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Brilliance, a flash of light from the most unexpected of places.

It’s the evening of the 15^th December and it’s Simon and Anna Lawson’s annual Christmas Party at their house.

We have 23 people coming to our house the next day, a cup football game for the Mustangs and it was my works Christmas Do last night and I got home too late (you know, the usual sh*** and overload that is December)

The girls have arrived back from the horses at 7pm and we’re supposed to be at Simon and Anna’s house now.

Alison still has chilli to make and food to do for tomorrow and there’s no chance it will get done in the morning so I go to Simon and Anna’s alone. I don’t want to let them down because they put in such a huge amount of effort and they’re really good guys.

I get to the party and I realise that the only people I know are Simon and Anna so I cling onto them like a limpet for a little while until I hover around in the dining room deciding at what point I should duck out because I feel a bit like a spare part.

All of a sudden, a lady comes to speak to me, she’s one of Anna’s friends. She takes the time to say “hi”, have a chat and make me feel comfortable because I’m terrible in these situations when I don’t know anyone.

She used to be the CEO of a worldwide charity until she decided to stop because it was too much trouble. As she’s talking away she introduces me to the word…

Coopetition.

It’s not the same as cooperation, it’s where two people who, in theory, are competing in the market place work together to provide a much better experience and therefore generate more business because they look after each other better and solve more problems.

Imagine that, imagine that in dentistry, that would be a thing!

We talked about the Argyll Arcade in Glasgow – a little indoor parade of shops where all the jewellers in Glasgow are located and wondered how that worked and then realised it was coopetition.

I didn’t invent coopetition but I’m quite happy to cultivate the concept.

For a while now we’ve been trying to develop much more collaboration with local practices, trying to encourage them to do as much of the work in specialist cases as they can to bring things along, make it easier for the patient, make it more exciting for the practice working with us and also help us to grow and develop.

I guess it’s going to be a while though before this comes through because there are massive barriers in place, but it might not be the last you hear of this concept. Certainly not from me.

Blog Post Number: 1865