So many practice leaders and owners feel it, but so few say it — the weight of ownership can sometimes be too much. Kiera talks about how common stress among dentists is, what those stressors can look like, and how to start lessening that weight today.
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Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:00)
Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera and I hope you're having a great day. I hope that you are excited about life. I hope that you just remember like, we are so lucky. We get to be in dentistry. We get to hang out on the podcast together. I get to go with you on whatever road you're going on today, whatever life you're doing, whatever you're doing. I am so grateful that you're choosing to take me along with you. And today I just wanted to talk about something that I feel is really near and dear to me. It's near and dear to a lot of our dentists.
We ran a really fun webinar last year and I'm excited to do it again. And it was probably our best webinar we've ever run. I had probably the best turnout we've ever had. But I think it was because we hit the strongest topic and we're actually gonna be discussing this at summit this year, at our webinars this year. So if this hits home, I would invite you to join us ? at any of them because you don't have to do this alone. And what it is is the hidden weight of ownership.
And I think it's like what every practice leader and owner feels, but they rarely say. And I just feel that people, I don't know, we have a mastermind and there's a girl in our mastermind, we're in person. And I remember I was asking for people like, hey, how was the mastermind for you? What were your takeaways? And every single time I asked that question, the mastermind, someone always raises their hand and they always say, it feels so good to be amongst peers and colleagues.
and to realize that I'm not alone. And I'm like, if we all know each other is going through this, but we don't say it, I think we live in our head a lot. And when you're in your head, you're dead. And so I think a lot of times like ownership is heavy. And for myself, it's heavy. And for all of you listening, it's heavy. And I think what we don't see is it's like, we carry payroll. We worry about cashflow. We feel like we're responsible for team culture and morale. We read the book. I mean, I've been on it. I've told you guys, read Extreme Ownership by Jacka Willings.
Everything in your practice is a direct reflection of you and you are responsible for it. So then you're like, great, patient complaints, like this is my fault. Can't tell you how many doctors I've had get bad reviews while I've been in office or we've been working with them or with our consultants and the doctor literally cannot let it go for weeks, months. Like it just eats at them. And I don't blame you. You feel like everyone else clocks out and you still have to carry this home. They all get to go home. They get to have their paycheck. I don't, I get to sit in this amazing space that I built for myself that I absolutely just want to like.
let go. And I think it's one of those things of like, you're a great dentist. It's just the weight of feeling like you're responsible for all of it. And I know I feel this too. And so today I just wanted to invite you of like, Hey, let's talk about some tactical places of how to make ownership feel a little bit lighter that could make it to where you're not alone. You don't have to be alone. And there's actually some tactical pieces for you and welcome to the Dental A Team, the space where you don't need to be alone, running a practice that's successful should be easy. And that's what we're on a mission to do and to positively influence you.
to help you realize that things are better than you think they are, but to give you a tangible path, not just theories and ideas, but a tangible path to go from where you are today to where you want to go. And I'm Kiera Dent and I'm obsessed with dentistry. I'm obsessed with helping people have their dream freaking lives. I realized after a long time, and this might sound so cheesy to you, but the purpose of my life is to truly like be a creator. And what it is, is it's to create and like help people's dreams come true. And I know that sounds so silly, but I look at all of my goals. They're always for other people like.
sending my mom on her dream trip, buying my dad his dream car, getting Jason his dream car, helping my team members get their dream lives, like helping this team member buy a house, helping this dentist get their like dream house in Florida. Like that freaking lights me up. And so the bigger the dream, the bigger the opportunity. And I think for you, if you're listening today, I hope you just feel like I'm giving you a giant hug of understanding, of knowing, of letting you know that you're not doing this alone. And so I just want you to know that this today is not a pep talk. This is like,
A lot of leaders like it's only them that feels this way. But guess what? It's super common. And I want you to know that you were trained to be a dentist, you aren't trained to be an owner. And so today, I wasn't trained to be an owner either. And guess what? We've all had to freaking learn it. And so I'm here to tell you, here to help you out of the way. ? And I think that this is a great quote. Leaders increasingly need to serve a wide array of follower and organizational needs without depleting their own energy or risking burnout. And that came from a qualitative investigation of leader vitality in 2023 of PMC.
