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Family Matters

Mixing relatives with work can be risky; here’s how to ensure you attain the best of both worlds.

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 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.

Three rules for keeping it in the family

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 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.

I’ve experienced it first-hand too, as both my sons, since graduating from university, have come to work at my company. It’s added a whole new dimension to my professional life to be able to work alongside my boys.

Rewards, risks

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. Probably the most common kind of family transition involves a parent bringing a son or daughter into the practice. It is also, unfortunately, the kind of transition where senior dentists are most likely to cut corners on the details—after all, it’s family, it’s a time of pride and celebration, and it seems impossible to imagine that anything could go wrong. But it’s precisely because the stakes are so high that is important to get everything out on the table.

So if you are going to work with a son or daughter, be sure you do it in a way that protects the value of the practice, and that gives the business as well as the personal relationships an environment in which to thrive. Here are the five top guidelines to follow:

1. Follow the same process as you would for any other person. Have the practice appraised together so you can determine its present value to your mutual satisfaction. Institute an associateship trial period, leading to a buy-in if you are both prepared to go forward. Establish clarity around things like patient base allocation and accountability (who does what and which patients go to which doctor). In other words, do everything you would do to facilitate the entrance of a new dentist who didn’t share your bloodlines.

2. Promote your new colleague. That means promoting them internally, by making sure staff supports them in the right way. (Your team may have watched this person grow up, but they have to respect that “the kid” is now “Doctor.”) You should also promote them externally, by making public announcements of the new addition, and by introducing them to patients with the right value.

3. Keep gifts outside the practice. “It’s family—why should they have to pay?” That’s the feeling many senior dentists have when welcoming a son or daughter into the practice. Instead of a discount on the buy-in or extra generous terms, however, consider giving them an education gift by helping to finance their development as clinicians and business partners. If you really want to give significant economic help, do it outside the practice, by gifting a down payment on a home, for instance. It’s a good idea to maintain the integrity of the practice value for tax reasons, too—auditors are always on the lookout for “sweetheart” deals and special arrangements to scrutinize.

4. Remember, you’re not a parent at work. Sometimes, parental impulses can lead you the other way—instead of giving special favors, you give a family member less consideration than you would another associate. Often, it’s a case of the senior doctor/parent having the best intentions in wanting to get the practice ready for the son or daughter so they can step right in, so they go ahead and make long-term facility decisions without consulting the new incoming practitioner. Sometimes it’s just hard to let go of the “parent knows best” mindset when you enter the world of business together, and that leads you to act unilaterally. In the office, though, you’re not parent and child, you’re doctor and business partner.

5. Create an ownership mindset from the start. Your ultimate goal is to create future leaders who can take over the practice, and that means getting them intellectually and emotionally invested from the start, so they can feel like an owner who has a legitimate stake in the business. Get them involved in team decisions, in expansion or re-location plans, and be sure to consult with them on decisions that will have an impact on them. It’s what they would expect if they joined any other practice, and they should be able to expect it from you.

Imtiaz Manji is co-owner and CEO of the Mercer Group of Companies, a leading business consulting service for dental practices. He is the creater of the popular workshops “Leadership in Dentistry and “Transitions in Dentistry.” For more information, call 800-898-4642.

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