Owners, this one’s for you. Especially those who don’t want to have to care about the business side of being a practice owner. Kiera’s here to prove that staying clinical while still leading the practice is simpler than you think.
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Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:00)
Hello, Dental A Team Listeners. This is Kiera and I am excited to podcast with you guys. Today is such a great day and I hope you're having an amazing day. I love hanging out with you guys. The podcast is such a happy space for me when I get to podcast and have this day. You guys let me go into creative Kiera zone where I get to speak from my heart. I get to speak from honesty. I get to speak from experiences. I get to
laugh with you cry from you meet so many of you in real life and I just feel so honored and excited that This is my real life. And so thank you for being a part of the podcast family. Thank you for Listening and sharing and leaving reviews. I read those reviews. I'm so grateful for you guys and Please share this podcast any episode that you've had you guys can always head on over to our website TheDentalATeam.com click on podcasts and I kid you not you should search any topic and it's all there so
Just wanted you guys, any issue, anything, I try hard to be a great resource for doctors and for teams. And to just remind you that life is so good. I think that the glass is half full and that doesn't mean it's always easy, but I do believe that it's worth it. So today I wanted to kind of dig into like what happens when you buy a dental practice and you are an owner.
but you really just love to do dentistry and not the business side of it. Like done, done, done, done, done. Anybody out there, anybody, please raise your hand in real life. If that's you, if you know somebody that this is the case, be sure to send this podcast to them because I think that this is so real and I think it happens. And I see people in like, Kiera, I wanted to be a dentist because I wanted to just be a dentist. I didn't want to do the business of it. And I'm like, amazing, let's chat about it. So I think that it's, you want to open your own practice because you want to decide how to treat patients and you could do it better than that.
DSO or the other dentist that you were working for but then you get into and you're like, wow, this is a lot harder than I thought. And so what do we do when you don't want to run the business? Like, what do we do then? So because the answer is you don't get to abdicate and it doesn't mean that you get to say, I'm not doing this anymore and someone else can do this. Guess what? You're still an owner. Just like if you have a kid and you're like, I don't want to be a parent anymore. Well, guess what? That's part of it. But that doesn't mean you have to do it all. And
So I just want to help you get some good clarity. We did this in our Dr. Mastermind that we call it Think Tank Tuesday. And people come together on the first Tuesday of the month and it's very fun. And I think that this is just a space for you of ? how can we help you? Because I want you to be thriving and happy in your practice and not dreading. And there's ways that you can do it. Like you can have your cake and eat it too. So let's make a way for that to be real. So ? I think that it's where there's great dentists who feel frustrated, they feel overwhelmed.
They feel stuck because they don't want to deal with the business side and they don't want to take that on. And this is me. I created a consulting company, but I didn't want to know about the numbers. And I was like, numbers are not my jam. And now if you've heard me for any length of time, you know, numbers love me and I love numbers, right? We're going to be really good at making sure that you get obsessed with that. Just like I love being a business owner. And, ? this is something that it's a, do I have to, or do I get to, ? my gym trainer?
I like a lot of her posts and she often posts about, it something where like I have to go to the gym or I get to go to the gym? And it's crazy how just sometimes even that little bit of a mindset shift can help us realize like I have to run a business or I get to run a business. ? Both are real and both are available. But hey, let's break it down because I think that this is something of like, what happens if you only want to be in the operator and like, what are some solutions for that?
And then what happens of your practice if you maybe are not right person, right seat for that. And then three things that help you to be able to stay clinical and also lead the practice because it might be simpler than you think it is. And your job description might actually be a lot easier than maybe what you're piling on yourself because I think sometimes people feel running a business means they have to do it all. I know I fell into that trap. I know I've been guilty of that before. Like, hey, I'm the business owner. I have to do this when guess what? That's not necessarily true. So what happens is
We did this as an exercise for our dentist the other night and I had them write down everything on their to-do list. And then I had them go back through and I said, okay, what things really are things actually only you should do. And it was crazy because I had quite a few of them like talk. Like I tell them our think tank is like, pretend we're in the living room with me and we're just all hanging out. We're sharing our best ideas. Like there's no team members that are allowed to be there. Teams is not cause I don't want you there. I just want your doctors to be able to speak openly and honestly and to be able to get the support from other owners in the room and.
It was crazy because the doctors were like really the only thing like even dentistry, you could have somebody else do. Right. Um, but in this scenario, you're like, but I love to do the dentistry. I don't want to have to do the rest. The only thing really you have to do as an owner, you got to set the vision, know the profitability and drive the culture. Like that really is your role. Now, as I said, those three things, you might be like, yeah, right. Do you see my whole to-do list over here? Like you want me to ship you? Yeah. Send me a picture of it. I'd actually love to see it.
