Here is a loaded question. Are you organized? It is often said that the more organized you are, the more profitable your business will be. I might have just made that up. But think about it. Organization aids business efficiency and helps reduce waste. The more organized your dental practice is, the more predictable your desired outcomes will be. Let me give you an example from my world. Take a look at Exhibit A below:
I used to hate to cook because cooking meant that I had to go into this cabinet (exhibit A). This cabinet is 10” wide and 14” deep. The recipe called for ½ teaspoon of coriander. After searching for a few minutes, I thought to myself, “do I really need coriander?” There is a good chance I didn’t have it. It drove me nuts. If there is something good that came from this whole COVID thing is that it kept me grounded long enough to address the things that frustrated me!
Now check out Exhibit B:
What are the odds that I will find what I need now? Knowing what spice to put on the grocery list just became a heck of a lot easier. I went a step further and took a picture of my spice SYSTEM in case my husband decided to cook when I was out of town. This way, the ingredient would return back into the spot it was designated for. I am kind of a do-it-yourselfer. It took $105 and about four hours to improve the system of managing spices in my kitchen. I not only enjoy cooking every night but I’ve also opened up more opportunity to develop my skills and try new things.
Before you start calling me obsessive compulsive, I’m going to call you out. You own a business - a dental practice. Tell me you don’t like to have what you need when you need it. If you, the dentist, have to come in on a Saturday night to re-cement a temporary crown on a patient, you shouldn’t have to open a bunch of cabinets and drawers (or worse yet, call your main assistant) to find Temp-bond. If you do, then you have a bad system.
Organizing your supplies should look a lot like my spice rack.
You can’t manage what you can’t measure and you can’t measure without organization. All the things you do in order to make any given system work most efficiently is called the process. Ordering supplies is a system. The steps required to place an order is the process. I have worked with some dentists who tell me it can take an entire day for someone to place an order for supplies.
FIX THE SYSTEM! VISUAL VISUAL VISUAL
If ordering supplies at your dental practice takes more than 30 minutes, something is wrong with the process.
It’s hard to deny video evidence. I’m not asking you to put up surveillance cameras and catch everyone by surprise. Go buy a GoPro. You should have one anyway. They’re inexpensive. The next time it’s time to place an order, record the process. Ask the person ordering to wear the camera the entire time. Then, send it to me. I will watch every pain staking 480 minutes of the thing and send you the Cliff’s Notes. This is the discovery phase. I will show you every process in the ordering system that is broken. We can work together to fix it.
The space where you work affects how you work. A system that operates efficiently through the effective coordination of many moving parts runs like a well-oiled machine.
Would you agree that owning a small business has its challenges? The overwhelming, ever-changing list of regulations in the midst of a pandemic can make you consider throwing in the towel - packaged with staff issues and broken equipment.
“Organized chaos” is not a thing. I have to believe we all want to be organized but when it comes down to brass tax, it isn’t as easy as it sounds.
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