When a Rotten Apple (or Employee) Spoils the Bunch

The subject of culture pops up again today! Bethany and Dr. Kuba discuss how delicate nature of a positive team culture. In some cases, one singular employee can throw off the entire balance, sometimes without the practice owner even realizing it. Bethany shares three different examples of recent culture problems that were pervasive due to a “rotten apple” employee. Listen in on the action that might need to be taken in order to point the culture back in the right direction. 

🎉🎊2025 REGISTRATION OPEN:🎈🎉 Bethany and Dr. Kuba say “Don’t be a Dummy” and “Don’t Be Laughable” – Sign up for your CONSULTING CRASH COURSE today! This is a course designed ONLY for you and your team. Take your practice to the next level!! For more information visit, Consulting Crash Course or email us at managingdentaldrama@gmail.com today to secure a spot for your team! ⏰

MDD SUBSCRIPTION coming soon!! Stay tuned for details! 

Don't forget to check out our social media for more!
Managing Dental Drama FB
Managing Dental Drama IG

Connect with the Managing Dental Drama Community!
Managing Dental Drama Membership Club Sign-Up

Wait! There's More!
We want to hear YOUR voice!
Text a 2-minute voice memo to 214.326.4605 with your questions, comments, real-life examples, or tips for a chance to have YOUR voice on the air!

Transcript

0:01

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 as

0:15

we dive into the solutions we've created and the mistakes we've made while

0:20

managing Dental drama let's get started I am so excited

0:25

it is my turn in your new studio you now get to have your inaugural moment in

0:32

here I love it do you do we feel like professionals now now that we're uh I'm going to say no because it's so nice and

0:39

comfortable in here like I guess to me when I thought about a studio I was thinking of like when you see radio DJs

0:45

and they're like plastic walls and stuff and like headphones on and stuff and all the black stuff on the walls yes and

0:52

know this is very lovely it's very Joanna gains times 10 and wow I'm just

0:58

glad that we're finally here we've waited a long time for an official area

1:03

to record um I love the closet man I hey we get we can go back there's a closet

1:09

if you want to go downstairs we can head downstairs no um no we have evolved um

1:15

and I will say y'all I made it here in one piece Bethany is out in Bumble

1:21

fusa why why I will always ask I don't I I thought maybe me driving out here I'd

1:27

be like aha I see why and quite the opposite ma'am I'm like I

1:32

don't get it I so I'm just disappointed you didn't show up in your Wranglers and

1:38

your cowboy boots and your cow I was fully expecting that to walk through the door this morning I wasn't sure how to

1:44

prepare for my for foray Into the Wilderness out here at least you've got a cowboy shirt on so I mean you can

1:52

blend in easily enough out here so yes but I do need to make sure I get out before the sun sets I

2:01

anywh who it's beautiful and congratulations and I'm very happy to be here and I do want to give you a shout

2:07

out um and I know Dr Jones talked about it a couple weeks ago you had your Bethany brunch client appreciation and I

2:14

know you invited everybody podcast listeners to come out to and what a phenomenal event and um I think my

2:21

favorite part it just I I felt exclusive I felt like I belonged to a club yes um

2:30

it was all Bethany clients or Bethany fans and so it was such an intimate

2:35

event like you had name tags for everybody like a personalized name tag that was funny for each client that was

2:42

there I thought that was beyond uh talk about a personal touch like that was just I think that made everybody smile

2:50

feel seen feel important it was personalized um from so from the moment

2:55

you got there to the moment you left you got had us all a personalized book Choice um so I just it was it was

3:04

unexpected it was and I thought too like when you and I were kind of thinking like okay what about these conversation

3:10

LS is it going to be awkward I mean I think just the fact that we all felt like we had a kinship because we were

3:17

all smart because we were Bethany clients um so you could tell the level of intelligence in the room was just

3:23

through the roof because we all were you know coached by the best and knew that

3:30

everybody in that room had amazing practices because yes no but it was it was really good I

3:37

felt I felt very special so I congratulate you on that as well my friend I hope you're going to keep that

3:42

tradition up because it was such a phenomenal event it has to continue and this coming from an introvert that usually dreads those social interactions

