The Dental A Team (00:01)
Hello, Dental A team listeners. We are back with, think we, I haven't called it consultant takeover in a while, but we used to call it consultant takeover every time we did it. And it's fun because some of you will reach out to us or I'll come in for a team meeting and you guys say, my gosh, I love consultant takeover. So I think I need to bring that back because it's popped up probably at least three times in the last week. So consultant takeover is here, meaning we stole the mics from Kiera. We told her to go sleep because she doesn't know how to sleep.
take a freaking break and we will bust out some podcasts because I don't know if you guys know this or not, but she does way too many podcasts for one human being, but she, I don't know, Trish, she's like three people in one body. I don't know. We had a mutual friend before that would call her, she's like a hummingbird, and they would say that she lived off of sugar, you know, but she really doesn't eat that much sugar either and she doesn't drink caffeine.
DAT Trish Ackerman (00:44)
I don't know why she doesn't. She is, all the time.
The Dental A Team (00:58)
So maybe that's my problem. Maybe the issue is that I supply my body with caffeine and sugar and really I just need to be as clean as Kiera. Obviously it's working for her, right? My body is screaming at me. Yes, do what she does. Eat more carrots. I don't know. ? Well, we love Kiera and we love what she does. We love that ? she has helped us build this company and she creates a platform for us to have so much fun.
DAT Trish Ackerman (01:06)
You might be onto something. You really might be onto something. Yes.
Yeah. huh.
The Dental A Team (01:27)
I think the consulting team can all agree that we just have a blast with each other. We have a blast with our clients that we work with and the change that we're able to inspire with people. And today, you guys, you heard me already, I have Trish back with me. Trish, thank you for being here this morning. just, yeah, I'm starting my week with you. I could not ask for anything better than this. Honestly, you started my Monday. You started my whole week. I'm in heaven today. I could not have asked for.
DAT Trish Ackerman (01:43)
Thank you for having me.
The Dental A Team (01:56)
anything different. thank you. Yeah, yeah, of course. And I want you guys to know Trish, Trish is freaking phenomenal. If you don't know her, you should, whether you're her client or not. I think you need to at the in-person masterminds when you guys come to those, go just meet her. She's just, you just, you light up a room, Trish. You just make people happy, instantly happy. And everyone needs to meet you.
DAT Trish Ackerman (01:58)
It's so sweet. Thank you.
The Dental A Team (02:24)
And when you come to the in-person masterminds, guys, gosh, next year is what, February and September? Could just meet the whole team. I know when you guys come on board, you get like one consultant is what it feels like, but you get the whole crew of people behind you. I'm here supporting every client with every consultant. And so you at some point will know me, but realistically, I want you to know the whole team. So when you guys come in person, meet all of the consultants. I'm excited for them to.
just get to share on this journey with me. I've been here for so long and gosh, we just have the best team right now. meet them all. We do. We really do. And I could sit here and brag on everybody for an entire hour. And I know our clients and our listeners would love it, but we are here today for Trish. We are here today for you guys, for Trish to bring you some incredible nuggets.
DAT Trish Ackerman (03:01)
We so do.
The Dental A Team (03:19)
Leadership is something that we value in our company and it's something that we work really hard at individually as a team and as consultants. It's value that Kara and I from the get-go said this is a non-negotiable within our consulting. We will always consult on leadership. We will always consult on leadership skills. And I don't believe with any ounce of being that it is possible for one person.
to do it all and continue to grow. It takes a team and until you can realize that and honor that and hone that in, you're gonna be spinning your wheels quite a bit. So Trish is masterful at team, masterful at projecting and numbers and doctor, but masterful at team and getting a team to really see the bigger picture. And I think Trish, something you actually do really well that you may or may not realize you do.
you extract vision for leaders. You extract their why pretty easily. Like I think you get it out of them pretty dang quickly and you run with it and you're like, okay, got it. That's our ticket. And now we're gonna, we're gonna cash that ticket in and this train is full force, full steam ahead going exactly where we need to go. So I wanted to pick your brain today Trish on some leadership because I've seen
quite a few different practices and they know who they are. We get to brag about them. It's really fun to watch from my side, watch these practices start thriving. But one in particular, and one in particular has just done a great job with leadership, but you fostered that and you helped them see those pieces. So first, I'm talking a lot. So welcome Trish. Thank you for being here today.
