Dental A Team with Kiera Dent
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Dental A Team

How to Bridge the Systems Gap You Didn’t Know You Had

How to Bridge the Systems Gap You Didn’t Know You Had

10/13/2026 11:12:00 AM   |   Comments: 0   |   Views: 100
So you have the basics down on practice organization and systemization, but still manage to fall short of your goals? Tiff and Kristy discuss the three most common pitfalls plaguing these offices, and how to climb out of them with clear, tactical guidance.

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Transcript:

Tiffanie (00:01)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. I am so excited to be here with you today. I say that every single time, and I really truly am. This is Tiffanie or Tiff or Spiffy Tiffy, whatever you want to call me, with the Dental A Team. And we are here to bring you some incredible tips and tools today. And I've got my girl Kristy here with me today. She is, on the day of this recording, my Monday morning spice up, is what we'll call it. Kristy, I just told you to, but thank you for being my Monday girl. I really love starting my week.

 

with you, honestly and truly. So thank you for being here, Kristy. And I hope that you're excited. You came off of a restful weekend, it sounds like, which is incredible. how is how's life?

 

DAT- Kristy (00:42)

Yeah, I love that too. Thanks for being my Monday kickoff. So it's a good week. Hey, weather's cooling off. It we got some rain. It just it felt

 

Tiffanie (00:51)

Finally. Yeah.

 

DAT- Kristy (00:53)

like a staycation kind of weekend, watch movies, spend time with family, play games. So it was it was a good weekend. Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (01:03)

I love that. It is finally

 

cooling off and it's like our fall. Arizona gets like a mini fall. It'll get warm again and the rain will

 

DAT- Kristy (01:11)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (01:11)

dry up. But we love it. We've got like Halloween decorations going up and it's you know early, early in the in the month right now of recording this, it'll drop sometime in October. But it's fun to see all of that stuff start churning. And then as we travel into offices, I think Kristy, this is my favorite time of year to travel.

 

Because we don't get a lot of fall in Arizona. It goes straight from hot to like probably other people's fall, but our winter are like sixty five, you know, to fifty.

 

DAT- Kristy (01:41)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (01:42)

so when we travel and we get to see in offices, we love being in office with our clients. We absolutely love that. And we love getting to experience that fall. I think, Kristy, do you feel the same?

 

DAT- Kristy (01:52)

Yeah, I agree with you. We don't we don't see the leaves of the trees change color like a lot of the world the rest of the country does. So yes, it's very fun and to feel the difference in the different climates. So agree with you one hundred percent.

 

Tiffanie (02:05)

Yeah. Yeah.

 

Yeah. I was in Pennsylvania last week actually and yeah, and I was so excited and I usually go in December and I get there on like their first snow and I'm freezing cold and it's chaotic. But this year we decided to do the visit in September and which was perfect. And I got there and it was beautiful, perfect weather, and then it rained all night and the next morning was like

 

fifty two degrees and I was frozen.

 

DAT- Kristy (02:38)

Pretty.

 

Tiffanie (02:38)

I could not warm up for the entire day. And all the all the ladies at the office were like, Here's Arizona. Like you're just freezing your tail off. So it was fun,

 

DAT- Kristy (02:44)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (02:47)

but it was cold. It gets cold real fast.

 

DAT- Kristy (02:51)

Agree, one hundred percent. Yeah. The only bad thing is sometimes we don't carve out enough time outside the offices and then we don't get to enjoy it either. But it sure is fun while you're driving in and flying

 

in to see the different colors. So

 

Tiffanie (03:01)

Yeah. Yeah.

 

I agree. I ended up there were some communication tower issues with a couple of airports and so my flight had ended up getting completely cancelled, which is a little concerning. flying and and whatever. But I was, you know, just hellbent on getting to that office. And so I found another route and I actually flew into JFK, which was like a two hour drive. So when I got there it was night, I didn't get to see anything. But then when I left on Wednesday, just seeing the countryside out there is

 

so much different than anything we have on this side of the country. So driving the two hours between Pennsylvania and JFK was pretty cool. We have a we have a cool gig over here.