3:50

yes I know and I tell you I don't I wasn't dreading it per se because um

3:55

because I knew you would be there yeah but I think otherwise I would have dreaded and I stayed the whole time you

4:01

st you stayed the whole time you were there early stayed late it feel like it it people did we we know we told them it

4:08

could be come and go cuz it was a long it's a long period of time that we were brunching and I was really surprised and

4:15

pleased so happy that it was so comfortable and so fun that people stayed it and nobody was a go like it

4:22

was all a the room was like packed yes it just felt very intimate well we'll

4:28

have to make that a fall tradition yes I agree I approve um okay so getting down

4:33

to business here I um I wanted to when I'm you know it's been a while since

4:39

I've had a chance to ask you what's going on with your other clients because I've been hogging up the spotlight with

4:45

all of my drama and so I finally was like okay let's talk about other people

4:50

and what's going on and so um I think you mentioned if you don't mind talking about uh a gentleman that reached out to

4:57

you after reading one of Lulu's magazines and was there Lulu was there she's just a beautiful

5:05

Charming just something about her presence is so calming she just has a way of making you feel seen and she is

5:11

wonderful and she's so funny um and for those that don't know Lulu is I call her

5:18

the it of North Texas dentistry magazine she's just everything related to North

5:23

Texas dentistry magazine and so I was so excited she came she was great to have which and I've told her before you know

5:28

we get a lot of public and that is the one I look forward to and that is the one that I read from

5:34

cover to cover because it has so much useful content and um so anyway I think

5:40

that a like-minded gentleman uh I I think you said and I'll I'll quit talking let you talk here but I think

5:46

you said he read um an article in Lulu's magazine that you wrote and so I'll turn

5:52

it over to you if you could talk about what you wrote about and yeah so I wrote an article about a cons about basically

6:01

the environment in an office being wrong a culture conundrum and so the article was

6:08

very just clear on what is a culture problem you know what are some of the

6:13

signs to look for in a culture problem and so this gentleman had reached out to me he had been

6:20

experiencing problems in his practice but he wasn't able to really put his finger on what was wrong he just didn't

6:27

he knew it wasn't the practice that he had always had and this changed pretty much post pandemic is what he said and

6:33

so he said he was an um like he he's practicing for a long time so it's not

6:38

like it's a new 3 four year practice or 9 10 year practice you it's I think the same practice if I remember he told me

6:46

the same practice for 47 years wow so wow very mature practice and was stable

6:52

churning like no issues up until the pandemic and then of course everybody

6:58

experienced massive changes during that pandemic time and he said he just had

7:03

been unable to put his finger on why it wasn't working the way that it used to

7:09

and once he read the culture article he reached out to me cuz he was like that's

7:14

it that's my problem it is actually a culture problem which how cool for you to know that you reach somebody yeah

7:22

that's the reason I'm sure you write those articles it is yeah yeah to help people that and it was really refreshing

7:28

for me to know that he'd been trying to figure it out and couldn't really identify what the problem was and so you

7:36

know it's interesting as I've been getting to know him more

7:42

it it's not that it all comes down to one person but sometimes one or two

7:47

people on the team can throw off the culture and create what looks like a

7:54

massive problem but when you kind of sift through everything it comes down to maybe one or two people on the team not

8:01

always I won't so that say that that's always but in this particular case I am

8:07

very new to his practice getting to know it but I have a feeling that it's going to boil down to one or two people on his

8:14

team that have kind of kept it kept the practice in chaos since the pandemic um

8:21

and so yeah I think it resurfaced this culture discussion that we've had uh I

8:28

can think of him and then also I it reminded me of some of the issues that you've had lately when we

8:35

really think about what you've walked through over these last few months it was interesting you and I were touching

8:42

Bas um over the phone and you said something about how you had encouraged

8:49

your team and just said I just I'm feeling so good about this team I'm just

8:54

so proud of all you thank you for all that you do and you were telling me that it just feels peace peaceful and calm

9:00

and happy and it's just a good environment right now and this is a

9:06

couple months after all the changes that you've made and two people are gone off

9:12

the team and while those were hard changes I think it's another point that

9:19

those two were kind of at the epicenter of making everything feel off on your team

9:26

and now in the wake of that you've got this kind of relief this environment you've been looking for which I think to

