Engage with Faculty in New Practice Management Seminars

Author's Note:

As a dentist, you understand the importance of providing your patients with the highest quality care. However, running a successful dental practice involves more than just providing excellent dental services. it's about being a top-notch businessperson as well. We are here to help with that! 

Spear Education is offering these seminars again in 2023.

Choose from one of three virtual practice management seminars to attend at no cost:

Creating an Inspired Vision for the Dental Practice - August 18, 2023

Leading Your Business by the Numbers - September 15, 2023

Running an Exceptional Business - Managing Musts - October 6, 2023

Click Here to Register
 

In an era where video conference calls have become routine, dental clinical and practice management education is more impactful when it feels like the instructor is sitting there next to you with an opportunity for an ongoing exchange.

With Spear's two new practice management seminars, attendees sit virtually alongside Resident Faculty members Amy Morgan and Dr. Gary DeWood as they consider their present condition and seek to refine their plans for revitalization and growth. “Leading Your Business by the Numbers” (Dec. 19) and “Running an Exceptional Business – Managing Musts” (Jan. 8) remind attendees that there is no appropriate cookie-cutter solution for every dental practice. Each practice has its own unique issues and each dentist has their own unique goals.

The one-day, CE-eligible virtual seminars offer a running Q&A with interspersed exercises that attendees can complete with faculty to reinforce key observations about their practices. This non-lecture style format provides an opportunity for highly individualized learning. The running Q&A with three live segments allows any attendee's voice to be heard as they share questions and concerns from their own practice or region.

Both Ms. Morgan and Dr. DeWood have said practice management begins with understanding and owning your unique vision for your practice. That vision must be shared by your team, but before any team member can get on board and work to achieve that vision, it needs to be clearly understood and shared by everyone.

“The first step is to clearly communicate that vision,” said Ms. Morgan, a longtime dental practice management trainer and consultant who joined Spear Resident Faculty in 2018.

“What often feels 'cookie-cutter' is because a doctor hasn't stated what he or she has as that north star, or that point that they're driving toward,” she said.

Check the calendar of Spear Seminars and for upcoming dates that work for your practice schedule.

Making dental practice management simple and relatable

Ms. Morgan said she and Dr. DeWood have long hoped to introduce Spear's practice management lessons to a wider audience. The opportunity created by the pandemic made virtual seminars not just a requirement, but an opportunity since the “auditorium” is no longer a limiting factor.

“The skills that help you protect the health of your practice in the worst of times are the same skills it takes to advance your practice in the best of times,” she said. “An emergency heightens our awareness, so it's an opportunity to recognize that the pain of not changing far outweighs the pain of actually going through those difficult changes.”

With fellow Resident Faculty member Dr. Mitch Ellingson, Ms. Morgan and Dr. DeWood have been instrumental in developing Spear Practice Solutions. Ms. Morgan recalled discussing the possibility of co-teaching these lessons with Dr. DeWood years ago when she was CEO of the Pride Institute and he was Clinical Director at the Pankey Institute. They saw a rising need for a combination of exceptional clinical and practice management education that makes the application of lessons easier and more effective for attendees. 

While there is nothing quite like a seminar on the Spear Campus, the online flexibility of Virtual Seminars allows attendees to invest fewer hours in the program and reduces expenses incurred by closing the practice to travel to Scottsdale.

Attendees can also access recordings up to one month after the seminar, which provides an opportunity to share the videos with the entire practice team – a powerful tool to align everyone with key lessons that drive toward a shared vision.

Dec. 19: 'Leading Your Business by the Numbers'

The “Leading Your Business by the Numbers” seminar (5.75 CE credits) reminds practice owners that numbers are instruments to recognize their individual path and vision. The seminar illustrates how to set attainable goals, chart a path that achieves those goals, and manage progress through meaningful checkpoints and necessary adjustments.

“The plan you build based on skills in this day-long seminar will take into account your current financial health based in cash flow, revenues, and expenses,” said Dr. DeWood, a longtime clinical educator and one of Spear's founding faculty.

“I know together we can help you see your preferred future and show you the tools that will help you get there and stay there,” he said.

“Leading Your Business by the Numbers” introduces strategies to:

• See a vision and create a plan based on your unique value system.
• Build a financial plan that supports your vision and values.
• Grasp how cashflow, revenue and expenses all fit into your plan.
• Communicate the financial plan with the team in a way that inspires.
• Create unity in the practice by aligning the team around the financial plan.
• Manage expenses in a way that supports your vision and values.
• Build out an annual plan for success and allow for adjustments as circumstances change.

Jan. 8: 'Running an Exceptional Business – Managing Musts'

The “Running an Exceptional Business” seminar (5.75 CE credits) is designed to help dental practice owners clearly visualize and build on the business fundamentals that drive practice success. Attendees discover why running a successful practice requires the entire team be fully engaged, aligned, and working together toward a shared vision – something easier said than done.

“The first step is to clearly communicate that vision ... What often feels 'cookie-cutter' is because a doctor hasn't stated what he or she has as that north star, or that point that they're driving toward.” – Amy Morgan, Spear Resident Faculty

This seminar is designed to introduce you to the processes and protocols needed to run a high-performing practice with an actively engaged team.

Attendees will learn:

• The process of determining the ideal practice structure.
• Why creating clear expectations for each role in the practice increases alignment.
• How to move beyond generic job descriptions and give each team member a vision for their role.
• How to hire excellent candidates and train them to succeed.
• Compensation strategies that reward the right things and allow the practice to thrive financially.