I read Dr. Roger Levin’s column in June JADA, "The Dentist As Chief Executive Officer" (
JADA 2007;138[6]:821–2
). In it, Dr. Levin described the six characteristics of leadership that are the "hallmarks of a successful CEO." I would like to add a few suggestions regarding these characteristics that were not mentioned by Dr. Levin.
The CEO dentist as described in Dr. Levin’s article functions as a manager or leader. The nature of the relationship between managerial and nonmanagerial employees is important and necessary for the smooth functioning of any system. It is understood that it is not easy for any dentist to achieve Dr. Levin’s six leadership characteristics single-handedly.
There are nine key qualities a successful CEO needs to possess: passion, decisiveness, conviction, integrity, adaptability, emotional toughness, emotional resonance, self-knowledge and humility. These qualities can help the CEO to address the six leadership characteristics effectively. A variety of management techniques also could be used to this end.
One leadership characteristic Dr. Levin mentions is to "be the conduit of change." The CEO dentist does not necessarily need to follow the authoritarian/ autocratic style, as hinted at in this article, to achieve change. The role instead can be benevolent, authoritative, consultative and participative. Rather than the CEO’s making the decision and then telling everyone what to do, he or she can sell it to the group, invite questions on certain issues, and the group, along with the CEO, can decide on the issues. A laissez faire (free rein) policy has proved ineffective in many cases and, hence, is not advisable.
Another characteristic Dr. Levin mentions is to "be a leader who can drive strategic planning." To drive strategic planning, an action-centered leadership that makes use of the following approaches is necessary: defining group tasks or goals, controlling and maintaining standards, guiding the organization to its objective, creating a team spirit and solving conflicts, receiving and giving information, summarizing ideas and, finally, evaluating performance.
In order to "know how to delegate responsibility," a CEO-minded dentist can employ a variety of models to function as an effective manager. One model, the management by objectives model, is based on defining objectives for each employee, and then controlling performance by relating it to those objectives. Another model is management by "walking about." By providing constant supervision at each step, the CEO may be successful in bringing about the desired results.
McGregor’s1 theory, in which Group X is a group of nonmotivated, lazy individuals and Group Y is a group of hardworking, motivated individuals, is another management model. The CEO can identify which staff belong to which group, and then assign tasks that require minimum skills to Group X, and more skilled jobs to Group Y, thereby increasing productivity.
Another famous model is the "9,9" managerial grid developed by Blake and Mouton.2 They looked at how CEOs or managers created good attitudes in their employees and saw that effective managers had concern both for their employees and for their organization’s objectives and output. A "1,1" style indicates very poor levels of concern, a "5,5" style is considered adequate for ordinary performance in an organization, and a "9,9" style is the one most likely to lead to organizational effectiveness.
The dental CEO should avoid the mushroom style of management, in which his or her team members are kept in the dark, or the seagull style of management, in which the dentist or the team leader frequently is absent from the practice and has delegated all the responsibilities to others.
An autocratic or authoritative style of management by the CEO, as hinted by Dr. Levin, should be used with caution. By keeping the above ideas in mind, the dentist can function as a successful CEO.
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