In part 1 of my series, I explained the importance of selecting the right environment for a vineyard or a dental practice. Now we move onto investing in the right cultivar, or selecting the right kind of people to work in your practice. So you have found the best location to grow the grapes – somehow you were lucky and a piece of land became available in Napa Valley as we managed to purchase. Now what do you do?

You need the right winemaker, salesperson, marketeer, support personnel, book keeper – but how do you choose? A proven track record always helps, but why would that person leave a good job at a good vineyard to come to a start-up operation that may not have a viable bottle to sell for 4-5 years?

I have a saying: ‘the best people we need for the job are not looking for us’. By virtue of the fact they are good people, they will already have a job. So there must be something in their present job that makes them unsatisfied, in order for them to consider moving. There are many studies out there that say money is only one part of what makes people love their job. The other factors include recognition for the work done, the ability to advance, thinking you make a difference, a good working environment and corporate culture.

So that is what you have to do – create a vision for the vineyard – by first demonstrating that you have a great vineyard site and that what you are doing is different and appeals to all the reasons why people love their jobs and they have the opportunity to achieve these things with the new vineyard. Let’s take the example of the winemaker. Before you hire this person, you have to decide what type of wine you want to make and what are its characteristics. This will define the person you will want to bring on board.

In dentistry we hire by writing an ad, reviewing a resume, interviewing the person and if they look good, smell good and dress good then we hire them. We haven’t actually defined the characteristics of what that person needs to fit that particular job or how we need to utilise that person’s characteristics to make them successful in that job. That is why at the BKH Group we look at a job and analyse what characteristics are common in the best person we know doing that job. Then look at another 8-10 great people doing the same thing. We then develop a composite of these characteristics and that is the type of person we look to hire. This starts first and foremost with the Kolbe A Index analysis, our Kolbe consultant, Dr Alun Rees, is helping us to apply this to all our team members.

So getting the right people in place starts with defining what type of practice/wine you want to make/have, given the local terroir, as well as your goals.

Next week in Part 3, we look at how to nurture and grow your vineyard/practice.

Looking at this photo of all the gang on the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro last year in August reminds me not so much of the physical exhaustion we felt but more the overwhelming sense of cameraderie and friendships created in the group, inspired by a mutual cause. Having spent time in Tanzania and seen first hand the positive impact that Bridge2Aid makes on so many lives, was a great motivating factor for me and Annie to raise money and get up the mountain (and back down again).

Bridge2Aid are taking another group this year and there are currently just 4 places remaining. Do you want to join them? If you feel inspired, or know someone else who would enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime challenge, please get in touch with the team! There are only 4 weeks left until applications close, so contact them sooner rather than later.

From an organisational point of view, our trip was very well coordinated, professional and we were very well looked after, despite the obvious limitations of resources as we progressed up the mountain.

Speak to Shaenna if you’re interested!

Shaenna Loughnane
UK Manager, Bridge2Aid

*protected email*

At the BKH Group we are in the business of partnerships – for an overview you can click here. One of these partnerships entails collaboration with practice owners, and this takes shape in two ways:

1. As a joint venture start up or

2. As a development partnership with an existing practice

A new kind of ownership

In both scenarios the BKH Group provides the financing to expand the business and we take a minimum 51% controlling interest. This may seem heavy-handed, but as investors we have to make the critical decisions that we believe will ultimately grow the practice. Often there might be a reluctance from the previous owner or team to change. With the bigger picture in mind and the experience, we will need to have the final say. This, of course, will be in full consultation with the principal. Our approach is to be transparent in all our dealings and at no point will any decisions of major impact or far-reaching implications be made without getting feedback from the team on the ground.

Once the partnership commences we take over responsibility for all the operations of the practice: HR, financial reporting, analysis of profitability, marketing for new patients, the patient journey, governance and compliance, purchasing – in fact, anything that involves how the practice runs effectively.

In addition, we provide a co-ordinated approach to the entire practice through marketing via TV, radio, print and optimisation of the web and social media channels – on an individual practice basis and across our entire group. We respect the local branding associated with each practice and will maintain this identity with a small tag of affiliation to the BKH Group. We do insist on certain levels of operation including treatments, so there may be minor structural changes to be made. This will allow the dentists to focus on the dentistry that they want to do. In our Center of Excellence (hub-and-spoke) model we are looking for joint venture practice start-ups or joint venture practice developments to retain all the treatment that the dentist in the ‘spoke’ practice does want to do. Any other procedures will be referred to the nearest ‘hub’.

Educational investment

At the same time, behind this is the extensive training and education of all of our dentists as they cannot refer what they cannot diagnose. Included in this is the development of a career pathway for the principal as well as the clinicians and the team through our educational division and our planned Academy.

