Saturday, December 29, 2018

10 Books that Have Helped - Part 1/3 of Organizing a Military Dental Clinic

Organizing a Military Dental Clinic - 3 part series

This is part 1 of a 3 part blog series called "Organizing a Military Dental Clinic"

I'm going to talk about what I've learned from running logistics at 2 bases over the last several years, and hopefully it will help some military (and even civilian) dental clinics! I was fortunate enough to be part of some awesome teams that have won MAJCOM and Air Force level awards, but those victories were a testament to the systems and habits we created, not the will of the people in the clinics. I don't claim to have all the answers, but I have tried a lot of different things and I'm a relentless experimenter so hopefully these posts can help spark some new ideas for you and your clinic.

Ordinary people can do extraordinary things with the right habits and systems. 

You don't need "superstars"; leaning on them may work in the moment, but things will crash when they are gone.

Let me say that one more time: this is not about the PEOPLE, it's about the SYSTEMS and HABITS you create and enforce over time.

There is a basic level of competency required, obviously, but I'm betting that most of the things your clinic does could be simplified significantly, making everyones job and life much more enjoyable.

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10 Books that Have Helped- Part 1/3 of Organizing a Military Dental Clinic

Books are the #1 way I've learned (with podcasts coming in at a close #2) what you're about to read in this 3 part blog series. Obviously, the knowledge must be applied, but I firmly believe that you can only imagine combinations of that which is already in your mind, and the best way to add new things to your mind is to digest knowledge from the great thinkers via books and podcasts.

Here's my list of 10 books, in no particular order, that can help you become a better thinker when it comes to organizing your clinic.

1. The Power of Habit - Charles Duhigg

A modern classic on "how" to think about what we do every day. We are our habits. Instead of trying to change people, change the structure and incentives to drive them to the result they want. We aren't trying to change people, we are changing their habits. This is not a "quick fix" book, but it can lead to permanently new habits, which is the ultimate goal.

2. Extreme Ownership - Jocko Willink

Stop blaming other people for failings that happen on your watch. If you're in charge, own it. This extends to your personal life as well, but is relevant here for your work, too. Discipline = Freedom. 

3. The Goal - Eliyahu Goldratt

This is a business book disguised as a novel (or maybe the other way around). It's a fun read that makes you think about how you can pull what you're learning into some real life actions for your business or clinic. This book gave me an actual idea for our supply chain at my first base that we ended up implementing and utilizing. For that reason, it had to make the list.

4. The E-Myth Revisited - Michael Gerber

I wish this was mandatory reading for all Air Force officers. This is the bible for how to think about any organization, even in a 1-person shop. The basic premise is to imagine your business/clinic as a prototype model for thousands more (even if you never plan to build a thousand more). The reason? This will force you to simplify things so aggressively that your business/clinic will start to run well almost regardless of who you plug into those spots. People will need less and less training and expertise to run your ever simpler clinic as you trim waste and make things better. This is a vital concept for military leaders when we don't know who will come and go. 

5. Principles - Ray Dalio

Another modern classic. This will be a book that will go down in history as one of the most dense and actionable books ever written. I can't say enough about it. It's a big book, but it gives so many unbelievable mental models to think about your life and business/clinic. I wanted to dip the whole thing in highlighter. My favorite concept? Imagine yourself as 2 people (because you ARE 2 people -- reptilian brain and neocortex). Most people run life on autopilot (reptilian brain) without stepping back and imagining themselves from the outside. 

If you've ever played a video game, this concept comes easily. You are the person playing the game and you are the character participating. Most don't realize this and just behave like the character, reacting to everything in life, without stepping back and making intentional choices. It's very akin to the concept of working "on" the business and not just "in" the business, as laid out in Michael Gerber's The E-Myth Revisited

6. The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up - Marie Kondo

Nope, not a joke. This book was written to help people organize their homes, but I can tell you, it is much more than that. This book helps you re-think about how you see "stuff" in general. This is an essential read for those wanting to organize anything in their life, and I'm dead serious. This will change your relationship with "things" forever, and by extension, dental supplies. You'll be much more decisive at ridding waste from your life, leaving room for the things that really matter. What could be more critical when trying to organize a dental clinic? Trust me on this one.

7. The Checklist Manifesto - Atul Gawande

Ugh, not another checklist. Ok, look. I hate being told what to do with those silly things, too. But dammit, they work. I love it when a patient can get a consistent experience and ultimately, checklists are the best way to focus new hires, establish consistent protocols, and enforce processes. Checklists save brain power, they put everyone on the same page, and they eliminate confusion. This book will make you smile every time you see a well designed checklist, and it will make you much better at making them yourself to systematize your clinic. I love sneaking checklists onto all sorts of things without people even realizing what it is. More on that in part 2/3.

8. Essentialism - Greg McKeown

This book is all kinds of awesome from every angle. The big takeaway here is to help your mind focus on what's really important. Too many of us treat our entire to-do list as an emergency and we end up freezing or just getting the wrong stuff done. It will help you think more about first-order problems instead of fixing the surface-level issue (you know, like the problems you "solve", only to watch them pop up again in a month?).

9. Switch - Chip and Dan Health

I love this book so much. It was one of the first books I read on the subject, and I've gone over it several times since then. It will help you think more deliberately about how changing the environment itself can help drive the behavior you want. It's not just about changing the people, which often doesn't work, but changing the way they work to eliminate ways they could get off course. This book has been pivotal in my work over the last few years. Another book I wish was a mandatory read for Air Force officers. Shape the path!

10. Ego is the Enemy - Ryan Holiday

You're not that special. Seriously. Once you can separate your ego from what you're trying to do or create, the sky is the limit. The harder you hold onto what people think of you, the lower opinion they will hold of you. Strip your ego away, be definitive, make the hard decisions, and own the results. Apologize when you screw up, be transparent, and don't skirt responsibility. Those with inflated egos are typically the kinds of people that don't build systems, because they don't trust other people to run them or they are too insecure about what other people will think if it fails. Get over yourself ;)


Bonus! The Power of Consistency - Weldon Long

This was the book that convinced me I had to read more books. It's the best. I'll leave it at that.

I have a lot more books, so if you want more recommendations, don't hesitate to email me (see the right side of my blog for my email address).