DAT Trish Ackerman (05:09)
Thank you. Thank you.
The Dental A Team (05:10)
Yeah, tell me, I'm like, just going, it's fine, everyone. Tell me a little bit about growing leadership. Like, when you walk in with a team, you go on your first call, you go on your 10th call, and you're really fostering that leadership growth within a team, what are the things that you're looking for and you're looking at? Tell me, just tell me how you're doing that.
DAT Trish Ackerman (05:15)
You
Okay, and I want to start with, ? leadership is typically not a natural skill. I mean, there are natural born leaders out there. I'm not one of them. This takes like daily practice. And I just wanted to point that out really quick because it kind of sounds easy, like go be a leader. But when you're really in there and it is boots to the ground, how do you measure
if you are leading or if you're managing because there's a drastic difference. so being aware, think being aware is key for everything, but being aware of your every move as a leader is, is number one. And then the practice, the practice, the practice. mean, there's, there's so many, but it's all free. Get on Google. There's audible books or there's Google notes. And there's a lot of things that we can do, but that, ?
The Dental A Team (06:28)
Yeah.
DAT Trish Ackerman (06:34)
Again, I think it's okay to not be one of those natural born leaders. I just wanted to point that out real quick. I practice every day. If I don't, I will relapse and I won't be the leader that I really need to be and show up for my clients and teams. but anyways, back to what we were talking about. Growing into a leader, it starts with being self-aware, but you also can't lead others until you could lead yourself.
So you have to make sure that you're in a space where you too are open for learning. We learn a lot from the people that we lead. And arrogance isn't going to get you in a really good leadership spot. But if you're open to learning from the people that you're working with and being aware that they have a lot to offer because you hired the right people in the right seats is typically where you have to begin. Then we have to...
that we have to practice. And again, these, you love my, my sit-up analogy. We have a lot of setups. We have to practice going from boss to coach where feedback is acceptable. Feedback is welcomed and the team is safe. If the cult, if that, if your culture changes when you're not around, there's a problem. So, so again, that's a, that's just another key piece. So
The Dental A Team (07:35)
I do.
DAT Trish Ackerman (07:58)
Before you just jump into leadership, there has to be some prep work done prior. Then this practice that I'm referencing right now, it's a pretty big team. There's a lot of people in there. One leader can successfully manage about four to five people. Once it gets bigger than that, you cannot do it. It's just not possible.
or it won't be possible with a really high standard of leadership, that's for sure. So what this doctor did is he was basically doing everything, he was doing everything, but he wasn't really doing anything. Because at the end of the day, you can't get anything done. And he deliberately put in lead positions, a lead admin, a lead dental assistant, a lead hygienist, and empowered the leads to guide those departments.
And when he did that, his life got way easier for one, because he didn't have to be responsible for all 25 people in the office. Now he was really just looking at the top three, those leads. They rarely had meetings when he first joined with us. And I understand why.
Meetings can be traumatizing when you bring that up to practices because in their past, for a lot of them, meetings was that was the time to get together and gripe, which is very foreign to me. Thank, thank goodness because meetings from, from where I come from, super productive, like you meet to plan and he implemented weekly meetings with his leads. And wow, did that, I mean, the continuity that they created by doing that.
The Dental A Team (09:34)
Same.
DAT Trish Ackerman (09:52)
and the growth that has taken place from those meetings, it's astronomical. It truly is. And it's astronomical in not only just the numbers, but in his, he's got a skip in his step that is very different because he's not, he doesn't have all that pressure. The leads, I have had so much fun working with the leads because I, it's,
It's very, again, rewarding. It's rewarding to be able to offer, say, we'll go with the dental assistant. Give the dental assistant talking points, like where, what's really, what's working really well in your department and where are the challenges. And taking those challenges, typically about three at a time, they don't, and they don't have a whole lot more than that, but take those top three challenges, hone in on just those top three. Ensure that we can coach those leads.
the tool, give them, coach them and give them the tools that they also need to become the empowering leaders that their team needs. And when a doctor is able to step back and delegate and trust and also be willing to allow them to fail, because when you start putting people into lead positions, they're going to stumble and we have to, we have to let them, it's part of it.
