Why You Should Take Criticism from Your Dental Team

It can be hard for a dentist to hear, but they need to receive criticism from their teams. This is how they grow to become better practice leaders. In this clip, Robert M. Pick, D.D.S., M.S. and principal of Progressive Periodontics & Implants, explains how he takes the weaknesses his team identifies and turns them into strengths.

Interview Transcript (Modified for Readability)

“I call it the PBR, for Pick Business Retreat. It comes from a lot of things put together. In big business — Fortune 100, Fortune 500 Companies – at their biannual retreats, they do something called Business SWOT, which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. After about a year or so, you get comfortable, and the team should do a personal SWOT on you – your Strengths, your Weaknesses, your Opportunities, your Threats. It can be very difficult to hear because you don’t want to hear negatives. I personally carry my weaknesses with me from every retreat. I look at them every morning so that I can make my weaknesses strengths.”

RELATED: Why Your Dental Practice Needs a Unique Selling Proposition

“Unique Selling Proposition is a great word. And my suspicion is, USP is something that most physicians, dentists, chiropractors don’t know what the word is. It comes as part of branding, and again, something you come up with at a business retreat. Especially early on, you develop your brand. What do you do better than any other practice? So the USP stands for either Unique Selling Proposition or Unique Selling Point. The USP, oftentimes when there’s a dental entrepreneur, is the dentist. What does that dentist do? He’s the USP. But there’s micro USPs. Your team can be a unique selling proposition. So the USP is key, critical, you’ve got to figure it out when you develop your brand.”

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