#929: 3 Unexpected Attributes For a Winning Dental Team

Dental A Team Podcast

To inspire the most effective team for your practice, Kiera shares three key attributes that need to exist among staff members:

1. Trust and vulnerability

2. Healthy debate

3. Peer-to-peer accountability

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Transcript:

Kiera Dent (00:01.05)

Hello, Dental A Team Listeners. This is Kiera and I am so excited for today's podcast. This is something that I've been working on with tons of teams and within our organization and just a lot of different fun things for you. So I hope you guys are having an incredible day. I hope you're ready for just some magic here. I hope you're ready for some podcast magic. I hope you're ready for some life magic. And I hope you just remember we are truly so blessed because we get to work in the incredible profession of dentistry. So I hope you just remember that. And as always, thank you all for being podcast listeners.

Don't forget to download, like, subscribe, share this, leave the reviews to keep this dental podcast serving all of you practices for free. That's how you guys can help us out is to go and share this with someone to give us those reviews, to share it in those Facebook groups because my goal is to have this podcast in the hands of every single Dental A team listener, every single dental, we need an edit. 52.

My goal is to have this in the hands of every single dental practice out there and so you can help make that dream a reality. So please share it, love it, like it, leave the reviews and just know I'm giving you a high five, a hug as appreciation and thank you. So let's get going today. Today I wanted to go through, I've talked about it a couple of times before, but there is a book by Patrick Lencioni called The Five Dysfunctions of Teams and I've talked about it before. It's one of my absolute favorite books.

on the podcast. have not booked Club This and I honestly should book Club This, but it's a really great one. And I was introduced to this book and I was told to literally use this book in like partnerships and different things. And if we don't have the core five layers of this, we actually have dysfunctional teams. And so me and some of my offices, we've been working on it and we realized that we don't want to have dysfunctional teams. We want to have functional teams. And what's another word for functional?

It's a winning team. And so if you're not familiar with it, I'll give you a quick rendition. I coach this with lots of offices and I think being an outsider, that's honestly why I love being a consultant. We are having the same thing within our company because sometimes just that outsider perspective can really, really help you and your team get on board and get into those levels that you need to have it. And so with Teams, I'll just introduce you to the five dysfunctions of a team or as we call it, we flipped it around of how to have the five elements of a winning team.

Kiera Dent (02:20.186)

So it's in a triangle and at the bottom, it is actually with the bottom portion of the foundation of this triangle is called trust and vulnerability. And so if we have trust and vulnerability and it's not trust of like, if I delegate something to you, I know you're actually going to do it. Like that's one element of trust, but there's the other element of trust where I trust that I can say whatever needs to be said to you and know that there's not going to be backlash. There's a really great example think about in sports.

The quarterback is getting sacked and they go to the blocker and they say, hey, you've got a block for me. I need you to block. And the blocker is not like, the quarterback's so mad at me or the quarterback's feeling this or that because they have the conversation. But we have permission to give feedback and receive feedback. And I think really setting up your office to have those permission to play, permission to give the feedback, permission to have the conversations, permission to say what needs to be said so we can ultimately make our practice grow.

Now, of course, within trust and vulnerability, the way we say things and the way we present things will oftentimes make it so much better versus just saying what needs to be said. So I do believe that trust and vulnerability is an art more than it is a science. But if you can get your teams really having that trust and being able to call the shot, if you will, like in sports, because in sports, they're able to do that because they know how to win and they're willing to call each other out. They're willing to say what needs to be said because they want to win. And in Patrick Lanzione's book,

it really does give the formula of how we're able to win as a team. And so if we know how to quote unquote, put points on the scoreboard, and that doesn't necessarily mean revenue, it can, but if we know what winning looks like within a practice, then it's easier to have the trust and vulnerability, have the conversations. And I think the more you give your practice the permission to play, the permission to have the conversations, the easier it is. But this is a conversation that needs to be had. I go around to offices and I actually coach offices on how to do this, on how to have these

conversations on how to say the things because the reality is this is tricky. And in a lot of offices, this isn't real. If you speak up and you say your mind, you get fired. And so society has kind of taught us not to have this trust and vulnerability, not to say what needs to be said. And I'm here to say, why don't you have your practice be a different experience? Why don't you have your employment be a different experience? There's this whole buzzword of vulnerability and being authentic. And I think this is how we actually can create that as a real true piece within our organizations.

