The litany of strikes we’ve been seeing this winter highlights the issue of control (and a lack of it) within businesses and services.

As a consumer, it’s an intensely frustrating experience. When services we’ve come to depend on – Royal Mail, for instance ­­– become unreliable, it shakes our trust. And it’s just as bad for the businesses themselves. For me, the fear of Christmas gifts for the kids arriving late is stressful enough, but the strikes could lead to a worse outcome in the long term for Royal Mail; Amazon was working perfectly throughout, delivering goods the next day.

Ideally, it should work best for us all, as individuals, to contribute to a “group buy” society, which mitigates risk. In this way, it’d be cheaper and more efficient for us all to get a train, for instance, as opposed to driving individually. But this does also mean that we’d be handing control over to someone else. In Cornwall, without options like Uber, it’s impossible to book a taxi at peak times, and we certainly can’t stroll up to a taxi rank on a night out. When recent train strikes took place, it was commuter chaos.

In response to the widespread instability, a forced version of privatisation is emerging. Rather than relying on trains, rail users can now see the benefits of owning a car. Likewise, with energy prices rising, and the population being threatened with limits on electricity supply, more people are considering options such as solar panels. Fundamentally, we’re all seeking sovereignty over our worlds.

Having control is more important than ever for 2023. I’m not just talking about within our everyday lives, but also within our businesses.

There are many partnerships within the dental industry, and that’s because they used to work brilliantly (note the past tense). When dentistry was clinically led, it made sense to enter into a cost-sharing relationship. The trouble is, the industry has changed and matured. You’re no longer simply sharing costs; you’re running a business together, or you’re not.

Perhaps you’re lucky enough to have a partner that’s at the same life and career stage as you, and possessed of a twin mindset when it comes to practice development, strategy, financial control and marketing. If that’s the case, you’re almost certainly in a minority. For a modern, evolving practice, if you’re not on the same page and heading in the same direction, at the same speed, neither of you has full control. With no clear framework for making decisions and getting things done, you can end up in a situation where nothing is able to happen at all.

By getting a handle on your practice, you can be alert to potential. For success, you must keep moving, and the only way to do this is to have control.

If you’re currently working in a partnership, you may decide that this is a good time to buy out your partner, to be bought out, or even to jointly sell. This way, at least someone will be in control, which will be a good thing for the practice and its users – to see the damage that occurs when organisations free wheel, we only need to look back at Royal Mail.

If you choose to be in control of your practice, this doesn’t just mean literally and structurally having control; it also means really and truly controlling it. Here, I’m talking about things like knowing what your business is doing, inspecting profitability, setting aside time for strategic review, and leading your team.

Overconfidence can also be an easy trap to fall into. You may have run your practice for 10 years, and may feel happy that you know what you’re doing ­– but how many times have you run it in 2023, in the conditions we have now? Maybe you’re well prepared, but if you’re open to hearing about the latest best practice within dentistry, make this a natural point to get your house in order and learn more.

The water level in business is always rising, and it’s our collective challenge to keep up. With each successive year, we all need to be 10% fitter, sharper and stronger than we were previously (an aim that we’re also setting within Hive itself).

To help achieve this, you might choose to enter into the Hive ecosystem, finding the programme that’s right for you. If you’re interested to know more, signing up to our blog is a good first step; or dive right in and get in touch.