Leadership Fails

Today, we turn the tables and ask the question…..What if the leaders are failing? It is, no doubt, a question that has nagged at the back of some of our listener’s minds. It is a valid question, albeit uncomfortable, but valid. So, Dr. Kuba and Bethany tackle this topic in today’s episode. What choice does a team member have when their doctor or their manager seems to be the problem? What steps, if any, should they take? 

📣February content officially available!! If you want to turn up the love in February, then you need to subscribe TODAY! 

More leadership options to come, but check out Bethany’s website AND our hub for some great resources. 

 https://www.hellobethany.com/about-3 

https://www.hellobethany.com/category/all-products?page=2  

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Transcript

Are you looking for a podcast where you can hear from real people regarding their real dental drama? If so, then
0:09
you've come to the right place. Join hosts Bethany Penny and Dr. Reena Kuba
0:14
as we dive into the solutions we've created and the mistakes we've made
0:19
while managing dental drama. Let's get started. What's up?
0:25
Hey. How you doing? I'm I'm good. Okay, good. I'm good. We move on.
0:30
Has some pleasant treats. Yeah, we got things to talk about here. Um, okay. So, couple things. I know
0:36
we're Well, this one you are very excited about. I am not. Um, but we you
0:43
had a brilliant idea to give back to our dental drama community. Yes. And you suckered me into doing um a
0:51
webinar. Yes. Um at free of charge to anybody who listens. Um, and I don't even remember
0:59
what we talked about, honestly. Customer service. Yes, that's kind of ringing a bell. All
1:05
I can remember about that day was why the hell didn't I blow dry my hair? Cuz then it was in this weirdo bun the whole
1:11
time. So, if y'all can if hopefully that doesn't distract you and be like, "What the hell?" Yeah, I know. But they're
1:18
like, "The check that scrunchie out." But I did. I tried and you looked at me like I was a bum off the street, so I
1:23
had to put the scrunchie back on. Anyway, that's all I remember from this webinar experience, but um we had fun
1:29
recording it. I think there's excellent content. Oh my gosh, it is so good. And it's
1:35
it's so it is on customer service, but you and I have always been passionate about taking customer service to a whole
1:42
new level. It's not just smile and wave, boys. It's like so much more than that.
1:47
So, these are dense two two separate webinars that are dropping um that are
1:54
meant to be played over about a 1-hour lunch period with your full team. And yes, I convinced Kuba to do it
2:00
completely free, which she's still regretting, but I'm so I don't regret the free part. I I agree.
2:06
Like, it's love month. It's we we so appreciate everybody who listens um and
2:13
want to improve. And for me, like the pearls that I've learned along the way, I love sharing those, you know, good and
2:19
bad. Y'all know that. Uh, so the free doesn't bother me. It's just to sit. Who wants to look at my ugly face for an
2:26
hour? The podcast shields you from that and hear like there I am. Um, so, uh,
2:33
yeah. So, that's the one exciting thing. So, watch for that. Are you going to email everybody when it's available?
2:38
Look in the show notes. So, we're going to, um, put a link to the hub in the show notes. the hub is where it's going
2:44
to drop the webinar. But but when it does like how you always email us, like email blast,
2:50
this episode's out or whatever, you're going to email us to let us know and I'm sure it'll have a thing that we can
2:55
click to take us to it. Yes, it will. But this is a good reminder to listeners if you're not So
3:01
we've got our paid subscribers that get all kinds of amazing content, but we also have free subscribers that just get
3:09
announcements and things like that. So, when the webinar drops, if you're a free subscriber, you'll get all of the email
3:15
blast announcements. If you're not yet a free subscriber, you need to go and at least become a free subscriber so that
3:22
you know about these things when they drop. Okay? So, meaning not even just so if you're if you're not a subscriber, then
3:28
you're not getting any information whatsoever. You don't get any information. Okay? So, if you are if you click and say yes, I want to subscribe and you
3:35
want to do the free, you get the extra whatevers. And then of course if you're a subscriber subscriber you get all the
3:42
stuff. All the stuff. Yeah. Um okay. So that was one announcement. The other one was um we want to thank
3:49
you guys. Uh I don't even remember who suggested it but I feel like the demand
3:55
was there and we were like huh why don't we think of that? And so here we are and we are going to be announcing I think
4:02
we're going to do two dates for this year because the crash course is filling up and blah blah blah. Anyway, um where
4:09
we're going to do kind of like a leadership day. Yes. And we're going to try to schedule two
4:14
days. So, if crash course isn't something you've been able to uh work out the logistics with your team and
4:21
when and all of that cuz I think that's the biggest push back that not push back but people are like this is the
4:26
roadblock is to where like I want to schedule a crash course but um so we understand that but um if you're like