In addition there is a wet-gloved CEO (me) who is engaged in the day to day minutiae of treating patients and training teams. Accompanied by the leadership and guidance of Chris Barrow and myself the practices will thrive.

Should a principal dentist wish to remain completely independent of BKH, we can provide all the management services as outlined above and charge the practice a fee of 15% of gross revenues.

If either of these two options appeals to you, please get in touch and let’s talk!

It has been brought to my attention that a weekend post on GDP-UK made reference to the presentation given by Brendon MacDonald at The Dentistry Show and a comment I made during his introduction to the audience. I want to set the record straight on Brendon and then cover some other points made about the AV at the Dentistry Show.

Firstly, when I introduced Brendon I referred to the fact that he had lost his voice the night before and mentioned that “brendon and I knew why”. This was interpreted by the individual on GDP-UK as meaning that Brendon had been carousing the night before and that he and I should have respected the audience more. Nothing could be further from the truth – my comments related to him sacrificing his voice in pursuit of the BKH cause in the days leading up to the Show. I can guarantee that Brendon excused himself from the Friday night proceedings at a very early hour and was missing and missed for the 1950’s night celebration at The Crowne Plaza.

I’m horrified that, as usual, these accusations are made without right of reply and without checking, although I can fully understand the irritation of the author if such comments were true. If I misled anyone in the audience I apologise and want to establish here and now that Brendon is an innocent bystander in this conversation and unjustly accused.

Turning now to AV: The Dentistry Show has suffered in this respect for some years. The format of the Show is open-forum and the various ‘theatres’ are exposed. As a speaker as well as MC for the last 2 years, I fully appreciate that the presenters and their audience are competing with each other, with the noise from the exhibition floor and, in our case Saturday, the noise of construction from nearby halls.

On Friday and Saturday lunchtime the situation was made even worse by a shaft of sunlight that appeared through the skylights in the roof of the hall and obliterated the main screen for speaker slides for a period of about an hour. On Saturday I determined that the only way audience members had an chance of seeing slides was to move to the rear of the room and look at the two plasma screens provided. I made a joke of being the first MC in history to ask his audience to move back from the stage.

With loss of voice and loss of big screen, Brendon’s presentation was doomed – although he soldiered on for the full 45 minutes and offered copy slides and a personal conversation with any individuals who wanted more. I suggest that, at all times, his conduct could not have been more professional – and if I’m to be hung out for one misinterpreted comment in 48 hours, then so be it.

I can confirm that strong feedback has been given to the organisers regarding the overall AV experience. I am reminded that The Show presents a line-up of speakers that would normally command a much higher ticket price and that many other overseas conferences present speakers in a similarly challenging environment – that, however, is no excuse and one dissatisfied customer must be listened to.

If the author of the post wants to contact me, I’m at 07713 644437 or *protected email*

The Dentistry Top 50 voting period is open till 9 March. Be sure to vote for the brilliant folks who are contributing daily to making this a great profession that delivers outstanding patient care.

Two members of Team BKH were featured in the Top 50 last year: Chris Barrow and Laura Horton

In addition, Krishan Joshi, who is designing the new BKH website, was also voted in the previous top 50.

Please take a few minutes to cast your vote (and please vote for Chris, Laura and Krish too!)

http://www.dentistry.co.uk/top50

My name is Karen Coates and I am Dental Advisor for The British Dental Health Foundation and as you are probably aware, we provide resources for the profession and other organisations
to help to raise awareness of oral health matters.

We would love to be able to increase the amount of resources that we produce ‘in-house’ however we are struggling to find images that we are able to use. We wondered if you knew of any dentists that would be happy to donate any images to the Foundation? In particular, images of dental erosion, gum disease, teens teeth, ortho but we would be very grateful for any images which we could add to our rather dated library. If you could help the Foundation at all please contact me at *protected email* or 01788 539784.

By donating your photographs to the British Dental Health Foundation (BDHF) you will have given permission for the BDHF to use, duplicate and copy the aforementioned material. The BDHF will only use the photographs or images to accompany their educational resources and will not use them for any other means. The BDHF will not pass on any of your images to third party companies, with the exception of a customer purchasing a temporary online licence for BDHF educational resources. In this case, the images will only be used for educational purposes and will prevent third parties using your photographs for advertising or commercial gain. The BDHF acknowledges you as the owner of the intellectual property rights of the material.

The winner of the postcard challenge will be sponsored by the Dentistry Show to go on one of Bridge2Aid’s 13 day programmes in Tanzania. It’s a great opportunity to give back and see a beautiful part of Africa – be sure to take part!

As I haven’t been offered a place yesterday, does that mean I will not be getting one at all?

As being one of those who were very dissatisfied with the whole process from the beginning, I think it is sad that now a lot of people who complained and expressed concerns will now sit back and keep quiet about the concerns they had; since they now hold a place.

