What is a Directly Responsible Individual?

Check this episode out in both video and audio! Today, Dr. Kuba and Bethany discuss a foundational management strategy called “Directly Responsible Individuals” or as Kuba refers to “The Tag-You’re-It Person”. They discuss what a DRI and how it helps in managing a great team, inspiring confidence in your team members, and lightening the load on the practice owner and manager. If you want an inspiring way to get the best out of your team, listen to this episode! 

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Transcript

00:09
 Are you looking for a podcast where you can hear from real people regarding their real dental drama? If so, then you've come to the right place. Join hosts Bethany Penny and Dr. Reena Kuba as we dive into the solutions we've created and the mistakes we've made while managing dental drama. Let's get started. 

00:25
 What's up, friends? 

00:25
 Hey. Hey. Um, well, this is exciting. another live podcast. 

00:30
 What is it? People wanted to see us again. 

00:32
 I I don't get I've never watched a live podcast, so I don't know. Maybe it is like watching Oprah, though. Yeah. 

00:40
 Are we like Oprah? Please say we are. 

00:45
 Those of you watching, please compliment us and say that we're we have an Oprah quality. 

00:50
 Yes. No, but you know what I mean, like watching people talk. But it never occurred to me that people would. When you first proposed it, I was like, 

00:59
 "Okay, that's different." 

01:01
 And it wasn't even me. It was Sarah, the brains behind the operation, that was like, "Y'all really need to video." And I'm like, "Really?" 

01:08
 And here we are. We have heard from so many of our listeners that were like, "I loved it. I loved getting to see you guys." 

01:13
 And thank you guys. That is sweet and made our day. And so here we are back in without planning it. matching shirts. 

01:22
 We showed up and are in sync already. So, that means that this podcast is gonna be okay. No pressure. 

01:30
 Mind blowing. 

01:31
 Um, before we get started, I did uh I don't know if y'all can see this or not, 

01:35
 but I've got my Texas earrings and I was intentional about wearing these, okay? 

01:39
 Cuz I wanted a reminder to everybody that our leadership uh uh summit summit, 

01:45
 thank you. Our leadership summit in September is booked, ready to go, ready to be signed up for. Um, so come on over 

01:53
 to Texas. We're welcome to invite y'all on over and come join us down here in the south. And yeah, 

02:02
 just, you know, Texas in and of itself should be worth traveling for, but then to get these two bozos, I mean, 

02:11
 you know, it just really is funny how many people still have um ideas about Texas. Yes. 

02:18
 And like, are there really horses everywhere? I'm like, well, maybe out here in your next We're at Bethy's farm right now, and so maybe there are the 

02:26
 horse and buggy I passed on the way here. Oh, yeah. 

02:29
 Yeah, you might hear some come through the mic here in a minute. The naysay get ready. Anyh who, um so please uh look up that information if anybody's 

02:37
 interested. And this uh the topic I want to talk about kind of ties into that because I think um you know signing up 

02:46
 for continuing education courses, trying to decide where are we going, who are we taking? I know we've had a few podcasts on that before. like 

02:54
 you know the cost can add up and if you've got one person on the team that kind of can not be as um you're afraid 

03:03
 of the the harmony and the culture being affected all that. Anyway, um so I'm kind of getting off track here, but the 

03:09
 point was um uh each member of your team, 

03:15
 bring everybody and and I'll touch base on that uh more later, but what I wanted to talk about today was um about the team. 

03:24
 Do you have um how do you disperse tasks between team members? Is it just the 

03:31
 manager that if you have a manager, is it the manager that's doing most things? 

03:36
 And then if it's an RDA, are they just doing RDA tasks? If it's, you know, do you have people that are cross-trained? Um, 

03:45
 and who owns different tasks? So, I I don't know if there's a better way of saying this or asking this or whatever, 

03:51
 but um and and I'll of course come to where I wanted to talk about this or why, what made me think about this. Um, 

03:58
 and then when I mentioned it to you, you were like, you know, we've never talked about that. And it does come up, 

04:01
 which is crazy because it's so foundational to your practice, to a lot of practices that I work with. And I was surpris I'm like, why have we not talked 

04:10
 about I call it directly responsible individuals. Why have we not talked about that on the podcast? Because I think it's so pivotal to 

04:18
 raising up a good team, having invested team members, reducing stress on the plate of the practice owner and manager. 

04:26
 So, yeah. So I I've already in true fashion to myself um have been all over the place. So just to kind of come back and and clear be more clear about what 

04:34
 we're talking about here today, the point was like are your team members a equipped 

04:42
 to take on tasks that are helpful for the practice? 

04:47
 Are they um interested in helping with different things outside of their roles? what are the benefits and 

04:57
 maybe disadvantages of farming out tasks to people? 

05:01
 Um, so I think that's where the tendency is, at least I would imagine, or possibly where I was early on was I 

05:09
 don't trust anybody in my office to do anything. I've got to do it all myself. 

05:13
 Um, and I think that's pretty uh common for especially new owners. Yeah. 

05:19
 And then you hit a point where you're like, I am just burnt out. What was I thinking? what was I doing? 

05:25
 And those early years, you know, years 3, four, five, where you're whatever you started has changed by year three or four 

05:33
 because your systems worked when you only had this small tiny patient base, 

05:38
 but then you grow, which is what you want is a good thing. And then you get to a point where you're like, "This doesn't work anymore. We've got to 

05:45
 change some things." And then now you've got more things to do. and do you 

05:52
 have enough people to help you? Do you trust those people? How do you equip those people? You're almost burnt out yourself. 

