3 Rules for Family Dental Practices

What could be better than doing what you love with the people you love most? Over the years I have seen a number of dental practice family "dynasties"—sons and daughters following a parent into practice, brothers and sisters becoming partners, husbands and wives sharing a life at home and in their careers—and I've seen the special rewards that come from working closely with the most important people in your life to create a life of success together.

But where there are great rewards, there are also great risks. There are rules to follow in mixing family and business so that you protect the interests of both. After all, you can always change personnel, and you can change the practice, but family is forever.

1. Start from a place of gratitude and abundance. The issues of who gets what and how much have fueled family arguments for as long as there have been families. And it's true that clarity around these expectations is vital—not just for family members, but also for any newcomer entering a practice. But don't let personal interests become the story—it should always be about the best interests of the practice. This isn't a zero-sum game where one person has to make gains at another's expense. Recognize that the practice of dentistry offers significant rewards to anyone who's willing to capture them, and as long as you make the sustained growth of the business the priority, there will always be enough success to go around for everyone.

2. Protect the personal relationship by honoring the business. It's natural, when a family member is involved, to want to make special arrangements or allowances that you wouldn't normally consider for anyone else, but you're not doing anyone any favors if you end up compromising on the integrity of the practice. When it comes to the practice, make decisions as a business owner, not as a father, or husband, or wife, or sibling. It may sound paradoxical, but the best way to stay close as a family in a business environment is to keep the professional relationship at arm's length.

3. Establish complete clarity for accountability. It's been said that plans that fail don't fail in the end, they fail on the first day—and that is certainly true in a practice transition. There can be a tendency, when we're dealing with family members, to make assumptions and to feel that we don't need to spell out the responsibilities and opportunities, that it can be worked out "within the family." This is how misunderstandings and resentments are born. Set the right expectations from the start—who does what now, what the long-term plans are, within what timeframe—and you will avoid an emotionally messy visit with Dr. Phil down the road.
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