It used to be the case that blending in with the crowd was the safest place to be. Take Robert Sapolsky’s zebra tracking experiment, for example.

Sapolsky was a biologist who, finding individual zebras hard to single out, marked his target with a red dot. Though this made the zebra easier for him to spot, it also made it far easier for lions to spot. You can imagine the result.

For zebras, as for many of us, there’s safety in blending in with the crowd. As animals, we logically fear that standing out will make us easier to target. And there’s sense in that. Historically, falling in with others has been the easiest and lowest-risk route. Even when the mass has made a mistake, the fall-out for those who follow is usually minimal.

A stark example of this in the 20th century is the overwhelming support given by western academia and media to Communism: an ideology whose death toll is conservatively in the tens of millions. The zeitgeist of these institutions was not only objectively but dangerously wrong, however there was zero cost. In fairness, I don’t think I’ve suffered any consequences for the Che Guevara T-shirt I proudly sported when I was 12.

For dentists in particular, there’s been no overt danger in going with the consensus, even if the conclusions are flawed. As H.L. Mencken says, “man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe.”

There’s therefore been a deep conditioning towards safety within dentistry, not least because the strong economic conditions within the industry meant that dentists could get away with it. There was no incentive for a principal to do anything differently, and no real cost to being wrong.

Those that did strike out on their own were able to yield results. They also experienced more stress, pain and failures than their risk-averse counterparts. This is to be expected; after all, when you’re trying new things, they’ll never work first time, every time. Greater exposure to opportunity means greater exposure to risk, but for the vast majority this also means greater reward.

So much for the rogue risk takers. But with the economic state of play now changing dramatically, the old model of safety is being entirely turned on its head. Now, dentists need to stand out – to be growth led – to survive. In essence, every zebra needs a red dot.

This isn’t meant to be scaremongering, but it’s stark advice. Going along with the norm is now dangerous for your practice, and dental business owners must adapt or be willing to move aside.

I’m not advocating blind risk taking here. Success is about taking calculated risks, and seizing novel opportunities. This involves re-establishing which methods and ground rules are important, and which are in place purely from habit. Think about why you are doing each thing, and question if it’s time to change (or ask us to help you do this).

There are certain things that every practice will need to have in place, in order to make effective changes:

• A functioning marketing system, which should be run by an external agency;
• An internal sales process that’s giving you reliable data, and constantly improving your customer experience;
• Financial reporting and forecasting, enabling you to make informed decisions;
• A process for developing associates to improve their ADYs, clinical skills and communication;
• A proactive operations system; to give a structured, systemic approach that yields consistent business performance improvement;
• And strategic formality, to test your hypotheses and translate these insights into tangible steps towards your objectives.

At Hive, we’ve always advocated that practice owners take a bold and individual approach, but this is now more important than ever. Playing it safe may have been acceptable so far, but times are changing and the cracks will begin to show.

To offer another example, it’s akin to our approach to health and fitness as we age. When we’re in our teens and early twenties, we can eat junk, drink, vegetate and stay up late with relatively few ill effects. Around 25, we begin to notice that we feel a bit tired, or can’t keep up as we used to. By our thirties, we’re being far more careful and taking more care. Ross assures me that at forty and above, you can randomly wake up with an ailment having “slept wrong”.

Dentistry has been in its teens for a good long while, but now it’s time to look at its diet and exercise, and get an early night. It’s time for practice owners to move on from the safety of “home” and head out on their own path.

If you’d like help making sense of what’s working in your practice, and what needs to change, get in touch.