2017 New Grad Edition - 46

Every experience is
an opportunity to
learn, and hopefully
to grow. Doing it
under other people's
tutelage and being
allowed to make a
few mistakes with
someone else's
business is an
honor. Cherish it,
and don't waste any
opportunity to learn
and grow from it.

46

NEW GRAD 2017 // dentaltown.com

I wish that as you open your practice,
you arrive at that opportunity with planning
already in place for enrolling employees
into your vision, and with the energized
and informed momentum to become a true
leader. With practice and intention, you
are less likely to make major mistakes or
to be crisis-focused when it comes time for
you to make great leadership decisions. It's
the difference between having your fi rst
new practice run you and you running
the practice.
Once you decide you want to own a
practice, you'll need to transform yourself
into a manager of the business and its systems,
finances and employees. Practicing will
be over as soon as you begin risking your
own income and investment; a new level of
responsibility and sense of reality will set in as
you realize that your employees are counting
on you to understand and get everything
right. HR-employees, management, best
practices and compliance-will be one of
your top concerns. You'll also need to learn

about marketing and branding. You need
to become a salesperson. Trust me, everyone
is in sales.

You're already a dentist-
now you must be a leader
At the top of the very challenging list of
things it takes to be a good boss is figuring
out how to be a great leader. It'll take a lot
of work, but trust me. Another thing school
does not prepare you for is the incredible
feeling of satisfaction and professional
fulfillment that becoming a leader of other
professionals brings into your life.
The word leader implies that you have
people who follow you. So again I circle
back to the critical skill of HR management. Remember, HR stands for "human
resources"-humans who are counting on
you, and whom you count on to help you
carry out the work of your practice. Your
entire support system and business success
hinges on these people.
I've learned that if you can find a way
to attract and inspire great employees,
99 percent of your success will require
99 percent less effort. And guess what? You're
in luck, because great people also need places
to work that allow them to do great things.
Great teams require systems that support
them and help them accomplish the vision
of the practice. Learning how to have those
systems ready, and how to fi nd and lead
those people, is a process that you'll want
to begin sooner rather than later.
There are many paths one can take to
get there, and a wide variety of available
resources. I hope this article inspires you
to learn more about strategic HR planning
and the art of leadership. As Warren Bennis,
leadership scholar said, "Leadership is the
capacity to translate vision into reality."
It's amazing making your visions come
true! And I recommend you start learning
now. ■
http://www.dentaltown.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of 2017 New Grad Edition
