CAD/CAM international magazine of digital dentistry No. 4, 2016

| practice management realistic expectations 06 CAD/CAM 4 2016 Manager versus clinician How to manage expectations of the management role and turn it into success Author: Lina Craven, UK Practitioners’ expectations of the kind of manager they want for their practice vary considerably intermsofexperienceandskills.Howguiltyareyou of promoting a nurse or receptionist to a manage- ment role without determining the skills gap and providing the necessary training? It is a common scenario in our industry. Practitioners have a responsibility to their teams and to the financial success of their practices to appointsomeonewhoeitherhasthenecessaryskills or has the capacity to learn them in the appropriate timeframe.Howrealisticareyourexpectationsand how can you ensure your management role results in success? Creating and managing realistic expectations Expectations are difficult to control and impos- sible to turn off. According to Brazos Consulting, “Expectationsaredeeperandbroaderthan‘require- ments’.Expectationisyourvisionofafuturestateor action,usuallyunstatedbutwhichiscriticaltoyour success.”Bylearningtoidentifyandinfluencewhat you expect, and by ensuring it is clearly communi- cated, understood and agreed with your manager, you can dramatically improve the quality, impact and effectiveness of your business. Expectationsarecreatedbymanydifferentcircum- stances. It may be something you said or the way that you said it, something you or someone else did, or an expectation of your prospective manager based on his or her previous experience. The vital point here is that expectations, whether right or wrong, rational or otherwise, are not developed in a vacuum. You should consider instances when you were let down by your manager and ask yourself how that expectation was derived. Was it based on anagreementwithyourmanagerafteradiscussion or was it based on something you said or thought © George Rudy/Shutterstock.com 42016

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