Leadership
Dream big, then build the processes that can deliver it
Trehan Stenton on why ambitious plans for technology and service only work when the processes, measures and team context behind them are in place.
Dream Big. Then Build Systems That Can Deliver | Leadership Summit 2020 Archive
Video from The Eighth Mile.
Generated from the canonical interview transcript and validated against source data by Guests on Air.
How can leaders turn a big business vision into results their team will actually deliver?
Leaders turn a big vision into results by pairing ambition with basic operational discipline. That means mapping the end-to-end process, measuring conversions at every stage, testing changes in one place before rolling them out, and giving the team enough context to see how each role contributes to the outcome the business is working towards.
Trehan Stenton told a 2020 leadership summit audience that dreaming big is hard work. It takes energy, self-confidence and a willingness to be unpopular. At the time Trehan Stenton was running three dental practices in central Queensland, opened in 2012, 2014 and 2016, without any clinical background and with a firm focus on what customers actually experience.
The talk was not a celebration of vision for its own sake. Trehan Stenton walked through several projects that went well and several that went badly, from a snoring treatment service to a full migration of practice management software. The common thread was that technology could carry a big idea only once the process, the measures and the people around it were ready.
Speaking as the coronavirus was beginning to disrupt businesses, Trehan Stenton also framed the subject as a leadership test. Teams were looking for guidance, safety and a sense of security. The practical lessons that followed show how an ambitious plan becomes something a small team can deliver, and what to do when it starts to go wrong.
Key takeaways
- Map the end-to-end process before spending more on marketing, or new leads will leak away unseen.
- Measure conversions at every stage of the pipeline so you know where people drop out and why.
- Test changes in one location first so a failed rollout can be reversed without stopping the business.
- Give staff the colour and context behind a big idea so they can see how their own role contributes.
1. Start with the customer, then connect the technology
Trehan Stenton described never thinking of the business as a dental practice. Instead it was a place to look after people and wrap care around the whole experience. Patients, the talk argued, judge a clinic against the best service they have had anywhere, from an airline cabin crew to a credit card call centre, so expectations keep rising and the business has to keep changing.
That outlook found a purpose in lip and tongue tie treatment for babies who could not feed properly. After seeing a mother feed her child successfully for the first time, Trehan Stenton decided the aim was to make a difference every day. The practice built a dedicated soundproofed room and now performs six to eight of these procedures every Monday.
Trehan Stenton admitted to knowing little about code or architecture, yet still used technology to deliver the idea. A customer relationship management system ran workflows that sent families videos on what to expect before treatment, exercises afterwards and follow-up surveys. The lesson was that a leader does not need technical skill to dream big, only the right people and tools.
2. Measure the pipeline before you spend on more leads
The snoring treatment service showed what happens when ambition runs ahead of process. The practice repurposed its laser, marketed the treatment and offered a money-back guarantee. Patients came in, yet many did not rebook, did not finish treatment or asked for refunds. For a while nobody could see where people were falling out of the pipeline, because no one was measuring it.
The fix began with the basic end-to-end process. Screening surveys helped identify suitable patients before they booked. A detailed process map ran to twenty pages, and nobody wanted to read it, so the team turned it into short cheat sheets for each role. Paid social leads were expensive too, and only three in ten were suitable for the treatment, which made the waste plain.
Trehan Stenton, a marketer by background, concluded that bringing in leads is pointless unless the back end works. That means proper processes, clear job descriptions and accurate accounting. When a campaign is struggling, the advice was to test and trial one part of the process at a time, measure the result, and be willing to cut what does not work and fail quickly.
3. Give the team the context behind the dream
The biggest project was replacing the core practice management software that handles bookings, billing and clinical notes. Several vendors at Australian conferences called the idea of open, flowing data too hard. Trehan Stenton kept looking, found a vendor in the United States with an Australian version of its platform, and two years later the practices became the first in Australia to make that migration.
The rollout went well, but Trehan Stenton said the vendors should have been managed more tightly and given more context. The plan contained the risk by switching one practice first, so it could be backed out while the other two kept running. The team came on board once the change was tied to the shared purpose of creating happier and healthier communities.
Context was the recurring lesson. Twenty years earlier at New Zealand Post, Trehan Stenton found that staff stared blankly at big visions because the colour and detail were missing. A team member later cried while building 35 to 40 step customer journeys, then became their strongest advocate once the purpose was clear. People come to work to contribute, and leaders owe them that context.