 

DAT- Kristy (03:41)

gonna say I love how you found the silver lining in that.

 

Tiffanie (03:43)

Yeah.

 

Yeah. And I've got finally I found the Yankees hat that I have been searching for forever in the color that I wanted. So that and then it was at the airport. I didn't even have to leave the airport. So wins all over for last

 

DAT- Kristy (03:57)

Win win.

 

Tiffanie (03:57)

week. Yeah, it was great. and actually the content that I want to chat with you about today, Kristy, is something that came out of that visit, honestly. It was something that I've been working with as practice for a really long time. Like honestly, I think.

 

like seven years or so, almost seven years. So we've done a lot of meetings. So these meetings continue to evolve. And we've always had some team turnover. Obviously I think everybody has team turnovers. So you can go through handoffs, you can do all of the things kind of like that back to basics. You end up doing that frequently with practices that have turnover. But this team actually

 

Has been pretty stable aside from a couple of front office positions, and they've gotten really good at training the team. This is the first time I walked in. I like I told them I was Mona Cry because the new team members that had only been there like between two to six weeks knew ICRP and NDTR handoffs. And I was like, what the heck? This is incredible. I don't have to talk handoffs for the first time in seven years with this practice. so with all of that though, we had I really had to dive in and dig deep to figure out, okay.

 

How do we level up from here? When you've got the basics pretty much down, but you're still, there's still just those areas where we're trying to increase, level up, or really hit those goals without thinking about it. I took a step back with them and I I made them dig in and think, what is the root cause of why we're not hitting these things if we have the systems? Like I'm not coming in every single time. And Kristy, I know you feel the same way when you've seen a practice for so long. There's

 

Only so much you can innovate and create a new system around and create this new fun, like, okay, let's do it this way. Sometimes we've got to go backwards and say, we already have all the systems. Now we've got to figure out what is it about the system that maybe isn't helping us reach that goal. And so we kind of came up with this thought process. I came up with this thought process around it of.

 

like

 

the three maybe three key things. I feel like one to three is like easy for us to remember, right? So I thought, is it a knowledge gap? Like is this system, do we not know how to use it? Do we not know why? Do we not know the steps to it? So is it a knowledge gap? Or I think the biggest knowledge gap that I found with them actually, Kristy, was like not knowing what the end result was supposed to be. And maybe so then it tied into okay, knowledge gap tied into may is it a systems gap? So does the system

 

need more information in it. Does that need to be tailored? Does it need to be leveled up itself or does it need to be recreated? And then is it an execution and accountability gap? So maybe

 

DAT- Kristy (06:37)

Mm-hmm.

 

Tiffanie (06:38)

we know how to do it, we know why it's got all the pieces, the system's clear, it's good, but we're just not using it. And there's no one like following up and holding accountable. So it really transformed a ton. And I wanted to chat about that a little bit, Kristy, because I think both of us can see

 

How work can get so stuck. And we just we feel like maybe we're running the rat race and we're on that wheel that's just spinning. We're not actually getting anywhere. Or sometimes I describe it as I feel like I'm just like hitting my head against a wall, but still doing the thing and running the definition of insanity, not necessarily taking a look back at it. And I think a lot of our doctors, Kristy, a lot of the doctors actually that you work with that we send over to you because I think you're really good at diving into this. Thank you for that.

 

I think that's one of those three things where they're stuck and they just don't know how to push forward. What are your thoughts, Kristy?

 

DAT- Kristy (07:31)

Yeah. Yeah,

 

I agree with you. I like how you simplified that down to the the top three reasons because I I truly believe it it does stem from that. the knowledge systems and execution again. But I always like to say if we're not getting the results we want, let's take a step back and look. all of our systems are pretty much a recipe, right? And did we stop following the recipe to a T?

 

Like somewhere along the line, we just threw out this step or forgot about this step or stepped over that step,

 

Tiffanie (08:07)

Yeah.