I'll help you out. So please, by all means, be a pen pal for me and I will happily look at your to-do list and help you see it differently. Sometimes you're just in the weeds, but other times what happens is a lot of things on there you don't have to do and maybe you're not the best person. But like I said, of the things I listed off, that's really what an owner needs to do. And if that didn't light you up, guess what? You can actually hire somebody who wants to do that. So, but if it did light you up, then great. You can be a doctor, a dentist, and then those are the three things really you need to do.
Yes, you do need to know the numbers. You are a business owner. You don't just get a pick and choose. I'm like, I don't want to care about the numbers, Kiera. I don't want to look at it. Well, guess what? Tough luck. You did sign up for a business and your job is to make sure it's profitable. We don't want to have our teams go out of jobs. Like you have a responsibility to your patients and to your team. And that is part of it, but it doesn't mean you have to be the manager. You don't have to do the one-on-ones. You don't have to like order the supplies. None of that falls on your list. But I think sometimes we think it does, but you've got to make sure that you have to have like,
very clear priorities, very clear direction, and you are leading and guiding. So what happens with that is as a leader, you've got to set the vision and the direction of where we're going. And if you don't have that, then you're going to have constant interruptions and confusion and like, what are we working on? And Dr. you're annoyed because it's just a firefighting rather than a proactive preventative. So if you can work through this and figure out where we headed, what's the direction? And then next step is accountability and org charts. Who does what?
In our team, we just did this nice little shakeup of all of our team members. And it's wild. I thought it was right here. I was going to show you. So it's not, I usually have a carry. We have our accountability chart and I have like, open it up like a legend, like, okay, I have this task. Is this really a me task or who does it belong to in their job descriptions? And we talked about it because dentists are like, but I'm so afraid of like asking team members to do these things. That's why I don't delegate. And I'm so grateful for our doctors.
having trust and vulnerability in our mastermind. ? And we talked about it and it's like, but as team members, if that's part of my job, let's make sure it's realistic for me. Let's make sure I have a clear job description. And then let's make sure my KPIs report that. So when you get this clear, like, doctors, yes, this is the annoying part. And this is where I love consulting and helping offices. Like let's help you get the vision, like where we had in the next 10 years and get your whole team rowing towards that vision. Then we're gonna make sure we've got correct accountability charts. Like who does what? And sometimes having a consultant come in to say like,
No, no, no. Like this is your job. This is what you get to do. I had some team members trying to push responsibility and I was like, no, no, no. This is what we get to do. and after that, from there, then from there, it becomes easy. Like doctors, this is your job. Now, sometimes I think doctors might have a little bit of an ego and not want to let go. And someone like, can do it better, faster, easier, true, but choose your hard. What is that? What is the piece that you need to do? And like, let's choose our hard.
So as soon as owners set the direction, then what's gonna happen from there is teams are gonna feel so much more fulfilled. They're gonna feel like they gotta know where they're going. They know what their job is. They know how to win. And doctors, you don't have to feel guilty, because then what you do is you just pull open the legend, the accountability chart. Like, okay, I have an issue with all of my emails and like responding to the lab. Who can do that? And can we set it up for that? And then doctors, you can be CC'd on it.
? but that doesn't mean you have to do it. So you can still be aware of it and know everything going on, but then you can go to dentistry and other people are helping you out. But doctors, got to make sure you don't undercut. that's number one. Number two is we want to make sure that like the team is leading, but make sure that they have the authority to do so. So doctors, if your job is to set the vision. ? and I talk about leadership having two different sides, there's a visionary, then there's the execution piece. And if you want to have somebody who's the execution person for you.
You've got to give them the authority to do so and you got to get out of their way. So if you're like, I really just want to do clinical dentistry. I get it. I got to do the vision and I need to watch my numbers. Then great. You've got to empower and let your office manager do their job. you've got to make sure that they're confident and competent. They've got the skills, the resources, the coach around them to be able to do it because you've got it. Like for you to step back into just clinical into your, to a CEO row, you got to empower your team correctly. So.
When a manager is trying to lead, so many of them are like, but our doctor like is stopping us and they're not responding back to us. Doctors, that's your fastest, easiest way to undercut your office manager and to be stuck in doing everything and running this business. Do you know that your OM should be doing 99 % of everything that you're probably doing and they want to and they're great at it they're amazing at it and they're follow through and that's just what they're like bred to do. they're a great office manager, if they're not, then maybe it's not a right person, right seat. Managers, that's what you should be doing. So if we have that, then we're to want to make sure that great like
So if that's what's happening, doctors, you gotta delegate with clarity and authority so that way there's not this hesitation and it's all coming back to you and it's all falling on you. So hey, get this accountability chart. This is the person who's doing it. Empower them, train them, teach them. It doesn't mean I just hand it over to them. You can like work with your OM every single week and like if there's decisions that they made that you didn't agree with, let's talk about that. If you want them to check things out, like I train a lot of people and before they send anything out, I'm like, send it to me. I wanna prove off on that.