06:00
 Um I think for us it kind of became a little bit more natural in our flow once you brought in the concept of team leads. 

06:06
 And so for me where I like it um and like it meaning like having different people responsible for 

06:15
 different things. 

06:23
 So like you got excited about this topic. 

06:25
 So tell me what 

06:32
 I really did. And so there's several things that I like about this topic that you mentioned the idea of a young 

06:40
 practice and it's not as necessary early on. But in all honesty, this idea of having different people responsible for 

06:49
 different tasks is beyond just task management. 

06:54
 So even though the plate might not be overwhelming early on in a 

07:00
 new practice, it's still the idea of if you give people responsibility, 

07:09
 over time that gets to be mundane and monotonous and it doesn't inspire creativity. 

07:17
 I almost think of like if somebody were to show up to an assembly line or a factory and just do the same exact thing over and over again, at some 

07:24
 point that's boring. And so there's something exciting about the idea of passing off tasks and allowing somebody 

07:32
 to become the expert in that. 

07:41
 actually telling somebody, I believe in you and I think you can do this or I think you can become the expert on this 

07:49
 or you have a capacity to to grow in this area. 

07:56
 to being a hygienist. Maybe it's practice management and you're not a manager, but you seem to really be interested in this and I want to give 

08:04
 you the opportunity to do that. 

08:10
 also something that is inspiring and ends up creating teams that I think are 

08:17
 more on fire, higher caliber teams because there's more expectations of those team members, 

08:23
 which is counterintuitive in a way like you I think for me my hesitation always is well are they going to be like what else do you want me to do? 

08:30
 Yeah. 

08:38
 Um although then you do hear like if you go outside of dental things and you look at just you know any 

08:46
 corporation or anything they're always like you know delegate things to your team let them feel you know quit 

08:54
 micromanaging let them get their footing in the ground and give you their opinions and do all that and and I will 

09:04
 say has it worked out all the time no I have had people that are like it's too much I don't want to do this I just want to do my assisting and go home or I 

09:11
 or is it everybody's fighting over what they deem the glamorous tasks? Nobody wants to be in charge of all the OSHA 

09:18
 compliance. Everybody would rather do the marketing whatever. nobody wants 

09:30
 I mean to me it's like who's it on this task and uh what I like about that is it's really helpful in downtime. 

09:38
 So if you're a clinical person and now spring break is over and it's testing week at school and we know there's like five patients on the schedule. 

09:46
 Yeah. 

09:51
 Rather than send everybody home, everybody has their tasks to work on. 

10:02
 Yes. Yes. Um and uh so Natalie gifted me these.

10:06
 Anyway, Natalie is now like my um something even as simple as the uniforms we're wearing in the office cuz

10:14
 we change like we have an office shirt that we wear for a couple of months and it changes every year and then we've got like if if some if I see a cute shirt I'm like, "Hey, y'all want to wear this?

10:24
 Let's incorporate this." It's like in the fall we do cowboys on Fridays. So,

10:29
 are we doing cowboys with black scrub bottoms? Are we doing cowboys with jeans? Well, it depends. What else are we wearing the rest of the week? all of that.

10:37
 I'm like, Nat, you're the coordinator. Yeah. Nat, you tell us what we're wearing.

10:41
 And so if somebody comes and asks me and says, hey, what's the uniform? I'm like,

10:44
 I have no idea. And I don't I don't want that on my plate, first of all. Yeah. Second of all, like I don't really care.

10:51
 Just show up covered. Like, I don't care. But from a polished looking perspective, I do have team members. Thank goodness somebody cares, right?

11:00
 And team members that are like, "No, we need to look more cohesive." We do.

11:03
 Okay. Well, then who who's in charge of that? I don't want to have to micromanage that and be like, "The rest of us wore our pink shirts and you wore blue." Like,

11:13
 Nat, you're in charge of that. You're in charge of making sure everybody knows.

11:16
 So, literally, even the other day, we had our patient appreciation event on Saturday. And so on Thursday, Friday,

11:23
 whatever. One of my kids was asking something, "What time will we be done or what time will we be home? What time do we need to get there?" And I'm like, "I don't know. Hang on, let me ask that."

11:33
 And my kid literally snickered. She's like, "Yeah." And I was like, "What?"

11:38
 And she's like, "I just love how Miss Natalie knows more about your events than you do." And I was like, "As it should be."

11:44
 As it should be. Like I literally, this is our one big event of the year. We do a lot of little things. It's our one big event. Our patients know about it. We

11:52
 spend a lot of money on it. And I show up. I don't know any about because we've

11:59
 done it now. The same people are in charge. They knew what worked the year before that. Even when I got there, like somebody had an idea and they're like,

12:07
 "Oh, we need to do this next year." Okay, they're going to look it up. They're going to bring me the cost.

12:12
 They're going to bring me all of that and I'm going to let them. I'm going to let them. Great. That's your idea. It if it's if it's not ridiculously cost

12:19
 prohibitive and it's not if it makes somewhat sense, even if it's something that I wouldn't necessarily care about or but I'm like great. It gives them this feel of authority,

12:30
 ownership, pride. Um, like I said, it's not all the time. I've had plenty of,

12:36
 you know, I had a manager once that kind of got burnt out on it and and didn't like all the extra. On the other hand, she did like that.

12:45
 There were a lot of things where I was like, I'm not doing that without checking in with her.

12:49
 Um, so it does give that now you've got to foster that and and how do you let go? Mhm.

12:55
 I think that's a problem for a lot of us is how do we hand over the reigns? How much? I can't just be completely hands off. I've got to have some to win this.

