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How to Build Systems That Can Withstand Change

10/6/2026 10:00:00 AM | Comments: 0 | Views: 22

How great would it be, having systems that sail smoothly no matter who is sick, who changes positions, who quits, who [insert out-of-the-blue incident here]? Tiff and Dana talk about what exactly to implement in your practice so that communication flows.

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Tiffanie (00:01)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. We are so excited to be here with you today. I say it every single time. and I have Miss Dana here with me. And Dana and I have been podcasting together for what feels like an eternity at this point. It's been a long time. she is an OG with me at this point. And if you ask Kira what OG means, please ask her next time you see her in person. Say what does OG mean? and she will tell you it's oldie but goodie. And so that is our company.

lingo for OG at this point. And Dana, you are my girl. You know I love podcasting with you. We have done so many podcasts. We were actually just talking about fam here. Like how many times can we take these different perspectives of these similar topics? And I'm like, gosh, yes, I agree. And it's like we we talk about such similar things, but Dana, I do think you and I do a really great job. You kind of coax a different

side you and I both come from different angles in so many different ways. So if my point of that is if you're here today and you hear this topic, you hear what we have to say and you're like, gosh, I I think I need a little bit more, do a quick Google search. I call it a Google search. It's just a a search on our website. on the podcast section of our website, if you type in any of the keywords that you hear today, there's gonna be more podcasts that pop up. It's maybe I think I could say like similar content, but that even feels wrong.

their topics you guys that we have just poured into and poured so much information out into the world because we want you to have everything that we have in our brains in your pocket. So make sure if you feel like gosh I just needed a little bit more go search it or if you like these were fantastic and what else are they talking about? What does Tiff mean? Go search on our website TheDentalATeam.com there's a whole podcast section there's a little search bar there. Go do yourself a little search and you can find just hundreds of topics. So

Dana, thank you for being here with me today. Thank you for always going rounds with me. and for prepping ahead of time so that we can see kind of where we want to take this, even though who knows where it'll go, you know, it could just change on the drop of a dime. But how are you this morning, Dana?

DAT-Dana (02:11)

Doing good. And I tip, I think that's my favorite part of podcasting with you. It's like we can come in with like best laid plans and then we just get to talking and it just starts to get natural and it goes where it needs to go. and you're right, while like maybe there's some similar topic in there, I do feel like there's always a new angle to it, there's always a new consideration in it. And so I love that you say, hey, if you want to deep dive, check out the other ones that are around the same top like topic point, because

It might not just be you and I, right? It might be you and someone else. It might be Kira that talks about it. And we all have just just different like skill sets and backgrounds that I think puts a little twist on everything. So I'm excited to be here with you.

Tiffanie (02:49)

Yeah. I

totally agree. I love how you said that. And I agree. And honestly, in the morning I'm like, gosh, we had a podcast. And then as soon as we get here, I'm like, I just get to hang out with Dana for an hour. So this is kind of cool. I definitely need this time with you. So thank you for being here and thank you for always having a fresh perspective. for our listeners, if you've never met Dana, please go check.

Her out, come to the events, come see her in person, listen to all of her podcasts. Cause Dana, you really do have an incredible mind, and I love picking it. So I'm gonna pick your brain today. And marketing gives us some really cool topics, and and I love like we talked about they'll they like put a spin on different words and you know, similar topics, but it's stated differently. The titles it's titled something really cool and catchy, and I think speaks to the fact that we do have really

I mean, dental is like it's dental. Like how how exciting can we get here? You know? But we really do have exciting takes on so much stuff. And something we've been working on, our our doctor's only mastermind actually tomorrow is kind of a similar topic, Dana. You mentioned this that like what if the doctor's not there? So something our company's been working on with our clients internally, and then it's transitioning now into outpouring messages here on platforms like this is really prepping the business.