4:33
okay let me do smaller doses uh and so leadership topics today we're
4:41
going to kind of um kind of hit a one aspect, one piece of leadership
4:47
challenges, but um if you end up being one that you're listening to this and you're like, "Oh, shoot. I'm the
4:54
problem." That's who they're talking about. Like you're the one who is creating this unknown tension for your
5:00
team. Or maybe it's known, maybe you're doing it on purpose, I don't know. But in any case, if you're like, "Shoot, that's maybe me. I need to figure out
5:07
how to be a better leader." This is for you. Yes. So, we have had a lot of people asking
5:12
about it. um in in in random ways and then it was whoever was like, you know,
5:18
I wish y'all did a day of this and we were like, oh, we can do that. We can do that. Crash course is a little
5:24
harder cuz it's 2 days and it's it's a lot of um prep because it is completely
5:30
customized to your team. So, there's some homework you have to do to give us information and there's a lot of things
5:36
we need to do to get ready to be able to hit the road, hit the
5:42
ground running. Ground running. Thank you. Um, and so Crash Courses is a little different
5:47
beast. this. We're hoping it's people for I mean really anybody on the team but managers, doctors or any team member
5:55
that's like I want to move up in the office and you know I don't know why doc
6:01
doesn't ask me. Well maybe there's things you're doing that
6:06
you know maybe there are some skill sets that you could come hone in on. Yeah. um you know and and honestly for me like
6:13
I was literally just going through uh Texas Dental Association their uh TDA conference in May is always fantastic
6:20
and I was just looking through the courses there and there's a lot of a lot of topics like this. The problem is to
6:25
me where I start going but it's not customized. I can't really ask questions or when I have asked questions it's a
6:32
very generic answer that I'm like I don't see how that's going to work in my office with the people that we've got or
6:38
whatever it is. So, it's not bad information by any stretch, but it's like how do I apply that information?
6:44
That's what this leadership day. I know there's going to be a limited number of seats, you know, uh I think you're still
6:52
working on figuring out what is the max threshold and yeah, but say it's 10 seats or 12 seats. um
7:00
you know but that is where I think that's where if we say you know make
7:05
sure to um include your team on blah blah and you're like how do I do that?
7:13
Mhm. I get what you're saying in theory but I do not know how to apply that. This is going to be a great forum and with other
7:20
people asking the same types of questions and wanting the same types of gold. It's like a think tank kind of thing is what we were
7:26
exactly envisioning for it. So watch for that. that you will announce when and where? That will be coming later this month
7:33
that we'll get that information to you. So, we've got some big things dropping with the webinars dropping later this
7:38
month and the dates for the uh leadership days that we have planned.
7:45
We'll drop those later this month, too. So, all of that, lots of stuff happening towards the end of February. So, if you
7:51
didn't get a crash course signed up this year, um don't worry, there's still
7:56
we're adding these leadership days. And um so hopefully that that may
8:02
help ease you in and then as you're working on your logistics for crash course, if we're able to add some this
8:08
year, we we can certainly reach back out to you. But if this is at least is something where we're able to kind of
8:14
So, whoever you were, thank you for that suggestion. Um, can we dive into the
8:20
topic? Did I miss anything? No, you got it all. Way to go, lady. Okay, so this was a topic you suggested
8:25
based off what you were seeing. And I'll be honest, I don't know if I have any
8:30
useful tips, but I think it was back to the the the
8:37
point is I think um what if you're what if the leaders in the office are not
8:44
really the best leaders and then the team is frustrated was kind of what I gathered was where
8:50
you were going with this. Um, and it's hard. I think I would imagine it'd be hard for you because it would be hard
8:56
for me. Like I know that I am a good leader in certain ways, but I'm also not a good leader in certain ways. And
9:02
that's why, you know, I try to take as many classes as I can and that's why I have you to bounce ideas off of. But I
9:08
think I would say there's a good majority of dental offices that don't have help, mostly because they've not
9:17
sought it cuz they don't think they need it or they've not sought it cuz they don't know where to go for it or they've not sought it cuz they don't think they
9:22
can afford it, whatever. Um, but they're bumbling on their own. Yeah. And that's who you're talking about
9:28
where you have team members that are like, for example, team members that listen to this podcast that are like, "Oh my gosh,
9:35
it could be better." Yeah. But it's not because my manager is
9:40
the roadblock. Yeah. My doctor is the roadblock. So I think we want to dive in
9:45
here a little bit to kind of try to see what are the things that people are running into and see if we can offer.