9:31

me we were so in tune with culture we knew it was a culture issue and we did all the culture stuff

9:38

for so long and yet it still took me so long to like really pinpoint and then

9:44

really make that decision then to be like you know this is what needs to

9:49

happen I mean it took a very long time whether that's me being slow or me being cautious or me being you know in denial

9:57

about who the true problem is is um so it's funny like in this gentleman's case

10:03

it's like he you he's practicing for 47 years he's probably seen and done everything yeah and then to kind of you

10:10

know all of us that are sinking our you know trying not to sink and noses above the water after the pandemic um it's

10:17

it's interesting to see that yeah how how impactful that has been for a man who you would imagine knows everything

10:25

he could School the rest of us on everything if he just practiced that long so um funny that I was in tune to

10:31

culture and yet still had the issues and he's not in tune to culture and now he's

10:36

going that is my culture issue but I'll say even yesterday for example was a school holiday in Texas so we were busy

10:45

and I didn't think about this until yesterday evening where I was like you know normally I would have been like oh

10:50

my God are all hands on deck do we have enough people in the front do we have a sterilization Tech you know we're going

10:56

to need all of this extra help and we had two people at the front as opposed

11:02

to our normal what four four didn't miss a single Beat It Never Felt stressed I

11:10

didn't feel stressed going into the day sterilization somehow was fine like I I

11:15

help pitched in but it was it was like I like I just said it was light and it was easy and so I don't know what I'm trying

11:22

to say about that but it other than I guess maybe the point is like the culture just makes all the difference of

11:29

who who's there and um and I think you make a really good point that sometimes you can be fighting for a good culture

11:36

you can be doing all of the active steps to to create and Foster a good culture

11:42

but that ultimately there can be people that are holding that progress back from

11:47

happening and I appreciate the cautiousness that you take before you

11:53

dismiss a team member and yet now here we are on the other side of it and and

11:59

it's like that really was the hold back and and potentially even considering

12:04

that the culture is there has been there amongst every other team member but it

12:10

was just those two that tended to resist it and then made it feel like the whole

12:16

culture is off but really when we think about it once those two were moved out it just kind of naturally existed like

12:24

it probably always was existing it's just those two kind of created this

12:30

I don't know this Rift in it and then they're gone and then like like a puzzle just magnet coming together it's like

12:36

we're back together again yeah um so if you don't mind like then how did you

12:42

what did you counsel this gentleman like what so I'll give you kind of two examples cuz with him I'm just starting

12:49

so we just kind of did what I call a culture assessment he you know he connected with the article and was like

12:56

I don't know what I need I I just know some things off and I said well hey let me do a culture assessment that's where

13:03

I do a lot of the team members fill out a lot of paperwork for me a lot of thought-provoking questions they do a

13:09

personality assessment I have some phone calls with a few key team members to get

13:16

some subjective opinions over the phone and then of course the doctor fills out

13:21

that annual Retreat that you love so much the doctor fills that out as a part of the the homework Yu yeah it's it I

13:29

mean it's a thorough and intense process but it's very Illuminating for me every

13:35

time I can see patterns and Trends and things that stand out in that process

13:42

and so for him I we just finished that culture assessment and so my recipe for

13:48

him is going to be we've got to do a reset there's there's definitely um some some members on the

13:55

team that have that old the pre-pandemic mindset the the culture that he actually

14:01

has envisioned I see that represented on some of those team members but then we've got probably half the team that

14:08

just doesn't and so we've got to all get back on the same page the same process that you walk through with your team

14:14

we've just got to create that for this particular practice so we're I'm at the start with him but I just did this

14:22

recently with another newer client of mine I had my first trip out to his office and same thing very broken

14:30

culture just just my heart breaks for these doctors that are in this situation cuz

14:36

it's so anxiety producing like you just are constantly on edge and that's how I

14:43

found myself and that's why I guess I'm saying like I felt lighter mhm it was like it was a non-issue and looking back

14:50

I'm like I remember like just like the physical body tensing or my stomach feeling this kind of like knots yeah and

14:58

and I didn't feel feel that on a busy day before or after and um and I haven't felt that way in the last month going

