Tuesday Tip from Pride Institute: Analysis Paralysis—Why some dental teams cannot make necessary changes
As I spend more time in dental offices across the country, I’ve become convinced that "Analysis Paralysis" is the major reason why some practices cannot change and grow. My perception is that when dealing with potential opportunities and challenges, teams:
• Have a good understanding of the issue at hand
• Have talked about it at staff meetings forever
• Are very frustrated with the lack of change and therefore have decided to just “live with it.”
Why is it so easy to live with challenges instead of confronting them and making changes? Here are the top five reasons why dental practices suffer from Analysis Paralysis:
1. Ignoring today’s excellence with the false hope of tomorrow’s perfection. Unfortunately, some believe there is only one true solution for every problem. The desire to wait for that “Prince Charming” solution is why many offices never commit to any solutions, and therefore never improve.
2.Micromanager, thy name is dentist. Does the dentist feel he or she must oversee each and every little change, therefore no steps are taken? Any action steps are better than none, so quit the micromanaging.
3. Is anybody out there? The challenge of trying to get everyone’s feedback and ideas. Just because you’re the loudest team member doesn’t make you the smartest. I should know, I’m loud. The best solutions come when the entire team can be heard.
4.It takes courage to try in the face of potential failure. The number one reason people don’t act is their fear of failure. But it’s important to remember that if you don’t act, you absolutely will fail!
5.That was a great discussion. Now what? Even if the team finally had a great discussion and created a perfect plan, what happens after the meeting? It’s called accountability. It’s not unusual for teams to “get busy getting busy,” and forgetting there ever was an agreed upon action plan for change. So they remain stalled.
The first step in handling something is the ability to confront it. If you have any of these Analysis Paralysis symptoms in your practice, stop the insanity!
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Tuesday Tips from Pride Institute are provided weekly on their Facebook page as well as in this column in DentistryIQ. To ensure you don’t miss any of Pride Institute’s proven methods to take your practice to the next level, visit prideinstitute.com, and like them on Facebook.
