The Wednesday pulse: Stop carrying the whole bloody practice

There are weeks when running a dental practice feels like leading a business.

Then there are weeks when it feels like being the only adult on a school trip.

This has been one of those weeks.

Across the community, good people have recruited new colleagues, repaired damaged working relationships, improved reporting, introduced clearer responsibilities and started difficult conversations that were overdue.

That is the good news. And some of it has been impressive to watch.

The less good news is that many owners and managers are still carrying far too much of the practice in their own heads. Equipment breaks, suppliers go quiet, diaries develop white space, team members arrive late, associates underperform and somebody has to remember that the new starter needs an induction.

Guess who that somebody usually is?

The owner or manager who is already taking work home and wondering why they cannot switch off.

We need to stop confusing personal heroics with good management.

A business is not well run because one exhausted person knows where every body is buried. It is well run when responsibilities are clear, systems are written down and people understand what they own, by when, and to what standard.

Several clients' trackers this week show that shift beginning. Tasks now have named owners and deadlines. New recruits are receiving proper inductions. Meetings are ending with actions. Reporting routines are being installed. Managers are following up without automatically doing everybody else’s job for them.

None of this is glamorous. Neither is cleaning the suction trap, but somebody still needs to do it.

Recruitment remains the loudest headache.

Some practices have finally filled stubborn vacancies. Others cannot find enough qualified nurses to supervise trainees. The lesson is brutally simple: recruitment cannot begin when somebody hands in their notice. It is a permanent marketing activity.

Build relationships before you need them. Keep talking to good people. Make the practice somewhere talented colleagues would want to work. Waiting until Friday afternoon and posting another desperate advert is not a strategy.

Money is providing its usual entertainment.

Wages are rising. Empty chairs are expensive. Plan and private fees need attention.

Some practices have respectable production but poor utilisation, so the building sits there consuming cash while everybody congratulates themselves on being busy.

Turnover is vanity. A packed Tuesday does not rescue an empty Thursday.

There are also difficult people decisions. A clinician may produce revenue while damaging the team around them. That is not a commercial success. It is a cultural overdraft, and the interest rate is horrible.

Deal with poor behaviour properly, with evidence and professional HR support. Kindness does not require indefinite tolerance.

The best moment this week was hearing people recognise that they are not alone. Someone else has faced the same vacancy, diary gap, fee decision or awkward conversation.

That is the quiet value of community and coaching. The problem becomes smaller when shared, and the next sensible action becomes clearer.

Stop carrying the whole bloody practice.

Build one that can carry itself.