The Dental A Team (10:54)
Mm-hmm.
DAT Trish Ackerman (11:19)
And that's not always so easy, but when, when doctor leaders are, are open to doing that, but being there to pick them up and help them get back up. And again, just making sure that they're offering them all the tools. This is when we talked about well-oiled machine. You get a very well-oiled machine when you as the doctor owner find your right people in your right seats. You put lead positions in for those departments and you trust them.
then what an amazing life it is for the owner doctor.
The Dental A Team (11:52)
Yeah.
Just that trust. I agree. Thank you for all of that. It was beautiful. You're speaking to my soul today. The trust that you're speaking of, tell me how do you hone that in with the teams and help them build the trust for the doctor? Like how does the doctor start to trust that? Because I'm asking because I think that it's very easy to call somebody a lead, call yourself a leader.
DAT Trish Ackerman (12:20)
Mm-hmm.
The Dental A Team (12:22)
but really still be in management mode and you're managing people instead of leading people, managing results. So tell me that trust piece I can imagine is likely a big piece of being able to get out of the management role and into the leadership role. How is that muscle developed and how does it affect the management versus leadership?
DAT Trish Ackerman (12:48)
My go-to for that is always growth plans. You can tell somebody like, just trust them, okay? But you do have to see the growth taking place and the commitment to that role to really trust. But when you create a growth plan and it's got the expectations on there, like I always hone in on 12 week. I like 12 week growth.
and then go from there. It's okay to repeat the same 12-week growth plan again. You don't move forward until you've mastered that. for the doctor to meet with the leads, review the growth plans, evaluate where they're at in those steps of their growth plans, that's where the trust comes in. Because now they're able to actually see it, they can evaluate it.
I love having team members evaluate themselves as well. And when they start to align and if you're using the one to five scale, like on a scale of one to five, where are you at with say this communication piece that you've been working on and they start aligning on what those numbers are on the one to five scale, ? that trust builds very quickly because then.
everybody knows that they're aligned. If the team member, if the lead's giving themselves a five on everything and the doctor is like, I think we're more like a two and a half in this piece. Like you're still in management mode. You're not, I don't see you empowering. Then there's just a little bit of more work to to be done and that's okay. But the growth plans they need, they need to know what they are to grow into for their lead positions and weekly one-on-ones to review.
Exactly. Where are they at? Is there a struggle piece? ? You know, leads, they typically, not all, but they typically do have the manager behavior because you kind of need to manage too. Like there's a lot to manage, but delegation, delegate and empower, let the leaders empower their departments, their team members in those departments. And boy.
Does that make it for a happy, happy atmosphere in a dental practice? Because you've got, again, right people, right seats, delegation is key, and growth plans and measurement of the growth plans.
The Dental A Team (15:18)
Yeah, those measurable pieces, I think being able to see where you're trying to go. I fully believe that if you can give someone a goal, tell them this is what your department needs to do. This is where your department needs to grow to. I think people are usually smart enough to at least ask the right questions to get to the actions that it will take. But most people wanna be able to see a goal and say, let me think about how I can get there rather than being told.
This is every little baby step you need to take to get there because I think Trish, the difference between that growth plan you're talking about and a handout that says these are all the things you need to do every day is that autonomy and that self-empowerment allowing someone to say, okay, got it within the boundaries of the scope of my job and the parameters that we have within our tools, this is how I'm gonna.
empower my team for us to get to that goal. And then I think it really takes a lot of that management out because realistically, if you're hitting those measurable pieces, that's the piece that matters. And if your measurables are off and it's not getting the company results that you needed, that's for you to then take a look at and figure out where do you need to switch your measurements to get the results. If they're hitting the results, that's where I think, Church, we can
go from managing the people to managing the results and empowering and leading the people. Yeah.
DAT Trish Ackerman (16:51)
Big time. One
of the best leaders, I learned so much from a prior leader and mentor. And I was so confused when I was going through this phase in my career because he would never give me an answer. I would go to him with a challenge and he would never give me the answer. And what I didn't realize what was happening is he was leading me. He was leader next level.
And he was leading me to accomplish finding the answer on my own. But he was leading me. And he was leading me by questions. He was leading me by like taking an onion and peeling it with me. And I would get frustrated sometimes because I'm like, I came to you because I have this very challenging question. Can you just answer it?