And I just think about this and like the ADA also said in their health policy in 2024, they said 82 % of dentists feel major stress in their career. And I just thought like, shoot, this is something we need to talk about. Like you're carrying like this array. Like I think about my shoulders and like almost like football player with shoulder pads and I'm like, my shoulders aren't big enough to carry all this. And yeah, I'm expected to carry payroll, expected to carry this, expected to carry that, that I think it almost like literally by default weighs this down. so,
Let's talk about what makes it feel heavier and how to actually lighten that load. So I think it's one of those spaces of like, we talked about you're responsible for everyone's paycheck. You feel like every team problem, it was a reflection of you. Like turnover when somebody turns over, I don't know about you guys. like used to stew on this for days on end. Like I felt like I was a problem. Like, hi, Taylor Swift. Like, hi, I'm the problem. It's me. My team hates me. ? We feel like success feels like it's impossible. I feel like everybody else has it.
I feel like cashflow, feel like team stress, feel like decision fatigue. Like Jason sometimes at the end of a day, he's like, Kiera, what do want for dinner? And I'm like, one more decision. Like, I don't freaking care. I don't care. I don't care what I eat. Maybe some of you do, but it's just like, I am so sick of this. And when they stack, that's where it can just feel very, very heavy. And so I think what I've learned and what I've seen other people do is like, let's actually like name the weight rather than letting it sit there and separating the emotional stress from operational problems. So
A lot of times what I'll do is I grab my journal and I'm like, what feels heavy right now? Like, what is it? And just list it. And like, I'm allowed to do a huge laundry list. And I look to see like, is this current? mean, shoot, if you guys could see behind this camera, I've got six giant papers and it's like, here's all my stressors. This, this, this, this, like it's there. But when we're in our head, we're dead, remember that? So getting it out of our head, putting it on paper and actually naming it and saying like, okay, I just have a lot of categories. And sometimes I look like,
My name's in a lot of boxes on our org chart, even today, 10 years later. Why? That's a care thing. That's not a team thing. That's me. And so then I also look to say, what are the top one or two stressors today? And is it a current thing or is it a future thing? Like I look at my list here and it's like this, this, this, this. Some of those are problems that I'm like not focusing on that I'm waiting on right now. Like they're the weight on me, but they're four or five months down the line. Some of them are urgent and pressing. And so what is it?
And I think helping you rise like you're not weak, you might just be carrying too many categories of weight at the same time. So then what we do is getting it out of your head. Let's make sure that we, we actually name it. We figure out what it is. Is it current today or is it future? And then what on there? Like, I just have a whole list. Then after that, I want you to make sure that you're not accidentally making your weight heavier than is intentional because when it stays like very personal,
or vague or just in my head, this is where it can actually get heavier. So like trying to be everything to everybody. No one else is owning outcomes, unclear roles, lack of KPI visibility, like avoiding hard conversations that would honestly make your life a lot better. Assuming people will just figure it out, like if they just cared, they would figure it out. Like this isn't how it is. That's not what it is. And so when we have it in there and it's just there and it's vague and it's personal, looking at your list and saying, is this something that I'm taking personally? Is this really about me?
Is it vague and could I define it better? And if not, like, let me clear those up because then what we can do is we can look to see, is this a you? Is this a you problem in leadership? Is this something where we need to rise our team up? Or is this something that like we can honestly delegate and get it off of us? So when we look at that, accountability is going to reduce stress and we've got to have clarity and follow through so that we were not having like a ton of guesswork. So what it looks like is like, then I look at my list and I'm like, okay, is this personal and personal attack on me?
Do I need to fix that personally? Is it begging? Could I clear this up? And then from there, what really needs to happen today? And is it truly a Kiera slash owner issue or is this something I can delegate and give clear ownership and clarity on and move it off of my plate? So it feels very heavy when you don't know like who owns this, how is winning happening and is it reassured? Like I love a KPI scorecard. That's why we put KPI scorecards in place. This is why we have like who owns this metric. We have job descriptions. We have job duties for people.
Like helping you just see like, okay, if I have an issue with payroll, who's the person on my team that's responsible for that? All these things that are keeping you late at night. I've got to order, I've got to pick this out, I've got to do this. Okay, great, is that really a you thing or is this even be part of someone's job description or do you just need to let go of it? If I'm looking at stress on cashflow, okay, great. Like, is it a spending problem? Is it a production problem or is it a collections problem? What really is it and who owns that and can I give accountability to someone? And I think so often we just sit here. Like for me, I sit and swirl.
