How to Develop a Vision for a Dental Practice

The first step in building a successful dental practice that leaves you feeling joyful and fulfilled is to develop a vision for what kind of work environment you want to have. In a lot of ways, it’s like building a house—you want to have a clear picture of what your dream home will look like before you start throwing up walls, choosing paint colors, and buying furniture.

But as someone who has built her own practice—and who is also currently in the process of building a new house—I can personally attest to the fact that developing a clear vision is easier said than done!

Imagine for a moment that you tell your contractor you want a house on the water with a beautiful outdoor space. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? WRONG! Do you envision a 4,000 square foot modern home with a low-pitched roof, clean lines, and an infinity pool? A modest, one-room cottage in the woods next to a lake with a charming garden? A rustic ocean-side villa surrounded by palm trees?

As you can see, there’s a lot of room for interpretation! 

So let’s talk about how to develop a vision for a dental practice that’s authentic, clear, and robust enough to allow you to achieve a beautiful and rewarding career for years to come.

Aspects of Your Dental Practice Vision

A dental practice vision is a detailed and specific plan that answers the question: “What kind of practice do I want to have?” It includes everything from the broadest ideas (e.g., the desired location of your practice) to the tiniest details (e.g., which electronic health records system you want to use)—and it is non-negotiable for your practice. 

When you don’t take the time to consider the specifics of what you want and need, it doesn’t just impact the level of fulfillment you experience in your career as a dentist. In a much more tangible way, neglecting to develop a clear dental practice vision can lose you A LOT of money. Why? Because a lack of clarity can result in inefficiencies and missed opportunities—like a sub-par patient experience and poor marketing decisions—that lead to excessive operational costs and low ROI.

That said, don’t let this task’s importance create external pressure to get it right. Designing your vision isn’t about defining what you think you should want for your practice. Rather, it’s about getting clear on what you actually want. It’s your chance to dream big and shoot for the moon, so don’t give it any less than your all.

Now, on to the visioning process! When developing your vision, you should consider the following components: your core focus, core values, and 1, 3, 5, and 10-year plans.

Core Focus

As defined by the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), your core focus is essentially the combination of your “why” (your passion) and your “what” (your niche). It’s about defining the common purpose that drives your practice and how you live out that passion in a unique way. 

For example, my core focus is saving teeth through endodontic education! By performing root canals myself, teaching dentists how to do them better on their own, and empowering patients to care for their teeth, I work to give as many teeth as possible a chance.

Core Values

Once you’ve narrowed in on your core focus, it’s time to consider your practice’s core values. Core values are the beliefs from which you operate—the fire that shapes how you live, breathe, and operate in the world. 

But more specifically, your core values are the tenets that will drive your decision making, policies, systems, culture, and even patient care, which is why defining them is a crucial step in developing a vision for a dental practice.

Some examples of core values could be:

• Excellence (such as within customer service and clinical care)
• Growth (of revenue, for example)
• Service (through giving back)
• Balance (by honoring a sustainable work–life balance)
• Innovation (by investing in state-of-the-art technology)
• Honesty and transparency
• Empowerment (of patients, the team, etc.)
• Proactiveness

You may already have core values for your practice, and if so, that’s great! Even so, it’s always a good idea to revisit and revise them, as values shift over time as we encounter new people and experiences that challenge our way of moving through the world.

1, 3, 5, and 10-Year Plans

Bill Gates once said that most people overestimate what they can achieve in the next year and underestimate what they can achieve in ten. In other words, it’s easy to misjudge the passing of time and what we can realistically accomplish unless we create intentional plans for our future!

That’s why when developing a vision for a dental practice, you should think about what you want your practice to look like at intervals both near and far into the future. It’s not about generating concrete plans that you’re obligated to stick to, but rather forming a picture that can guide you toward the reality you want to create.

Getting Down to Details

Developing a vision for a dental practice isn’t a passive activity. It requires that you set aside significant and intentional time during which you can reflect and ideate. I’m not saying you can’t brainstorm while commuting to work or taking a hot shower—actually, those are often opportune moments for inspiration! But they shouldn’t serve as your only time for serious reflection.

