Don’t be afraid of change

Hope springs eternal at this time of year when we resolve to improve our lives and our dental practices. But if you continue to do what you have always done, you will unfortunately continue to get what you have always got. How frustrating.

Change is difficult. Change is scary. Change is uncertain and often unpredictable. It is so much more comfortable to use the same tired ideas and strategies and continue to stay within the narrow confines of your comfort zone. Yet expecting to get different and better results with that approach is the classic definition of insanity.

I want to share with you some recent comments from Seth Godin. a true visionary and someone I respect and admire. The title of his remarks was Fear of Bad Ideas.

“A few people are afraid of good ideas, ideas that make a difference or contribute in some way. Good ideas bring change, that’s frightening. But many people are petrified of bad ideas – ideas that make us look stupid or waste time or money or create some sort of backlash. The problem is that you can’t have good ideas unless you are willing to generate a lot of bad ones.”

Working harder is fine. Working smarter is better. Get your staff involved in a major way. Solicit their ideas in an anything-goes super think tank meeting. Push the envelope. Consider topics like modifying office hours, special promotions (always with an expiration date), spa services, innovative patient referral rewards, new clinical services like Sedation or Botox, better ways to communicate with your patient base – there is no limit if you can get those creative juices flowing.

I always like to say that if you throw enough spaghetti sauce against the wall, some of it will stick. It is the same way with ideas. Sure – some of the ideas will fail. But if you are willing to take some risk, you will succeed far more often than people who have no ideas at all.