Having strong leaders at your practice or DSO is a key factor to success, according to Barry Lyon, DDS.
Dr. Lyon, a chief dental officer for the division of orthodontics and pediatric dentistry for Dental Care Alliance, spoke with Becker's about the importance of leadership in dentistry.
Editor's note: This Q&A is part of a weekly series featuring Dr. Lyon focused on topics in the dental industry and DSO field. This response was lightly edited for clarity and length.
Dr. Barry Lyon: There must be dozens of different definitions of leadership. Some of these definitions are vague and some are right to the point. For the sake of this discussion, let’s define leadership as the ability to positively influence those around you to align for establishing common goals, furthering the purpose of an organization, and achieving the respect of those you are managing.
In a dental office, the definition narrows a bit. We automatically think of the dentist as the leader, but it could be anyone in the office. So now, let’s define a leader in the context of a dental office as anyone in the office with expertise, the ability to motivate, conduct themselves ethically and has the ability to enhance patient care. The successful dental office likely has multiple leaders. The office manager leads by example and develops a cohesive team at the front desk. A hygienist exhibits leadership qualities with their patients and motivates them toward better oral health. A dental assistant demonstrates the qualities needed to ally the other assistants to properly support the care the dentists provide. Clearly, leadership promotes a positive office culture, and an atmosphere of success easily recognized by patients. The absence of leadership in a dental office is costly. Patient dissatisfaction, financial stagnation, lack of accountability and employee turnover are signs the office is lacking leaders.
The more moving parts there are in an organization, the steeper the climb to establish leadership. In a DSO, leadership is critical and is often affected by variables and influences out of one’s control. Nevertheless, every aspect and every level of a DSO will suffer without effective leaders. Although it is on a larger scale than a private dental office, the qualities the leaders need are the same.
Quite simply, the strong leader is a role model and someone who sets an example for others so that all can enjoy success.