9:51
It's probably going to be on you to offer more of the advice cuz I my advice is get somebody to help you.
9:58
Like quit being the damn roadblock. Recognize your own strengths and weaknesses. But that's obviously not
10:03
helpful for everybody to Well, and I think too I I think you bring up a good vantage point here. You
10:09
know, so much of what you and I talk about on this podcast, we do have a lot of team members that listen, team
10:15
members that we don't know. I've never met these people. Um, but you and I talk
10:20
from the leadership side cuz we sit on that side. like you being a practice
10:26
owner and leading a team, me coming in and supporting practices, but I normally
10:32
start at the top. I'm like, "Hey, let's tackle the doctor first. Let's tackle the manager. Let's kind of do the a top
10:38
down uh positive change in practices." And I get the benefit of working with
10:44
practices who were seeking that out. Like they know, hey, I'm going to bring in a consultant who is not going to just
10:51
start at the bottom and work her way up. I know she's going to start with me and then we're going to figure things out
10:57
from the top down. And so I'm usually working with motivated managers or motivated practice owners. And so it's
11:04
not often that I find myself in a situation where I where the leader is
11:09
the roadblock. There's situations where the leader is going through a tough time and isn't leading like he or she should
11:17
or there's times where wow the manager is just on a tirade and she is beating
11:25
everybody up. There's times that that happens where I'm getting to support a team through that. But I do want to kind
11:32
of focus on the fact that I know there are team members listening to this podcast that want a leader that that
11:40
cares more or wants a leader to step up and take action
11:45
um or just be a better leader and they're like, "What do I do? I here I am a team member in this situation. I'm not
11:51
a leader, but I want better for my practice." And I just I my heart goes
11:57
out to people that are in that situation. And so I think we kind of choose today to talk about it from that
12:03
vantage point. And I think you're exactly right. You and I may be both bumbling through this and and realizing
12:10
that we're at a disadvantage cuz that's not the side of the table that we're on very often, but I think it's worth
12:16
talking about. Um so one of I'll I'll start off with a situation that may kind
12:21
of start moving us in this direction. I've got um a practice owner who is just lovely, precious, love him. He is uber
12:30
flegmatic. And so again, we're going to talk about personalities that come up here. The flegmatic leader is the person
12:36
that is so laidback and uh low verbal output.
12:44
Um, it's not that they're not thinking about the practice and trying to help the practice and trying to lead the
12:49
practice, but they're so laidback that sometimes that leadership either isn't observed or there are other team members
12:56
on the team that are like, "Oh my gosh, he or she's never going to do it. I got to step in and do it for the doctor
13:02
because they're slower in their processing, slower to get things done." All of the while with no communication
13:09
and with very little. So from the team it's like we don't know what he's doing over there. Is he even listening to us?
13:17
He's just nodding his head and then forgetting about it. And that's not probably not true. It's probably he is
13:23
weighing out the pros and cons or whatever, but we're very slow, methodical. I know my husband's like
13:28
that. I'm like, "Dude, he he's not getting this done. I better sideline." And he's like, "What are you doing?" And
13:34
I'm like, "Well, I didn't think you were I am. Can I have a minute?" Yeah, you've
13:39
had 10. Yeah. Okay. How many more minutes? You know,
13:44
you've already had eight more minutes than I would have needed, but okay. Um, right. So, anyway, but because they're
13:51
not communicating, that's not their strength typically. Then it just feels like nobody's doing anything, nobody's
13:58
doing anything, nobody's listening, nobody cares. And so, um, and to have a team member in that
14:05
situation where it's like I like like the perfect example you just gave where
14:11
your husband's like, "But I'm work working on it." And you came come in and you're like, "I can't even perceive the
14:16
effort. You're working so slowly that it looks like you're doing nothing, so I'm going to come in and do it for you." And
14:23
I think that happens a lot with our super laid-back leaders where they they
14:28
oftent times are attracted to the opposite personality. So they're hiring on these dominant team members that are
14:35
like, "Let me get in here and h move aside, doctor. Let me take that task
14:41
over for you." and they can become frustrated because it looks like the doctor doesn't care
14:47
or isn't actually there's no perceived effort in that process. And so let's
14:53
think about that team member. What would we suggest for you've got this go-getter team member that's like, "Come on, doc.
