Dentists recommend brushing your teeth twice a day for 2 minutes each time to protect your teeth from cavities. If you follow their advice, this results in 28 minutes per week invested in your dental hygiene (not including flossing or mouthwash). While the time spent brushing your teeth is important, consistency is arguably the more important part of the equation. No matter how hard you try, brushing your teeth once a week for half an hour will not protect your teeth from cavities as much as brushing twice a day for a couple of minutes.
Leadership functions the same way. It is impossible to be a good leader within your organization without daily effort. If you try to be a once-a-week leader, your organization will decay and get cavities, just like the downside of being a once-a-week brusher. These cavities and decay could be synonymous with the emergence of a struggling practice culture or unhappy employees- potentially spiraling out of control towards a fragmented patient experience resulting in the loss of patients. Eventually, the effects of inconsistent leadership will compound and you’ll have to get a metaphorical tooth pulled or root canal.
As the leader of a practice, your team should be seeing consistent guidance and reliability. Over time, your commitment to effective leadership will allow your team to learn what to expect of you, and you will emerge a stronger practice leader.