:51.919
Get it done.
00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:53.440
We will talk to you next time.
00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:09.119
One of the easiest ways to become the bottleneck in your practice is to be really good at a lot of things.
00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:16.640
Like you're good at hiring and interviewing people, so you keep doing it, or you're good at leading the meeting, so you keep leading them.
00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:18.399
You're good at conflict resolution.
00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:20.640
So everybody brings conflict to you.
00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:23.920
So you're the one who always gets pulled in when you have an upset patient.
00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:29.359
And just because you're good at those things, it makes perfect sense to you why you are the person to keep doing them.
00:00:29.519 --> 00:00:35.759
Except eventually when you look up and you realize everything important still depends on you.
00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:41.359
And the weird part is that it's probably not because your team is weak and they don't know what they're doing.
00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:47.039
It might just be because you've accidentally turned every one of your strengths into a permanent job.
00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:50.479
And this is the trap that I see all the time with practice owners.
00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:54.079
You tell yourself, nobody's going to care about this as much as you do.
00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:56.079
They won't do it the way that you would.
00:00:56.240 --> 00:00:58.880
This is probably something owners should be doing anyway.
00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:00.399
It's faster if you do it.
00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:02.799
And yeah, a lot of the time those things are true.
00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:05.280
I mean, at least in the short term, they're always true.
00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:13.680
But if your goal is to create a practice that can run without you, you can't keep using your competence as the reason that you stay responsible for everything.
00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:22.799
So today, I want to show you why some of the things that you're the best at may be the exact same things that you need to stop owning now.
00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:34.319
Now, you are listening to the Dental Practice Heroes podcast, where we teach dentists how to be the CEOs of their practice, empower their teams, and build a practice that runs without them.
00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:35.359
Now I'm your host, Dr.
00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:36.159
Paul Etchison.
00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:45.920
I'm a practicing dentist, a dental business coach, author of two books on dental practice management, and the owner of a large multi-doctor practice in the south suburbs of Chicago.
00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:47.760
All right, let's get into it.
00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:51.439
So our goal at the practice is to have the right people in the right seats.
00:01:51.599 --> 00:01:53.040
We've all heard the bus analogy.
00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:55.920
We got to get the people on the bus, but we got to put them in the right seats.
00:01:56.079 --> 00:02:00.799
So we want to play to everyone's strengths because that means we're a good leader.
00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:03.760
If someone's good at something, they should be the person doing it.
00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:06.799
So we then say the same thing about our responsibilities.
00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:10.159
If I'm the best person to do it, I should keep doing it.
00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:14.080
And it makes total sense because you know exactly what you want.
00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:18.000
So it's very easy to do everything exactly the way you want it.
00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:24.000
You interview the way you want, you solve conflict the way you want, you calm down the upset patience, and so on and so on.
00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:28.800
And along with that, you're doing a lot of things because you're saying that it has to stay with the owner.
00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:40.560
You have to do the payroll, you have to do the reconciliation, anything having to do with wages or benefits, or maybe it'd feel weird for someone else to do it, or you don't trust people to see this information or do it correctly.
00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:42.080
And again, none of those.
00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:43.520
I mean, not irrational.
00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:48.560
But the mistake is assuming that since they're true today, they should remain true forever.
00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:54.719
So the better you are at something, the easier it is to accidentally make yourself permanently responsible for it.
00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:58.639
And if you always continue to do everything, the practice stays relying on you.
00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:05.680
Your team doesn't get the chance to grow and take on more things, and you eventually become the bottleneck, preventing the growth and stability of the practice.
00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:07.759
You will hold the practice back.
00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:10.319
And then the more things you do, the team learns.
00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:12.080
They're trained in a certain way.
00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:14.639
They realize that you are the one that handles that.
00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:17.280
They then that might become that you're better at that.
00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:18.879
So you're the person that's going to do it.
00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:21.280
And eventually it's like, well, I should wait for you.
00:03:21.439 --> 00:03:22.400
I should wait for the owner.
00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:25.199
I can't make a decision because I have to wait and ask the owner.
00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:26.800
And here's your sequence.
00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:34.000
If you want to die a slow and painfully overwhelming death as a dental practice owner, here's the sequence.
00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:35.199
You're good at something.
00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:36.319
So you keep doing it.
00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:38.000
And your team stops stretching.
00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:39.840
The dependence on you grows.
00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:41.439
You become the bottleneck.
00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:48.240
You get overwhelmed because you are handling way too many things and you're just so frustrated that nobody else will do anything.
00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:50.879
And oh God, isn't that the worst?
00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:53.759
You start wondering why nobody takes initiative.
