Want to get a tangible idea of your practice’s performance – and what you could be doing better? It all starts with keeping score.

Scoring. In order to compare one product or service against one another, has probably always been a part of human nature. In recent years, abetted by the spread of social media and comment sites online, scoring has seeped deeply into just about every aspect of our lives.

We all use scores and rankings every day: to make decisions about where to shop, where to eat, whom to vote for, which sports team is breaking our heart-the list is endless, and we’ve so internalized the habit that most of us likely don’t even realize we are doing it.

Scoring is so prevalent that it has even made it’s way into the dental profession, such as patients giving you a good or bad review on a site like Yelp or your Facebook page. Dentists can make use of a number of performance metrics-patient service, productivity, team synergy, case acceptance, patient growth and more-that will help them develop objective analyses about whether they’re falling behind, treading water or truly thriving.

We all gauge our own behaviour qualitatively, and none of us is our own most dispassionate critic. Even taking that into account, though, once you get comfortable with the idea of scoring, you can translate your interpretations into a quantitative 12-point scale. (You can also chart where you’d like to be, giving you tangible operational awareness and an action plan to use going forward.)

Scoring is designed for all stages of a dental practice. Are you anxious that your growth has stalled, for example, and frustrated that you’ve tried new solutions that haven’t worked? Or is your practice growing in increments sufficient for you to maintain the lifestyle, both personal and professional, that you long for?

Regardless of the stage you are at, scoring has been show to drive performance, enhance team morale and break down resistance to change-all critical for practice-wide forward movement that enables you to navigate your way to a prosperous, fulfilling future.

As a dental practice development coach, my goal is to make your workplace the best it can be. This entails helping you score yourself, with an eye towards simplifying your business decisions, enhancing patient experience and communication and making sure that you’re focusing your time and energy where they’re most needed.

Intrigued? To get started, just call 1 (800) 345-5157 or email [email protected] or visit the website of my company, Transitions Group North America – to get a complimentary Dental Practice scorecard. Once you’ve completed it, a practice-development expert will review it with you and you can decide which subsequent steps you feel are right for you. Want to win the game? As in so many areas of life, you’ve first got to know the score.

AUTHOR: Lisa Philp

Lisa Philp is the Chief Visionary Officer of TGNA – Transitions Group North America. Lisa is committed to being an eternal student in the areas of personal growth, leadership, change management, human capital development, adult learning, advanced training techniques and communication skills.