15:01
Let's go do this." And you've got a very slow, methodical doctor that's not using
15:06
a lot of words. What should that team member do? what what's what's within their wheelhouse and their right to do
15:12
as a team member and is there a boundary that they need to be careful of there? Absolutely. Because ultimately it is
15:19
that doctor's business. It is their money on the line. It is their reputation on the line. It is their
15:26
whatever. So ultimately they are the one who has to make that decision. Um
15:31
whatever the decision is. I guess to me it depends. Are we talking about like, hey, we've been wanting
15:38
cassettes for a while? That's low. Like, you may want that and you're like, we talk about this every month at every
15:45
team meeting and we still don't have our damn cassettes. Like, my guess would be then at that point, have you just left
15:51
it at the doctor? Hey, can we get cassettes? Dude, that may seem like a simple ask,
15:58
but if somebody throws that at me, I'm like, "Okay, well, what are the options
16:03
for cassettes? And how much this is going to cost me? How many do we need? What types do we need? Can I just get
16:09
one or do I have to get four different types? And what would what is going to go in said cassette? And then now the
16:15
sterilization bag is not going to work anymore. Now I've got to get a wrap. What kind of wrap do I need? What kind of tape do I need?" Right? So there's
16:21
all of these logistical decisions and a fragmatic is probably going to work through those very slowly and
16:26
methodically. So yes, they know it's been brought up at every team meeting, but they are slowly doing their research
16:32
because they have so many other bigger fish to fry cuz that's is going to kind of fall to the bottom of that. So in
16:38
that case, could you be the one to go to, say you're an RDA, maybe you go to the other RDAs and the hygienist to any
16:45
clinical provider and say, "Hey, we're all on the same page. We all want these cassettes, right? If you are the lone
16:52
man standing, maybe that's your own clue to go, "Okay, this is not this is a me problem." But if everybody on the team's
16:58
like, "Yeah, dude. Why else have we talked about this every month?" Okay, guys. What do we want? Where are we
17:04
ordering it? What are the options? What are the logistics of this? Let's come up with two. Like, we we prefer this, but
17:10
we're also okay with this. In that case, then we're going to need to order these other supplies, and we can already get
17:17
it from company X that supplies our stuff anyway, and this is about a cost you're looking at, and this is about how
17:23
many we're going to need. If you can do a lot of that research and give some options,
17:29
so helpful. That would probably get you there a little bit faster. Um, which I'm not a
17:34
flegmatic, but teams come to me a lot of times with, oh, I think we should do blah blah. You know what, honey? You
17:41
want to do that? That's on you. Then you come up. You know me well enough. You
17:46
know what matters to me. Is this going to be meeting state board regulations, OSHA regulations, you know, or if it's a
17:54
marketing thing? Oh, we want to do, you know, dress up like Waldo day today.
17:59
Okay. What What would you like me to do with that? Oh, you want me to figure out the
18:04
Waldo costumes, the glasses, the day, how social uh the answer is no.
18:09
Yeah. Bye. Right. But if you present it to me where you've given me a lot of the
18:15
things now, just because you've done that doesn't mean I'm automatically going to be like, "Oh, yes. This is
18:20
great. Let's pick plan B." Right? But at least you've kind of And so then then if I sit on it and you come back a
18:26
week later and you're like, "Hey, did you have a chance to look at A and B?" "Yeah, my problem with them both." Yeah.
18:32
Yeah. I'm still looking at over. Was there anything I can clarify for you or can you tell me where we are with this plan? Well, what I didn't like about
18:38
either plan is yes, you gave me the cost. Yes, you gave me the costume pieces, but I still don't know uh
18:44
logistically when that makes sense because the days you've proposed don't make sense with
18:50
this or you know what, I hate Waldo. It's really hard for me to get behind that. Can we come up with something else? Yeah, we can. Whatever it is,
18:56
right? So, if you can do anything to help figure out what the point of
19:03
of hesitation is for said leader and can you make it easier? But if you're going
19:08
to drop and dump, dump and drop, whatever, if you're just coming there's an idea, there's a problem.
19:15
I mean, so for me, get in line. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like cuz we also
19:20
just like you have home lives and we're problem solving when we get home, too. Yeah. for our kids and our spouses and
19:27
our parents and our whatever. And now you want me to think about the cassettes you wanted last month. I'm sorry that is
19:34
not at the top of my priority list. You want to make it easy for me, you do the the the digging around and researching.
19:42
And it's funny for me how many projects go by the wayside. Either because the team then is not as passionate as they
19:47
thought they were about something or they're really incapable of digging through. And I'm like, okay, but if that
19:54
means you're incapable, that means it's a lot more workload for me. I don't want that workload. I'm not that passionate
19:59
about cassettes. So, right, problem solved. So, you got to you got
20:05
to put your money where your mouth is. Like, you got to be able to put yourself in Doc's shoes to go, what am I really
20:11
asking for? And if I can't figure out these details, like I think uh one year,
20:18
the one year where a team member wanted us to do a trunk or treat. Okay. What is that going to mean?