13:04
 But for me, it's like, okay, if I'm doing 20%, you're doing 80. That is a huge win. If I'm doing 60%, but you covered 40,

13:12
 great. That's 100. That's, you know, 40%

13:15
 I didn't have to do. I didn't have to do 100% myself.

13:17
 Exactly. And I think you're exactly right. You said the word ownership that I think is important here. Anything that we put our name on, we often feel pride

13:27
 in. Like you think about kids bringing home assignments or projects that they did and how excited they are to show like, "Oh, look what I did." And it's

13:35
 it's almost like that childlike tendency that we have to create something that's cool that we did or that we were

13:42
 responsible for. It feels good. Um, and that feeling of ownership is something that we want our team to feel as much as possible. Maybe it's not a daily thing.

13:52
 Maybe, even though I know this is not true about Nat, but if Nat only did the patient appreciation day event, then

13:59
 that means for a few months out of the year, she's feeling really good about herself because that's her only task. I know that's not true, but if it were,

14:08
 it's like at least for a few months,

14:10
 she's got a break, so to speak, from her only value being an RDA,

14:17
 and then she gets to be responsible for and be recognized for something else.

14:23
 But to your point, I think it can't just be like, I'm done with this task. Here,

14:29
 Nat, it's you. take it and run with it because she has a greater chance of failing at that task which is counter to

14:36
 what we want to create. So, we've got to think about this DRRi program or concept as something as a way to get things off

14:43
 our plate, but also a way to build the confidence of somebody else on your team, which means you have to give them

14:49
 a recipe to follow or at least direction so that what they create is something that they're proud of and also you're

14:57
 like, "That was a job well done."

15:06
 And so sometimes it takes time to figure out what you're going to pass off and how you're going to pass off. And you have

15:10
 to actually invest the time to make sure that you've got meetings with them.

15:18
 Let's say that you always manage the patient appreciation day event and you're finally handing that off. There's going to be a lot of stuff that you know

15:26
 that needs to be transferred over to whoever is taking it over. Or heaven forbid Nat moves to Canada and she needs

15:31
 to pass it off to somebody else. There either needs to be built-in redundancy,

15:38
 which there is on your team where Nat's not the only one that does patient appreciation day, but there's other key team members that are involved with it,

15:45
 or Nat would need to set somebody else up for success in that, which

15:50
 So now you mentioned the redundancy. So I think the other benefit of that is yeah if somebody ends up in a car accident,

15:50
 somebody ends up moving, somebody whatever that you're not reinventing the wheel every time or that you're completely stuck cuz I was the only person that knew where something was.

16:00
 Like I never like to find myself in that situation. But also, I think this is where personalities, you knowing your

16:07
 team and their personalities and their strengths and weaknesses really starts um becoming helpful and important.

16:16
 So, say Natalie is a super um uh she's not, but let's say she's a super like fllegmatic. She's not a

16:24
 flematic, but if y'all remember, flmatic was like kind of you're more laidback.

16:28
 You're I'm not getting ruffled. I'm going to get my system. I'm going to get it going. Uh, but a flaggmatic typically has not so uh great sense of urgency.

16:37
 Yeah. Tend to be more path of least resistant. Slower paced.

16:41
 Slower paced. Um, not great communicators. Yeah.

16:45
 So, if if that was Natalie, so then she's got everything in her head and then now she has to move. Or let's say

16:53
 she's not moving, but now the rest of the team, she's got this great event planned, but the rest of us didn't know to tell patients about it because she never told us.

17:03
 Yeah. Because she wasn't a great communicator.

17:06
 Um I think this is where when you do have like, okay, Nat's lead on this, but who who are Nat's who are Nat's

17:14
 assistants? Yeah. Who are Nat's sub people? because I feel like I I think almost any task we have in the office,

17:22
 it's really one person doing it, we're going to miss um a better way of doing

17:30
 it. And it's all I mean, even like with me, if if there's something that I'm doing, I'm like, okay, well, I can do the these parts of the task, like these

17:39
 seven steps of the task, I think I've got. These other three I'm going to struggle with regardless of what it is. So, who's my

17:46
 even treatment planning? You I'm looking at these X-rays. This is what I'm thinking. Hey, this I love working with an associate. Hey, Dr. Lee, can you look at this and tell me what you think about this?

17:55
 Even though I've got many years on Dr.

17:58
 Lee. He's been practicing about three-ish years now, three, four.

18:02
 Um, but to me, that's still exceedingly valuable to get another set of eyes on something, right? So, you're all it's good to have like a backup there. Mhm.

18:10
 And so for the things that Nat's going to do well, but then the things that say Nat is not a super organized person. Yeah.

18:17
 And she's going to forget these couple of details some having somebody else in there with her. So now two people know what's going on should one person get sick or move or whatever. But it's also

18:26
 you're using the strength of multiple people.

18:29
 Yeah. No. And pairing properly with that because I think to your point, if if Nat's a flaggmatic and not a great communicator, then the second person you

18:38
 would want involved in that task is a high communication person,

18:42
 which then balances out the potential weaknesses of Nat. And then also it creates that built-in redundancy where Nat's not the only one that knows about

18:50
 the details, but we've also got another person. So again, kills two birds with one stone.

18:55
 Yes, I agree completely. Um, I forgot what I was just about to say. Sorry about No, no, no, no. Um

19:02
 Um, anyway, this this got brought up in like what what what I was telling you and you were like, you know, we haven't talked about this. So, this was just

19:11
 yesterday. We have a team member that um at at sometime in the fall had said

19:18
 something about possibly getting another job because she needed more hours. And I was like, "Whoa, whoa, before you do that, like there's always stuff to be done around here."