I'm like, okay, all these things are going on, all these things, and they call it the crazy eight. So then I like flip around and I'm like, my gosh, everything's falling. So getting it on paper, figuring out what really is the crux and then picking the top one or two items that are gonna move it for you, that starts to lighten the load. So it's what one or two things really need to happen today. And we move out of hero mode into leadership mode. We have our numbers tell us the truth. Like I can sit here and freak out all day. And sometimes I'm like, my gosh, we're behind on this, we're behind on this.
But when I look at the PNL and I have the numbers and I look at our cashflow report, is it really that or is it just my like psychoticness honestly, of ruminating on it when it's really not that bad. So what are the numbers tell us? Numbers are always gonna tell the truth. And then we've got to give ownership to our team and we don't take it back on. I feel like anytime I delegate, it never comes back to me. And then we have these check-ins rather than building resentment. I realize a lot of times,
I'm holding resentment because I don't talk to my team. I don't fill them in. I'm not telling them what's going on. Build like one-on-ones every single week if you need to. So you got more regular touch points when they aren't these heavy daunting. And then like, just recognize that sometimes it's freaking hard. Like right now, Dental A Team is going through a growth stretch phase right now. Like, I'm living this right now, which is why I can speak to this very authentically. And what I found is it's just sometimes hard. That doesn't mean it's failure, but I found.
When does my load get lighter? One, when I prioritize what really needs to happen today rather than what needs to happen in four months. Two, delegate out things that really are not my responsibility and I can pass other people, but have a check-in cadence. So can I check in on a KPI scorecard? Can I check it on these other areas so it doesn't get lost? And I'm not talking about everything. It could just be one thing. Like literally we weren't hiring very well. We made a KPI scorecard. I know how many resumes have been done. I know how many interviews have been done. I know how many people are on our bank. It's so great for me.
Now it doesn't sit in my head of like, where's high? Like literally, I wish you guys could see, I hope you can see it. Like, I hope this becomes a real like rubbing my head. All right. Where's your hiring app? What needs to get done for this? I just tell me is someone coming like for the love of everything holy? Where are we out on production? Where are we at on unscheduled treatment? Where are we at? Make it into a KPI. Have people report every single week. Then you can look at the numbers and see really where is the problem.
Is it a diagnosis? Is it a case closing problem? Is it a new patient problem? We then can figure it out. And what this does is it then is a, is it a people problem, a process problem or a priority problem? Like I love this. And so for you guys, like look at it. Is it a people problem, a process problem or a priority problem? And then figure out which one of those are you going to address. And this is great for me. Like this is truly, hey, Kiera, take this on. Is it people, process or priority problem? Half the time I will say it's a priority problem. We want all these nonsense things to be fixed today.
when really they're not truly the burning urgent piece. And if you fix the root problem, the bulk of your issues would go away. Now, who else can help me carry this load? I used to make laundry lists and now I make laundry lists and see how many of these can I delegate out and make sure they're reported back to me rather than me doing it. And then I look at my numbers and I really live by the numbers. And then the last piece is maybe what conversation have I been avoiding that would actually lighten this immediately.
I'm really gonna sit on that for a minute because I think this one actually is the hardest one for me. Maybe for you, it's the people, like it's the people problem, process problem or priority. Like I don't prioritize. Maybe it's that I refuse to delegate problem. Maybe it's I don't look at the numbers problem or maybe it's I avoid conversation. So who are you? Are you on the priority issue? Are you on the delegation issue? Are you on the numbers issue or are you on the avoiding conversation? Every single one of us has a, I say like,
aren't like sins, but I feel like it's like, what's my flavor of choice? Who am I? And I think even identifying who you are for me, it's the conversations I avoid. And I've had to accept like, someone said this the other day to me, they said, nothing's worth your piece, Kiera. And I thought about that. And I thought, all right, conversations need to be had. And they're not confrontation. They're just conversations. So when we look at this, and we can say like, do I not prioritize correctly? Do I not delegate?
Do I not look at my numbers and metrics to make these things less stressful? Or what conversations am I having? This is how you start to lighten your load because you stop caring everything. You start identifying it and you start leading your team. This isn't an overnight sensation, but I think so often the days feel long and the months are fast. We overestimate what we can get done in a day and underestimate what we can get done in a year. I hope you heard that. We overestimate what we can get done in a day and underestimate what we can get done in a year.
