The ONE word budding dentists need to change in order to gain a new perspective towards their CAREER JOURNEY!

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High school...College...Graduation...Post graduation...PhD? (Yes! some people like to keep going)...the point is, no matter what career milestone you achieve in life, there is ONE question common to all of these after the “celebrations of achievement” are over;

“So...What’s your plan?”

I’m pretty sure everyone reading this blog is very familiar with the question...too familiar maybe...familiar to a point that you mentally prepare yourself to walk out of the conversation with the person who popped the question in the first place!

All said and done, I still want you to look at the question one more time. Only this time, try looking at it from the point of view of understanding the question in the first place rather than getting irritated with your ability/inability to come up with an answer!

“So...What’s your PLAN?”

Noticed something? I’ve highlighted the word PLAN in the question. The reason I’ve done that is because I have a problem with this particular word especially when it comes to life decisions. No, it’s not because I’ve grown tired of being asked the same question again and again. My problem with this word is the fact that when it is put across as a question, not only does it make the question very vague it also makes answer equally vague!

Think of the answers that come to your head when someone asks you this question or even when you ask this question to yourself...Set up a clinic, pursue post graduation/PhD, quit the field altogether or any other option that is available to budding dentists out there today. These are all examples of vague answers. Vague answers because they don’t provide you with a set destination for your career journey. A vague answer when it comes to questioning a future course of action in terms of your career path will set you on course for a lifetime of aimless wandering in your profession.

Clarity and specificity about one’s future plans is a bit too much to ask for from a budding dentist fresh out of graduation/post graduation. These qualities do develop over time and require experience but in my personal opinion; the learning curve of experience can be reduced if we as budding dentists start asking the right and specific questions to ourselves.

So how do you frame the right questions? How do you get yourself to come up with a specific answer? How do you decide what your destination is going to be before you set out on the journey?

It all begins by replacing that single vague word in the question with a word that demands a specific answer, gets your mind to draw a road map and makes you uncomfortable if you don’t have an answer...in short, a word that is so specific that it has the potential to completely transform your perspective when it comes to your career path, journey and destination. That word my friends is STRATEGY.

“So...What’s your STRATEGY?”...now there are slim chances that people around you will use this word when enquiring about your future and so I suggest that you start using this word as a question in your MIND whenever the talk or thoughts of a PLAN spring up.

“What’s my STRATEGY?”

But wait a minute! Isn’t it similar in meaning to the previous word? Well, YES if you speak in strict grammar terms, PLAN and STRATEGY can be used interchangeably and NO if you speak in terms of business where these two words implicate two very different courses of action!

When applied to budding dentists and the question of their future, the basic difference between having a PLAN and a STRATEGY would be the order of the specifics. Take for example, a budding dentist whose PLAN is to set up a clinic. The course of action in this case would involve ESTABLISH FIRST, BUILD LATER...setting up the clinic first and then building on the practice; whether class practice or mass practice, a general practice or specialised practice and so on.

Now compare it with a budding dentist whose STRATEGY involves setting up a clinic. The course of action in this case would involve KNOW WHAT TO BUILD FIRST, ESTABLISH LATER. No wonder even he/she will need a place and a practice in order to succeed but having a STRATEGY beforehand will definitely give him/her an edge over the budding dentist who steps into the market with just a PLAN! This is possible because having a STRATEGY will enable him/her to ask the right questions, know the destination, be prepared for possible setbacks, know the risks beforehand and be more flexible in his/hers approach when it comes to running a practice! In short, a budding dentist with a STRATEGY can ace the experience learning curve much easily since he/she will already have a clear idea about the kind of practice, the patient base, the treatment interests and the future goals related to his/hers clinical practice when compared to the budding dentist with a PLAN who intends to just own a practice without clear defined goals thus prolonging the experience learning curve when it comes to building on the specifics.

This is not to say that having a PLAN is wrong and having a STRATEGY is the only way forward but having a STRATEGY in addition to a PLAN is definitely much better when it comes to building an approach towards a successful professional future and budding dentists need to take note of this important business principle.

This topic was inspired by an article I came across a few days ago that discusses the business aspects of PLAN v/s STRATEGY in depth. Click here to read if you are interested in knowing more.

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