Growing Your Dental Group - When is It Time to Hire Your First Executive?

DEO Senior Faculty Emmet Scott, Co-Founder & CEO Community Dental Partners You’ve reopened your practices and are back on the path to growing your dental group. Having the right leadership team in place is key for what comes next. But at what point in your emerging group’s growth path, should you hire your first executive and what position should it be? The DEO’s Senior Faculty Emmet Scott, Cofounder/CEO of Community Dental Partners and Jake Puhl, CEO/Partner of The DEO recently discussed this often posed concern of dentist-entrepreneurs who are just beginning to scale.

Don’t Get Caught Up on Job Titles

Most importantly, don’t get caught up in the title itself for who you are hiring. Think about what needs you have and where your anxiety needs to be lowered for your business to be successful. What problems do you need to be solved? Really, Emmet notes “most groups over-title people in beginning”. Then as the group grows, not everyone can necessarily grow into the executive titles they’ve been given. It’s unlikely for example that you need a Chief Operating Officer early on when you have 3 offices or less. In order for your leadership team to be successful, remember don’t just abdicate responsibilities to them - delegate and mentor. ----- To learn more about how The DEO can help you achieve your vision and grow on your leadership journey, click here. -----

Ask Yourself: What Help Do I Need?

It’s important to create and review the list of qualities and capabilities you are seeking in leadership and management roles early on and parse them out realistically into separate job roles. Decide which needs are most important to you now. Since you may be limited by how much you can invest when you are just beginning to scale, be careful you aren’t asking too much of one person and that you direct their leadership/managerial talents wisely. A helpful benchmark to note: when many successful dental groups reach approximately $5 -10 million in revenue, they start hiring their first Executives - positions to handle whole sections of their business. Click the video for my full discussion with Jake! ----- To learn more about how The DEO can help you achieve your vision and grow on your leadership journey, click here. -----

The COO Example: Initially a More Tactical Position That Turns into an Executive Role

Emmet discussed the COO role as an example and notes that when you are first scaling you need both strategic talent and someone who can help build systems. These qualities don’t fit neatly under a manager or executive role. So you may be looking for someone more tactical and hands-on early on and then when the systems are built, the person in the COO role can just execute. It’s complex and nuanced and may require shifting roles and hiring new talent as you grow. ----- To learn more about how The DEO can help you achieve your vision and grow on your leadership journey, click here. -----