Continual growth in daily practice can feel overwhelming and stressful!
With escalating production goals, the integration of new technology, and the ever-increasing demands for superior hospitality and customer service from your organization, the pressure mounts daily.
So, how can you streamline decision-making, free up time, engage all team members, and achieve results that genuinely enhance your practice?
Let’s delve into history and examine how Dwight D. Eisenhower managed the D-Day invasion of Normandy. You may wonder, “What does this have to do with dentistry?” Well, there might be days when the chaos in your office feels like World War II!
In a 1954 speech, Eisenhower stated, “I have two kinds of problems—the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.”
Eisenhower crafted a matrix to filter out the “noise” and focus on what truly matters. Let’s explore how this strategy can apply to your practice’s challenges.
The matrix itself is divided into four quadrants:
The first quadrant is for tasks that are both urgent and important, tasks that require immediate attention and action. These typically involve deadlines, or projects that are due soon, and crises or emergency situations.
The second quadrant is for tasks that are important but not urgent. These are tasks that are crucial to reaching long-term goals.
The third quadrant includes tasks that are urgent but not important. These tasks do not lead to achieving goals but often demand attention due to needs or expectations, like answering emails or attending certain meetings.
Finally, the fourth quadrant is for tasks that are neither urgent nor important, often considered distractions or timewasters, such as excessive social media use or aimless internet browsing.
How it works:
Make a list of all your tasks or items that come out of team meetings. Identify and separate urgent but not important tasks
Assign each task to one of the four quadrants in the matrix. Prioritize which tasks to focus on first. Schedule time to deal with important but not urgent tasks
Decide which tasks to delegate or delete. Plan ahead when possible. Leave time open for the unexpected.
Let’s take a sample of everyday issues and use The Eisenhower Matrix to prioritize efforts:
Not enough New Patients – Quad 2
Patients cancel too often – Quad 1
We don’t get bonuses regularly – Quad 2
Can’t find “good” team members – Quad 2
I have good ideas but no time to put them in place – Quad 4
Morning huddle is boring – Quad 4
Our lab doesn’t get things back on time – Quad 1
We don’t go out as a team to celebrate – Quad 2
The Eisenhower Matrix is a straightforward yet powerful tool for time management. It assists in making deliberate choices about which tasks to tackle based on their urgency and importance, ultimately promoting a disciplined approach to managing time effectively.
What could be possible should you choose to use the Matrix at every Team Meeting where decisions are made. Next level use is to assign responsibility to a team member or the Doctor for each task and a date for follow up or completion.
Linda Marek,Vice President
lindamarek@theparagonprogram.com