 

DAT- Kristy (08:08)

and now we're not getting the same results. So truly simplifying it and stepping back and going, is this still our recipe? And are

 

Tiffanie (08:16)

Yeah.

 

DAT- Kristy (08:17)

we following it? And if not, why not? What got in the way? Right. And then also, if we did follow it to a T, kind of back to what you said, Tiff, sometimes we might have to get a new recipe.

 

If we followed

 

Tiffanie (08:29)

Mm-hmm.

 

DAT- Kristy (08:30)

it to T and it's not getting the results, we may have outgrown that recipe. And so coming

 

Tiffanie (08:35)

Yeah.

 

DAT- Kristy (08:35)

up and having that communication, again, just taking that step back to really look at it. And I know there's studies out there for communication. They say, like, in the high 90% of most communication is understood out of the gate. So perfecting, I mean, we do a lot of talking every day, but still.

 

We have room to perfect even that communication. So I love how you said painting the end result, especially for our leaders and doctors. Like a team needs to really understand what is that end result we're looking for. And sometimes they don't have to have every single step lined out along the way. We just got to keep pointing to that end result. But if not, let's

 

Tiffanie (09:24)

Yeah.

 

DAT- Kristy (09:24)

pull out our recipes.

 

Tiffanie (09:26)

Yeah. I love that because you made me think actually of the recipe. I made bread yesterday. I have a bread maker. I'm not like one of those I can't, I don't have time for sourdough yet. I really want to learn how to do it. And I think it's really hard in Phoenix from what I hear. So kudos to everyone in Phoenix who's making sourdough because our weather does not do well with that. So, anyways, I have a bread maker. I have had this bread maker for I ten years.

 

You know, eight years somewhere around there, I would say a long time. And I have always just used the recipes, right? I've always just used the recipes. And I always have a little extra flour. Like I'll pull it out and I'm like, gosh, there's like crumbles, you know, and the crust is like fine. And I'm like, whatever. Like it's tastes good, right? And the inside of the bread's great, but the the crust is just like okay and it's a little misshapen. I'm like, whatever. I guess this is what it is, right? So let me just tell you yesterday.

 

I thought there's gotta be a freaking better way to use this stupid bread maker for the last 10 years. I've been doing the same thing from the little booklet that comes with it. I take a picture of the bread maker, I pop it into chat chat GPT, and I'm like, how do I make French white bread? Like just tell me how to make French

 

white bread. So chat takes me through the same recipe that I've been using, but then it says, What I would do is within about 10 minutes, op like look at the at the dough, and if it looks like this, add water.

 

If it looks like like add a teaspoon of water, blah blah blah, right? One, I didn't even know you could open the bread. I thought, don't touch it. Put it in there, don't open that bread maker. Like it's gonna like, it's like race, you know? Like, don't let the steam out. Like, do not open it. So I've never opened the bread maker while it was going. Never, 10 years. And then I open it and I'm like, lo and behold, this sucker needs more water. And I added the water, the entire family, entire family, three kids.

 

Beyonce, me, we were like, what is with this bread? This is the best bread you've ever made. Are you kidding me? Ten years, Kristy. That is the definition

 

DAT- Kristy (11:26)

Ha ha

 

Tiffanie (11:27)

of insanity. And that's what it makes me think of. Like, are we not opening the lid of the bread maker and seeing, is it dry? Is it too wet? Does it need more flour? Does it need more water? Like we're we're making a system, putting it on pen and paper, typing it up and saying, This is the system, this is how we're gonna do it. So go execute and do it.

 

And

 

we execute, especially for an office, I love you, but we're really good at being like, Well, that's the system we're gonna do it because we're busy. And so we don't oftentimes like open the bread maker and be like, Well, are we getting that result? Like, is my bread lumpy? Do I have leftover flour? Like sometimes it's even like a little like flour burnt on the side, and I'm like, whatever. I guess that's how this works, right? But sometimes it's like, well, we like.

