Foundational Pillar #5: Risk Tolerance

How much risk do you tolerate in your dental practice?

Dentists today face a barrage of risks, from patient interactions, team behavior, technology, embezzlement, theft, natural disasters and more.

From minor hiccups to major failure, the fact is things will go wrong in your practice — guaranteed. How you identify, prepare, react, and handle these situations is your key to being a confident, productive leader. Says Dr. Bruce B. Baird, “Personally, I don’t mind situations coming up, because they allow me to tighten up the systems I have in the practice.”

When things go wrong, people usually fall into one of three categories. Do one of these sound like you?

1. You’re aware something is happening, but have little information about what it is.
2. You have a lot of information about what’s happening, but you don’t know how to fix it.
3. You’re keen to what is happening and have the systems that inform you of what is going on in your practice. You can confidently make decisions to move forward.

As a small example, if you have a patient who shows up with an appointment card that reads 10:00am but they’re on the calendar for 11:30am you may be tempted to say, “I need to find who to blame for messing this up”. But the fact is, there may be a breakdown in your system somewhere, and you can reduce the risk of this happening again by identifying and eliminating the breakdown.

Take a moment to reflect on yourself and your business with this three-step Risk Tolerance Assessment.

1. Do you know what the major risks are to your practice?

• Health – How are your stress and anxiety levels? Are you minding your mental and physical wellness?
• Personnel – Is your team aligned with your vision? Are they working happily and independently? Are they exhibiting any unwanted behaviors? What process do you have for correcting that behavior?
• Economic – Do you know if there money leaking out of your practice anywhere? Are your loan rates good for you long-term?
• Crime – What is your IT company doing to protect you and your patients from cyber attacks? Are you PCI compliant? Do you know your business well enough that you could detect embezzlement?
• Natural Disaster – Do you have a preparedness plan? How do you communicate with patients? Is your property protected? How much down-time can you tolerate?

2. Do you have systems in place to reduce those risks?

3. Think back to the last time something went wrong in your practice. How did you react? How did it make you feel?

Being intentional about risk mitigation can save your practice, and even life. Everyday Practices podcast guest Dr. Roy Shelburne learned about risks the hard way. A lack of insight into the risk in his practice sent him to prison for 19 months for healthcare fraud. To hear Dr. Shelburn’s story, listen to his interview on The Everyday Practices Podcast.

The reality is, the more informed you are, the easier it is to lower your risk in your practice. The more prepared you can be for potential risks, the lower your stress and the more empowered you are to lead your practice to success.

Take Control of The Risk In Your Practice By Enrolling in
PDA Business Impact: Foundations Program

Productive dentists that consistently produce 5-Star patient experiences and massive raving fans have three things in common when it comes to generating year over year growth in the practice:

1. A well-defined philosophy of care
2. A clear business plan
3. An easy way to get team buy-in

Productive Dentist Academy is offering something we’ve never done before to give you access to the exact proven methods you need to jumpstart productivity today — not months or years from now.

Recent PDA Business Impact: Foundations Program participant Dr. Darren Webber explains,

“Productive Dentist Academy cuts through the noise and has delivered the best ROI for my money in this time of confusion.”

– Dr. Samantha Vitagliano

Beginning January 14th we are kicking off our third PDA Business Impact: Foundations Program.  Sign up for this 8-week interactive program and receive Dr. Bruce B. Baird’s “Pearls of Productivity” On Demand BONUS and $700 OFF Tuition.

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