In this detailed interview, CEO Jeff Slovin reflects on the first 250 days as Dentsply Sirona and shares his pride in the fact that, “we never lost sight of our customers and our ability to meet their needs, deliver products and solutions, and meet our commitments.” Find out what he wants for all employees and what the three most important common priorities are for the next 12 months.
Jeff, when you look back on the first 10 months as Dentsply Sirona, what are you most proud of?
I’m most proud of our global team of employees working every day to make Dentsply Sirona a leader in innovative dental solutions. I have visited many of our offices over the last few months and have seen the passion, enthusiasm, and drive of our employees. As one global team, we have quickly aligned on our common mission and shared values to empower our customers to provide better, safer, faster dental care.
This merger has already made history in our industry. It is an honor to be leading our organization at this time of opportunity and change.
And I believe we are on the verge of something incredible. At our recent SIROWORLD conference in Orlando, I was struck by how many colleagues told me about the positive impact that the merger has had on them. One of our largest customers told me how impressed they were at the amount of end-to-end solutions we’re already delivering in the market.
What priorities should we be focused on over the next twelve months?
Looking forward, I believe we have three priorities over the next year.
First, we must take care of our customers and remain focused on our business. We need to continue to deliver quality products and solutions. We must incessantly find opportunities to innovate our products and solutions. We must do all of this while capitalizing on the macro trends that are impacting the dental industry. Our diverse – and evolving – portfolio provides a strong foundation for us to meet the needs of dentists. We will need to deliver for all of our stakeholders; we can do this by accomplishing our quarterly financial performance as we finish this year and start 2017.
Our second priority is to accelerate our growth. I believe that focusing on growth will make Dentsply Sirona an engaging and exciting place for our employees. Our global team launched a sales generation tool across five countries with phenomenal results that expand upon our growth opportunity. In addition, we are reinforcing our commitment to employee development through investments like Dentsply Sirona University. Growth can also come from us finding opportunities to reduce costs – and everyone can play a role in helping manage our costs carefully.
Our third priority is for us to continue the work of the integration. We have several teams fully integrating our organization, our policies, and our processes. We have launched a revenue synergy team, which is looking at ways to use the merger as an opportunity to increase our sales and meet customer needs together. We have a team focused on how we align our technical applications and implement cutting-edge information technology.
You may see opportunities to increase our efficiency or effectiveness to help meet these priorities. I encourage you to share these with your manager, your SBU or functional leader, or any members of the integration teams.
Executive Team Jim Mosch, Maureen MacInnis, Jeff Slovin, Uli Michel, Chris Clark, and Rainer Berthan leading the way for Dentsply Sirona.
What are you doing to insure that we work together with one common Dentsply Sirona culture? Where do you think we stand at this point?
Culture – which to me means how we work together, how we empower dental professionals, and how we represent our brand in the marketplace – is so important to me personally and our full management team. We are only as strong as our ability to work with one another, meet our commitments, and deliver quality products and solutions.
As a leadership team, we have spent considerable time reviewing our culture and what we want to stand for as Dentsply Sirona. You see this reflected in the mission, vision, and values that we launched earlier this year.
When we talk about how Dentsply Sirona is bringing out the best in our people, you can already see the proof points. We have expanded our Global Leadership Development Program (GLDP) and quadrupled the number of participants in our Women Inspired Network. We have identified and trained nearly 200 Culture Champions globally. We are committed to being a high performance organization that rewards personal accountability.
You have consistently said that this merger is about growth. Can you explain what is different about Dentsply Sirona compared to either company on a stand-alone basis?
Prior to our merger, both DENTSPLY and Sirona were great businesses with solid growth. Together, we are better positioned to accelerate our growth and I want us to focus on our customers to fuel this.
We want to provide whatever solution the customer needs while supporting them to be more efficient. Dental professionals want a partner that they can trust not only for an implant, but also for the crown, and the infection-control products – really the full procedure. They want a company that can offer every tool, from planning to placement, whether it be to support endo, ortho, implant or simple restorations. Because we can now offer total solutions, we can accelerate adoption of all of the products and solutions in our portfolio.
Of course, as we grow as a Company, there will be many opportunities for our employees to accelerate their professional growth. One of my aspirations is that we are seen as an employer of choice for professional growth and development. People in our industry will seek to join us because of the opportunities enabled by our breadth and the investments we make in growing and developing our people.
Jeff Slovin speaking to attendees at SIROWORLD in August.
If we fast-forward three years, what will Dentsply Sirona look like and what will we have accomplished?
We will be the dental solutions company, with the most comprehensive portfolio of end-to-end solutions for dentists and laboratories. We want customers and competitors to recognize this. We want to generate great financial returns for our shareholders. And, we want to raise our profile in the communities where we all live and work.
We want our employees to see the professional and personal benefits associated with being part of Dentsply Sirona. We want to excite potential employees about the opportunities that we can provide.
We are well on our way to achieving this. Today, 600,000 dental professionals use Dentsply Sirona products serving over six million patients every single day – improving their oral health, which inevitably helps patients eat, speak and smile with confidence. As we grow, we will be able to reach more and more patients. We have strong relationships with dental professionals and labs because our brands stand for quality and innovation. I think we should strive to grow this by five per cent each year. It’s a stretch, but I believe we have the opportunity to break down any barriers that prevent us from achieving this. The combined capabilities we have as Dentsply Sirona are impressive and reinforce my belief that we can really make this happen if we work together as one global team.
Any advice you have for employees as we continue the integration process?
It will take time to complete our integration and realize our full potential. We will face challenges and discover many opportunities. This merger is a once-in-a-lifetime professional opportunity for many of us, so I would encourage everyone to make the most of this experience.
I would also suggest that we remember to be patient, ask questions, and assume positive intent from one another. We are all in this together and our success will hinge on our ability to mobilize as one global team. Together, we are creating an exceptional culture.
At the end of the day, remember that this journey is only just beginning…the best of Dentsply Sirona is yet to come!
A SIROWORLD press panel discussing the launch of CEREC Zirconia with (from left to right): Ali Cook (Dentistry Today); Michael Augins, SVP US RCO; Roddy MacLeod, Group VP, CAD/CAM SBU; Ingo Zimmer, VP US RCO Marketing; Jeff Slovin, CEO, and David Temple (facilitator).