Once you’ve scheduled some time to design your vision, I recommend sitting down with a pen and paper or laptop so you can write out your ideas. This not only adds a concreteness to the exercise that will help you turn your words into actions, but it also helps you prepare to ultimately share your vision with your team—which is absolutely essential to bringing your vision to fruition.

With your core focus and core values and mind, start to think about the specific details of how you want your practice to operate, what you want your day-to-day life to look like, and how you want to feel. Consider questions such as:

• What is your revenue goal?
• How profitable do you want your practice to be?
• What location is most suitable for the practice?
• What working days and hours will be satisfactory for the practice?
• What size should the practice be in a year? Three years? Five? Ten?
• How far out into the future do you want to be booked with patients?
• Is the intent to have only one practice or to have more than one location?
• Do you want to be in solo practice, or would you prefer a multi-doctor practice?
• What services will the practice provide?
• Are there any particular treatments you want to specialize in?
• Will you only perform procedures, or will you also do some administrative work?
• How many insurance plans will you take, or will you follow a fee-for-service model?
• How will you get most of your patients?
• What types of marketing efforts do you want to undertake?
• Who will be on your leadership team?
• Will you have any virtual team members, or will everyone work on-site?
• How much time do you want to spend working on your business as a practice owner, as opposed to in your business as a clinician?
• How much time off do you want to take per year? What does work/life balance mean to you?
• What do you want the team culture to be like? 
• How do you want to feel going into work and coming home each day? 

These are just some examples of questions that can get you thinking about what you want for your practice. As you go through the process, you’ll likely come up with all sorts of details that feel important for you to flesh out based on your core focus, core values, and plans for the future. For example, if empowerment is one of your values, you might want to build a personal development plan into the vision for your dental practice.

Writing Your Vision Statements

After dedicating some serious time to developing the pieces of your vision, it’s time to put them all together into some vision statements! Ideally, you will create a different vision statement for each of your 1, 3, 5, and 10-year plans, because just as who you are changes from year to year, your practice also shifts and grows with time. 

The most challenging part of writing your statements is condensing them into concise but powerful descriptions of the future you’ve envisioned for your practice. While they can be anywhere from a single sentence to a few paragraphs, the idea is to focus on the details, as they’re what’s going to guide you toward achieving your goals.

Let’s take a look at a couple different versions of a three-year dental practice vision statement, one short and one long:

Short Vision Statement

In three years, we are a fee-for-service, multi-doctor practice, so that we promote a healthy work/life balance with generous vacation time. We are efficient, so we make more revenue in less time, so that vacations don’t compromise our bottom line. We embody a team of leaders who are committed to the practice, exceptional quality of care, outstanding customer service, and a positive work culture.

Long Vision Statement

In three years, we are known in the community for providing skilled dental care, including root canals. We also offer our patients an atmosphere of compassion and comfort, reducing stress and using minimally-invasive, state-of-the-art technology to reduce postoperative pain.

We have a fee-for-service model, and we employ multiple doctors in the practice, so that we promote a healthy work/life balance. Vacations are a critical part of self-care, and taking time away from the practice is vital for the happiness of all team members.

We have comprehensive, documented, organized, and up-to-date systems and processes to keep our office environment low-stress and productive. All team members are efficient and system-minded, so that vacations don’t impact production, and everyone is empowered to make decisions autonomously that serve patients and the practice.

The leadership team ensures that all team members have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities through weekly meetings, annual performance reviews, and clear communication and organizational charts, in order to foster a sense of fulfillment, empowerment, direction, and accomplishment for all.

You’ll notice that both of these vision statements are written in the present tense. That’s because the goal is for the vision you describe to become your present reality! It’s a way of motivating you to work toward the future you want for yourself. Remember: Your vision is designed by you, for you, and you can (and should!) change it over time as your needs evolve. 

From Clear Vision to Fulfilling Career

Developing a vision for your dental practice is a crucial first step to building a career you love, but there are many other elements to consider if you want to transform your practice into the kind of place that leaves you feeling joyful and fulfilled. 

Take action toward turning your vision into a reality by joining the waitlist for Heal Your Practice, my online course designed to help you learn how to build leadership and practice management skills that optimize your profitability, improve your patient care, and help you create a practice and career you adore.

– Sonia