 

didn't quite get the result that we wanted and maybe even burned a couple patients with what we were doing. But this is how we're supposed to do it. So we don't open the lid and think, what if I what if I add something, take something away? Like what if I just manipulate it a little bit to get a better result? And Kristy, your your recipe definition, that's what it made me think of because this practice, one of their goals that we set up, one of their quarterly rocks we set up for them was they really wanted to increase the

 

percentage of new patients coming from referrals because they're spending a ton of money in marketing and they're still not generating the new patients that they necessarily want. And they're down internal referrals by about 5% from what we want them to be. Kristy, you know what we figured out? Their referral gift, they had this great idea. I love the idea for the referral gift, but no one, 17 people in the room, like no one would knew the exact

 

verbiage or what the gift was. There's three choices for the gift. They didn't know, some of them didn't know they had the patients had a choice. Some of them didn't know that it was on the new patient paperwork. Some of them didn't know how to talk about it. And I was like, here we go. So we've got this really cool system that at some point we created, we're not getting the result that we wanted. And they almost revamped. They were like, well, maybe we need to give a different gift. And I said, well, is

 

DAT- Kristy (13:38)

no.

 

Tiffanie (13:39)

it the gift or is it that nobody

 

Does everybody know what the gift is? Like, do you know what the options are? And most of them didn't. So we left the system, but added the knowledge to the system and the clear, tangible result. Lifted up that bread maker and we're like, there's two options here. Nobody even knew about that everyone needed clarity on. So to your point, Kristy, that recipe just needed like a couple of tweaks. And now they've moved from knowledge.

 

They gained the knowledge on what the heck the system was. They revamped the basics or they left the basics, revamped and added in the knowledge that they just gained to the system. And now they're at the execution and the accountability stage of it.

 

DAT- Kristy (14:26)

Yeah, I love that. And I love you know, we always have to take it one step further at the end and make sure we understand now, guys, now that we all are on the same page, how will we know if it's working? What will we measure and get aligned on that? And also to your point too, Tiff, sometimes it's it's well, many most times it's identifying who's gonna be responsible for which parts of the recipe too,

 

Tiffanie (14:53)

Yes.

 

DAT- Kristy (14:54)

right?

 

And I also, you know, most of anybody that's worked with me, they'll know I always talk, crawl, walk, run. We gotta crawl before we walk and then we run. So, you know, a lot of times if we're a young team that's learning to jive together, we're just learning to crawl. As we get into the deeper pieces, kind of like the team you were with, if they can probably do that stuff in their sleep almost.

 

Now how can we gamify it and tweak it to get a different outcome or get the outcome with better results? You know, because we've mastered the skill. Now how can we even make it work a little better for us? And what will we measure to to see

 

Tiffanie (15:39)

Yeah.

 

DAT- Kristy (15:39)

if it's working?

 

Tiffanie (15:41)

I agree. I love that because that was exactly what happened, right? They were like, okay, we'll do more. We'll ask for more. And I said, Cool, but what does more mean? Because a feeling

 

DAT- Kristy (15:49)

Mm-hmm.

 

Tiffanie (15:50)

of more, like if I'm exhausted today, I did more, right? I did all I could. But maybe it was none or one. The actual physical like

 

I'm gonna tally mark this on my sticky note. I told them like don't make it hard, like don't make it where everyone's gotta go in and fill in a KPI spreadsheet at the end of the day of how many patients they ask for whatever. Like don't make don't create blocks in a system that's already not being used. Create

 

DAT- Kristy (16:15)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (16:16)

ease.

 

And I told them just have a little sticky note. I don't care where you put it. Put it in your cupboard, put it in your pocket. And every time you ask for one, just make a little tally and then talk about it every day at the morning huddle. And once a week, we tally all of it together. And by the end of the week, you should have, as a team, asked for X amount of referrals. And then at by the end of the month, we should have gained an increase of X amount referrals. Now, then, Kristy, to your point, what that does.

 

It gives us the accountability piece, the measurable accountability, and it gives us the space to look back. So if my bread didn't turn out the way I wanted it to, if it wasn't perfect at the end yesterday, I could look back and think, okay, or ask chat, okay.

