The Planning Process for Early Stage Development of your Group Dental Practice or DSO

"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." - Abraham Lincoln

Various versions of this quote have been attributed to our 16th President and most of the variations are based on the amount of time, but the overriding point is one that gets down to the aspect of working “on” our group dental practice (DSO) versus working “in” our group dental practice (DSO). Many of us talk about this, but how many of us actually have scheduled time set aside every week, month, quarter and year devoted to planning, developing and executing our strategy? 

Strategic planning is the discipline of sharpening your saw and it doesn’t “just happen” when you’re done with patients.  It also doesn’t “just happen” when you’re alone and usually tired.  Planning is a process, and the process starts with blocking time.  Can you commit to blocking 2 hours of every week and 4 hours one day per month?  If so, that would gain you 10 hours in a typical month (for a 4-week month: 2 hours per week * 3 weeks + 4 hours on the 4th week).