15:05

into work it's just been a very light that tension that anxiety is not there

15:10

dissipates yeah you know it really is a fascinating process to watch at least

15:15

from my angle and I I think as I talked through three examples here I'm realizing that I've got three

15:22

distinct periods of time that I'm going to be talking about because obviously we mentioned the gentleman that read my

15:27

article were at the very in ception of changing the cons the culture it's it's we're at the very starting point this

15:33

other one we've kind of dipped our toes in and have started the process and then I'll give you another example of a

15:39

gentleman who's taken active steps to get rid of kind of the rotten apple on the team and is experiencing like you

15:45

are the results of that the positive results of that but this one example that we're dipping the toe in um same

15:52

thing he couldn't put his finger on what it was just a very unhappy work environment nonproductive work

15:59

environment so one of the things that you've said quite a bit when it comes to culture is it diminishes the

16:06

effectiveness of the team members it it's not just a feeling it actually has

16:13

Financial consequences to the practice and so this gentleman that I'm talking

16:18

about he he's experienced that like the practice is not as productive as it needs to be he feels overstaffed because

16:26

individuals are not working as hard as they should be working and so he picked

16:32

up on culture issues I went in definitely culture issues you know just a generalized unhappiness nobody's on

16:40

point nobody's got a clear idea of where we're headed why we're headed there lots

16:47

of infighting and finger pointing and uh just negativity you know and

16:55

anyway so kind of stepping into that he's trying to reset that culture and a

17:02

lot of that for him starts with very clear vision for the team you know Dr

17:07

Jones and I my dad that's exactly what I was thinking about his episode on Vision we talked a lot about vision and that's

17:13

been part of what I've been working on with this team is where are we headed what do we want what do we want the team

17:20

to feel like but also at the back of my mind I'm a consultant and I'm always thinking about the health of the

17:25

practice so from a financial standpoint what do we need this team to be producing and how can we get our team

17:31

members fired up for that and so we're in the process of really reigniting a

17:37

strong culture in his practice but even in that there can be this I keep calling

17:44

it kind of the rotten apple there can be a person on the team that resists that

17:49

change or a couple of people that resist so I think about your practice and I do feel like that was very clearly what was

17:54

happening with these two individuals you never know like once I start working with a team on on changing

18:02

the culture you never know who's going to get on board with it who's going to be passionate about it and who's going

18:07

to resist and then can we switch that resistance around can we get them back

18:13

on track and I would say often times we can but sometimes we can't um which then

18:20

brings me to my third person that um basically we've done a ton of work with

18:25

resetting the culture his his practice has been through a lot of changes is um and we have done a fantastic job of kind

18:33

of getting everybody on the same page good systems he's got a great team but he had one he had one that was just a

18:42

thorn in the flesh from a culture standpoint and no matter what we did no matter how we revised her role and tried

18:49

to really accommodate her preferences and her skill set she just was a a

18:56

constant culture problem you know constant negativity uh not a productive

19:02

individual and so she'd kind of be you know pretending to be busy but then

19:07

would casually pass off work to her even though we reduced her role down to a

19:12

very manageable job she was constantly passing work off to other team members

19:18

well that doesn't feel good when you when you see your nonproductive team

19:23

member that's taking a lot of coffee breaks stepping outside all the time just MO wandering around the office

19:30

talking to people and then they're passing work off to you does not feel good it's not a good culture thing So

19:37

eventually after multiple attempts to get this person on

19:42

board he did make the difficult decision to dismiss her as well that sounds

19:47

exactly like one of ours that we and I just didn't see it because to me every

19:52

time we talked it seemed like we were on the same vision and it seemed like she was interested in helping the patient

19:59

and helping and you know being a team player like she I don't I still don't

20:05

know if she thought she was or if she was just very good at manipulating me I I don't know but it took another team

20:12

member who is very quiet keeps her nose to the ground and like doesn't stir

20:19

things up at all and it took me asking her directly okay well how are your

20:25

interactions with her and she paused and she said she's very she's

20:30

insubordinate and I was like ooh that's a big word that's that's a strong word and I said what do you mean she's like

20:36

well she you know tends to just do what she wants to do she knows this is the protocol we shouldn't have to explain

20:42

why but even after we explain why she's continues to do it the way she wants to do it and I think that for me was the