19:27
 And then we found out in January at the end of January that we have our one of our main front desk who's leaving going to go have our baby and then not come

19:35
 back to work. So I was like, "Okay, what do we do here? Who else do I have equipped in the office to be able to help at the front or potential of being equipped,

19:44
 right? And or or do I need to hire somebody else? We're pretty heavily staffed right now,

19:51
 but we were very clinical heavy. We've got four part-time hygienists. At that time, we had five RDAs.

19:59
 We also had the two offices. We shut down the one office, right? So, it's like, okay, I've got all these people,

20:03
 but none are really equipped. They're not full front desk people. 

20:09
 Okay. Well, do I need to get full front desk person? Right. I don't know, Bethany. What do you think? Okay. Now, 

20:14
 let's look at who we have. You have done, you know, answering phones before in another office. You have done um 

20:23
 insurance verification in another office. You I have no idea what you know and don't know, but maybe you would be 

20:31
 good at this. Maybe you wouldn't. I don't know. You don't know either. Okay. 

20:35
 Well, let's see what happens. Then we did our compensation reviews. What are your goals? And it came out that there were certain people that needed more hours. 

20:43
 Yeah. 

20:44
 Okay. So, to me, I'm like, could we kill multiple birds with one stone rather than having to hire a whole new person, which y'all know how that goes. Like, 

20:52
 where am I going to find said person? 

20:54
 Then am I going to be able to afford them? Then are they going to be able to learn our systems? Then are they going to be a nice culture fit? I I'm just like, uh, I don't It's exhausting. 

21:03
 It's exhausting. I don't know that I want to bring somebody else on right now. Especially when the one we're losing is so pivotal. She's so adored in 

21:12
 the whole office. like whoever's going to come in is going to have huge shoes to fill on multiple like not just from a uh knowledge standpoint, but from a 

21:21
 culture standpoint. So, so I'm really wary of bringing somebody in. Okay, can we make this work? We've got about three people here that want a lot more hours. 

21:30
 These two have had some front desk experience. What could we do to train them up? what could we do to even if they're not ever going to be full 

21:38
 proficient front people, which they don't want to be. They're clinical people and they would rather do that, 

21:43
 but they're willing to step up and help to get the hours. 

21:47
 So, now we're going to play. We're going to play and see how much can we train you on, how far can you get us? Might you take over 100% of the insurance 

21:54
 verification? Probably not. Could you do 50% and save the the insurance verifier 50% of her time? Maybe. Let's try. 

22:02
 Anyway, so as we're going along, one of the RDAs who had initially said in the fall that she wanted more hours, when you come back in January, and she's 

22:10
 like, "Well, actually, my kid made the volleyball team and my sitter this and blah blah blah that, so I actually can't pick up all of these extra hours." Okay. 

22:19
 Well, the reason we put her to pick up more front stuff is because in previous jobs she's had, she has done a lot more 

22:26
 variety of front desk stuff and she wanted the hours. Well, now she doesn't really want the hours anymore. All right. And I've got two others that do. 

22:33
 Great. Let's swap y'all out. 

22:35
 And you two, I can't promise how long I'll keep you in that role. It's going to be how well do you learn it. Mhm. 

22:42
 How many mistakes are you making? How many times we have to retrain you on the same things? And from your side, when are you going, "Oh yeah, I'm gung-ho. 

22:49
 I'll learn how to make estimates." And now you get in there and you're like, "I hate this. I'm not good at this." So all with the understanding that we're all 

22:56
 playing and experimenting here. you keep me posted on what you're thinking and what's making you miserable and what you want to learn more about. Maybe you love 

23:04
 insurance verification and that never occurred to you. You never thought you would. So, let's continue to explore. 

23:09
 So, anyway, that's been going on since February. We're now in almost May. And I've had one team member that I've heard 

23:18
 just little rumblings here and there and I'm like, I don't really know what to make of this. And my thought was, is it 

23:25
 time for her to go? Is she being a pain in everybody's side with just her little commentary here and there and kind of 

23:32
 some remarks that or is the team being too sensitive? Do they just not like her and now they're picking on her? You know, I'm trying to explore figure out where all that's going. So, um, 

23:42
 yesterday she came to me at the end of the day and was like, "Oh, can I talk to you?" And I never like that, right? To me, I'm like anxietyinducing. 

23:50
 Yes. Talk to me. Like, what what is it? 

23:53
 And, you know, we'd had a long day. I was like, "Okay." And these things are never quick. Can I talk to you for just a second? It's never quick, right? 

24:00
 Whether that's my fault or their fault, 

24:02
 I don't know. But either way, it's never quick. 

24:06
 And so I was like, I don't know. We've got this emergency patient coming in. I don't know if I have time for this. 

24:10
 You're just going to have to find me later. But in my mind, I'm like, I think she's quitting. I think that's what's happening here cuz I've been hearing these about these rumblings for about 3 

24:17
 or 4 weeks and I need to And maybe it's good. Maybe it's good. Off you go. 

24:21
 Because if you're irritating the rest of the team and you're destroying the culture, maybe it's time for you to go. 

24:25
 You're telling me you're giving me your two weeks, which kind of sucks cuz we're about to hit summer. 

24:30
 Whatever. Fine. Just rip the band-aid off. Get it over with. So, I kind of like didn't want it to linger and fester though. Like, if she's about to quit, 

24:38
 better for you to know sooner. Sooner than later, and let's figure out a plan and whatever. So, we dealt with the emergency patient. We're about to leave. 

