Is “just good enough” okay?

Drs. Joel C. Small and Edwin McDonald discuss the importance of honing leadership skills 

I often encounter colleagues who commit significant time and resources to developing their technical capabilities yet suffer from a lack of leadership and communication skills. Despite being at the peak of their technical game, their practices remain stuck at a suboptimal level.  

This scenario reminds me of the fable of the strong and powerful lumberjack who never takes the time or effort to sharpen his axe, and consequently wonders why his production suffers. There is no question that technical ability is important, but like the lumberjack, we must sharpen other skills to create an optimal and peak performing practice and team.  

According to Bill Adams, the cofounder of The Leadership Circle, when the leader plateaus, so does the organization. This concept applies as much for a dental practice as it does for a multi-national corporation.  

Leadership is what takes an organization from good to great according to Jim Collins, author of numerous seminal leadership books. So why do we prioritize clinical skill while overlooking leadership and communication skills? Perhaps this is a major blind spot caused by our lack of training and knowledge. While corporate America prioritizes leadership training, dentistry lags behind. While corporations spend literally billions of dollars developing leaders, dental school curricula are sorely insufficient in this area. Hopefully this is changing. 

Another explanation is that we often become complacent because being “just good enough” becomes comfortable over time, and we therefore see no compelling reason to develop other non-clinical skills. Michael Gerber, the author of The E Myth, would say that we are primarily technicians who create businesses that simply allow us to utilize our technical skills and nothing else. Gerber discusses the fallacy of this scenario, pointing out the many problems that arise from this mindset. 

Doctors who lack leadership and communication skills are more likely to suffer from work/life imbalance because they have never developed their team to effectively delegate tasks to staff. Michael Gerber likens this to a juggler who has too many balls in the air until eventually one of the balls falls, and the others follow. Doctors are notorious for juggling too much because their lack of leadership prevents them from developing a team that they trust to handle the many tasks that should be delegated. Over time, this burdensome and unsustainable workload takes a toll, resulting in unnecessary long hours in the office and eventual burnout. 

Practices that lack effective leadership and communication also experience more costly staff turnover and diminished staff motivation. Doctors who express frustration due to their team’s lack of motivation must examine the underlying cause which is likely due to the doctor’s inability to inspire their staff, gain staff commitment, and clearly communicate expectations, all of which are leadership issues. 

The profound irony is that these negative scenarios are both unnecessary and completely avoidable. Clients that have recognized the necessity to lead and communicate effectively have also found that practicing is much easier, and that investing the time and effort in their personal leadership development has paid long-term dividends for them and their team.  

Leadership and effective communication are not effective without each other. All great leaders are great communicators who possess a high degree of emotional intelligence that allows them to engage more effectively with their teams. They understand the needs of the team at any given moment and how to self-regulate so they “show up” in the best possible manner for those they lead.  

Acquiring this skillset takes an understanding of the critical importance of leadership in taking a “just good enough” practice to a great practice and a commitment to self-improvement.  

Leadership training is available in many forms. Personal leadership coaching is extremely effective because the one-on-one experience allows coaches to focus on specific needs, thus expediting the learning process while finding solutions for actual real-time practice issues in need of attention. There are also leadership courses offered online and through universities. No matter the format, investing in leadership development may prove to be one of your best investments.