20:48

Tipping Point there that and you also had been echoing that's multiple people had echoed that sentiment and um yeah

20:56

that's exactly and to me sometimes that's the

21:01

process that we need to walk through to identify the outlier so sometimes we when you've got

21:09

a pervasive culture problem you can't really figure out what's wrong but you just know something's wrong and then you

21:15

start to try to turn the page like okay we're resetting and we are moving in a in a

21:22

different direction or in a or in a clearer Direction it may not even be a different direction it's just like we've got clarity now this is where we're

21:28

heading this is why we're heading in that direction sometimes that process in and of itself is very

21:35

clarifying because if you've got nine out of 10 people that are like behind

21:40

you you know marching behind you like they're they are with me and then you've got this one that kind of keeps me

21:47

angering off and doing her own thing or his own thing it becomes clear in that

21:52

change process like oh that's the problem there there's that problem again

21:58

and so your team members often see this before we do that they're seeing the

22:05

evidence of it and thankfully because we've got great team members are not constantly in your ear going you know

22:11

she did this and now she did that they're just quietly observing and and taking it all in and putting up with it

22:19

I think is the best way to put it and then finally the evidence becomes clear enough to the doctor or owner that it's

22:27

like ah I've got to make this change and it happened with your office and I think

22:32

we're seeing the extremely positive results of that and same thing with my client that finally let this um one

22:41

culture problem go he said it was like instantaneous the next day that there

22:48

was a lightness there was a happiness he was like there was more communication so

22:53

it had become a team that was just not talking to one another because it just

23:00

it wasn't a safe environment they didn't want to interface with this one employee

23:06

and so they all just kind of kept to themselves and kept quiet and he said

23:11

literally the next day it was like inner departmental conversations and people

23:16

kind of dropping by the front and having conversations that he said in a very positive way it wasn't a negative thing

23:22

it was like it's almost like that's what they had been waiting for and it to me

23:29

it's just such a testament to put in the effort to change and and make it clear

23:36

what the expectation is from a culture standpoint and then Watch What Happens give everybody the chance to get on

23:43

board with the new changes in the New Direction but also be willing to let

23:49

that rotten apple go if they can't assimilate okay so I'm going to ask you a really dumb question here okay

23:56

um so what what you're saying here going okay we can tell some's off and we're

24:02

going to reset culture and have we clearly defined and where's our vision

24:07

and where are we going and my question to that is I would assume like in my

24:15

mind the whole reason I've started this practice and I show up is to help my

24:20

patients so to me like do the rest does the rest of Team

24:25

not get that like isn't the point is to get a patient in the door if they are

24:31

already in good dental health great we need to maintain you in great Dental Health we'll see you in 6 months and for

24:36

those of you that have a cavity we need to get you on the schedule to get that cavity fixed and then we'll see you in 6

24:42

months like to me what is there to Vision with that you know what I mean like that's the vision we are fixing

24:49

teeth to make sure we have oral health yeah so to say we're going to reset that Vision okay well I didn't change

24:56

anything I was thinking I was still thinking I'm showing up here to Y take

25:01

care of people's mouths cuz that's what I'm trained to do you know what I mean so so what can you can you kind of clarify like what does that mean to

25:07

reset the vision yes because isn't the vision or like when Dr Jones was talking about the vision like I see what he's

25:13

saying but I guess when I was trying to apply that to myself I was going well my vision when I started my practice was I

25:21

want to be able to do great dentistry and the practice that I practiced in allowed me to do that where I didn't

25:28

have to you know sedate kids if I did if they didn't need to be sedated I didn't I

25:34

wasn't asked to do weird combos of sedatives I wasn't asked to Papo children I wasn't asked to pulpotomy

25:40

everything like it was really just take care of these children and that's what I knew to do and that's what I wanted to do um and then because I didn't want to

25:48

live out here in the wilderness I was like yes I was like okay I I could have

25:54

easily been an associate in somebody else's practice I never had a vision of starting my own cuz it sounded like

25:59

frankly quite a pain in the ass and I haven't been proven wrong on that clearly but my my thought was if I join

26:07

another practice and they ask me to pulpotomy everything or or or so I'm

26:13

going to go start my own where somebody's thumb isn't over my head bossing me to do something that I don't want to do yeah but the point is still