So half the time this feels heavy because you're carrying cash pressure, team pressure, decision pressure, priority pressure, emotional pressure, but we let it all sit there. And the goal is not to feel nothing. The goal is to stop carrying everything alone. And the goal is to stop doing this based on emotions, but rather live in facts. Like let's get the emotion out. Let's live in facts. Because I really want you to recognize that having this, again, a recap is...
We sit here and we have it like where it sits there quietly and everything is there and we feel responsible. Then we sit there and we make everything personal and about us and it's unclear and it's vague. And then what we do is we actually move out of that mode into leadership mode and we start to lead. We start to guide, we use our numbers. And I think for you when you're having this, this is real life. Every owner feels this. You're not special sitting over there licking your wounds. I do this all the time. I'm like, no one else. Like I am so, it's my ego. Zip it ego.
Let's get into leadership mode. My ego wants to sit there and be like, oh, woe is me. I have all these issues. Yeah, guess what? I freaking signed up for this when I decided to be a business owner. That doesn't mean it makes it easier. And it doesn't mean you need to go about it alone. And it doesn't mean that you are alone because every owner, every person feels this. It's just a matter of what are we going to do? So action items are number one, you've got to get it out of your head and you got to prioritize. Number two, I got to figure out who I'm going to delegate this to. Number three, I'm going to make sure I've got KPIs and scorecards to fix these metrics of all these problems.
Truly everything can be solved by a number and four, I'm gonna start to have the conversations that I need to have. You just take those four bullet points on and you put that on a sticky note and you live by that, your life will look different in 30 days, guaranteed. But how often do we go into denial? We go into doom scrolling. We go into like, whoa, well, their problems aren't as bad as mine, so I'm doing pretty good. We go into like, tomorrow's a great day. I had a great, huge case. Everything's good again. No.
It's just gonna hit you, it's gonna boomerang back to you. So let's stop the boomerang, let's stop the fatigue, let's stop the crazy eight and let's actually commit to doing one thing, one thing. And if you're so in it, I'm in it. I mean, today I actually had a great call. I called a mentor, I called a coach and I said like, hey, I need help. We set it all up and I was like, where are my blind spots? What can I do and what perspective do you see?
And I think that's the beauty of having a coach, having a mentor, having somebody who's not in it with you. So you don't have to solve it all alone. I actually realized that ownership is pretty easy. The mental stamina to get through it is why we need coaches and support groups around us. That's why we joined masterminds. That's why we have a peer group. That's why we have other people. This is why you've got a coach that's there for you at your beck and call in dental 18. You've got a CEO founder that can literally speak to your exact problems and help you out.
You have a peer group of brilliant people at the mastermind. They're like, it was amazing. Someone told me, said, Kiera, what I realized is amazing. They've been a client with me for gosh, six years. And he said, Kiera, I didn't realize how many incredible practices that you have around you that now we get access to. You guys, I attract and collect great people. And if you're listening to the podcast, I guarantee you, you're probably one of them and I'd love you to be a part of it. Don't do this alone. Why don't you grow your practice 10X this year? Why don't you your profitability at least five to 10 % this year? Do it with people.
that get it, that understand it, that are willing to drive you through it. You do not need to do this. can email today, hello at the Dental A Team. You can go and click on and book a call. But I think it's a matter of when pain hurts, execute. Because tomorrow it might get better, but that doesn't mean it got resolved. It was just a bandage. It was just a happy day. this, like the root is we gotta fix this and we gotta fix it forever. So I want you just to realize that sometimes when you feel this like hidden weight of ownership,
What it usually is signaling is that you need stronger leadership, you need stronger structure, and sometimes you don't know how to get there on your own, but I guarantee you that that's gonna get you out of it. So I want you to just realize this is for you. This is why we talk about it. This is people don't talk about it. And I want you to truly have the help, have the resources. So if we can help in any way, fantastic. Reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com and just do yourself a favor. I think this is the greatest gift you can give yourself as an owner, as a leader.
? is to not sit here and stress constantly, to not sit here and carry under the heavy weight of ownership that is unnecessary. We can lighten the load today. It can be removed. And I think having a fairy godmother consultant is one of the greatest things that we could ever offer you. reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.