for when something changes, when maybe a doctor's out, and that could be vacation, that could be gosh, my doctor, when I was like, gosh, Dana, I think I was twenty maybe. I remember coming in after Thanksgiving. It was it was the Monday after Thanksgiving. And my doctor is like on a scooter, like those little like what you know, his knees up scooter. And I'm like, what happened? And he had an A T V accident over Thanksgiving break and he had

like broken his ankle and it ended up being this whole thing. He was on that scooter for like eight months 'cause he had have multiple surgeries. It got infected. And I remember standing there at t nineteen, twenty, however old I was, looking at him and going, What if that was your hand? Like I knew in that moment how like serious this could be. So I think we think about plan for your vacations, but what about all the things that we can't plan for? Illnesses, you know, we've got

hygienists that have kids that have school, you know, things that they have to attend or breaks. Like we've we've got a an industry that's full of a lot of moms and a and a lot of illnesses. I know I was sick last week because we had a kid come home with something, you know. So I think Dana, to your point of our of our conversation earlier, it's really like systems that keep

working when plans change, but sometimes it's not even just something falling off of the schedule. Sometimes it's that we're short staffed or without an entire doctor because something has happened. So Dana, when you when I we read that topic and you you looked at it, I said it earlier. What did you think of? If you had to prep a practice, a dot a client was like, gosh, things are changing or something changed, what would be your go-to method for helping them prepare

for systems that can withstand change.

DAT-Dana (05:59)

Yeah.

Yeah. And I think that dentistry is still very and I love it. Some of my favorite offices, you know, I walk in and they're like, I I don't want to do dentistry without this assistant, right? Or I don't ever

Tiffanie (06:09)

Yeah.

DAT-Dana (06:09)

want to be in business without this, you know, office manager. And I think that dentistry still can be a little bit people dependent

Tiffanie (06:17)

For sure.

DAT-Dana (06:17)

versus system dependent. And I think we've had to talk about this a lot lately, because just a hiring climate.

a little bit of a hiring drought in some areas of dentistry and just in some areas of the country, it's been harder

Tiffanie (06:31)

Yeah.

DAT-Dana (06:31)

to I think hire and replace team members too. So I feel like getting practices to see that we have to have systems in place that no matter who is there, no matter how many team members are there, we can kind of pivot every day and and certain things continue to go on.

you know, especially like those patient experience things or the patient flow pieces and closing treatment, right? Those are things that have to go on, no matter how many people we have in the practice or or who is there or what the schedule looks like. And so I think that it's something we're having to work a lot with offices. And I think it's great to be able to have a platform like this to talk about how we do that.

Tiffanie (07:10)

Yeah, I totally agree. You said, in there like case acceptance and filling the schedule essentially, right? And I something that that makes me think of is the importance of communication. Right. We we call it handoffs. Everyone says, you know, what's your handoff or how do we do a handoff? What is you what is the verbiage we should use with a handoff? And I think if we narrow it down into like the simple word of communicate, making sure that we're all speaking to each other, it's the biggest

space that leaves room for error and I have I have a practice and I love them dearly and that doctor he constantly is saying like how do we how do we mitigate the chaos? How do we mitigate the chaos every day? Why is it crazy? Why are there, you know, cases are missing and schedules falling apart and phones are ringing off the hook. People are calling in and I'm like, gosh, it's so simple, it's annoying.

Because we want it to be this grandiose, like difficult thing, but it's so simple, it's annoying. We just need to talk to each other more. We need to say what's in our our brain to one another and prep and plan together. If everyone knew that Joanna called out this morning and that the assistance team were short staffed, everyone could pick up the pieces in their area and help. But most of the time, I feel like the hygiene department doesn't even know.

that there's a dental assistant missing until sterile's backed up and they're like, What is going on? And they're like, Where's Joanna? Where has she

DAT-Dana (08:38)

Mm.

Tiffanie (08:38)

been all day? It's like three hours into the workday and the assistants are running ragged, or vice versa. Like people just we're not communicating enough. What do you feel, Dana?

DAT-Dana (08:48)

Yeah, I agree with you and I feel like it's it you are you are it's such a silly

Answer, right? Because the everybody wants it to be this thing that, like, I would have never thought of that, right? Or my gosh, that's like just this so far out there idea. And you are 100% right because a team that is on the same page or a team that communicates throughout the day, it doesn't matter if you normally sit in that seat. It doesn't matter if you've just jumped in. If I'm giving you all the pieces that you need and I'm setting you up for success, it doesn't matter if it's something that you do day in and day out, or if you just are Johnny on the spot because you happen to be free in those five minutes.