26:21

to help patient and that's what I'm there for so that's the vision is to

26:26

help my patient so what for those of us that are struggling with that going how could the vision have

26:32

changed like you know when you talked about in your pra in your podcast with your dad yeah like suddenly you find

26:38

yourself doing procedures you don't want to do I guess because the vision was I'm

26:44

going to you know do this different in my practice than my when I was an associate but now I guess I didn't

26:52

clearly set out that I only wanted to work these hours or I only want to do these procedures or now because of my

26:57

bank loan I've got to see all of this stuff and I've got to see kids that I don't want to see and like is that what

27:03

you're talking about how the vision goes off course yeah so that's one way but taking it back to employees and the

27:08

culture I guess I'm still struggling with going where where what else do you want me to say I want to take care of

27:15

these kids in an ethical fashion why do I need to restate that I guess is my question I I agree and I

27:22

think a lot of times the vision to me is yes patient care is

27:28

kind of the easiest place to start because it's very tangible it's like are we doing the procedures that we like are

27:34

we it does the feeling of the day as far as the busyness of it does that fit what

27:40

we like or or not um so yes there's that clinical component to it but to me

27:46

vision goes beyond that that's kind of our starting point in figuring out if

27:52

this practice is what we want it to be so quickly before I make my next point

27:59

if for example a practice owner is like yeah I've got a practice that's way too

28:06

busy every day I'm walking in stressed out cuz there's way too many patients on the schedule but that day barely gets me

28:15

to the production that I need okay well we've got a vision problem at that point because you want a

28:22

production that pays the bills but the way that your schedule is run is wearing

28:28

you flat out okay well then we've got to figure out how we change it either we're not scheduling effectively where there's

28:35

enough production on the schedule or insurance is you know dragging us down and we've got to rethink that and be

28:43

able to run a practice that has a slower Pace but is more productive per patient so there's all those like are we on

28:50

point with that Vision but to me vision goes beyond just the patient care

28:56

component and moves into to the type of environment we're trying to create for

29:01

our team and also for our families so I always call it like the personality of

29:07

the business I can see those personalities very clearly as a consultant because of the practices I

29:12

step into just as easily as I sit across from somebody and can pretty pretty much

29:18

on point hit their personality I can walk into a practice and get a general feel for the personality of the business

29:25

like for example yours is more of a light fun happy vibrant we're you know

29:32

we're going to have fun socks that we wear and t-shir take ourselves too seriously there's not a you know Uber

29:40

serious professional like quiet environment it's a f and you can sense that even from the decor when you walk

29:46

in there's a fun nature to it and then the way team members are dressed that

29:51

reinforces the same fun nature so that's kind of more of the personality of the business and so is that personality

29:58

of the business what we want it to be or is it not so we've got the patient care component component but then we've got

30:06

oh I've got this Uber stiff quiet you know we've got like elevator music playing in the background and I

30:12

just feel uncomfortable in my own office okay well what environment do you want to be in the office and how do we begin

30:19

to change that um and so that's what your patients certainly experience but

30:24

that's also what your team experiences but then you take that to the next level and you go okay great like for your

30:30

practice I want a super uber fun environment happy you know

30:35

energetic we want to laugh and have fun but we want to be extra efficient we can

30:42

have fun but we're not going to be toting around all the time like fun has a limit we've got work to do so I would

30:50

say while you've got a fun vibrant atmosphere you also want team members that are naturally productive if they're

30:58

of fun is okay great I've got 15 minutes till my next patient I'm going to go hang out and drink some coffee in the

31:03

breakroom that will not work in your office because that is not the culture that you've set and so your team then

31:12

has to calibrate towards the personality of not only the business and the environment that you want in there but

31:19

also the type of worker that you want on the team and all of that to me is

31:26

culture so a lot of times I may get into a practice where they're doing the type of Dentistry this gentleman that reached

31:32

out from the article there's nothing wrong with the productivity of his business he's like we've got a very

31:38

productive practice I'm doing the procedures that I want to do I enjoy my patience thoroughly I enjoy my patience

31:46

so he's got that set we're not going to go in there's no need for me to go in and edit anything that they're doing