00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:56.000
But honestly, you've trained your team to do that.
00:03:56.159 --> 00:03:58.319
You've trained them to be exactly like that.
00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:03.520
You have created the culture, and that culture is that you are the person who does all these things.
00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:05.439
Yeah, let's face it, you're important.
00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:07.520
You are a strong member of the team.
00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:15.680
But every time you do something, every time you rescue the team with that strength, you are weakening their ability to operate without you.
00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:18.079
And it's costing you a lot.
00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:22.160
Now you have no space left for the work that changes the practice.
00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:24.959
You have no time to talk with your team.
00:04:25.199 --> 00:04:28.480
You have no time to listen for inefficiencies or frustrations.
00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:32.160
You have no time to strategize systems or improve the structure.
00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:36.560
You can't develop your leaders that are going to take the things away from you and take things off your plate.
00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:39.839
And you, it's ultimately you don't get to create the practice that you want.
00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:46.160
So you're doing these things out of good intentions, but the team suffers and the practice suffers.
00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:49.839
And at a certain point, when you're overwhelmed, patient care is going to suffer.
00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:56.639
And then you start this cycle of like where you just consistently become reactive and it's not a good place to be.
00:04:56.800 --> 00:05:00.480
So if you ever find yourself saying, I'm good at it, so I should keep doing it.
00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:06.879
I want you to instead think that being good at something doesn't necessarily mean that you should be responsible for it.
00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:11.759
The better question is not that can somebody else do it better than you.
00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:14.720
The better question is, does it actually require you?
00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:16.879
I mean, does it require you?
00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:18.240
And that's the shift.
00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:22.879
If you're saying to yourself, I don't mind doing it, that is not a good enough reason to keep owning it.
00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:30.000
And you can manage this when your practice is small, but your job as a dental practice owner, it needs to evolve as the practice grows.
00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:34.639
So if your responsibilities don't ever shrink, your freedom, it's not growing either.
00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:40.000
And as your practice grows, I promise you, your highest value contribution should change.
00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:46.480
The things that you own should get smaller over time because your time is incredibly valuable.
00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:51.199
And because you can start to be used in so many high-leverage ways.
00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:53.040
So protect your time.
00:05:53.199 --> 00:05:57.439
So shrink your responsibilities and protect your time for the work that only you can do.
00:05:57.600 --> 00:05:59.680
So, how do we get out of this cycle?
00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:01.360
How do we notice it?
00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:06.079
How do we peel back the layers and dig ourselves out?
00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:08.160
So, first, you've got to audit it.
00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:10.319
You've got to know, you've got to write this down.
00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:11.360
Don't do it in your head.
00:06:11.519 --> 00:06:13.279
I know you're thinking, I do it in my head.
00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:14.720
Don't write it down.
00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:15.680
Write it down.
00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:16.560
Write it down.
00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:17.600
Seriously, write it down.
00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:18.560
It's gonna make a difference.
00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:19.920
So audit what you own.
00:06:20.079 --> 00:06:22.399
Look at the recurring responsibilities that you carry.
00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:37.920
Maybe staffing, interviewing, onboarding, leading meetings, doing all the one-on-ones, resolving conflict, dealing with PTO and upset patients and motivating your team and being the cheerleader and all that stuff, training, onboarding, and ask yourself does this actually require me?
00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:40.639
Not am I good at it, but does it require me?
00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:42.879
And could someone else actually do it like me?
00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:45.920
And a great place to start is like staffing and onboarding.
00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:48.399
I mean, this is one of the biggest early opportunities.
00:06:48.639 --> 00:07:01.199
I mean, owners often stay so deeply involved in the interviews and the hiring process and the onboarding and the initial training and just teaching someone the standards of your office because those feel to you way too important to hand off.
00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:05.199
And they are important, but you need to build up somebody else capable of owning them.
00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:13.120
Even if those responsibilities feel to you that they're too important to delegate, I promise you you can develop somebody on your team that is strong enough to do those things.
00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:15.680
And when you do that, you're not abandoning quality.
00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:21.040
You're building a system and a leader who can protect the quality without requiring you.
00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:29.279
And if you feel unsure passing things to your team, use initial delegation opportunities to create evidence that your team can handle it.
00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:33.680
You give them ownership of something and they're not going to have it be perfect.
00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:35.279
It's just not going to be like that.
00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:37.360
They have to learn just like you learn.
00:07:37.439 --> 00:07:41.680
So you coach them, you watch them, you adjust, they improve.
00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:46.240
And you then you see that wow, my team can actually do this without me.
00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:47.680
And that creates more trust.