24:46
 She was briefing me on something and I I said, "Hey, do you want me to text you? Like, what did you want to talk about?" You know, and I had to get out of there, 

24:55
 too. So, I was like, I don't want to open this huge can of worms, but if you're about to quit, say I'm quitting and end of story and I'll be on my way. 

25:02
 So, she said, "Yeah, I can tell you now real quick. I mean, it shouldn't take that long." So, already I'm like, "Okay, it's what I was thinking." and she goes, 

25:11
 "Well, you know, I I feel like I'm not really part of the group." 

25:19
 And so that's not what I was waiting. So, or I was almost kind of like, "Okay, 

25:22
 so that's her segue out. Like, I don't feel like I'm embraced here, so I'm going to I'm out." 

25:28
 And so, I kind of was like, "What?" And she said, "Well, you know, like the two girls who are now taking over front stuff, 

25:35
 they have their things. And then Natalie has her things. And you know, I help the front person, you know, confirm calls 

25:43
 and do this. I help so- and so with the retention reactivation calls. I help soand so with whatever." And I just then 

25:51
 I finally stopped and looked at her. I was like, "So, what you're saying is you want your own task." And she's like, 

25:58
 "Yeah, I want my own task." Which Bethany, I kind of was like, I had that completely wrong. Wrong.

Like, how did I miss this? 

26:08
 But I I I just wasn't expecting that from her. 

26:12
 And so I said, "Okay." And then the more I thought about it afterwards, I was like, 

26:16
 in the fall, we kind of told her she would be the one to take on more of the front. 

26:22
 But then like with her cutting her hours and then some rumblings and she wasn't getting along with the other front person and she wasn't getting along with this RDA and now she's not getting along 

26:29
 with that RDH and I'm just like you're just causing trouble. And now that I think about it, I think it's her. I think she feels like she's the peeon. 

26:40
 Yeah. So it's like if Jenny took over, you know, 

26:46
 doing whatever confirming patience and now Jenny wants to do this. Hey, you take over these few or you do 

26:55
 sterilization because I've got this or you get to see the last couple of patients cuz I've got my marketing task to work on. And I think she was just I'm 

27:04
 betting, she didn't say it, but the more I thought about it, I'm like, I'm betting you anything. She feels like I'm just the grunt work person. The stuff 

27:11
 that nobody else wants to do, that's what I'm getting. I'm being punished for some reason. And is it just cuz I wanted to cut some hours back and everybody else has something but I don't? Yeah. 

27:21
 And I I was just like, "Oh, well, I totally I I love that. 

27:28
 There's always things that need to be done." Yeah. So, you're telling me you want to be the responsible one and you want to have your tasks? Yes. That's 

27:36
 what I'm saying. Okay. Well, I love that. Yeah. So, which shows the the lack of it, right? So, it's like when you 

27:43
 have a team that you've had this concept for a long time of this person does this and those are always in flux, too. you might add something to somebody's plate 

27:52
 or say, "Hey, I now want you to learn this." So that's been such a part of your culture that she was recognizing, I'm not included in that. 

28:01
 And I think you and I were on the fringes of thinking, is she in, is she out, and therefore we're not passing 

28:09
 task to her. And then therefore, we've got some of the grumbling or the negativity from her because she feels like I'm unimportant on this team. I don't have something that's fine. 

28:20
 And it was like flash back six months ago, it wasn't like that because the other two RDAs that are now more front 

28:28
 and center at that point, we didn't know that so and so was leaving. So, we didn't need that. And so, like Natalie 

28:36
 has certain cuz Natalie's my longest RDA, so she's got her things. And then the other two RDAs kind of have like they help Natalie with stuff, but they're not primary on a lot of things. 

28:47
 But just since January, so now three of the four RDAs have their thing and she's the one. And I think that's where a lot more of this has come from. 

28:57
 Yeah. 

28:57
 Um and so I just was like, I totally missed this. Yeah. 

29:02
 I had written her off. I thought she was quitting. Yeah. Um so anyway, I told her, I said, "Hey, 

29:08
 yes, uh make your list. Give me a list of things that you think you would be good at, things that you would want more 

29:15
 information on." and let me see what we can put together for you. But I love the initiative. I love that you're willing to help. Yeah. 

29:23
 And uh yeah, if that's what you're ready to do, I think that's fantastic. The other thing for me, it's always in my mind, it's longevity. 

29:31
 If you feel like you are important, if you feel um like you are you are invested in a practice, you are going to 

29:38
 want to take over something and nurture it and guide it. and like we all brainstorm together on this and so you 

29:47
 do have some ownership in the practice as opposed to I'm just coming in and clocking in and out, right? And uh so I I was very pleased. 

29:55
 Yeah. 

29:56
 That she and I'm hoping we see a turnaround uh once she has that confidence boost of like, oh no, they're happy to give me 

30:03
 something. And some people don't I think your suggestion is really important here because some people are like, okay, how do I do this in my practice? where do I 

30:11
 even start? And it could be something as simple as have each team member make a list of things that they're really 

30:18
 interested in learning more about or areas of the practice that they feel really confident like they know a lot more or areas of the practice where they have ideas. It could be as simple as, 

30:29
 hey, what are some of the ideas that you've had for the practice over the last six months? And even just seeing what ideas they've had can give you an idea of what they're passionate about. 