20:24
Mhm. Whose car? What props? Who's bringing the table? What are we
20:30
taking? Are we taking business cards? Are we taking stickers? Are we taking candy? Are we taking toothbrushes?
20:36
Who's going to work it? How many hours do I have to pay these people? What is our weather plan if it goes wrong? Like,
20:41
if you can come up with all of that to where I just have to show up,
20:47
great. Done. Yeah. Bring me your plan. And then that's where sometimes they'll bring a plan and I'm like, "This is garbage. This is
20:54
garbage. Did you even look at like you you looked at Amazon where the props are going to cost me $200? Not doing it. Go
21:01
look on Teeu. Go to Dollar Tree." Yeah. Like whatever. Like this is not a useful
21:07
plan, right? And then the other times it's like, damn, you thought of everything. Yep.
21:13
Let's proceed. This is worth it. So, I guess that would be I don't know if that hits some of the complaints you've talked about, but I think
21:19
totally I think there's so many key takeaways from that. Number one, I think
21:24
it's so critical to actually put some thought into your
21:29
suggestions before you make them. Your example of the cassette, such a good example of rather than just every team
21:36
meeting we're like, "Hey doc, don't forget we need those cassettes. Hey doctor, cassettes, cassettes." If we've
21:42
got a practice owner that first of all is slower in decision-m is thinking about lots of things and cassettes falls
21:50
to the bottom of the pack it and especially if it's a flaggmatic leader
21:56
they often times will take they won't ever say hey yes I really do want to
22:02
make progress on the cassettes but I don't have time to think about it can y'all go do the research they're not one
22:08
to punt back the responsibility as a matter of factmatics are peacekeepers.
22:13
They are peaceful people that are very accommodating in nature. And when their team member keeps saying cassette,
22:19
cassette, cassette, they feel the pressure to do something about that, but
22:25
they can also feel overwhelmed with all the steps required to actually get to
22:30
the point of ordering the cassettes. So, they're first of all not going to speak up and say, "Yes, I need to get that
22:36
done. Hey, hi Genius, can you please go get me two options on cassettes?" They're not going to do that because
22:42
they're low communication. They're going to feel bad that their team needs cassettes and that they feel overwhelmed
22:48
by the decision and that other things keep taking its place. So, your suggestion of, hey, tell doctor, hey,
22:55
I'm going to we do need cassettes. I'm going to go and do the research and get the pricing and I'll bring next week to
23:01
our meeting. I'm going to bring the two options to you. That way, it narrows it down for you. Then I would say one added
23:09
thing that you may not have um mentioned in years but I think is a good thing to go once you present those options then
23:15
ask the doctor hey doctor what's an appropriate amount of time for me to follow back up with you on this
23:20
love that could it be next week is ne next week a good timeline for you and doctor may say
23:25
you know what no that this week's crazy with my daughter's birthday I I'm not going to have time to worry about it let's do two weeks from now great I'll
23:32
I'll put that on my calendar and I'll make sure to follow up with you one thing that I think is really helpful for
23:38
flaggmatic ownersh or managers as well
23:43
is to actually schedule time on the calendar. It can be 20 minutes. It does
23:50
not have to be long. It does not need to be over a lunch break. Unfortunately, I wouldn't recommend that with a
23:55
flaggmatic owner. I would say maybe right after lunch is ideal. right before
24:01
lunch, end of the day, one time a week. That is their access point where team
24:07
members know, oh, this is doctor's administrative time. I know that anything that I was supposed to follow
24:13
up with him about needs to happen in that time. And then the flaggmatic doctor knows I'm going to have team
24:20
members approaching me during this 20 30 minutes that I blocked off my on my schedule because this is my get it done
24:26
time. This is where I need to make decisions. So the flaggmatic can power up for that. If they're having to make
24:33
lots of decisions throughout the week, it can overwhelm and exhaust them very quickly. If they know I've got to power
24:40
up for 30 minutes on Wednesday afternoon right after lunch and that's when all my team members are coming to me, they can
24:45
be mentally prepared for that. And cassettes, for example, if that team member says, "Hey doctor, is it better
24:52
to approach you next Wednesday on this or the Wednesday after that?" and doctor says the Wednesday after that they know
24:59
I'm coming to doctor at that time for a decision. So I think that would be added
25:04
support for a team member. Um and I think so doing your homework whether
25:10
it's looking at the cost and the style and the wear and the how many for
25:15
cassettes, right? But there's other things too that I don't know I don't have a specific example but it's like
25:21
have you done your due diligence? Some of the things that I am always like where I'm like is this a you thing or is
25:27
