I have been writing a blog on an (almost) daily basis for nearly 15 years.
The blog itself has almost 4000 posts, and I still have a lot to say.
So, we have been discussing for a long time at the practice whether to build an extension to the blog.
I understand there is more content than the whole human race can consume, and more content is produced at that level on a daily basis, but I would like to talk more and more deeply about the business aspects of dentistry because it is an area that I am particularly interested in and passionate about.
It's actually where I feel I can make the greatest difference to the most people's lives, and I wanted to put something together that was of high quality and high value, posting once a week.
With that in mind, we are trialling and launching The Campbell Academy Business blog.
This will be a weekly blog that goes every week (I hope) covering all the major aspects that we believe are essential and important to learn about in dental business.
It will have a live, active comments section at the bottom that I will be involved in, hoping that people will interact and engage and talk about different challenges and aspects of building dental businesses that work and improve the lives of patients, teams, suppliers, and communities.
It turns out if you look at it, that nobody really knows how to run; they teach themselves how to run from when they're born and if you start to run seriously and become a runner and get coached by people who know how to run, they change the way you run and they teach you how to run.
It turns out the same thing happens with dentistry. No one is born being a dentist (Some people have attributes that help them be a dentist). Everyone has to learn, and it takes years and years to learn to be a competent dentist, let alone an excellent one.
It turns out, when you look at it, the same is true for running a business.
Just because you are a good runner or just because you are a good dentist doesn't mean you will be a good leader or business owner.
What I hope this little blog will do is encourage people once a week to reflect on their careers and their businesses and to give some ideas and some hints and tips to make things better from all the things that I have collected *and continue to collect) and all the hard work that the team at The Campbell Academy and I have done to build business education for many different people.
So, the first one of these blogs on our main blog to trial the release of the business blog is about vision setting.
Vision setting is utterly essential, it is not a luxury.
If you want to end up with an organisation that isn't completely at odds with your values, start with the beginning—with the starter.
Welcome to an Introduction to The Campbell Academy Business Blog!
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A long time ago, I was sitting in a posh restaurant in Mayfair in London with some people from the dental industry, clinicians, high-level, well-dressed, lots of money, and lots of arrogance.
One of them started to have a bit of a go at the waiter, who he thought was putting the wrong cutlery down at his table.
This was a very posh restaurant.
The waiter really did know what he was doing.
As my dinner guest was pointing out to the waiter that he put the wrong cutlery in his place, the waiter said, "Shall we start with the starter, sir?".
Quite a put-down, but never a more accurate word was said.
Vision setting is the grandstand starter to the really expensive meal that is dental business.
I'm also always struck by the quote I return to about vision setting: " Vision without action is a daydream, but action without vision is a nightmare."
With that in mind, we find ourselves in a situation where if we are not to be the dreamers who imagine that we will build an extraordinary corporate that will see us on a yacht in the Mediterranean for the rest of our lives, we must be realistic, honest, and open about our business's vision and dreams. Then, we will have the stamina and resilience to put those into practice.
It is essential to have time to dream, to return to our goals, values, and why we're here, and to make sure we're on the right track to recover from the knocks and hits that running a business gives us. But when we encounter the difficult decisions, the really horrible gnarly decisions that we have to think about and wonder which route to take, it's vision setting and values that steer us in the right direction.
Over the years of teaching many dentists about business concepts, I've been struck by how few have ever considered where they want to go and where they want to get to.
When you ask dental professionals this question in general terms, they talk about financial targets; I've always seen financial targets as an offshoot of success, almost as a side effect, something that allows you to continue in the game.
I see vision setting as one of the most important jobs that we have as leaders in our own organisations (however large), and we'd like to steer you in the direction of how to do that over the next few posts.
It's often easier to do in a group with different people because you can foil off each other, talk about the issues, discuss concepts, and get ideas. But what we need to do with vision setting is, first of all, to identify the terminology and set out the word structure.
For many, a vision is a three-year plan; for others, that's a mission.
Mission statements tend to be discussed in the United States, but I believe that the long-term goal for the Infinite Game is a vision, not a mission.
I believe your vision is divided into many small missions, many small projects, and tasks that are goal-set that you get to the other end of and then refire again, but the vision never changes. It's interchangeable with your life, and it's interchangeable in time.
And so, for us at The Campbell Academy, we always talk about vision first. Vision is the ultimate direction of travel, it is your worthy goal, it is your philosophy unmasked, and it's what you write on the wall to remind you of what to do when times are hard.
Setting your vision comes from setting your values, understanding what you want your place to be like and what people you want to work there with you to share the journey along the way. Therefore, setting your values is probably the first step in setting your vision.
Let's talk about value setting next.
Blog Post Number - 3952
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