Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition No.2, 2017

Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition | 2/2017 OPINION 07 Don’t blink—You may miss something! By Chris Barrow, UK Rule 3: Have good conversations All problems exist in the ab- sence of a good conversation. Many years ago, one of my orig- inal mentors advised me to es- tablish a personal board of di- rectors (PBD), deﬁ ned as people whose opinion I trust and who have the opportunity to give me honest feedback without judgement. The only qualiﬁ ca- tions are trust, respect and mu- tual admiration. They do not have to be in the same business, country or demographic. My PBD has changed over the years as members have come and gone, but I still refer many of my ideas and strategies to them for a second opinion before I take risks. I often attend meetings with owners, managers and teams in which it is obvious to me that the main reason they have progressed so slowly is that they simply do not make the time available in the work- ing calendar to stop and listen to each other. The chase for pro- duction becomes all-embrac- ing, whether a unit of dental ac- tivity or a sales target, and there are never enough timeouts to take the pulse of the business and its people. is The main characteristic of a Champions League dental busi- ness (if I may use that football metaphor) the meeting schedule, which should be de- signed to ensure that verbal communication is the primary means by which information is shared. Here too is another way in which the independent can beat most big businesses. Benjamin Franklin is alleged to have said, “When you’re ﬁ n- ished changing, you’re fin- ished”. Focus on your patient experience, stay connected to innovation and stop to listen. Master those three habits and you will be able to take advan- tage of whatever the world plans to throw at us next. There is, of course, a 50 per cent chance that what I have just said is cor- rect. Chris Barrow is the founder of Coach Bar- row consultancy practice. An ac- tive con sultant, a trainer and a coach to the UK dental profession, he regularly contributes to the dental press, so- cial media and online. Chris Barrow can be contacted at coachbarrow@ me.com. Staying in touch with patient expectations is arguably the single most important way to survive the future. I recently took ﬁ ve weeks off work to go catamaran sailing in the Caribbean, get married while there and then leave my lovely new wife behind to explore the mountains and deserts of Oman with seven friends. On my return, the back issues of dental maga- zines were full of General Dental Council changes to its regulatory systems, the National Association of Specialist Dental Accountants and Lawyers revealing a 53 per cent increase in UK practice goodwill values in the last year, mydentist taking a break from practice pur- chases, the FGDP (UK) seeking in- dependence, the risk that NHS dental contract reform could force associates to become em- ployees and Simplyhealth an- nouncing their name change for Denplan. Add in the Bupa pur- chase of Oasis before I started my wanderings and the rise and rise of digital dentistry and we have what can safely be described as a rapidly changing and disruptive marketplace. Predictions are a dangerous game. I have been asked to sub- mit prophetic articles on many occasions in the past. Perhaps unusually (because I am wired that way), I have always made a point of returning to the predic- tions some years later, just to see how close I came to getting things right. I am delighted to tell you that I have maintained an average score of 50 per cent on my guesses as to what may happen next. The challenge, as they say, is knowing which 50 per cent and, frankly, I never have a clue. Sorry! So my purpose here is not to add yet another list of half- truths to the speculations of my peers in writing and speaking; I would rather offer some thoughts on how to survive the disruptive dental market. Rule 1: Stay focused on the patient No matter what big business, private equity or shareholder pressure does to the dental in- dustry, the independent dental business owner will be able to deliver a unique selling point built on customer service. The patient experience will always be the way in which you can pos- itively differentiate yourself. Staying in touch with patient expectations is arguably the sin- gle most important way to sur- vive the future. In a recent blog post, I men- tioned a presentation given at the London-based WIRED Retail sym- posium. There Westfield Labs Chief Operating Ofﬁ cer Antony Ritch gave an interesting insight into the future of shopping: “Shoppers don’t differentiate between online and ofﬂ ine. Omni- channel is the only way that re- tailers can survive. As virtual reality, augmented reality and full-body scans of shoppers pro- liferate—and with Amazon launching bricks and mortar stores, the way forward is to act as matchmaker between cus- tomer and product in every envi- ronment. Shoppers always have their phones and 80 % of all physical sales are inﬂ uenced by the inter- net. Stores are a social environ- ment where friends and family come out to enjoy a day of shop- ping, dining and entertaining. We see the digital world in the same manner.” When one considers this quotation alongside the conven- tional approach to the provision of dental customer service, there is much that will need to change in the next ten years. My belief is that disruption will be applied to the premises from which den- tistry is delivered and the cur- rent model of reception, lounge, consultation room and surgery. The patient experience will change and the device-toting, connected consumer will be at the centre of it. Something new this way comes, but as yet I am having trouble imagining what it will look like. Rule 2: Take the time to research, listen and plan There seem to be too many dental conferences, websites, publications and social chan- nels. There are nowhere near enough hours in the day to stay abreast of what is happening in clinical dentistry and in busi- ness innovation. I have no mira- cle cure for information over- load. If you are committed to your vocation, then you must prioritise that which will keep you ahead of the game and that will include attending, listening to, watching and reading the events, broadcasts and publica- tions that will maintain your edge. This comes at a price and the need to manage your time very carefully to avoid burn-out. Maria Popova, creator of the ex- cellent Brain Pickings weekly e-newsletter, reminds us that: “Of all ridiculous things, the most ridiculous seems to me, to be busy—to be a man who is brisk about his food and his work,’ Kierkegaard admonished in 1843 as he contemplated our greatest source of unhappiness. It’s a sobering sentiment against the backdrop of modern life, where the cult of busyness and productivity plays out as the chief drama of our existence—a drama we persistently lament as singular to our time. We reﬂ ex- ively blame on the Internet our corrosive compulsion for doing at the cost of being, forgetting that every technology is a symp- tom and not, or at least not at ﬁ rst, a cause of our desires and pathologies.”

Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition No.2, 2017

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