Tiffanie (09:24)

And where do you think that the easiest space is, like, systems wise? So if we turn this into, okay, docs, you're harping on me, communication is too broad. You want systems, like what are two systems that practices could focus on every day that regardless of who's there, whatever whatever the change is, they stick

DAT-Dana (09:42)

Yeah, I think the two biggest tools for communication and practice are route slips. because there's just a lot of information already pre-ready there. So that like if you're a new person on the team, if you're a temp on the team, if you are covering a position you don't normally cover, pretty much a lot of the patient information to continue at least that patient flow is on the route slip plus there's space that you can write things down that you can take your own notes that you need to give to the next person. So I would say route slips and then secondary, like you already mentioned, Tiff, I think handoffs are just

a huge piece communication tool that just makes sure that the patient flow continues as well as every step of the way we're all on the same page and the patient feels it too.

Tiffanie (10:24)

Yeah. Yeah, I think that's smart. And I I love the route slips because I think makes it easy to win. Like all of the information that you need is on there. And so in the case of a hygienist being out and now we've got a temp hygienist or Joanna being out and everybody's scattered, like all the information is already written down. And a lot of practices, and I'm not knocking this if it works for you, great. They want they use messaging systems, right? And so great that works too.

But the handoff the paper forces that communication and the verbal communication to one another is what creates that connection, in my opinion. Right. So we've we've got to be able to connect with one another in order to bridge that gap. but as you were talking to Dana, as you were saying route slips, I also thought morning huddles. And I think you do a stellar morning huddle routine, like you really get

practices excited for them and I know you've got a few tricks up your sleeve, but how would you go about a practice who doesn't do morning huddles and they're like, gosh, Dana, like we are just skirting in as like on time. Like I have an office, I love them dearly, that we cannot get that associate dentist there to save our lives of ten like she's ten minutes after her patients, right? So like, but this morning huddle can help

I think mitigate change as well because you thought r you said route slips and I thought, I maybe we pass them out the morning. How would you help a practice in implement morning huddle?

DAT-Dana (12:00)

Yeah. And honestly, to be you can have a really stellar morning huddle in 10 minutes, right? So I think that that's that's a little bit of a misconception in practice. They're like, well, then we need to come in 30 minutes earlier than we typically do. No, no, no. We're looking for a window of about 10 minutes. and in that it's like we just want to celebrate what went really well the day before, right? We want to look at our schedule, patients that are on the schedule. Is there any pertinent information? I one of my biggest, I don't want to say pet peeves because I understand it, right? When I go into a practice, but I'm like, all right, it's morning.

huddle and I'm like super pumped and I get there and we're just like reading the schedule. Like we can all read the

Tiffanie (12:33)

Yeah, they're like a f Dio on number fifteen at eleven.

DAT-Dana (12:36)

schedule. Like this, like just to have a morning huddle as like a schedule read, I think we can all just put our eyeballs on it and

Tiffanie (12:43)

Mm-hmm.

DAT-Dana (12:43)

like see that this is what we're doing. So I think just like pertinent information would stand out. Do we have you know any concerns for the patients that are going to be in our chair anything that everybody needs to know. Like

Maybe that lab case in the afternoon isn't here yet, and we need to get on the phone and we need to call them, right? And we need to make sure they said noon, we need to make sure it's going to be there at noon, right? So those types of pieces. and I also like morning huddle just as like you said, Tiff. Like if Joanna's not going to be here today because she is out sick, are there any updates that are pertinent for today? We don't discuss issues in Morning Huddle. We don't, but if there's something that's affecting the schedule today, I want it discussed in Morning Huddle. And if we can, which I

love because I just feel like Morning Huddle is the only time in the day where we're really all together and we're really all kind of focused. I love to build in a culture piece just because I feel like again, it's the it's the point in which we are to together. And I feel like just adding that like human piece to get to know each other as humans because if we don't care about each other as humans, why the heck are we there? Right. So

Tiffanie (13:45)

huh.