30:41
 Um, so it could start with just that kind of dialogue. It could be a sheet that you have them fill out and then you're evaluating it and going, "Okay, 

30:49
 what do I see in this person as potential and how then can I assign tasks accordingly?" And I would say 

30:56
 start small. If you haven't done this concept, then it's like we may want to start with one task or one area of 

31:04
 expertise and just let that brew for a while so that the person doesn't feel overwhelmed by all these additional 

31:10
 tasks but feels excited about it. What I love too about this concept is you mentioned it earlier and I wanted to 

31:18
 come back to it when your daughter asked you what time are we supposed to be there and you're like oh I don't know let me ask natt 

31:18
 come back to it when your daughter asked you what time are we supposed to be there and you're like oh I don't know let me ask natt 

the idea of DRI is that there's always a point person that is an expert in that

31:31
 category so I've got a a large practice um that I work with 28 

31:40
 team members no manager, no leader on the team, but each department, hygiene 

31:48
 department, RDA department, business department, they every single person in that department has a responsibility or 

31:57
 something that they're expert in. So while we don't have leaders or managers in the practice, there's um trainers in 

32:06
 each department. So a hygienist has a designated trainer, RDA and business team. And this trainer is responsible if somebody new comes into that department. 

32:17
 They are the trainer, but also they set up monthly meetings for each department. 

32:22
 So they're the ones like hygiene department has a monthly meeting. The trainer is the one that puts that on the schedule, communicates to everybody um 

32:30
 and puts together an agenda. So they gather topics from the other hygienists on the team, put that into an agenda. 

32:37
 They gather topics from the doctor, put that into agenda. So they're not training in that meeting, but they're organizing the training. So then if 

32:45
 somebody's like, "Hey, when's our next hygiene meeting?" Oh, I don't know. Let me ask the trainer. Um, and that's just one position in that department. 

32:55
 Everybody else also has expertise. And so to me, this concept works microscopically. If you got a a team of three team members like doctor, 

33:05
 assistant, business team, 

33:09
 there can still be this concept of oh, I don't know that's going to be Sally's department. Oh, I don't know that's going to be Suz's expertise. And you 

33:17
 still develop this idea of let me punt to this person cuz I think one of the mentally exhausting things for a practice owner or a manager is that 

33:26
 you're always the person that's on the receiving end of the question. So, I don't know if y'all's family works like this, but I and my husband can be in the 

33:34
 same room and the kids all come to me with the question, "Hey, mom, this, 

33:39
 "Hey, mom that. Hey." And I'm sitting there and I'm like looking at my husband like, "Hi." And so, finally, I'll say, 

33:46
 "I don't know. That's your dad's area of expertise." Or, "I don't know anything about that. You're going to have to ask him." So, I deflect and defer, which is 

33:55
 so freeing in the moment because a lot of times they're coming to me with questions that he would be better suited to answer, but they just naturally come 

34:02
 to me. So, for the leaders in the practice to have somebody go, you know, 

34:06
 I don't know, that's better suited to go ask so- and so about it. They're going to get a better answer because that person feels like that's their domain. 

34:15
 And also every time that team member is asked a question from somebody else, 

34:19
 it's confidence boosting like I do know about this. This is my area of expertise. So I just think whether it's 

34:27
 a small team or this works on very large teams, it's a good concept to have in place. I think what would make me nervous if I was listening to somebody 

34:36
 if I was listening to you say that is especially for the small office well any size my fear always is what if that 

34:44
 person leaves yeah or what if that person moves or whatever um especially if you're a small team and you're like man like I already have 

34:53
 Jenny who is having to answer the phones and do the marketing and chairside assist and call the lab and do all of these things what more can I put on her 

35:02
 plate Um, and then what if the um corporation down the street takes her and now all of 

35:09
 my eggs left there? I'm going to suggest that can happen, but that's where we talk about having your built-in backup. 

35:18
 Mhm. 

35:19
 So, if you're a smaller office, it may be where you're just like, there is no way I would send Suzie out to go market. Yeah. 

35:25
 There's no way. That's not going to be in her wheelhouse, whatever. But at least if she knows some of the system and can get the marketing basket teed up because she knows what Jenny used to do. 

35:35
 Um, so it it really does it it can still work. Yeah. 

35:39
 Um, I think I remembered what I was going to say before was the other reason I like that point person is because if nobody owns it, if 

35:48
 everybody owns it, nobody owns it. And so for me it's like hey can you three RDAs work on I don't know the 

35:59
 compliance binder of making sure everything is um the expiration dates on all the products are still yeah good and then you come back and you're 

36:08
 like wait who addressed this one? Oh well I thought she was doing it. Oh well right like we we just experienced that 

36:15
 not too long ago. came in, you came in and you were like, "Hey, we're going to do this campaign and April May a boost patient because April May is very slow 

36:22
 in our office in a ped's office." And then we realized like we just kind of sent the email, but we never gave a point person like you are in charge of 

36:30
 this. Not that that person is the one who has to do all the steps. 

36:33
 Yeah. But you are the one who if you are going to create the marketing flyer for it. 

36:41
 But then so and so is going to be the one who you know the AR person needs to know because if we're offering discounts 

36:49
 on sealants, she can't turn around and build the patient for when they came in during the promo time. 

36:53
 So it's like who is doing all of these little pieces? So you're the head of this octopus doesn't mean you're doing 

37:01
 all the things. The little tentacles are busy doing stuff, but at the end, you are the one, whoever is your DRRi on that is the person who's in charge of that and ultimately responsible. 

37:10
 Yes. 