Many in my dental school sent emails complaining about the process to the London deanery and the BDA, only one of us had a response from the London deanery, explaining this:

‘ Please be advised that the recent DF1 interview process was designed by experienced postgraduate dental deans, DF1 Training programme directors and both general practitioner and specialist dentists from COPDEND and its regional teams, in close cooperation with London Deanery. In accordance with standard practice in healthcare selection and wider recruitment, a set number of scenarios and set questions were used during the interview process. For the Clinical Scenario station, one set clinical scenario was used throughout the day across the selection centres. For the Management and Leadership station, three pairs of set scenarios were used in rotation throughout each day of interview, across the selection centres. For the written exercise, five exercises were used in rotation throughout each day of interview, across the selection centres. Questions asked at all stations were standard set questions.’

Honestly I do not think this is enough to prevent candidates preparing for the interview, it was basically an exam, and as a candidate within the process, it would have allowed me to perform a lot better being familiar with the questions and scenarios asked, just as it does with OSCEs and exam questions.

I appreciate that these scenarios are comparable to those that a dentist will encounter within practice……. but dentistry is a profession were we will not be able to prepare for incidents, facing many unfamiliar situations….. If candidates were familiar with what they were to be asked well then how does that help distinguish between the better and worse candidates?

The London deanery explains that ‘It is worth noting that candidates were individually instructed prior to interview not to discuss the interview with their colleagues’ did they really think that people were going to do this?

Especially over 4 days, those who discussed it probably thought that the people organising the process would have had the sense to include more scenarios or do their utmost to prevent candidates preparing!

An actor on the Tuesday expressed that on the Monday in Leeds that they were very unorganised and most of the examiners weren’t calibrated and didn’t really know what they were doing, how is this fair?!!

I am extremely upset and distressed with the whole process and I do not believe this has been any fairer! I cannot comment for all those offered places, but after seeing a few people who have, seeing their dentistry/performance in dental school, I can comment and say that it does not express their ability as an eventual dentist.

The ‘interview’ process that took place is not enough to rank candidates in order and distinguish between the better students. There should be something in hand where after ranking the London deanery/copdend would contact the dental school, and I would be very interested in seeing how these rankings correspond to performance at university!! I live in a house with other dental students, all of which have places; I am able to say that I am not in any way the worst candidate/dental student.

This feeling I have at the moment is one of the worst feelings I have had for a long time, especially after having no support and no idea with what is going to happen, I cannot believe copdend have left us waiting a whole weekend to find out!! If I am going to be unsuccessful why not just tell me when they gave everyone else their offers?

UNQUOTE

I have to say I found the whole recruitment process a shambles, and completely unfair. I was in the first session to be interviewed in the XX (location withheld) centre, by the afternoon most applicants knew the questions that were in the bank, the clinical skills one having not changed in the two days of interviewing. By the following day, the same questions were known to everyone being interviewed. I later discovered that the same questions had been asked two days prior in another centre, and applicants with friends there had come to know what was going to be asked. I cannot blame any of the applicants as it’s human nature to help one another. The ranking is competitive so people with rehearsed answers to questions undoubtedly did better in this “tick box” exercise.

The most unfair part of the process is that, just because I had one bad interview, my career may be put on hold until next year. The interview in no way reflects my academic, clinical or professional ability and none of these factors will be considered.

UNQUOTE

Whenever you have a bright idea:

• free implant consults
• half-price whitening
• same day veneers
• same day crowns
• invisible ortho
• new patient assessments with a TCO
• Children’s Days
• Charity events
• members evenings
• special offers
• limited time promotions

In fact, any campaign….

Your A-Board can be changed immediately and at no cost.

Your A-board is bright, shiny and very noticeable.

The problem is – where do you put it?

Options:

• in the back garden of your practice = 1 person sees it every week = 0.1% take up = 1 new patient every 1000 weeks
• at the front of your practice = 100 people see it every week = 0.1% take up = 1 new patient every 10 weeks
• in a local shopping centre = 1000 people see it every week = 0.1% take up = 1 new patient a week
• in a major regional shopping mall = 10,000 people see it every week = 10 new patients a week
• on a bridge over the local motorway = 100,000 people see it every week = 100 new patients a week
• on TV in the X-Factor adverts = 1000,000 people see it very week = 1000’s of new patients

Wouldn’t you like your A-board in that shopping centre, on that bridge, on TV?

Well now you can – and at very low cost.

Its called social media.

Populate the following:

• a web site
• a blog
• a Facebook page
• a Linkedin profile
• a Foursquare site
• a YouTube channel
• a Twitter page

Keep them busy. Keep them lively. Keep them interesting.

Invite followers at every available opportunity.

You will create that virtual A-board for your offers – but better then any A-board – you will be able to add content and video that will bring your brand to life.

You become the media.

The world’s most effective A-board.