00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:50.639
So then you feel better about giving them more responsibilities.
00:07:50.800 --> 00:08:03.839
And then something even more important happens is you start experiencing the value of your freed up time, but your team also values their time and their contributions more because now they have more autonomy and they play a larger role in the practice.
00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:10.319
So you get time back to work on higher value, higher leverage things, and the team gets to feel better about their job.
00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:14.079
But when you keep solving everything, the team learns dependence.
00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:16.720
But as your practice grows, the team has to grow.
00:08:16.879 --> 00:08:23.839
They have to learn how to think and make decisions and they have to handle conversations and solve problems and do all the things that you do.
00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:25.839
But first, you've got to hand that to them.
00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:30.639
You've got to express the trust and you've got to let them make mistakes and learn from them.
00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:36.159
You can't develop strong leaders in your practice if you are keeping all the important responsibilities for yourself.
00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:41.279
And if you want your team to actually act like owners, give them something to own first.
00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:44.240
Like give them something to own and hold them accountable to it.
00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:47.519
We need to understand the goal is not perfection immediately.
00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:54.080
The goal is that over time, they will grow and learn that capability and become very good at it.
00:08:54.240 --> 00:09:00.960
So every responsibility that you continue to keep creates one more demand on your attention each week.
00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:08.000
And every demand reduces your ability to be proactive and create the practice that you want.
00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:11.200
You're trying to create CEO capacity.
00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:12.799
So you can work on the things.
00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:15.759
You can ask yourself, what do I want this practice to become?
00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:17.440
Where are we inefficient?
00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:19.200
What systems need to exist?
00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:21.440
What could make the team's life easier?
00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:23.440
What should I create next?
00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:32.480
And delegation plays into that in such a way it gives you the time and the energy to think about those things so that you can create a practice that you want.
00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:39.440
But if you spend all your time just doing tasks, task after task, you're never going to have time or the energy to work on those things.
00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:41.840
And then you just stay stuck year after year.
00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:43.360
I see it happen all the time.
00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:44.399
It's so common.
00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:45.840
You stay stuck.
00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:54.720
A growing practice, as it grows, should always require less and less of the owner operationally, not more because the team is more complex.
00:09:54.879 --> 00:09:57.120
It requires and needs to require less.
00:09:57.279 --> 00:09:59.440
Otherwise, it is unsustainable.
00:09:59.679 --> 00:10:00.960
Ask me how I know.
00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:03.840
So here are your tactical takeaways for this episode.
00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:05.200
Here's what I want you to remember.
00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:08.639
Stop using competence as a reason to keep ownership.
00:10:08.799 --> 00:10:12.080
Being the best at something does not mean that you should keep doing it.
00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:15.279
And two, ask yourself, does this actually require me?
00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:19.519
That is a much better question than can someone do it as well as you can.
00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:23.840
They're not going to be able to at first, but yes, I promise you, after time, they will.
00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:29.279
And lastly, move one meaningful responsibility away from yourself this week.
00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:38.320
And then you can use that space you created for yourself for higher value CEO work or to continue moving more things away from you so that you have more time.
00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:44.399
So I challenge you, look at everything you own this week, write it down and pick one responsibility that you're good at.
00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:46.639
Pick one that you're good at and give it to somebody else.
00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:53.840
Just decide how maybe you do it one more time, but as you do it that time, you do it in a way that is the last time that you do it.
00:10:54.000 --> 00:11:05.279
You do it in a way that you create a training, you create a document, you create a video, some way to be the last time you ever do that thing so that you can be active in creating the next version of your practice.
00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:14.720
So if this episode made you realize that your practice still depends on you for way too many things, that is exactly the kind of work that we do with dental practice owners, and we help you with it.
00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:18.240
We help you build the leadership, the systems, the team structure.
00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:22.080
It allows the responsibilities to move away from the doctor without falling apart.
00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:28.480
We help you, we train your team, and we get your practice to the next level so that everything operates so much more efficiently.
00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:37.440
So if that's something you want help with and you're interested in that, set up a strategy call with me, dentalpracticeheroes.com/slash strategy, book a call, let's talk about it.
00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:39.279
Thank you so much for listening today.
00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:44.480
I so appreciate that you take me with you on your way to work or maybe on your way from work back to home.
00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:47.120
I hope you have an excellent week this week at the practice.
00:11:47.279 --> 00:11:50.000
And I want you to get rid of some tasks.
00:11:50.159 --> 00:11:51.120
I know you can do it.
00:11:51.279 --> 00:11:51.919
Get it done.
00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:53.440
We will talk to you next time.
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