this a teamwide? Does the team feel this way or am I going to spend a lot of time and effort on something that only two of
25:33
you are interested in and the rest of the team is like why the hell are we moving to cassettes? Yeah. So I think especially if I seem to be
25:41
moving slow on something my team knows usually if I'm moving slow it's one of
25:46
two things. It's either I forgot or I don't like it. something about it is making me pause cuz otherwise I'm a
25:54
pretty quick decision maker. So if I'm dragging my feet, so can you do your due diligence to be like, hm, I bet you
26:00
anything Kuba is being slow on this because she thinks that XYZ is going to have a hard time with this. So go to XYZ
26:08
yourself. Hey ladies, do y'all have a problem with this? We don't care. Okay, great. Well, that way I can let Kuba know that nobody
26:14
cares. Everybody's in sync with this. And but you have to be honest about
26:19
that. It's not like you say like you could because Kuba will go check if I'm like
26:25
ain't no way that Sally's okay with that. Sally, did you say you were okay with that? Yeah. Yeah, I said I was okay
26:31
with that. Really? Yeah, because blah blah blah blah. Okay, all right then. Sorry. I'm the roadblock. Y'all carry
26:36
on. Let me get out of the way. But if Sally's like, what are you talking about? That's a whole another problem. You just lied to me to get your
26:42
way. That that's a whole another we have a problem. Um, so there are
26:48
things that because my manager and I work well with each other like that where if I am being the roadblock and
26:53
the team's like, "Dude, we've already asked her twice." And then she can come to me or she can email me and be like,
26:59
"Hello, did you forget? What are you doing? What can I do to help assist you with this?" Right? Um, so I guess to some of those
27:06
team members that are feeling frustrated by their doctor or their manager, um,
27:12
certainly not, this is going to make it sound like I'm I'm recommending like band together, but I think it's
27:19
important to, uh, keep an open mind and get a feel and pulse for the whole
27:24
office. Are you really advocating for something that benefits you or does it really benefit the team and the
27:29
practice? Right? So, that's one thing you got to start with. And if you're like, "No, this benefits the practice." Then I think
27:35
those are some things that where you've got to figure out and go, "Is doctor not flegmatic? Are they just quick to shoot
27:41
everything down?" Right. So, are they are they cheap? Yeah. Where you're like, we need to let's say
27:48
we've got a cheap doctor cuz I think that's probably the case a lot of the time. Yeah. Is they're too cheap. And you're like, dude, we really, for example,
27:56
um uh I think this is a federal thing, right, where HIPPA laws just changed.
28:01
So, the privacy notice, God bless. So, now we've got to I skimmed over it.
28:08
We got to revise our policies and get new signatures, blah blah blah.
28:13
Yeah. It's just beyond tedious and beyond me going, I don't give a beep
28:20
about this at all. But it's a state mandated or a federally
28:25
mandated thing. So now like it was in our TDA newsletter like this takes effect February blah blah. I'm like well
28:32
that gives us like a week or so. Um so we have to make these changes. Now for
28:38
me that's stifle like I my heart rate immediately goes up. I'm like what are
28:43
you asking me to do? What are the steps so I am compliant? What do you mean I
28:48
need to change this on my website? I got to get all my patients to resign this HIPPA. Like am I printing this? Am I
28:55
putting this on tablets? How am I going to make sure my team is getting this on every family? Is it a family thing?
29:01
Like, do I need to get one on every kid? Like, oh my god, there are so many damn logistics of this stupid federal
29:07
mandate. And I don't want to deal with this. Yeah. So, but I'm going to get myself in
29:12
trouble if I don't. Right. So, thank God I pay for a compliance company.
29:18
Damned if he didn't send out I'm going to name him. Yeah. Tink. Love you, dude. the tooth cop.
29:25
Thank you for what you do. Before I even knew this is a thing, because he sent us an email before TDA even sent us an
29:30
email, he was like, "Hey clients, this just happened." And he had some background that I skimmed. I'm like,
29:36
"Okay, blah blah blah blah blah." And at the bottom in bold bullet points, he had this is what you need to do step by
29:43
step. Thank you, God, Tank, whatever your name is. Thank you right for for you are an
29:50
angel on earth for making this easy for me because my panic button was going I don't know what the hell I need to do
29:56
and it seems like there's a lot of steps and how am I going to convey to my team and what do I need to and what do I
30:02
right so I was able to hit forward yeah y'all take care of this I don't care which ones of you do it because some of
30:08
you it's going to have to be front desk because you're going to have to get this paper y'all figure out are we doing this electronically or what are we doing I
30:14
was a little more specific than that but to me I cannot Imagine not having had
30:19
Tink with that. So, if you're in an office where you're like, I'm not paying for Tink services.
