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Q: What exactly have you learned at Silkin that you didn't learn in school?
A: Silkin taught me how to be a leader, which is one of the most fundamental abilities a business owner needs to possess. Yet, I didn't learn it in school. I didn't realize the importance of it, either. One of the first courses I studied at Silkin dealt with leadership and it ended up being the most profound course I've studied so far. I found out that being a leader has nothing to do with my personality; leadership skills are not traits a person is born with, or without. It's something you can learn how to do and Silkin has such a simple, common sense approach to teaching those skills. This one aspect of the Silkin program has made a rather dramatic difference in my practice.
Something else that comes to mind is learning how to develop policy within the organization. If you're ever going to achieve the goals and purposes of the practice, you need to have policy, rules of the game. Can you imagine a sports team playing a game with no rules? Silkin taught me how to examine the end product I wanted to achieve and develop office policy that would enable me to get there. I could then focus, and get the staff focused, on what is important. We all became much more productive and efficient. This sounds pretty simple and basic but I didn't cover this type of information in school.
Q: What difference has it made in the practice?
A: Huge differences! In the seven years I've been associated with Silkin, I've gone from producing $198,000 per year to $1,500,000 per year. Staff has increased from 4 people to 18 fully trained staff. I've cut my hours from 4.5 days per week to 2.5 days per week. We averaged 17 new patients a month and now we do over 120 per month. We moved from a 1600 sq.ft. facility to our current location, which is 4200 sq.ft. Our growth has been about 20% per year. Prior to receiving my Silkin education, I had been seeing a 2 or 3% increase over the previous year and I thought that was just the way it would be. I thought a 2 - 3% increase was an appropriate number.
I think it's important to stress how important the Silkin management training is in the attainment of steady growth. Steady is a key word here. As you can see, my growth has been stable over the years. When you're taught how to do something, you don't experience momentary gains or have to continually rely on someone else to tell you what to do. You really learn how to manage a business and keep it doing well year after year. My statistics prove that. During my relationship with Silkin, I have continued training myself and my staff because each time we learn more, we do better. I don't need much consulting anymore. My staff and I have become quite proficient at managing. My consultant was key during the first couple of years when I was implementing everything that I was taught. His guidance was invaluable and he always recommended more training for us when he saw that we were ready for the next step. The Silkin program is a nice balance of consulting and training. Both have a high value, but I have to say that it's the management education that has caused our stability and continued expansion.
Q: How has your staff been able to benefit from your relationship with Silkin?
A: In all the same ways I have. Believe it or not, right now I have 5 staff who make more than 30% of the dentists in the area do. They are only working 3.5 or 4 days per week. These 5 are highly productive staff and they are responsible for generating a lot of production for us. I don't have a lot of turnover and, in fact, I have staff who have been with me since the beginning of my Silkin program. Our morale is quite high and we always set goals for the group that allow each staff member to participate . They've all received management training from Silkin and each one is fully trained for the position they hold. My experience at Silkin caused me to realize that in the majority of cases, personnel problems are related to a lack of understanding about what is expected or a lack of know-how. Most people want to work and do a good job. But if you're not specific in outlining their job duties or if you don't properly train them to do their job, they don't perform at their potential. Often the doctor or office manager may think that they're just not suitable for the job, when that's not the case. Silkin helped us with job descriptions and getting the office organized so that each staff member had the opportunity to do a really good job. The staff are surveyed weekly to find out if they've observed anything that needs improvement in the office. They are very active participants in the creation of the practice.
Q: How have your patients benefited from your relationship with Silkin?
A: The quality of care compared before doing their program to now is amazing. We have a fee for service practice. There's no capitation involved, no HMO type of programs. We go to great lengths to make sure our patients are happy with the quality of dental care and the "customer service" they receive from us. Each patient is surveyed before they leave the office. We find out if they are happy with the experience they've just had, if there is anything they feel could be improved or if there's any further help we can give them. We follow-up with each patient who has been treated on that day to find out how they're doing and to find out if they need any assistance. We strive for the highest quality possible, both in health care and in general service. What we're trying to do is provide our patients with an environment that puts quality into every visit. We're not perfect, but we strive to be as close as we possibly can. Before my Silkin program, these quality control measures were never taken in my practice and probably never would have been. I cared about my patients and I wanted the quality to be high. But I simply did not have the organizational expertise to implement a "quality control" department or the staff available to carry out these duties. Now I do and it's made a tremendous difference in the quality of care and service our patients receive.
Q: What are the key actions Silkin took to help you achieve your goals?
A: When I signed up with them, I was pretty frustrated and I wasn't enjoying my profession much any more. The first thing my consultant talked to me about was my purpose for practicing. He asked me to define my purpose, and he pointed out to me that if my own purpose wasn't clear, I would not be able to get my staff very excited about what we were doing day to day. Doing this action was very helpful and I started becoming focused again. My goals started to become clear and I began to get enthused. Silkin also did an excellent job of training my staff. We've all participated in Silkin seminars and training courses and we will continue to do so. It's continuing education. You can really never know it all. And it doesn't work if you only get yourself trained. If you really want to develop a teamwork atmosphere, and hold each person accountable for some aspect of the business, you've all got to participate in improving job skills.
Q: Is there anything else you'd like to add?
A: Truly, the Silkin program has been the best thing that's happened to me in my career. It's been the best for my business, my staff, for me personally and for my family. I often think back to when I was trying to decide whether I should sign up for their program. I decided to do it and then I changed my mind. I spoke with their representative to let him know and he said something very wise to me. He told me that if I didn't DO something to change the way things were going, nothing would ever change. Except, they might get worse. I acted upon his advice and went ahead with the program. I am certainly glad I did and I will forever remember that guy. When I tell other doctors about the program, I stress this one fact to them: if you're really serious about establishing an ideal practice and achieving your goals, do the Silkin program. For anyone who is sincere about wanting to organize for maximum efficiency, have fun working and delivering high quality health care to the public, Silkin can teach you the ropes and make it possible. From my viewpoint, it's really that simple. Since most of us didn't learn management in school, we need groups like Silkin. My experience proves that Silkin can definitely deliver what they promise.