Organizational culture can be a difficult thing to understand, dissect, and manage. It seems to  always be shifting and growing. But, the value of the dental enterprise depends on building a positive, profitable company culture. Simply put, culture drives value. So, it cannot be ignored.

There are 4 basic assets that you can put in place right now to steer company culture to a more positive and more profitable place.

Asset 1: The Company Vision

When it comes to growing a dental enterprise, it’s important to have an awareness of the reasons for starting your business.

Your organization can become aligned and reflect those values to push your personal mission even further. This allows your personal mission and values to become the vision of the employees and team members that make up your entire business.

At Spark, when we work with dentists and practice owners it’s always our objective to make sure that the work we do is aligned with your mission, your desired vision of the future, and the values that are important to you.

Getting clear on these is an important step to being able to share them with your team and creating processes and systems that support the execution of them. Success comes more easily and effortlessly when the day-to-day operations of a dental practice are aligned with the goals of the leader. Having a clear vision and method for putting it into action opens up the possibilities for much higher levels of achievement.

Asset 2: The “Why Story”

The next element to have in place is your Why Story. This story needs to connect emotionally to the reasons why you are in business. The is the story behind your vision and mission. The Why Story needs to be relevant for several key groups of people because these will be the people who determine if you will be successful or not.

Your Why Story needs to resonate with 3 groups of people:

Your team is the first group. You will want to share this message with your entire team, so it’s important to include specific words and meaning that every single employee, hygienist, doctor and other team members can connect to. Each team member will need to be able to justify to themselves where and why they fit in the larger mission of your organization. Your Why Story needs to connect with their own personal Why Story.

Your patients are the second group. Patients will need to know what makes your organization special and particularly suited to helping them achieve the results they are looking for your help with.

Finally, the last and biggest group is your community. Your message needs to be able to attract members of your community to your practice. It needs to demonstrate that your practice is part of the community and highlight the unique qualities and advantages of choosing you over other competitors.

Asset 3: The Mission Statement

Your Why Story is fundamentally an emotional statement. A Mission Statement goes even further to define and set specific tactics that your organization will use. Essentially, your Mission Statement is a way to flesh out your Why Story and plan out the greater vision for the company.

Creating a Mission Statement allows team members to see how the organization will accomplish its goals from a practical perspective. A clear Why Story and Mission Statement reinforce each other with emotion, meaning, and specific tactical planning.

Asset 4: The Company Values

What are the specific values that drive your organization? Values tell the world who you are and what you’re trying to accomplish. What do you value most highly? What gets you energized?

You will want to define 4-6 of these values and then distill them down to their essence so they are easy to share.

For inspiration, here’s a quote that encapsulates the essence of what makes a business impactful:

“A business shines brightest when its people are working on problems bigger than themselves”

- Damian Mingle, Data Scientist and Author

A business that is focused on the benefits it provides to others will have a more meaningful impact than a business that exists only for itself. People connect with leaders who empower and help them achieve their own personal goals and vision.

Spark’s Organizational Values

These are the values of Spark, do any of these connect with you?

Integrity: We always do the right thing, saying what needs to be said and remaining true to ourselves.

Teamwork: We recognize and elevate each other’s expertise, knowledge and experience. We know what we each do well and we stick to it.

Caring: We create safe, non-judgmental environments so people can openly share both personally and professionally.

Results: We do what it takes to get results and celebrate individual progress along the way.

Gratitude: We believe the happiest people are the ones who choose gratitude and service as a cornerstone of life.

Fun: We know that fun opens connection, learning and bonding, and we practice it every day in everything we do.