30:24
What does he do anyway, dude? He does a ton for us. I I cannot imagine not having him as a resource. Um, but if Doc
30:33
is cheap and it's like, no, no, no, we don't need that. and you're kind of going, I don't want to be in an office where I get in trouble or lose my job
30:39
because the office go gets shut because we got our random OSHA audit or Mary hates me and hates this practice and
30:46
she's going to leave and whistleblow us to OSHA cuz she knows we didn't comply. You just never know, right? And if
30:52
you're sitting there and you're, you know, just kind of as a RDA, you're as a
30:57
hygienist, you're nervous that you're in this practice and you know doc is too cheap to get resources.
31:04
Yeah. I forgot where I was going this. So, what do you do with cheap doc it?
31:09
Because again, it maybe to your point, maybe it's not the doctor that's just overanalyzing everything and is super
31:14
slow in decision-m. Maybe it is somebody that is willfully like ain't doing that.
31:20
No way, Sally. I'm not spending money on compliance. And in that particular case, I do think team members still have some
31:27
options. To me, I think we don't relent. when we we are relentless with what we
31:33
think is going to be best for the practice. Now, this is where you have to be careful that you're not relentless
31:39
about cassettes because you're really passionate about that. You pick the things that truly are make or break for
31:45
the practice. Compliance, OSHA, um anything uh you know, legal things like
31:51
this is a safety issue like this. I've seen three patients trip over this doorstep. We've got a tile that's broken
31:58
and I've witnessed three people tripping on that tile. Like this. Something has to be done about this. Things that you
32:05
know you need to truly advocate for. Be relentless in that. Now, that doesn't
32:11
mean badger the heck out of the doctor. It means professionally be relentless. Schedule time. Hey doc, I
32:18
would love to have just 10 minutes of your lunch break tomorrow about um an issue that I wanted to bring to your
32:24
attention. Can I steal the first 10 minutes of your lunch? And then do your homework. Don't come in and be like,
32:31
"Doc, this tile is just it's ridiculous. It's got to go." No. Come with some
32:37
facts to be like, "Okay, I want to let you know over this last week, I saw this patient trip on the tile, this patient,
32:44
and this patient." Thankfully, none of them fell, but I did see three of them
32:49
stumble. I did a little bit of research. It does look like it's going to cost this much to replace the tile. I reached
32:56
out to a couple of handyman people that can replace the tile for us. Here's their names. And by the way, uh I did
33:05
look up like what does an average uh case cost if somebody does sue the office. It does look like it costs about
33:11
this much. I think this is really important. Just hit the facts. Do your research. Maybe it is compliance. It's
33:19
like I really feel like we need a compliance company. Let me tell you why. Blah blah blah here.
33:25
So come with those facts. Schedule time. Don't just bombard your doctor at the
33:30
end of the day. Hey dog, on your way out, let me drop this really important piece of information. That way your doctor knows I've scheduled time. It's
33:38
at a time that works for me and I know it's come. Something's coming. Now, is your doctor going to sweat it out
33:44
between today and tomorrow? Absolutely. Are they going to be nervous about what you're bringing to their attention?
33:49
Probably. And that's okay as long as you are prepared.
33:55
I apologize. And I don't even have any water here. Um. Oh, no. So,
34:00
um, absolutely. And that, too. Like, oh, you know, I really want a compliance company. What
34:07
does that mean? Yeah. So, as doctor, I'm going to have to research compliance companies.
34:13
Yeah. So, I'm going to have to literally get onto Google and do that. Yeah. You know what? That's a skill set you
34:19
have as well. Absolutely. It is not. So, and then if you've looked
34:24
up, give me some options. Give me I don't want to um
34:29
I don't want to meet with you. Yeah. That I I don't like that. That doesn't work for me personally.
34:35
I would rather you email me in a bulletike fashion like get to your point.
34:41
and or print and leave it on my desk on a big piece of paper
34:46
so that you can see that that's coming. Now, if you catch me as I'm leaving the door and go, "Oh, hey, by the way, don't
34:52
don't forget we need to you need to make a decision on the social media post. Please don't do that to me. I want to
34:58
punch you in the face when you do that. I'm not doing it." Like, you just gave me more, right? Like, make it easy for
35:05
me. And so you've got to figure out what that doctor likes and doesn't like.
