Cobwebs around the door
Several years ago I was consulting at a practice. My brief was to get the practice going again after the senior dentist had left and the turnover had dropped hugely.
When I arrived I parked opposite and walked across the street to the front door. Two things struck me immediately:
The windows were filthy.
There were cobwebs all around the door.
At the morning staff meeting I said: "You all park out the back, don't you?" They wondered how I knew that. I told them about the dirty windows and the cobwebs.
I was expecting that within a minute or two a staff member would go out with a broom, a squeegee and a bucket of hot water and remedy the problems. But, that didn't happen.
At lunchtime I asked where the cleaning cupboard was and fixed the problems myself. No one noticed.
What lessons can we take from this about why the practice was failing?
Firstly, patients notice dirt, cobwebs, weeds and clutter. They won't mention it to you but they will draw conclusions about your dentistry based on those things. You cannot claim to be a good dentist and at the same time practice in an office with cobwebs around the door. It's incongruous.
Secondly, staff need to be alert. They must notice things. They cannot walk around with blinkers on.
Thirdly, when a problem is found it needs to be fixed immediately. Not tomorrow. Now.
Dentists often ask me for sophisticated ways of improving their practice, yet, at the same time they have a messy office. If you get the basics right and you probably won't need to worry about the fancy stuff.
It was no mystery to me why the practice was failing.