Dental Tribune United Kindom Edition

9Practice ManagementJuly 30 - August 5, 2012United Kingdom Edition CAD/CAM SYSTEMS | HANDPIECES | HYGIENE SYSTEMS | TREATMENT CENTRES | IMAGING SYSTEMS T h e D e n t a l C o m p a n y Upgrade your existing CEREC ‘Redcam’ to the ALL NEW v4.0 CEREC AC ‘Bluecam’ Generous Sirona Factory Allowances of up to £23,000 when you trade in your old CEREC 3 system. Strictly Limited Offer CEREC Evolution, Naturally… Call now for more details 0845 071 5040 or e-mail: Mark.Buckland@sironadental.co.uk www.sirona.com Sirona Dental Systems Ltd., Lakeside House, 1 Furzeground Way, Stockley Park, Heathrow, London UB11 1BD Godfather II facing down the federal inquisitors investigat- ing organised crime. To return to Mr Dia- mond’s talk: my grandmother had many wise sayings, one was “Fine words butter no parsnips”. The modern equiv- alent amongst those of us seeking to be ethical profes- sionals is “Walk the Talk”. Both of these are comparable with “the evidence of culture is how people behave when no-one is watching”. Yet in a matter of a couple of days the perception has become that the culture of the organi- sation is wanting, to say the least, because of the actions of a few individuals. I speak about, consult on and coach what I know, and that is dentistry and people. We are constantly being en- couraged by business pundits and gurus to be authentic, honest and sincere. Sadly the cynic in me is reminded of the words of Groucho Marx who said: “To be successful all you need is sincerity; once you can fake that you can fake anything.” One of the first things I attempt (I admit I don’t al- ways succeed) with clients is to get them to work out what they truly want to do with their lives. Yep it’s that “vi- sion” thing again. Until they know their destination I can’t help them to find their own road, but one thing I truly know is that until they have a dream, a desire, an aspiration they will go around in circles or worse they will wander down someone else’s path because “it seemed to have worked for them.” Unless those dreams are congruent with their con- science, unless they are do- ing what they do for the right and therefore ethical reasons they will end up disappoint- ed and frustrated. Ultimately they will need to confront their own version of Diamond Bob’s time of reckoning even if it’s only by facing their children or by staring into their own eyes in the mirror every day. I often come across this lack of consistency when I talk about the subject of sales and selling in professional life - it seems that as long as it’s said to be “ethical” and “low-key” then it’s OK. What I find is that peo- ple have been on sales courses and have learned the words, the techniques of rapport and clos- ing and so on without working out exactly what it is they are trying to achieve for the greater good of the patient. That’s where “selling with- out the S-word” came from - a challenge from a client to encourage his team to (whis- per it) “sell” without them re- alising that’s what they were doing. It takes high quality leadership (another overused and poorly understood word) to ensure that the culture of a business is imbued with that “trust and integrity” that Bob Diamond mentioned, if you’re not a leader that can be trusted 100 per cent or whose integrity can be called in to question then don’t be sur- prised when your organisation performs poorly. Until every team mem- ber from cleaner to principal is doing what they are doing for the long-term ben- efit of the patient and truly understand and embrace that, until they truly walk the talk then success will be an illusion. DT About the author Alun Rees trained at Newcastle Uni- versity and started his career as an oral surgery resi- dent, before work- ing as an associate in a range of differ- ent practices. With this solid founda- tion, Alun went on to launch two prac- tices in the space of just 15 months, a challenge in the toughest economic conditions. After years of hard work Alun finally sold his award-winning business in 2005. Alun’s background and experience give him a strong un- derstanding of what others go through to build a successful practice. He has seen many different approaches and learned his own lessons in the real world. Alun now runs Dental Business Partners to offer specific and special- ised support for dentists, by dentists. He has served as a media representa- tive for both the BDA and BDHF and is an authority consulted by the media and has featured on BBC2, Sky TV and various radio stations. www.dentalbusinesspartners.co.uk alun@dentalbusinesspartners.co.uk For more information email Alun at alunrees@mac.com, or alternatively call 07778 148583 or 01242 511927