In my last post, I discussed some strategies to help dentists overcome stress and burnout. One of my suggestions was to find a mentor, and I would like to expand on that idea.

My younger son Andrew worked for a number of years in marketing and advertising for a large publicly traded pharmaceutical company before eventually starting his own business. He was fortunate early on in his career to find someone  three or four rungs up the corporate ladder who took a liking to him. This guy  was senior enough to him not to feel at all threatened – and was very helpful in steering my son in the right direction by providing invaluable political and strategic advice. Andrew thus avoided a lot of the pitfalls that can circumvent or derail a career and instead,  he advanced quite nicely. This senior person was around for three years before he was promoted to a major management position in Europe. Shortly thereafter my son left this company, realizing at that point how important an advantage it had been and how fortunate he had been to have had a mentor.

Corporate America of course is very different from a dental practice. But there are some parallels in this story that can apply to your situation.

1. Find a mentor who practices in your overall geographic area, but certainly not in the next block. This person shouldn’t think of you as the competition because he/she would then be unlikely to share the important and relevant information you are seeking.
2. Choose a mentor who might be 10-15 years older. Those years of practical experience are invaluable. And it is easy and natural to be deferential and respectful of a more senior person. Again – there must be no feeling of competition.
3. Keep in mind that mentoring a younger colleague can be a bit of an ego trip – so the relationship is usually fun and satisfying for the mentor.

My good friend Dr. Peter St Clair has a very successful general practice in Rowley, Massachusetts, and writes a weekly column on dental topics for his local newspaper. He shared his thoughts with me about mentoring. “A mentor is someone with whom you have a connection – someone to share and discuss standards and life goals. A mentor is someone who works with you to lead a more balanced and happy life – someone you look up to – someone to inspire and guide you. But most of all, a mentor will hold you accountable for implementation.”

The information you will receive from a mentor is going to be truthful. There is no reason for exaggeration or hyperbole. Compare this with the experience we have all had at one time or another. You go to a district dental society meeting and are chatting with a bunch of your peers – and hearing fish stories about how they are hitting it out of the park and getting 75 new non- insurance patients every month!

So gather your courage and identify some potential candidates for mentors – and then approach them. Do your research – know where they went to school – what continuing education courses they took – what professional accolades they might have received.  Even if they don’t know you very well or at all , more than likely they will be flattered to be approached. I’ll bet that the rest will be easy.

I am beginning my 17^th year of providing management consulting to the dental profession, and during that period of time, I have worked closely with over 580 different dental offices. One immutable fact remains constant – it takes a lot of hard work and requires a lot of talent to run a successful and profitable dental practice. According to The American Dental Association, 75% of all dentists in America are sole proprietors. Thus they are responsible not only for providing clinical care – what they were trained for – but also for managing a significant business entity – with NO formal training.

Maybe this is why I am definitely seeing an increase in stressed out dentists. I am seeing dentists – twenty years into their careers – late 40’s, early 50’s – experiencing burn out. And if you looked at the take home pay of these dentists, you might be envious. But they are overwhelmed with staying ahead of the game and keeping up with the demands of family life and a professional career. One of my clients with four kids recently shared with me that he has been having recurring fantasies of being on a deserted island – by himself – for a month!

As dentists, we get good at solving day to day problems and putting out fires, but unfortunately many of the solutions are of the band-aid variety. There is no luxury of working “on” the practice when you are so intently working “in” the practice. These observations have prompted me to offer some ideas that might be helpful if you are experiencing some of the feelings I describe.

1. Better time management – As dentists we are overly consumed with being productive clinically every hour of every day. Try blocking out an entire afternoon once a month – not to go to the beach – but to have dedicated time for thinking and strategizing. You might want to include key staff members. You will be amazed at how beneficial this time will be.

2. Find a mentor – Identify a few dentists in your area that from your perception are eminently successful.  Ask them if they would be willing to share their secrets for success. Successful people – in my experience – are flattered when asked – and are often quite generous with their responses and their time.

3. Evaluate your current professional advisors – For example, how many other dentists does your current accountant advise? Ask around – who are the super stars? It is probably worth paying for that kind of comparative analysis and expertise.

4. Continuous team building – I have written repeatedly on the importance and advantages of assembling a great team. Sports franchises do this all the time.  Obviously, there are no draft days in dentistry!  But I would encourage you to take a really hard look at any weaknesses in your current staff – and then commit to improvement.

5. Continuing education – Probably the best way to combat burnout is by increasing your knowledge and perhaps learning different procedures. Same old/same old gets boring. I see a lot of general dentists adding services like short term orthodontics and basic implantology.

6. Marketing – Most dentists learn next to nothing about marketing while in school. Instead, their education in this area comes from trial and error – and that strategy often turns out poorly. It is imperative to find someone very experienced to guide you because the choices and options are mindboggling and confusing. I am recommending a marketing budget in the range of 3-4% of annual collections.

It is human nature that business decisions are driven by concerns about money. It is of course necessary to be prudent on expenditures, but lately I am feeling that in order to be successful, you can’t afford NOT to spend the money. I encourage you to at least take the time to consider some of these longer term strategies that in the end may be a great return on investment.