And we're good to go from there. Like that's what's needed, but you got to like get it to where things can start to move off your plate. And I think as owners, sometimes I myself hold onto it for ego. And if I let all these people do it, then what's my need? ? one of the doctors, he was like, the literary realized like, I don't even need to be in the practice and they can do everything without me. No, that can feel scary for some people that can feel like, my gosh, am I still needed? Am I still wanted? And the answer is yes. But what we need is we need you to be the lighthouse.
and then we need you to do great dentistry. But that's really it in ownership. But if you don't love that, then find somebody who can be the lighthouse and you'd be the doer. Some people actually are better COOs, if you will, rather than being clinical dentists. Like they love to do the business side. They love to run all the systems. They love to build it. Then get yourself out of clinical dentistry. But if you're the one who's like, obsess about being a dentist and I wanna just do the clinical, great, you need a strong operator next to you and that's usually your OM. And OMs you need to be able to be.
follow through, say the fastest, easiest way to have a doctor not trust you is to break trust in the sense of I'm gonna get this to you and I don't get it to you. So own your word, own your results and execute consistently. And doctors like, thank you, Kiera, like clap it up, like, yes, yes, yes, like it's true because you wanna make sure that what you delegate and what you ask this team member to do, it reports back to you rather than you needing to chase it, hunt it. Be proactive OMS, be like perfect, here's my end of week, here's all the things that have been done, here's where we sit.
Do know how much your doctor's gonna love you? Like that's what lets them be free to be these amazing clinicians and not have to own it. So you've got to be able to delegate and have the authority, give them the authority, trust them, empower them and have the meetings and whatever you need to where you can feel like you can trust them to do the job well. If they're not doing things right, give them the honest feedback. I've got a new personal assistant while Shelby's out on maternity leave. Shout out to the baby. We're so happy for her.
I had to just tell her like, don't like this. I want you to do it this way. And team members, when your doctor's doing it that way, you've got to have this trust and vulnerability relationship where you can say these things without taking it. I am so grateful for Marisa because I get to tell her like, that's not how I want this. I want it like this. This is how I need it. She's my right hand on so many things. I can tell Britt the same thing. I can even say, Britt, I don't want to say this to you because I know that I'm people pleasing. Me even calling it out, Britt's like, no, I'm no BS Britt. Just tell me straight. Like, what do you need from me? What do you want?
That's usually what people need. when you can have a relationship where you're that fluid with your OM and OMS with your doctors, this is how you're going to be able to grow. And this is how you're going to build the trust to be able to delegate, to abdicate, not abdicate, delegate and release these tasks to other team members. And then OMS, your job is to grow and make sure your team is doing what they're supposed to. They're hitting their KPIs consistently. We're having our meetings. People are falling through. Our patients are getting the great patient experience. OMS, that's your job.
Your job is to make all this vision amazing. Check all the boxes, take care of your doctor. Does not necessarily mean a personal assistant, but it does mean we're checking all the boxes. We're running the team. So our doctor can be an amazing clinician. Give us the vision, go to great dentistry and we take care of the rest. That is how a doctor OM relationship should look. So from there, we want it to be where you guys really truly are able to do that. And if you guys are able to do those two things, so right, what were they? Number one, I want you to be able to have a clear direction and a clear vision.
And then number two is we need to use that accountability chart, delegate and give authority so that way people can do it. And then after that, how do we fix this? what are some quick fixes that we can also do? Is number one in the accountability chart, define your role as the owner. What are the decisions only you can make? What are you gonna own versus what are you gonna delegate? And then set the expectations with the team. I'm obsessed with this because this is going to help and it's ownership as a role.
not a title, okay? So doctors, I'm gonna own this, OM's gonna own this, treatment coordinator's gonna own this, biller's gonna own this, dental assistants are gonna own this. It means own. We hit the results. not like, we innovate, we figure it out. That's what ownership means. It does not just mean I have the title of this. Then after that, we build the leadership structure that's going to support us. So we've got doctor, we got OM, and we've got our leadership team. Depending upon the size of it, it might be two people on your leadership team, it might be three people, it might be four, it might be like 15, whatever it is.
and have clear responsibilities and we have regular meetings. I recommend meetings once a week and then I recommend quarterlys. I'm obsessed with traction. You guys know that we run a Dental A Team's version of it that is very much ? a mix of a few items that I'm obsessed with and I love it. Run our weekly meetings, run our quarterly meetings. Like this is what you need to do to be successful because when you have a strong leadership structure and doctors, this is where you got to do it. Like as an owner, you do the clinical dentistry, you set the vision.
and you go to the leadership meeting, you are part of it, you gotta set the vision, but you typically don't walk out with many to-dos. You don't, that's what your team should be doing. And if you're taking on to-do after to-do after to-do, we're not following that accountability chart. So we've got to have strong leadership. And then what we're gonna do from there is we're gonna have a simple like CEO rhythm. So for me, that's check-ins weekly with my O-N, it's weekly or monthly reviewing the financials, and then like I said, quarterly planning.