 

What did what should I have done differently? Maybe I added too much water because it was still too moist. Maybe it dried out and I added too much flour, not enough water. I could ch I could change it, right? Do the measurable pieces. The measurable was a teaspoon of water, you know, every couple, every 30 to 60 seconds and watch how it separated, right? And how it rolled into a ball. Again, I didn't even know you could open the lid. This is how wild things get. Okay. This is real life.

 

And the measurable was the teaspoon every 30 to 60 seconds. Complete as far as you think you can or should. And then what does your bread look like at the end? So I feel like that's what systems are, like asking for those referrals, right? At this at these increments, and then looking back at the end and saying, did that get us the result that we wanted? Because if it did, great, we're gonna recreate. I'm using that method every single time moving forward on my bread, right? But if it hadn't, the next time I make bread, I'm gonna tweak it.

 

So

 

at the end of the month, if it didn't if it didn't gain momentum or six weeks, we really like six weeks to see a tangible result. So at the end of the six weeks, if we didn't see that movement and momentum on internal referrals increasing in our practice, we need to go backwards and say, okay, we need to increase the number that we're asking for weekly to get a different result. And we can again add a teaspoon of water. Like, cool, increase your frequency and change the result.

 

DAT- Kristy (18:24)

Yeah, I agree with you so much on that, Tiff. And truly looking at it, we in dentistry, I think so many times we pick out the systems where we have our pain points, and that's wonderful. We need to do that, we should do that. But also, you know, maybe once a month, just pull out your ops manual and start picking other systems too. Is this still relevant or not? Right. That's how we keep them alive.

 

And I think it's also important to celebrate the ones that are working well. We again

 

Tiffanie (18:55)

Totally.

 

DAT- Kristy (18:56)

we pick out the ones where we have pain points, but celebrating the ones that are working well will also let us repeat that, you know, and make sure that we're staying aligned to the system. So

 

Tiffanie (19:07)

Yeah.

 

I completely agree. I love to start the meetings with a what's working because if production is working, if collections is working, it's like great. What are the systems that you're using? I don't want to touch those. Like I want to make sure we

 

DAT- Kristy (19:19)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (19:20)

celebrate those. I want to make sure those are tangibly used. And then what we can do even from there, Kristy, to your point is cool, this one's working. How can we add maybe a different element to change this result over here? So we're not creating a completely

 

new system to change something else. It's like this is working. Use what's working and layer on top of it. If your if your collections, your production is working, but your new patients aren't, your new patients are down, awesome. Let's layer onto our patient experience referrals or review requests. Like we're not changing or reinventing an entire system. We're just layering on top. I love, I love, because I love ease.

 

DAT- Kristy (20:03)

Yeah. Easy.

 

Tiffanie (20:03)

I want it to be easy.

 

I don't want, I personally do not want to sit here working really, really hard in a million different directions if I can work hard and enjoy what I'm doing on a couple and get a really cool result.

 

DAT- Kristy (20:21)

Yeah, I agree with you, Tiff. And I think so many things we make harder than than it needs

 

Tiffanie (20:25)

Yes.

 

DAT- Kristy (20:26)

to be. So yeah, look for the ease, people. And usually it's very simple. It's goes back to the very beginning and and use that as a litmus test. Do we not have the knowledge? Is it we're not executing it, right? Or

 

Tiffanie (20:41)

Yeah.

 

DAT- Kristy (20:42)

where's our accountability factor in this? So again and and evaluate the system. Did we follow it? Did it call for a cup of flour?

 

And we used

 

Tiffanie (20:51)

Mm-hmm.

 

DAT- Kristy (20:52)

something else, you know, we used a quarter cup, you know. So just make sure that we're we're true to the system and then ease, ease, ease, ease. One one small thing can

 

make a big outcome.

 

Tiffanie (21:04)

Yeah. Yeah.

