The courage of a leader

Hi, guys and welcome to another episode of the Delivering WOW Dental podcast. Today is going to be a little bit of a coaching session and today, we're going to be talking about how do you assume leadership? How do you level up, to be able to run a successful dental practice? So, what I see happening, so many times, is doctors are reaching out to me and they're blaming their team, right? They're like, "Oh, well, my team does not want to do vision boards. My team does not want to do scorecards. My team does not want to stay past 4:00 PM. My team does not want to, my team does not want to." Right?


Then, I look at practices where the teams are super pumped up and excited to actually help the business grow. I want to talk to you guys today about, how do you get that team that is excited to be able to work alongside you, to be able to create a really amazing place inside of your community? What I see happening, so many times with practices, is that, to be honest with you, you have not necessarily done due diligence in hiring.


What I mean by that, for you who are practice owners who are listening to this podcast, it's super important, before you even think about hiring a team member, that you're super clear about what you are expecting out of them. What is going to be their job description, right? Also, making sure that they are clear, in terms of what is expected of them, right? For example, if they are an office manager, it's not going to be possible for them to say, "Well, I can't come in until 10 o'clock." Or, "I can't work on Thursdays." Right?

It's not going to be possible, because the office manager or the team lead, they are the one who is essentially running the business for the doctor. Taking the doctor's vision and carrying it out, ensuring that all projects, in terms of community service and marketing projects are being done, whether they're doing it or not, right? Overseeing to make sure that it's done. Making sure that processes are continuously being built, systems. Written documentation of processes, making sure that the practice is growing week-to-week. That scorecards are being done right.

If you're getting resistance, doctors, from your office manager, saying that they are not able to do the things that need to be done, to be able to run the business, then either, to be honest with you, you've made a bad hire, right? It's not the right person for your culture. Or even more so, what happened is that a lot of times, we have not been clear about our expectations. What I find a lot, is that doctors are really amazing people and they are very kind. Sometimes, they're very afraid to step up and be a leader. If they are not happy with something that they're seeing in their business, they keep quiet.


I can tell you one thing that I've always said in my business, is that if somebody is going to be disappointed, it's not going to be me. It's not going to be me. I'm going to make sure that what we believe in is going to happen. If that means that, for example, we have made a decision that we are going to do one marketing campaign every month to help all the community, then it has to be done. Or, if we're going to give headphones and iPads to our patients while they're having a procedure done, so that they can listen to music, it has to be done, right?


As you're stepping into leadership, for many of you guys, it's super important that you understand that the business that you are running, you will get what you deserve, or you will get what you put into it. Or, you will get what you envision for your business, right? If you have a vision to be able to have a business where people are working alongside you, then first, you have to visualize that. Number two, you have to look at the employees that you have right now and think, "Are they there with my vision?"


One thing that we do inside of our platinum program and our inner circle, is we always want to make sure that we can get the teams aligned and we see who is on our team or not. Who's going to be a part of our practice vision or not. We find that out really early. Typically, what I find is, when we work with practices within the first year, there's changes in their team. Why? Because the doctors become better leaders. They know clearly what they want, they know what they're going to tolerate and what they're not. They're going to be better at hiring and being very clear and specific about what the roles are, right?


So, one of the things that we do with teams, of course, are the vision boards. Some people think that that's a little, silly exercise, but it's actually not a silly exercise. Having vision boards allows you to see what team members are going to give you pushback, or what team members are going to be excited, because guess what happens? Once the business grows and everybody works together, the team can achieve whatever is on that vision board. If they truly believe that they are in the right place with the right doctor, with the right teammates, then there's nothing that the team cannot do together.


As I start looking at, how can I grow businesses, how can I work alongside practice owners so that they can get to time and financial freedom? It is super important to be very clear, in your mind, about the business that you are going to have. Not one that you wish or hope that you're going to have. Not Looking at what others have and being envious. I see some of the people that we work with, they've got amazing teams and they come to us and they're like, "You know what? We've just flatlined. We have been in other coaching programs and nothing has changed. Our team wants to be able to get to the next level and we a need next level of training to be able do that."


I love when those practices come to us and then we have some that are, quite honestly, a mess. There's a lot of resistance and negativity on the team and the doctor is afraid to step up and be that leader. So, if you're listening to this and you are that leader or that future leader in your business, I encourage you, make that decision today, right? Make that decision today, that you're going to have that practice that you dreamed of. We spent a lot of time going into dental school and have put a lot of time, effort, expense and tears into building an amazing business that's going to allow us to be able to help a ton of people inside of our community. It's no way that we're going to be able to do that alone.


We have to have dedicated people who are working side-by-side, arm-by-arm with us, so that we can achieve the goals. We start looking at, "We need to have weekly scorecards done so that we can know if the doctor production per visit is high or low. We need to make sure that the whiteboards are being done. We need to make sure that the AR is kept below a certain amount." Right? There has to be consistent processes. If you have a team that's giving you pushback or making excuses, you're never going to achieve your goal, right?


A lot of those key metric tools that we utilize are there to be able to even highlight and see weaknesses. You look at, for example, if a hygiene production per visit is low, I can look at it and say, "Well, why is this so low?" When I'm reviewing scorecards at practices and then the doctors are like, "Well, my team member offered sealants to patients, but they told them 'no', so they're uncomfortable talking to the patients about sealants." I'm like, "Okay, well this is an opportunity for training." Like, "Don't accept that." Like, "Your team has to be trained on how to have verbal skills. They have to know that 4 out of 10 people are going to tell them 'no'."


Just expect that. So the first four, you're like, "All right, that was one of my four." Then, the fifth one tells you, "Yeah." You have prevented a health problem and them having a cavity, right? The benefit is definitely more than being afraid to have a conversation or communicate, you know what I mean?


Anyway, I hope this helps. I am just about to pull into my office right now, but I just wanted to send out that message today to you and I hope it speaks to you. We will chat soon. Again, if you have not joined us inside of our Facebook group, please join us at the Delivering WOW hangout. Once you're in there, please make sure that your introduce yourself so I can know who you are. I love Facebook Live videos, so if you can even come on and do a Facebook Live and introduce yourself, tell us a little bit more about you, we would love to get to know more about you and your practice. All right, guys, take care. Until next time, keep delivering WOW.