Like as a CEO, you've got to watch these things. You got to check the KPIs. You got to work with your OM. Like that's part of business ownership. It's like, you don't need more time. You just need consistency. And realistically, this is your two hours a week of CEO time. So if you get it done, you can do this. I usually recommend during clinical time. So two hours during my clinical time, I focus on the business. I work with my OM. I check the financials. And then we do have a longer quarterly meeting. Most of the time it's anywhere from four to eight hours for a quarterly meeting.
This is how you're going to be able to build control. Consistency builds control. It's a great thing for it. So while you're doing this, do you see how we've just taken all the busy minutiae off of you? You can still be this great clinician. You can still be this amazing dentist. You can still love dentistry and you can still run a successful business, but you don't have to do all the pieces of it. You can really have your cake and eat it too, but you've got to be consistent. You got to be willing to let go. You got to be willing to put in the work to get the accountability and the vision and the meeting set up and
Clear expectations with your OM. Those are the weekly meetings. Like if things aren't going the way you want it, have the conversations, fix the pieces. You and your OM need to be in lockstep, like tight, tight, tight with each other. And if you don't have that relationship, you gotta build it. And you can start having the honest conversations. Read Five Dysfunctions of a Team together, like by Patrick Lanziani. Read things together where you guys are building. Read traction, read rocket fuel, like.
figure out what you two are both supposed to be doing, but you've got to have this lockstep where you trust them implicitly. And if you don't, you need a different OM. And OMs, that's no bash on you. It just means, or you guys have to figure out what broke the trust and how do we get that trust back? This means that you are not like stepping away. You're just stepping up into the role that you're meant to be. So you don't have to do every single thing in the practice, but you do have to lead. And if you don't want to do that,
You can't abdicate this to your OEM. Like you can't, you're the boss. Like you are, whether you want it or not. Or you hire another CEO to run your business for you. But I want you to see that you can be truly the CEO of your practice. You can empower your team and you can be a great clinician. You don't have to do it all. So this is something where truly, this is what we help with. We build leadership teams. We help doctors get into the CEO seat. But I want to say, because there's a client who sent me an email today and they're like, I just feel stuck. Like we've been consulting and
I appreciate these, I really do. I want you to know though, while that is true, you are stuck as a leader, you have to own that. So, and this is a mix, got a couple emails that came in. Doctors have to be willing to have the hard conversations. If you're not willing to tell your team what you need and you're willing to keep taking it on and on and on, that's a choice. But there's also a choice where you have the uncomfortable conversations with your team. You have the uncomfortable conversations with your coach and say, this is what I need from you.
My gym trainer, I love her, but we're going on this two month journey together. And I said, what do I need from you? I need you to text me for accountability check-ins. I need us to have them preset. And I need it to be where you give me at least like one or two food examples per week. So that way I don't have to try and think of those. That's all I need from you to be successful. But me, I have to be willing to say that. I have to be willing to tell my team what I need. I have to be willing to build the org chart. I have to be willing to look at the numbers. I have to be willing to do the work to get from where I am today to where I ultimately want to be.
but it's not that far away. It's actually quite easy. So if you want help with that, you want to chat about it, reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. But I want to make sure that you're ready for it because as a coach, my job is to guide you, to lead you, to tell you what you need to do. But ultimately I'm not the one who does it. That's you. So if you're like, yeah, I'm ready for a change. I'm ready to do this. I'm ready to tell what I need. I want to be the CEO of my practice. I don't want to continue on this path, but you have to actually let go. You have to like have the vision. You've got to lead your team.
and you got to execute on it and you got to trust your OEM to do it. And if you don't have an OEM that you can trust, you've got to hire another one. Like black and white, this is what's got to happen. You got to be willing to make those choices. We don't get six packs overnight. We get them from consistently, consistency. We get them from doing the work. We get them from making the hard decisions and being disciplined. That's how we get it. And that's the same thing for your practice. You can be the doctor who's just clinical, but you've got to make sure that you set your practice up for success. So reach out. I'd love to help you. Hello at thedentalanteam.com.
And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.