Kiera Dent (04:44.27)

So once we go up the rung of the ladder, we've got trust and vulnerability. The next layer is healthy debate. So if we have this true trust and vulnerability with each other, we're actually going to have the healthy debate. We're gonna say what needs to be said and we don't come, I really help offices and teams realize we're not coming from our own selfish vantage point. Yes, we bring our vantage point there, but we're always working towards what's in the best interest of the business. And if the business and the practice is the root of what we're doing, then guess what? The healthy debate should be not if you're right or if I'm right.

but it's literally what's in the best interest of the business. And I think when offices do this and have the healthy debate and we have the conversations, hygienists bring their opinions, dental assistants bring their opinions, front office brings their opinions. And again, not to be right, but to figure out what's the best for the business and the practice and the patients instantly we're able to flourish, which then leads to the third rung on this ladder of our winning success pyramid. And that is commitment.

So whatever we healthy debate, whatever we decided meetings, we as a team actually commit and we're not having these side conversations. I always say, what needs to be said in a meeting needs to be said in the meeting. We're not having it go outside because once it goes outside, we've lost all of our trust and vulnerability. We've lost all of our ability to communicate with each other. All of that's gone. And so say it in the meeting. And if you don't say it in the meeting, that's on you. And you need to take the ownership of that and say, I didn't have trust and I didn't speak up and I didn't healthy debate it.

And that's on me because whatever's committed in that meeting, we commit and we move forward, which then leads to the fourth tier, which is peer to peer accountability. And I think what's really lovely in peer to peer accountability is let's go back to that sports analogy. They're having peer to peer, that quarterback's not running over to coach and saying, hey coach, could you tell the blocker to block for me? They're like, hey office manager, could you tell that assistant to have that route slip handed better to me? No, we've given permission to play.

We're calling the play, if you will, like block for me. I can't get sacked. We're not going to win. If you don't bring up a route that fully filled in that's, that's hurting me and the patient, the patient didn't get the best experience and nobody wins. And on peer to peer accountability, if we don't have that, we don't have the permission to play within our team. And we don't have the trust where teammates can call each other out so we can win again in a way that's with love and empathy and curiosity and also making it to where the patient wins, the team member wins and the practice wins.

Kiera Dent (07:03.234)

That's what we're looking for. We want our patients to the best experience. And if we can't call each other out when a route slip is not handed off perfectly, or we don't have a perfect handoff, the patient didn't get the best experience because now they've left and we didn't get the correct information there. The treatment coordinator didn't get the best experience. They didn't win from that. The dental assistant or whomever dropped it off or the hygienist whomever dropped the patient off, they're not getting the best experience because they didn't even know it was a wrong handoff. And this is where we have that peer to peer accountability. And when you can get your practices to have peer to peer accountability,

your practice will flourish. And that's at the top of the triangle is winning. And in Patrick Lanziani's, it's the opposite and it's like inattention to results. And so this is the flip of how to have a winning model. And I just want to come on of like, if you can help your team realize trust and vulnerabilities where we should be spending 90 % of our time. So how can we build more trust within our teams? We can do trust exercises. We can be vulnerable. Trust exercises are not like I remember as a kid, my brother.

Remember the trust falls where it's like you have to trust that someone's behind you they're going to catch you? Like, yes, you could probably do that. But we're talking more trust of, can we say things? Maybe it's about being vulnerable with our lives of what we've gone through in our childhood. Like, hey, this is where I was born. This is the number of siblings I have in my family. And this is something I really struggled with in childhood. This is something that I really struggled with that made a big impact and a profound impact on me. And just thinking about, are there ways that we can actually get this to where

We're sharing and we're more open and the more vulnerable owners are here and the more they have trust in the more we actually call the things out of like, Hey, dental assistants, what's your perspective? I know that there's something there. The more we have permission to play, the more we have these trust conversations, the more we build trust amongst each other, the more we share things, the more we call each other out and say like, great job. was a great, that was a great blocker. That was a great handoff or Hey, I need this information from you. And we're not having the nitpicky, the

drama, the eye roll of like, my gosh, Keira just always wants a perfect handoff. Well, yeah, of course I do. That's our standard of winning. If I don't have a perfect handoff, how am supposed to have a perfect treatment plan for these patients and not to blame you? This is just the system that we have. So let's all work together. My job is to make sure I'm presenting perfect treatment plans. And I can't do that if I'm not getting perfect handoffs of the information that was said in the room. So all these little places are how you're able to build a winning team.

Kiera Dent (09:25.016)

And this is what I obsess about. And this is what I love helping offices have because we focus so much on the skills. So many people are like, here, I want the systems. And yes, I've got the systems. Come, we have it, whether it's on our virtual or in-person. Come, I've got the systems for you. I have operations manuals. I've got the systems of morning huddle and route slips and handoffs and case acceptance and trackers and phone call trackers. And like literally any system you probably have ever wanted, I have a system for it. But that's 20%. It's just like in football, they can have all the plays.