 

I completely agree. Same day, two different foods. I was meal prepping yesterday for the family. I made the bread. It was literally perfect. And then I was trying to make these like apple oatmeal like quick snack things. And I was like, it looks a little wet. I'll add more just on my own. I didn't ask anyone. I added more oat and they were so bad. So I was like

 

Okay, well that didn't work. So next time we add less oat, maybe add a little honey for some like sticky quality. But to that point, it's like what's working and what what went well. And then I was like, well that one over there called for a little ad. Instead of just following this recipe, I'll get creative, right? So it's like we can just take things out of context or move too far in one direction and not pay attention to the actual system or what worked well to get us there.

 

DAT- Kristy (21:56)

Yeah.

 

Tiff, I love that you recognize that because I always like to say, you know what? All of us who have been really great at being a treatment coordinator or biller or whatever, our biggest our biggest pivotal moment was the failure, truly. Like if I always tell my OMs or admin team people, if you have not missed a missing tooth clause yet, use of learning to do because

 

Tiffanie (22:25)

So true.

 

DAT- Kristy (22:25)

Truly,

 

sometimes, and don't, you know, I know it gets upsetting when we do miss the mark, but remember to find the lesson in it. Because I guarantee you, all of us that have been in those shoes where we missed a waiting period or a missing tooth claws, it probably only happened once because we learned our lesson. So

 

Tiffanie (22:43)

Yeah, having to call that patient

 

and tell them they actually owe $600 more dollars on the crown because that crown was only a year and a half old and we probably should have caught that. That's fun. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I agree. I'm like, I'll pay it. I remember the day that it happened. I'm like, what

 

DAT- Kristy (22:52)

Oops. Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (22:59)

how do I what if I just pay it? My doctor's like, my gosh, you're wild. But

 

DAT- Kristy (23:03)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (23:04)

yeah, I agree. I agree. Okay, guys. Action items. Kristy, this was so much fun. Thank you.

 

DAT- Kristy (23:09)

Mm-hmm.

 

Tiffanie (23:10)

action items are first off,

 

I say do what's working. I love a what's working, what's not working test. So what's working and what's not working? I describe what's not working. And if you're any of my practices I've been in office with, you already know this. What's not working is like what's hard, what feels like you're hitting your head against that wall or running the hamster wheel and not getting the result that you want. Just what seems difficult. So what's working, what's not working, and then the not working items assess awesome. Is it a knowledge gap?

 

Do we need more information? Do we need to know what the goal is? Is it a systems gap? Does the system have all of the clarity in it that you need? And if both of those are yes, or you get through both of those, execution. Is it an execution? Are we using it? And is there accountability attached? So I'd run those tests back through and figure out where are you stuck and how can you get unstuck? I

 

DAT- Kristy (24:05)

Love it.

 

Tiffanie (24:05)

love it. Kristy, anything you want to add?

 

You always have like a last minute mic drop.

 

DAT- Kristy (24:09)

No, and I I guess,

 

yeah, just one pearl of wisdom I guess would be on the not working. It could also be what you were talking about earlier. It might be what do we want more of, right? It might not

 

Tiffanie (24:20)

Mm. Yes.

 

DAT- Kristy (24:21)

even be not the not working part of it. It could be what do we want more of. So

 

Tiffanie (24:25)

Yes, I love that. Do a third. What's not working? I told you

 

there's always a mic drop. Kristy's mic drops. What's not working? Where are you stuck? Right? What is working? Where are you stuck? What's not working? And what do we want more of? I love it. Thank you, Kristy.

 

DAT- Kristy (24:37)

Love it.

 

Tiffanie (24:38)

Awesome. Okay, guys, if you are driving, play this back and listen to it again. Take some notes. We love you. We love sharing all of our gifts with you, all of our, all of our pearls, our wisdom, all of the things. So keep listening. Share with a friend.

 

Share with a coworker, a family member. I know a lot of doctors will send these to their teams, and I know a lot of doctors still aren't doing that. So send these things over to your teams, allow them to gain this knowledge as well. And as always, drop us a five-star review and reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com so that we can help you live your best lives too. Thanks, guys.
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