31:52

from a clinical standpoint because that is his happy spot he's actually very content there what we're going to focus

31:58

on is the personality of the business and the expectations of the team members

32:03

cuz that's what's broken does that make sense that makes a a ton of sense and it's also I think it's hard when you're

32:10

your own like all you see is what's in your walls so to me now that you mention it you're right like if we do have an

32:17

employee that comes in and wants to just kind of putts around here and there and not really like go like what okay I

32:24

understand that you know you're saving these to scan in at the end of the day why you had ample opportunity to do it

32:31

throughout the day like it doesn't make sense to me that's not efficient to just sit on them at the end of the day when you could have easily just scan a in but

32:37

that's a very Kuba thing I'm very much like move move move if you find yourself standing there you're doing something

32:42

wrong and so you're right like the people that but but I wouldn't know like

32:47

to me that's Norm that's how it should be yeah but that's how it should be because that's me right versus somebody

32:54

else's practice I could go into and it could be I apparently I have a colleague that um one of my team members helps out

33:00

in her office and she's like they block an hour to do sealant and I'm just like

33:05

what are you talking about like what what are you talking about um so I think

33:10

that colleague of mine would probably come into my practice and be like are you out of your mind like I cannot keep

33:16

up with this pace you're making my head spin yeah and I'm going into her office going what the hell are you doing like

33:22

an hour for sealance I'm about to fall over out of boredom here move let's go

33:27

um so there's not a right or wrong but I think for me I kind of lose sight of

33:33

like of course it's going to be this way right but no it's going to be what that practice

33:39

owner sets the expectation for and humans function best with

33:47

expectations and sometimes we're we're like a it's simple just take care of the patients but there are a million

33:53

different ways to take care of a patient and the team really needs to know how does my doctor my boss want me to

34:02

execute so I I always go back to our with our family I've always said we've

34:07

got a little motto for our family and one of the things that is part of our

34:13

motto is serve others and so they know there's a lot of

34:19

expectations we have of them but it all centers around these three these three things that we say on repeat for our

34:25

kids and so when there are are Corrections that need to be made there's there's certain kids of ours they just

34:33

naturally serve better they're just better at it they see the need they proactively do it my husband was just

34:40

telling me about one of our sons that is just naturally gifted with this and so I

34:47

travel a lot for work and he was telling me that Manolo came he came out of the

34:52

my husband came out of getting ready and they're up early when I'm gone there's a lot to do we got goats and dogs and all

34:59

that fun stuff to take care of now and so it's very early mornings here and my husband walked out and my son had P put

35:07

all the lunches in everybody's backpacks had filled everybody's water bottles my husband said I had nothing to do cuz he

35:14

naturally went in and saw a need and did it well that is praised in our family

35:20

cuz we're like you're living up to the standard that we set for you which is to be a petty you serve others and you did

35:27

that without being asked without okay but that's a clear expectation that has been repeated to him over and over and

35:34

over and over again we lack that a lot in our dental offices because we're just like just do your

35:40

job what what is my job I don't know verify the insurance and then you know

35:45

put it in correctly and but what's the theme what do what do you want of me well we want uh the most detailed job

35:53

you can possibly do do so don't make mistakes on that verification we hate mistakes stakes in this office okay

36:00

that's that's different than just hey go verify insurance now we know hey my boss wants me to get as thorough of a

36:07

verification as I possibly can so I'm not just going to go off that fact back I'm going to actually take the

36:13

additional step of calling or logging on to the portal and looking at blah blah blah blah blah because he expects a very

36:19

detailed Insurance summary the insurance verification there's multiple levels of

36:26

expectations that can be had just just from that one task so I think in a lot of practices we talk in general

36:32

generalities like we could with our kids just be good kids just you know just be good what does that even mean okay well

36:39

in our family it's means you serve others oh okay now I'm looking for

36:44

opportunities to live that out we need that kind of clarity on our practice and

36:51

in our teams they need to know what the expectations are I think that that clarifies for me so much of what you're

36:57

saying because I think as a practice owner I I'm assuming they know what that means be a good kid or verify Insurance

37:05

yeah and to me it's like well this is what I need out of it but if I didn't tell you that right I can see where the

