Practical advice for dental group leaders: ADSO Next Level

For people who are in the early stages of growing their dental group, it can be lonely and filled with uncertainty. The Association of Dental Support Organizations (ADSO) hopes to change that with its ADSO Next Level meeting that is being held in Austin, TX, December 2-4, 2024.

The meeting is geared toward CEOs and the top operations executives of dental groups with two to 75 locations and focuses on the behaviors and key performance indicators (KPIs) that are specific to their needs to move their organizations to the next level.

Dustin Netral.

"This is a chance to network with people in a similar situation as you where we go through the thought processes of successful companies, how to implement those back into your group, and the framework that leaders need to drive results through accountability," Dustin Netral, vice president of ADSO and the CEO of Vista Verde Dental Partners, a DSO with seven locations, said.

Identifying the levers to improve practice performance

Many emerging and midlevel DSOs are started by owner doctors whose education is focused more on clinical skills than business skills.

"We're going to talk about how to build a revenue decomposition tree and an EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization] decomposition tree," Netral said.

These terms may not be familiar to many dentists. They are the frameworks that give leaders the skills to self-diagnose which levers they can pull to improve practice performance.

The ADSO Next Level session dives deeper into skill-building than just the clinical tips and operations takeaways that can increase same-store growth and generate revenue.

"There will be a ton of practical advice at this event. We'll give a practical list of to do's at the end of the meeting that people can take back to improve their business," Netral said.

Driving results through accountability

Intellectually, leaders know that you need to measure what you want to manage. Practically, that can be harder than it sounds.

Netral focuses on the RACI method for creating a culture of accountability and success. RACI stands for the following:

• R = Who's responsible?
• A = Who's accountable?
• C = Whom do you consult with if you have questions or need help?
• I = Who should be informed of the results?

One of the areas where DSO leaders may struggle is identifying who should be accountable. In many organizations, there can be finger-pointing when things don't go well. In this matrix, there may be multiple people responsible for contributing to a metric, but only one person is accountable for the end result -- and that person needs to be able to make decisions and execute changes to move the needle.

Executives from within dentistry and from other verticals will share specific examples of the RACI method in practice so that business leaders can turn theory into practical application back in their own offices.

Aligning leaders with concrete strategies for growth

Emerging groups and midmarket DSOs face unique challenges and opportunities as they grow. The ADSO Next Level conference is designed specifically to support practice leaders with content designed to align leadership, exchange ideas, and develop solutions. To register, visit theadso.org.

Beth Gaddis is the editor in chief at Planet DDS, a dental technology company specializing in cloud-based practice management systems, digital imaging, and dental marketing services. Previously, Gaddis was the marketing director for two large dental service organizations. Prior to entering the dental industry, Gaddis was a journalist for 16 years in a variety of roles, including as a TV news producer at the CBS affiliate in Boston. You can connect with Gaddis on LinkedIn.

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