But if they don't run the plays, they don't execute, they're not watching each other and they're helping because once you put the plays in action, AKA when you put the systems in action, customers come in, patients come in, people are coming different ways, other people are working, we've got lots of hands in the pot. The way you have the systems operate perfectly is being able to, have a great system, that's 20 % of this equation, but the other 80 % is being able to have this trust and vulnerability, the healthy debate, the commitment, the peer-to-peer accountability, and then we ultimately win as a team.

So if this resonates with you, try it out. Have the trust conversations with your practice. Have the trust conversations with your team. Have these conversations. And the more you have it, to me, it's how can we build more trust and vulnerability? So ways to do it, like I said, where are you from? How many siblings? And then tell something that you struggled with. Now, this is where you've got to be vulnerable. This is where you've got to set the stage as leaders.

of what's the level of vulnerability that we're going to have within our practice. What's the level of vulnerability? If it's like, you know, I really struggled being popular. That's something I struggled with. Well, your team can't relate with that, but maybe you struggled with weight loss when you were a child. Maybe you struggled being bullied as a child. Maybe you struggled like for me, I cheated in first grade because my brother was so freaking smart and I actually wasn't that smart. And my family was so insistent that we go to college and here I am not passing spelling tests. And so I literally cheated in school.

to get my mom to put my paper up on the wall because I wanted to be as good as my brother was. I really struggled in school and people look at me like, how is that even possible? You graduated from Valedictoria. Like, no, I freaking struggled and I had to work really hard at it I would throw my books across the room because I was so frustrated that like all of my other siblings got it and I just didn't. And yet I knew I had to get good grades because my parents couldn't afford to put me through college. And the expectation to my family was that I went to college.

Kiera Dent (11:42.244)

Like that was something I really struggled with. And so I literally in first grade moved my books away. I put the test words right there. And I literally cheated on my test in first grade to make sure that I could have good grades. And I got called out on it I was super embarrassed. And I had to go home and tell my parents and I straight up lied to my parents that I was just looking at the floor. But it taught me a really good lesson that I'm not naturally smart. I actually have to work for this and I have to figure it out.

And that was something that I really struggled with as a child. And if you can come to the table where you actually can share and empathize, now it's like, all right, this is Kiera as a human. I'm not coming here because I'm better than you or I'm less than you. I'm coming here because I ultimately want to make our practice great. And if we can share those things with our team and we can expect that level of trust and vulnerability and you as the leader and the owner and the doctor and the office manager coming together and telling our team, like, we want to hear this.

Yes, there's navigation. can't tell you how many times I call it out in offices of like, Hey, like we could definitely say this with like a little more finesse, but you're right. Like this is spot on. This is what needed to be said. Let's practice our delivery and our approach for future. Those are the small things, but this is how I make practices exponentially grow. And if you don't have the trust and use you as the owner aren't doing this. That's where I love consulting offices. This is where I love. I help hundreds of offices do this. This is where I love teaching each other to how do we call each other out in the play?

How do we help each other realize when we're presenting treatment plans, we're planting weeds in our flower garden, aka we're saying words that's actually deterring patients from saying yes to us. And if I can't hear that internally, I need to trust my team to call me out on it and receive that with grace and humility and say, thank you. That's the way we're all able to win together. So this is an epitome of how you build a winning team. It's a great formula for you. Like I said, the book is incredible. Also something where we help with this, but I think...

For me even having an outsider that can help my team realize like, say the things and watching that consultant within our company navigate our team and help them have the trustable conversations, say what needs to be said, really commit. There's no side conversations. And when there are side conversations, how do we have grace and humility and help each other out is really what I'm passionate about. So if you realize like, my gosh, my team needs help with this, reach out. [e-mail].

Kiera Dent (14:04.846)

I'm here for you. can do a strategy call. can help you because so many people want the systems and don't realize the trust and vulnerability, the hard conversations that you don't even have to call them hard conversations. Let's just call them growth conversations. This is how you're ultimately going to flourish and win. And so I just encourage you to set up the winning model, encourage this model with your teams. It works. I've watched teams literally morph in a quarter, in a half a year, in a year into these thriving teams. when teams are disjointed or they're not hitting goals with ease,

Usually that that indicates to me that there's not a lot of trust of true trust and there's actually artificial harmony within that team And so just bringing that for you if I can help in any way I'm here for it and also just bringing it to light for you. So try it out Let me know and as always thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.