Do's and don'ts for practice management: Drive growth with deadlines

You don't need a degree in motivational psychology to know that deadlines get results. They pose a challenge that brings out a natural competitiveness -- a desire to win -- in most of us. Corporate leaders have long understood how to impose deadlines to drive the growth of their companies. By following their example, practice owners also can motivate their teams (and themselves) to focus on reaching goals, not just by some vague future date but by a specific deadline.

Pair deadlines with all targets. Performance targets, even those that are numerically specific and measurable, lack any real motivational power unless they come with deadlines attached. Compare a statement such as, "We want to increase production 17%" with "We want to increase production 17% by December 31."

Don't ask for the impossible. Deadlines motivate team members because they apply a kind of pressure, but impossible deadlines will just make you seem out of touch and unreasonable. With a target that really can be attained in the time allotted by the deadline, you're putting a potent management tool to work in your practice.

Roger P. Levin, DDS, is the founder and CEO of Levin Group, the leading dental practice consulting firm in North America. For the complete list of dates and locations where you can attend his latest seminar, visit www.levingroup.com/gpseminars.

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