Episode 403: Clear at the Top: Leadership That Breaks Insurance Dependence with Thomas Passalacqua

Lester De Alwis: Welcome to the Less Insurance Dependence podcast. I’m your host, Lester De Alwis, and this show is dedicated to helping dental professionals build stronger, more profitable practices with less reliance on insurance. Today I’m excited to welcome Thomas Passalacqua, executive coach and founder of Ascend Professional Pathways. Thomas spent years as an award-winning sales consultant in the dental industry, then led business development and acquisitions at the Smile List, a growing dental group practice. He has seen dental practices from the inside out, and now he helps leaders get the clarity they need to grow and lead with confidence. Today’s episode is called Clear at the Top: Leadership That Breaks Insurance Dependence. Thomas, welcome to the show.

Thomas Passalacqua: Lester, it’s great to be here. Thanks so much for having me.

Thomas Passalacqua: In my experience working directly with practice owners at a variety of different stages, it’s really not being intentional with the direction of the business or the practice. Many clinicians have a vision, but they don’t necessarily act upon manifesting that vision. What are the actual tangible steps for them and their teams to take the practice from where they are to where they want it to go? Oftentimes, it’s just that lack of execution on that vision and a lack of clear goals to allow them to grow the way they wanted to grow when they started out.

Thomas Passalacqua: In the traditional owner model, the lead doctor and the team are wearing many, many hats. So they’re mostly reacting day to day or focused on patient care, which is fantastic. But the energy behind business growth might be lacking, and there’s a lack of foresight or intention to grow in a particular way. There needs to be either one or a few individuals, or some energy, that is driving the business growth as well, alongside the clinical growth.

Thomas Passalacqua: For acquisitions, most likely it was again not having that clear plan or goal, just kind of observing the practice as is, not having the intention to take it to where it could go. Many times,s practice owners would just stay in the moment and not look out three or five years. It’s also not having a clear vision of what you really want in your business, your practice, your life and knowing there are a lot of different options out there, especially when acquiring practices. I would say the intention of knowing precisely what you want for your practice, and then taking the time to explore those options, not being pressured to sell or forced into a decision, but trying to be the driver of where you want your practice to be.

Thomas Passalacqua: A vision that is realistic to achieve, broken down into tangible steps and benchmarks that you and your team could work towards, that’s manageable. And educating yourself on what the options out there are, not staying so patient-centric that you’re losing sight of the business and the opportunities out there. I would encourage practice owners to take some intentional time to catch up on business opportunities. A couple of times a month, who are you talking to, where are you getting your information, how are you researching, nd being a little more proactive instead of reactive in the practice.

Thomas Passalacqua: The essence of it is identifying precisely the goal that you want to achieve, which could be a long-term vision or it could be a short-term, immediate goal. Step one is identifying precisely the outcome you’re looking to achieve. Then, from where you are at the moment, what are the obstacles in the way? Getting creative in assessing what’s actually preventing you from moving forward. Then it’s pairing actions to those obstacles, because being action-oriented allows you to navigate them. And as you’re making progress, it’s reflecting on what’s working and what’s not. Applied to practice leaders, it solidifies what they actually want to achieve, why they want to get off insurance, the type of practice and patients they want, and the business plan to grow without that insurance dependency.

Lester De Alwis: What we just discussed is having a clear roadmap and a game plan on what you’re going to do. That’s what’s important. Clarity is the first move, and strategy follows. If you’re ready to make sure your marketing reflects that stronger practice, the team at Ekwa Marketing, also the sponsor of this episode, is offering a complimentary marketing strategy meeting at lessinsurancedependence.com/msm. They will review your practice visibility and give you a report card on how you look and how your competitors look against you, so you understand exactly where you stand or book a complimentary coaching strategy meeting with Gary at lessinsurancedependence.com/csm.

Thomas Passalacqua: That alignment allows everyone to behave and perform in a way that’s complementary to that vision. There are no more siloed cultures or siloed behaviors in different departments once the clarity of where everyone is going and why is understood. Every action, every system, every protocol of that practice then complements that vision, and that team alignment is super important because it allows everyone to embody what it takes to collectively grow the practice in that direction. You’re not working against each other anymore; it’s all complementing the same vision and goal.

Thomas Passalacqua: With mindset work, it’s getting intentional. Take some specific time where you’re outlining what you actually want to achieve in the next number of years for your practice or your business. If you feel like, well, I don’t even have time to do that, then there’s the bottleneck right there. It’s being intentional, stepping out,t and prioritizing the future, prioritizing the direction, prioritizing everyone’s alignment for the team. As long as you stay ahead of that energy and intention, you’ll be able to start coordinating everyone going in that direction. Step one is trying to get a little clearer on exactly where you want to go and taking the time to do so.

Thomas Passalacqua: LinkedIn is a fantastic way to reach out to me I’m very active there, find me and send me a message. You can also visit my website, ascendpropathways.com. There’s a message board there, as well as my email through the contact page. Everyone is focused on the technology, the innovation, all the amazing new products and services coming out, which is fantastic. However, we as individuals are still at the center of all of that. And if we’re not sharp and intentional in trying to navigate that as best we can, we’re going to be easily overwhelmed and not in control of the direction we go. A lot of the work I do is on mindset and being intentional, so your actions and behaviors are actually taking you in the direction that’s meaningful for you.

Lester De Alwis: All the resources Thomas mentioned will be in the show notes, so you can grab them directly and get in contact with Thomas. Thomas, thank you so much for spending your time with us.

Thomas Passalacqua: Of course, Lester, it was great. Thanks so much for having me.