DAT-Dana (13:46)

I do like those pieces in Morning Huddle, but I agree with you when when we've got a day where we do have to pivot, right? And maybe we had

Pivot doesn't mean a team member's out. Pivot could mean somebody called and like, we've got to get an emergency in today, right? Or we've got a plan to be able to pivot if an emergency calls. I think morning huddle is essential for those things. And I think you can do a really bang up job at a morning huddle in 10 minutes. team members just have to like be bought in to like this is our time to game plan. This is our time that if, hey, we accidentally scheduled kind of a messy afternoon, we're gonna game plan it. We're gonna make sure that it goes as smooth as possible.

All together.

Tiffanie (14:24)

Yeah. Yep. I love that. I think you hit on all the pieces I was thinking. I knew that culture piece. I was like, I know she's gonna throw some culture in there. And it's massive because the communication, we do it in our company. Something that I like to remind people or or tell people if they don't know is Dental A Team will rarely ever suggest something that we haven't ourselves used, either in practice, like in a dental practice or

within our own company. So when it comes to the structure of a business and the communication that's upheld, we we have all of that in our company. We do leadership meetings, we do traction style, level ten meetings every Monday. We do quarterlies, we do yearlies, we do morning huddles, we do all of the pieces that we talk about here on the podcast and within our consulting because they work and because we want to

make sure that they work. Like we we don't we don't test things on you typically. I'm gonna say typically. Sometimes I do. Sometimes

DAT-Dana (15:25)

Exactly.

Tiffanie (15:26)

I'm like, I don't know, try this. Like I'm just making it up. but I think the morning huddle is such a massive piece of like that camaraderie. Like you said, if we're not here for each other, what are we even what are we even doing? Right. And when I see practices falling apart at the seams or they're like, gosh, like the plans changed and everything fell apart, right?

Joanna was out or hygienist was out or the schedule fell apart. Like we've got I how many times, Zina, do we see the schedule completely fall apart? And the back office, I walk in and I see hygienists like at their computers, like, well, I don't know who's gonna fix this. And we've got dental assistants in sterile, like what can what else can we put away? We've got nothing to do. And we've got front office scrambling and a doctor hovering over them, like fill the schedule.

But nobody actually knows what anyone else is doing or how they can help the situation. They're all just in their own little worlds. And to be fair, that's where we live, right? Especially hygiene. Like you have an operatory. You're literally in in a world and you don't leave that operatory for sometimes six or eight hours, not even to eat. So

that morning huddle and those handoffs, those route slips, literally forcing the the departmental communication, one department to the other department and person to person increases the relationship value between every individual in that practice. And when you've got an odd man out, it shows really quickly, but even the odd man out starts to come around eventually 99% of the time. Yeah.

DAT-Dana (17:03)

Yeah. Yeah.

I agree with you.

Tiffanie (17:05)

And then always to our point, write them down. And I

DAT-Dana (17:08)

Did you

Tiffanie (17:09)

think I was thinking I because I know we always do operations manual. Dana's my operations manual girl. But I was thinking Dana of a great question because I think we see this a lot, especially with startups. We get quite a few startups that eat at least reach out and say, Hey, give me some tips to start when I'm, you know, up to five hundred to eight hundred to a tho to a million, I'll call you, right? So we do get a lot of that. And I think one of the biggest things we get is

How can I start if I don't have an operations manual? Right. And it's like, how do I how do I do a handoff if it's not written down? Well one, make it and then write it down. But Dana, how do you how do you help practices overcome that hurdle of I I guess my hurdle thought is people hold back from taking that next step because they feel like they don't have the tool. So rather than being creative and just trying something.

they'll kind of keep themselves where they are because the pain now has become bearable. I know what this pain feels like and I don't know what that pain feels like. So how do you help practices and doctors jump over that hurdle to be more prepared when plans do change like this?

DAT-Dana (18:19)

Yeah. I feel like for me, it's exactly what you said. It's try it, track it, write it down if it works, right? And if it doesn't work, then let's try something else, right? Or let's like

Tiffanie (18:29)

Yeah.

DAT-Dana (18:29)

figure out what pieces of it worked. And then we can kind of pivot from there. But I do feel like a lot of like a and and find a networking group, right? You don't have to you don't have to like come up with the idea yourself, right? But pick one thing, try it out.