37:11
 And your point person, they're the ones that are focused on the deadline and and even if there's subtasks that have been 

37:19
 delineated out, ultimately they become the person responsible for those. So, it does create clarity, which again allows 

37:26
 people to be successful. if they don't have clarity or don't know, am I the one doing this or then they they're 

37:33
 unsuccessful in it. So, I do think having it clears up communication. It really does. And 

37:42
 I think that alone makes it worth it. I think the next thing that people might be thinking is like I don't know like what if what if the flaggmatic one is 

37:49
 the one that's like oh I'll go out and do these marketing baskets or flip side what if we're like hm the only one really with more time on her plate is 

37:57
 Susie who who would go we're not going to set Susie up for success if we go send her out if she's a flaggmatic and she's not your natural like let's go 

37:57
 Susie who who would go we're not going to set Susie up for success if we go send her out if she's a flaggmatic and she's not your natural like let's go 

38:05
 meet people I'm excited about this then Susie's going to fail Susie's not going to want to do it it's not going to be done well then you're going to sit and 

38:13
 wonder why like we did all these marketing efforts and none of these people are contacting us. 

38:18
 Well, yeah, cuz you sent a dud in there who didn't really engage with anybody, just kind of dropped the basket there. Didn't go over, hey, we're a pediatric dental office. This is what we specialize in. 

38:28
 This is what we can help you with. This is what she just dropped off the basket and left. Yeah. Yeah. That was a waste of time. Um, now to me, 

38:37
 it's like, am I sending my most sanguin team member out? In my case, most of my sanguins are not detail- oriented. 

38:44
 So, they're going to go out there, but then they're going to forget to put in like business cards in the basket. 

38:49
 Again, that Yeah, you connected and you chatted with that other front desk for 45 minutes. Y'all are besties now. 

38:54
 But does that person even know where you came from? 

38:57
 They have no idea you came from Kuba's office. You could have been from the pediatrician for all anybody knows. 

39:02
 Cuz you didn't. You weren't strategic in your So, having to sometimes Yeah. It's like, do I need to do I need to like 

39:10
 double down on this? Like I I've got to pay two people to go do this now. May as well just do it myself. I think that's where we and that's not try to find the 

39:19
 people. So like if you know that Susie is going to be the one who's going to be more diligent and like going, hey, you know, Jenny's going to forget the pen, 

39:26
 she's going to forget this, forget that. 

39:29
 Susie is getting it ready and then Jenny, you're going and these are your talking points. Yeah, it that's to me we have to attend to natural proficiency 

39:38
 with each person and whoever the flegmat flaggmatic flegmatic personality is can still get the prep 

39:46
 work done where your super sanguin is not going to be good at the prep work. 

39:50
 So they can still be involved but ultimately you're sending out the person who's going to be successful in it. And I will say on a super small team, if you 

39:59
 don't have enough of a diverse personality, it's like, okay, maybe you can't pass off marketing. Maybe as a 

40:06
 practice owner, you know that unfortunately you're going to be the only one that's equipped to go out and market because the others are not 

40:15
 personable enough. That's okay. Pass off what you can say, "Hey, I'm going to go out marketing. I'm going to be dropping 

40:22
 off to this, this, and this. Can y'all put together some ideas on what I can drop off and let's meet on that next week and you can bring your ideas to me. 

40:32
 Okay, these are your ideas. Great. I actually like this idea. Can you go ahead and go order that? Get that ready to go for me. So, they can still support 

40:40
 you in it, but maybe you're the only one that's equipped to go out. So, that's another thing to think about is not everything has to be passed off. On a 

40:48
 large team, I would say absolutely. If Sally's not equipped, there's going to be another person that can be equipped and you can pass off a lot more. But on 

40:56
 a small team, even if you're passing things off your plate that then free you up to go marketing more, that's still a win for the practice ultimately. 

41:05
 Any other thoughts on this? Uh, I think the only other question I had was like, 

41:10
 what if Jenny thinks she is really good and now Doc, you're not listening to my ideas and I suggested this, but you 

41:18
 didn't like it. And in my mind, I'm like, "Yeah, that's dumb." Yeah. 

41:20
 Because that's either going to cost me too much or flip side, like I I once had um this is early early on and uh I said 

41:29
 something about, you know, can you stop by this office? And I was very specific. 

41:33
 Take We have Einstein's bagels down here. take a bagel bucket. These are the cream cheeses. Like go take this to this office. And then like the next week, whatever, 

41:42
 the person, you know, my staff of one, 

41:44
 she went out and dropped off and she said something and I was like, "Wait, 

41:48
 what?" And she went to Walmart, grabbed Walmart sugar cookies and took that. And she's like, "Well, it's far cheaper to do that." Ah, 

41:56
 yeah. 

41:56
 And in my mind, I'm like, I'm supposed to be the specialist in town, right? 

42:01
 I can't take Walmart sugar cookies. And I guess you can, but that's not the way I want. 

42:05
 That's not the impression you wanted to leave. 

42:06
 That's not the impression I wanted to leave. And so, how do I not crush her? 

42:11
 So, what do you do with people that my ideas are never taken or I'm the one who's good at this and the rest of the team is like, she's not the one that's good. What do you do with that? 

42:21
 So, first of all, I do I can't tell you how many times that happens where somebody goes rogue and pivots and does 

42:28
 their own plan. So, I do think it's important when you're establishing I'm going to pass this task off that there is documentation of what y'all decided on. 

42:38
 Whether that's a quick email, hey, for deliveries next week, and whoever, like who whoever your person was should have been the one to send the summary. Okay, 

42:46
 so Dr. Koopa, this is a summary of our 10-minute conversation. I'm going to take Einstein's bagels and these cream cheese to this, this, and this office. 

42:55
 So, it's a way of confirming, yeah, 

42:57
 that's what we decided upon. So, I think documentation protects you in a lot of those. 

43:03
 We we've got to be careful that when we pass off, yes, we listen to their ideas,

43:08
 but they need to know from the beginning. This is going to be collaborative. We're feeding off of each other, and I want to hear your ideas. You also need to be hearing my ideas. 

