More Than A Round Of Golf: Bringing Practice Owners Together At Woburn
Last week, Envisage joined forces with Wesleyan and Practice Plan for our first Golf Day at Woburn Golf Club. There was golf, some healthy competition and, for the record, a 4–2 win for Envisage.
But the best part of the day happened between the shots.
We brought together practice owners from within and outside the Envisage group, colleagues and partners for something deliberately simple: time together.
No presentations. No packed agenda. No meeting room.
Just an opportunity to spend the day with people who understand what it's really like to own and run a dental practice.
"Conversations you can't manufacture’’
Running a practice doesn't always leave much room for unhurried conversation.
At Woburn, people who had known each other for years reconnected. Others met for the first time. Practice owners compared experiences, talked about their businesses and, inevitably, asked each other some pretty honest questions.
One guest summed it up afterwards as a chance to “catch up with old friends and make some new ones.”
Another told us that the conversations had felt natural and described relationship-building as the real value of the day.
That's exactly what we'd hoped for.
Because some of the most useful conversations about practice ownership don't happen in a meeting.
They happen between people who have actually lived it.
From one practice owner to another
One of the things we loved hearing afterwards was how naturally conversations moved between Principals already within Envisage and owners from outside the group.
One Principal was asked directly what life was actually like after selling his practice and becoming part of a wider dental group.
The feedback shared with us afterwards was striking: joining had delivered what he'd hoped it would, the changes had made his life easier and he was able to spend more time focusing on the parts of dentistry he loved.
Elsewhere, other Envisage Principals were having similarly open conversations about their own experiences with guests throughout the day.
None of it was scripted. And that's important.
We can explain our approach to partnership. We can produce films and write about what happens after a practice joins Envisage.
But there is something much more powerful about one practice owner simply asking another:
"What's it actually like?"
And getting an honest answer.
A network around practice ownership
Practice ownership can be enormously rewarding. It can also mean carrying a huge amount of responsibility.
Having a network around you matters.
At Woburn, that network included Principals currently running practices within Envisage, people who have already been through the process of selling, owners thinking about what their own future might look like, colleagues from across our group and partners who work closely with dental businesses every day.
The golf gave everyone a reason to be there.
The relationships were the point.
Our thanks go to Wesleyan and Practice Plan for partnering with us on the day and bringing their own relationships, expertise and perspectives into the mix.
And to everyone who joined us: thank you for making our first Golf Day such a good one.
This won't be the last one
We're keen to create more opportunities for practice owners to connect properly, with each other, with our partners and with Envisage.
Sometimes that might be golf.
Sometimes padel.
Sometimes a dinner, roundtable or conversation about what's happening in dentistry.
The format matters less than creating the space for good people to meet other good people.
Because whether you're happily running your practice for another ten years, beginning to think about succession or have already sold, there's real value in being around people who understand the journey.
Want to join us next time?
We're planning more opportunities to bring practice owners together.
Register your interest and we'll keep you in the loop about future Envisage events, insights and opportunities to connect.