It didn't matter how busy he was, would stop. I mean, sometimes it could be up to 10 minutes ish. And he was leading me to finding the solution on my own. And after a little bit of time, I recognized what I was doing. And I was like, ? my gosh, this was his plan all along. He literally led me to do this. And I did it. And I did it all by myself. And you start to, you get a little bit rewired there. And then you do start to do.
The Dental A Team (18:09)
Yeah.
Yeah.
DAT Trish Ackerman (18:16)
more on your own and more. And then you also find and discover that you can go to your leader. If you have a question, it's not going to get answered. So you might as well do it yourself. And that is the most empowering feeling for a person, for me, to feel proud of yourself and to feel empowered because you did something on your own with the tools on how, least to find the resources. ?
The Dental A Team (18:26)
Yeah.
DAT Trish Ackerman (18:45)
That makes it an incredible culture.
The Dental A Team (18:47)
Yeah. And then I think that probably is the same, the same leader. ? but that goes back to the beginning of today's podcast, when you said that a good leader isn't afraid for them to fail for the people to fail. It's really about the journey of them learning the processes and learning how to accomplish the goals. And sometimes we are going to fail and we've got to be able to pick ourselves back up again and try again. know there's a.
? Simon Sinek, I listen to him a lot. And I love him. I listen to him a lot. And recently I've listened to two different podcast recordings with him. And he tells the story of he was working at a different company. It wasn't one of his companies, but he was put into a position where he was supposed to get this deck ready for this presentation and was supposed to be on what the senior leaders had already created. And he created
DAT Trish Ackerman (19:18)
and love him.
The Dental A Team (19:43)
like some, I'm probably botching it, but he created something different, right? And they used that deck in the presentation because they just were like, okay, done, you did it, we're gonna use it. They lost the deal, they didn't win the client and his boss gave him a massive promotion. It wasn't about the client, it was about the initiative. It was so cool and it wasn't about the client, it wasn't about the win, it wasn't about the sale or the failure.
DAT Trish Ackerman (20:02)
Let's just see that one.
The Dental A Team (20:10)
It was about the initiative that he had taken to try. And he says it created just, it spiraled so much for him and everything he teaches is based on his own experiences of what he's done and how leadership has helped shape him. So it's just a really cool story and I think a great reminder to all of us that failure is just a word. It's just a word we place on.
something that happened and there's not a lot in this world that can be bad enough that it's not okay to fail every now and again. So I love that you mentioned that. Trish, before we give them like some implementables here, what are your thoughts on seniority when it comes to choosing leaders? I know I have a lot of practices that are like, you know, this gal's been here for 20 years.
and this one's only been here for six months, and I think that this one that's been here six months has the qualities I want, but this one's been here for 20 years. So what are your thoughts there? And I ask this knowing that we have doctors and teams that listen because I think it's really important for everyone to hear your answer here.
DAT Trish Ackerman (21:28)
such a sensitive topic. It's so sensitive and I understand. I really truly do understand and it's a very difficult decision for the doctor as well. Doing the exercise right, people right seats is very telling and for an owner doctor that joins us, they learn about the business pretty darn quickly with us, the actual business pieces and
You know, the magical thing that happens with the empowering of the doctors here for us is giving them the tools to walk through that exercise, write people, write seats, and then how do you frame this? Because a title can actually really upset team members. can either boost egos or hurt them. So in a practice where you do have, say,
a dental assistant that's been there for 20 years and now this one for six months. I think there does, I think we have to be strategic on what is the actual title. So do we change title or do we just define roles differently? Their actual roles, like you do this, you do that because you can create the lead by the role and not the title. Titles can be super dangerous in situations like that. So this is where your firm
The Dental A Team (22:51)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
DAT Trish Ackerman (22:57)
Your firm and principle, meaning my principle is I want leads in these departments. Flexible in procedure, meaning do I really need to label and title this person? If I do, could that potentially harm this very, very committed and dedicated and loyal employee of 20 years? We do not want to do that. That would be, that could demotivate somebody very quickly. So just by giving them,
their job responsibilities. And this six month they're over here, her responsibilities are just more in a lead. She's got more of the lead responsibilities. And if that 20 year employee isn't the right person for the lead, then her responsibilities can still empower her because we know she can do those, and do them.