43:16
 And then we will settle on something. 

43:18
 Once we settle on something, you're responsible to document that, send an email so that we're both on the same page. So that's how I would compensate 

43:25
 for that. Now, if that person always brings stupid ideas and you're like, "Here we 

43:33
 go again. This is the third meeting and she does not get what I'm going for here. We need to 

43:41
 pivot." Cuz at that point, you don't want to be passing something off to her that you don't feel confident that she can handle. She's always going to be 

43:49
 unsuccessful. You're never going to like her ideas. and every time she's going to be like, "I keep bringing these ideas and she never goes with them." That 

43:56
 actually detracts from what you're trying to do. And so you come up with something that's more important for her to do. Like, you know what? I've been 

44:03
 thinking about this a lot. There's this category that I just really feel like I need your support on. You've already got a lot a lot on your plate. I'm going to 

44:12
 shift marketing. I really need your help with this. So, we position it correctly. 

44:16
 We're not like, "You were terrible. You had stupid ideas that we never incorporated. So, I'm changing your task. We just come up with something 

44:25
 better for her to do. So, we may have to pivot. If we've wrongly attributed what that person can do, 

44:34
 we pivot. Don't don't just keep banging your head against the wall and a year later you're in your 12th marketing meeting and you're like, I hate this. 

44:43
 Um, call it quits early enough and repurpose her. Yeah. love it. So, 

44:51
 directly responsible individuals, key takeaways are if you don't have that in place, start the process of it. And I 

44:59
 would say the easiest way to start it is have your team member fill out a questionnaire. You know, what ideas do you have for the practice? What are 

45:06
 areas of the practice that you wish you knew more about? Um, but I think it is also important to ask, you know, do you 

45:14
 want to take on more tasks? like do you feel like you are mentally uh there to and and I guess I guess you 

45:23
 have to be careful with that too because if they're always like no and everybody else is but on the other hand too then that that gives you the answer you need. 

45:30
 It doesn't mean that you're not a valuable employee but it's you've got your plate full which means you're probably not going to be successful if there's no other area you want to do and 

45:38
 then it doesn't mean everybody else is stuck with these tasks. It's it's opportunity. 

45:44
 Yeah. And then that way too, every time we go over a compensation review too, 

45:47
 it's like, well, what else have you contributed to the practice? You are capped out as high as an RDA in this area gets paid. I can't pay you more than that. That's like, 

45:56
 but what else can you do? Yeah. Um, so I think the ones that are like, 

46:01
 "No, no, I don't want to do anything else." And then now they're looking at you going, "It's been a while since I've had a raise." Well, what else are you adding to the practice? Mhm. 

46:08
 What do you mean? Well, like so and so picked up this, so and so picked up that. you had your plate full. You weren't ready to pick up anything. And then at that point, they can see and go, 

46:18
 "Yeah, you're right. I don't want to pick up anything else, so I guess I am fine." Exactly. 

46:22
 Or, "Oh, you're right. Last year, I wasn't, but if that's the way to get a raise, I will free up my time, and these are the things I'm interested in." 

46:29
 Yeah. 

46:30
 Yeah. I I agree. I think that's a great way to make sure that they actually want the tasks as well. 

46:36
 I almost view it as it's more of a privilege. Like even for our kids at home, like you know, if you want to be earning my my one wants to earn a 

46:44
 MacBook. Okay. Well, then what are you doing to earn it? 

46:47
 Yeah. And so she hates uh she doesn't mind laundry. She hates loading the the dishwasher. 

46:54
 Okay. Well, at some point you're going to have to figure out how to load the dishwasher, but for now that's fine. Yeah. But you empty it, you do the laundry. Mhm. Yeah. 

47:02
 And Yeah. It's working for now. 

47:05
 Absolutely. Yeah. I think that's the right approach. So, I would just start somewhere. And you could even as a practice owner or a leader go, what are 

47:13
 the things that I really need to hand off like that are weighing me down? And you could even say, hey, these are my three categories that I need support in. 

47:22
 So, in that questionnaire that you give out to your team members, do any of these categories, are you curious about any of these categories? 

47:31
 So, if I was listening right now, I'd be like, what categories? What are you talking about? Can you maybe make a playbook thing on that? like things that because I think for practice owners, at 

47:39
 least for me, I'm like, I don't know what I could get off my plate. What are you talking about? Like what what kinds of things I I'm the one who has to do payroll. I'm the one who has to make sure compliance is being met. 

47:51
 I'm the one who has to make sure we've got a marketing plan. I'm the one who has to make sure chart notes are done. 

47:56
 I'm the like, so I wouldn't even know what categories to consider. So, if you could maybe have that and then maybe can you make a sheet of like um the the 

48:04
 handout the questionnaire you could give employees. 

48:06
 Absolutely. Yep. I'm writing both of those down. So, 

48:09
 I love when I give Bethany homework the office she gives me homework and then of course I try to pass it along to somebody in the office to take care of. 

48:18
 So, what you're saying is you've outsmarted the system. 

48:22
 I'm I'm the head octopus. I've got I'm a I'm a deformed octopus. I actually have 18 arms, not eight. 

48:36
 Oh my gosh. Okay, so go do it. Dr. Octopi. Octopi. 

48:44
 Thanks for joining the conversation today. We hope that you are comforted in knowing that you are not alone, but we also hope that you're walking away with 

48:53
 some really great tips and tricks to try in your practice. 

48:58
 We value your feedback, so please take a few moments to rate and review the podcast. Finally, we want to make sure 

49:06
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49:13
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