Track it so we know if it worked or it didn't. Like what tells you that what you're trying is working or not working? So track it. And then if it's off track, then let's figure out what piece of it or do we need to scrap it and start over again and get a new idea.

Tiffanie (19:02)

Yep. It's all the way down to morning huddles, all the way down to handoffs, to case acceptance, right? Because these these pieces we're talking about here, they will increase metrics like treatment planning, right? Like case acceptance, diagnosis. If you're doing chair side handoffs, your assistant and your hygienist is handing off to you the doctor, your case or your case diagnosis, your diagnosis amount, the amount you're willing to diagnose on a single patient.

will increase just because of that communication because you are more comfortable in that room with the people who are there. You've been introduced to that patient and you naturally will diagnose more than you would have before. Meaning, it could be, it might not be, becomes a hey, I'm actually kind of concerned about this. Let's talk about it. Might not be a filling, but you're actually talking about it instead of keeping it in your head. So Dana, to your point,

The tracking piece sometimes I think feels hard for people because they're like, cool, we did nine out of ten handoffs today, great, but that's not what we're tracking. Like, why are we doing handoffs? We're doing handoffs to ensure that the bottom line is increasing. So how is case diagnosis, case acceptance, production, collections? I think Dana, that is a wildly misunderstood metric when it comes to communication. Your collections will increase.

And your AR will decrease when your team knows how to communicate. So I love that. You said try it, track it, write down if it works. And if y'all took anything, it's those three things today. Try it, track it. I was like, dang, that was it. That was the mic shop moment of this podcast right now. So if you didn't get that, listen again. Dana always comes in clutch with something. I think it's like your mom.

piece, right? Like you've got so many littles running around that you're coordinating. You're like, nope, we gotta simplify this. We got to make it a set of three. How do we build a song into it? How do we how do we chant this? I love

DAT-Dana (21:01)

Right.

Tiffanie (21:02)

that so much. I love it. Try it, track it, write it down if it works. So Dana, is there any I mean I feel like that was our mic job. Is there anything you would add to that or any other suggestions for those who are trying to ensure that when change happens they can pivot?

DAT-Dana (21:17)

No, I think honestly, Tiff, I think yes, that would might be the mic job at the end, but I think you had it from the beginning and it all comes down to the communication tools within the practice. Because if we can keep the communication strong and we can keep those tools in place, it doesn't matter who's there, it doesn't matter what patient's in our chair, it doesn't matter what our schedule looks like, right? Those communication pieces you will stay on track all day long just by simply having those standard pieces that you use all the time.

Tiffanie (21:46)

Yep. I completely agree. yeah. And practices come and they want a full sweep of every system in their practice and they feel like they cannot be successful until they get all of it. And it really comes down to three to five awesome systems that you repeat every single day. And that's how you get the results, just like the gym. Like you're not you're not doing sixty two different exercises when you're there.

you're probably doing three to five things really well, increasing your weight, increasing the resistance, and getting stronger over time. So I love it. Awesome. Thank you, Dana. Thank you, listeners. I hope you enjoyed this one. Again, if there were pieces that you thought you were gonna get or you want a little bit more, by all means take a keyword.

maybe not the mic drop moment that was that was a today special but take a keyword something that stuck out to you handoff ndr is what we call our handoffs there's a million morning huddle and go search on our website TheDentalATeam.com there's a podcast section there's a little search tool there we actually worked really hard to ensure that search tool was there for you so go use it and as always you can reach out anytime Hello@TheDentalATeam.com we are more than happy to help we have

forms and documents for just about everything that we do and we openly share them with everyone. So whether you are a client, a prospective client, someone starting a business, someone who may never work with us, but you love listening to our beautiful voices, just reach Hello@TheDentalATeam.com and as always drop us a five star review. We love to hear from you and we will catch you next time.

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Dental A Team with Kiera Dent
Dentists, this is your playbook for building a practice that THRIVES rather than just survives! If you're ready to scale, streamline, or simply want to lead like a CEO, we're here to support you with our strategies.
Blog By:
Dental A Team