The Dental A Team (23:52)
Yeah,
yeah, yeah. And with that, I can imagine then that we're looking at really highlighting what they're great at and not just creating a position for people is one thing, but highlighting the reason why you're in that position. I remember when I was moved from dental assistant to check-in.
DAT Trish Ackerman (24:01)
Yes.
The Dental A Team (24:16)
I've been with this practice for like six, seven years already. And I'm like, all right, like whatever. But they moved me there because of the relationships that I quickly build with people and that I remember not only my patients, but all of the patients. so someone who was upfront and could quickly turn around and start new conversations with multiple people was valuable to them in patient retention and case acceptance and all of these other pieces. But I think
A mark that we often miss in dentistry is we're just worried about the two dos, and we're not actually looking at the larger scale results that that position is impacting the relationship as soon as somebody walks in the door, could make or break the case acceptance in the back office or make it easier or more difficult for the next person to deal with that patient that has a touching point with that patient.
DAT Trish Ackerman (24:54)
Totally.
The Dental A Team (25:07)
I think that's beautiful because I think that's kind of what you're highlighting there is like, what is this person really fantastic at? And would they thrive in the other position at that time in my career? Had they moved me to an office management position or any other kind of lead position, I would have failed. Even though I had been there for six years or however long I had been there, it wouldn't have been a fit for me at that time. So where are they going to thrive and where are they going to be the happiest themselves as well? Yeah.
DAT Trish Ackerman (25:35)
100 % and that
goes back to right people, right seat. There are certain things I am just not naturally good at. And if I was just put in that seat, yes, I'd probably fail. And then it's like harmful. It's kind of harmful to your growth mode. And that's when you can start to feel insecure about yourself.
and not feel like you're really good at anything. So write people, write seats, put them where they shine, let them shine and give them the tools that they need to continue to get brighter and brighter.
The Dental A Team (26:18)
Yeah, I agree. Beautiful, thank you. Thank you Trish. I was really excited to do this one. You're welcome. I learn a lot from you every day, I tell you that constantly and I see on your schedule all the time, leadership moments, it's leadership podcasts. Like you guys, when she says these things, I want you to know she is practicing everything that she says. If she says she's doing it, if she says she's doing leadership every day, she truly means that. It's literally locked out in her calendar on her work schedule.
DAT Trish Ackerman (26:22)
So, enjoy the show.
The Dental A Team (26:48)
every single day so that she doesn't forget it. So I can attest, she's been there, she's done it, and I think that's why you do so well with teams and with doctors, because you're speaking from experience. You're not just speaking from third party experience. There's a lot of things in consulting that we learn along the road, that we learn by being in another office where like, that's a really cool tool. I'm gonna take that and transplant it over here to this practice.
But leadership is something like you said that you've got to get the reps in on and you do the reps and you, you lead teams to success and it's just really cool to watch. So Trish, this one I told you earlier today, this was handpicked for you. This is why thank you so much for dropping so many great nuggets today and gifting the world with all that you've learned.
DAT Trish Ackerman (27:37)
Thank you so much, Tiff. I do love this topic. Thank you for choosing me.
The Dental A Team (27:40)
Yeah,
you're welcome, you're welcome. All right guys, write people right C. If you don't know what that means, Google it. Like she said, it's there, promise you. And write in hello at TheDentalATeam.Com. If you're a client of ours already, talk to your consultant. We all do these exercises within our company, within our teams, within our clients. We do them constantly and we do them with our doctors at our mastermind events as well. So.
Check it out with your consultant. She can explain it to you. And if you are not yet a client, but you really want an evaluation, you wanna know where you're at, what someone could do to help you, or just a couple of tidbits that we can say like, work on these three things right now, please just sign up. There are free consultations. Our website is TheDentalATeam.Com. It's on there. I think it pops up right away. I'm positive it does. And just sign up for one. It's free. Whether you sign up with us or not is neither here nor there.
We want to make sure you have the tools. So do all the things. Go be amazing like Trish loves to say. And go inspire someone to be a fantastic leader. And we'll catch you next time. Bye, guys.
DAT Trish Ackerman (28:49)
Thanks Tim.