37:11

miscommunication has come in now yeah because there are it's such a range on every task on every task yeah and again

37:20

we don't have to go through every task just like I wouldn't say to my kids

37:25

every morning like okay serving other others so what that means is this

37:30

morning kette you're going to do this and K you're going to do this and

37:36

no serve others in general then we talk about a lot of examples of that but in

37:41

general they get so used to that concept of serving others and we talk about it so much in general that they figure out

37:47

their own ways to then execute that and that's what we do on the team we find

37:53

these themes that are really pivotal to our c culture and who we are and then we

37:59

let our team members shine like there may be certain examples where we're like well what I mean by detail oriented is

38:05

on insurance verification this this and this we may have to clarify in some situations but for the most part if we

38:12

talk about it enough and we highlight examples where our team members are living up to a certain

38:18

expectation then it becomes oh here's here's how I could be detail oriented in

38:23

this or here's how I could up my game in this and then they'll naturally start to

38:29

escalate up to that particular expectation and you're right I've seen that in my office too and our and our staff that's been around for a while

38:36

they're the ones executing it now I don't have to go and say hey can you document this can you do that they know

38:42

to do that y so yeah that that's what you're talking about like finding the right people and then as new people come

38:48

on yeah and we've coached and coached and coached and led by example and

38:53

they're still not following that example then that might be the the moment where you're like you're the outlier exactly

39:00

exactly and spotting that trying to get them because I think you put a lot of effort into these two ladies on the team

39:07

trying to get them calibrated up to that particular level and then ultimately

39:12

being willing to move on when that cuz it's not worth risking the culture to

39:19

keep trying so at some point there is an end and I think I've got you as a testament that reminds me of it's okay

39:26

to move on and then my other client that released that one um culture problem he's experiencing the same benefit of

39:32

that so um anyway I think it's a good revisit of spot your spot your rotten

39:38

apples um make sure though that they've that they know why they're rotten you've got to set a really clear environment

39:44

for why they stand out from the rest so that they have a chance to at least try to get back on track um but yeah I think

39:52

that's a good reminder and I would also say to this is one of those uh topics

39:58

we've got a lot more like tangible practical takeaways and howto like how

40:06

to do this yes which those howtos are coming in a whole new format which is

40:11

our subscriber model that will be launching here in the next few weeks and we're going to have lots of additional

40:17

tips and takeaways and just real practical next steps for people that are trying to create this so definitely tune

40:24

in if you're not a subscriber become one so that you can get those additional

40:29

[Music] how-tos okay Bethany I got to tell you about a conversation I had the other day

40:36

that I thought was so funny so I'm talking to a colleague of mine who I think is super smart and he's having

40:43

some questions about what's his next move in his professional career moves

40:48

and I said something like you know do you have somebody helping you and he knows that I work with you and so he

40:56

knew I was alluding to you and he said uh no and so I said well have you ever thought about it and he's like you know

41:02

maybe I will and I'll hire somebody and you know once I kind of figure out like all the things that they know and I

41:08

master that then I don't think I would continue with the consultant and I I just thought that was

41:15

so funny and I wanted to know cuz obviously you're said consultant and to me I was like oh yeah I bet then he has

41:20

a check list of like 10 things that she does and once I master that maybe I

41:26

haven't mastered those 10 things because I'm slow and I still need you can you

41:31

comment on any of that so the example I always use the example of professional

41:37

athletes I think of Michael Jordan I think of LeBron James and these are

41:42

people at the top of their career the top of the top and yet they still have

41:48

coaches I'm glad to hear you say that this is where you and I have worked together long enough cuz that's exactly what I said to him and I said oh okay so

41:54

LeBron doesn't have any more coaches right because he's already won so many championships he's already learned all

42:00

the things that all the coaches can help him with he just looked at me but I tell you for such a smart guy this was such a

42:07

dumb comment like it's just laughable and I don't understand why more more dentists don't take advantage of

42:13

coaching and Consulting it's laughable I'm so glad you're here and you do what you do and you are worth every penny and

42:20

please tell me you have space next year for more of your Consulting courses we do we have a couple of available so

42:28

should the hashtag be don't be a dummy call us get yourself to that Consulting crash

42:34

course as quickly as possible don't be laughable don't be laughable