35:10
Such a great point. Um, and I'm vocal about uh-uh, if you want me to remember to do this, then you
35:17
need to either hand it to me and as you're handing it to me on this big postit, don't give me a little post it
35:24
cuz it's going to go in my pocket, it's going to go in the washing machine. Put on a big piece of paper that even if I fold up, by the time I take those pants
35:30
off, I'm going to hear the crinkle crinkle and then I'm going to have to look at this. Yeah. um and hand it to me and say, "Hey, here
35:37
now what are you doing on your end to either send me a reminder text or
35:42
whatever it is and help me help you yeah get this done." Um
35:50
so yeah, I think that to me it's like that's the most irritating thing as as I'm leaving and I think like you're saying 20 minutes after lunch, 20
35:56
minutes before lunch, honestly I don't want to talk to you. I would rather
36:03
give it to me on paper so that I can look it over and think about it.
36:09
Or even teammates that are like, "Oh, I created this flyer. I'm old school. They know that. Please
36:15
print it for me so I can see what it looks like so I can mark up what I want to mark up on there because that's
36:20
easier for me to do." Um, so I think I don't know if those are That's great. I I think that's great
36:27
advice and I think it's giving our team members that are listening. First of
36:32
all, it gives advice for our leaders. Be aware. Are you this type of leader that's either super slow and your team's
36:39
perceiving you don't care? Are you the type of leader that's being cheap? So, it's advice for our leaders. Don't don't
36:45
fall into those categories. But I think also more importantly for this team members who are listening, if you've got
36:52
these situations, and I know this is just just the tip of the iceberg. I know there's so many other issues that can
36:57
happen with leaders, but I think these are very tangible things that it doesn't mean that you're stifled to the point
37:03
that you can't do something. You have the opportunity to make waves still in
37:08
your practice and you can do that in a way that's very helpful for your for your leadership um either doc or manager
37:14
or both and also is still professional. And I think those are really really good
37:21
tips for today. I would think the majority of leaders and again what do I know right because I I'm a person who
37:27
seeks help so I I don't know but to me a majority of leaders really don't want to be the roadblock but they're just it's
37:36
me over too much mental stimulation and of an ask to get through any idea cuz we
37:42
do we have to go through and think is this going to be compliant is my accountant going to have a fit about me
37:47
spending this is there right there's like all of these well Yes, of course
37:52
the RDAs want this, but the RDHs are going to have a fit about this. So, there's a lot that we've got to go
37:57
where, how is this simple, small idea, but it is it going to balance out in the world of things or is this going to come
38:03
back and blow up on me? Right. And then there's others who are just like, I don't want to think about it. Yeah. I want to show up. I want to do my
38:09
dentistry. I want it to be easy peasy. I don't want to leave. So, if you can do as much of the leg work as you can.
38:15
Yeah. And try to sort out is your doctor cheap? So, is what you're asking an
38:21
expensive ask? Can you find resources that are at least maybe it's not going
38:26
to get you 100% there, but maybe it'll get you partially there to where you feel more comfortable that you are in a compliant office.
38:33
Um, or do you have other people in the
38:38
office that feel strongly about it, that they're better at research? But if you can figure out what the roadblock
38:44
usually is for your doc Yeah. or your manager and then see like how can I work with
38:50
that style. Yeah. Ultimately, if if it's you, if you're
38:56
the problem, maybe it's not the right environment for you. Yeah. But before you see yourself out the door, I think it's worth doing the due
39:02
diligence to if you're one who just is sitting there completely clueless going, "Well, I just don't know why any nobody takes my ideas."
39:10
Are your ideas dumb? Are your ideas expensive? Are your ideas hard to execute? Yeah. Um, so I think you got to look
39:18
first at yourself and saying, "What is my ask and how important is this?" Yeah. And if you're like, "No, this is
39:23
important. I do think we should have this social media campaign and I do think we should participate in this trunk or treat." Okay. Tell me why.
39:31
Yeah. And what are you doing to make this happen? You're not just dumping at my door. Exactly. I I agree completely. take take
39:39
that responsibility seriously and do your due diligence and think broad picture, not just from your own vantage
39:46
point, but for a team, for a practice, for the practice owner, does does it make sense for all parties involved?
39:53
Because I think the selfserving ideas are the ones that will definitely fall flat in this. It's got to be something
39:58
that actually makes sense for the whole in order to be able to to be digested by
40:05
leadership. So, yeah, I love it. Great topic. Thank you for working through the
40:10
cough to get through this great content. I'm not talking right now for fear of coughing. So, let's wrap this up.
40:18
Thanks for joining the conversation today. We hope that you are comforted in knowing that you are not alone. But we
40:25
also hope that you're walking away with some really great tips and tricks to try in your practice.
40:31
We value your feedback. So, please take a few moments to rate and review the
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40:52
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