Episode 671: Book Club Review: Extreme Ownership

 Kiera is reviewing the first book assigned for Dental A-Team’s 2023 book club, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win. She talks about the key highlights from the pages, and how to incorporate lessons learned into your own practice. Interested in catching up? Check out the full list of books here.

Episode resources:

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Listen to episode 652, Introducing the DAT Book Club

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Transcript:

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0:00:06.1 Kiera Dent: Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Dental A Team Podcast. I'm your host, Kiera Dent. And I had this crazy idea that maybe I could combine a doctor and a team member's perspective, because let's face it, dentistry can be a challenging profession with those two perspectives. I've been a dental assistant, treatment coordinator, scheduler, filler, office manager, regional manager, practice owner, and I have a team of travelling consultants where we have travelled to over 165 different offices coaching teams. Yep, we don't just understand you, we are you. Our mission is to positively impact the world of dental, and I believe that this podcast is the greatest way I can help elevate teams, grow VIP experiences, reduce stress and create A teams. Welcome to the Dental A Team Podcast.

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0:00:51.3 KD: Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. Hey, everyone. I just wanted to hop on today. I'm car-casting between offices today, and I just thought I would hop on. I hope you're having an incredible day today. I hope you're just feeling happy, and if you're not, hey, you're on the Dental A Team Podcast, so hopefully I can give you a boost in your step today. Hopefully, I can help you remember why you're even doing dentistry. I think that sometimes it can be tricky. Sometimes it can be a lot to be going day in and day out. But honestly, guys, right now, it is about mindset and helping to get your mindset right to fuel that mindset. So I would really say today, check to see what are you consuming? What is going into your mind that's influencing you constantly? Is it something that makes you happier? Is it something that makes you sadder? What about the social media you're consuming? What about the news you're listening to? What about friends and people around you that you're listening to? Who are the people influencing you right now that are causing you to be better than you are, maybe worse than you are, maybe will be impacting your mood?

0:01:57.4 KD: Let's just take a quick look. And the fact that you're here listening to the Dental A Team Podcast makes me so happy because I'm hopeful that I'm able to fuel your mind with goodness to help set that great mindset for you. So today, I wanted to just pop in and say thank you for all of you who have left reviews. And if you haven't left a review, scroll down to the bottom of where you're listening right now, and there should be a spot for five stars. Usually, leaving reviews for podcasts is very simple. Just click those stars or you can click the little pencil and write the review.

0:02:26.8 KD: Guys, this helps us so much because my mission is to reach every single dental practice out there and impact them and remind them of how great their life truly is. So please help me help more people by leaving those reviews so that way we show up more on people's radar when they're looking for great podcasts to listen to. Also you guys can directly share with other people. So go do it, go try it. I appreciate you guys a ton. And I'm super, super appreciative of that. So on that note, I wanted to dive into a really fun topic today. If you didn't hear, I started a 12-month book club with you guys, and we are into March right now when I'm recording this. You'll probably listen to it in April. But what I'm doing right now is I actually wanna go back to the first three books of the year and do a quick book club with you guys in three different podcasts. That way, you guys could have access to this.

0:03:19.9 KD: So the first book we read was in January, and that was "Extreme Ownership". And I'm gonna dive into it right now and help you guys so that way you could incorporate it into your team or wherever you wanna go. Sound good? So we as a team, I decided this year, I really wanted to focus on ownership as one of the main things of our company. And the reason why is because I just felt like I didn't want to have to constantly be reminding people, and I thought, if I just did a book club with my entire team on the topic of what I actually want our culture to become, I added ownership as one of our core value, so yes, I changed that up as well. But that's why I ended up doing "Extreme Ownership" as a book for my team. So for you guys, I just kinda wanted to give a quick synopsis of some of the key takeaways that I pulled from "Extreme Ownership" and then also teaching you guys how to run this and incorporate it in your practice if that's something of interest.

0:04:12.6 KD: I will say the "Extreme Ownership" book club for my team was probably the number one thing that I've done this year. So we're three months into the year. I had it in January, which is why I put it there. But every month, I'll try and get you guys the synopsis of the book we're reading, so just a quick little snippet, and then also help you guys roll it to your team. For me, the way I set up the structure was "Extreme Ownership" was a non-negotiable. Everybody needed to read it. I either paid for an audible or I purchased the book for everyone, and then it was during work hours that we did a book club. After that, the rest of the books for this year are optional. If you wanna read it, you can come to it, but in order to come, you do need to read it and be a part of it.

0:04:50.2 KD: So I know some offices will run that maybe on, say, a Sunday or a Saturday, so it's off-work hours, and if you wanna come, fantastic. And if you don't, no problem. But that's a great way for you guys to get the book clubs rolled out and easy way for you to do it. So I just wanted to make it very easy and simple and just kinda let you know how I'm doing it, how other offices are doing it, if that's helpful for you. So on that note, what I'm gonna say is "Extreme Ownership", amazing book. My team really, really took it, and I made it go one step further, and I made them say how it was going to actually help them, how it was going to help them. So on that note, what we did was we ended up reading it all, and then it was only an hour book club, is what we ended up doing.

0:05:34.9 KD: So it was really fun to watch the entire team actually come together and figure out exactly, what were they going to do? How were they going to take ownership, and how were they really going to grow within their position? So having all of us together, chatting about it, asking questions was really fun, and like I said, it was only about an hour, but the goal was, how can they take more ownership within their position? Was really what I was aiming for them to achieve. So with that, what we ended up doing, some of my key highlights from it were I really loved that ownership has no ego. And I also loved when people are blaming, they're not actually taking ownership. That's not ownership. That's not what it's about. It's really like, what is preventing us from winning the mission?

0:06:17.6 KD: So in there, there are Navy Seals, and some of the things I really loved was they said at the end of the day, it actually doesn't matter who's fault it was or what happened. We've gotta figure out a way to win the mission. And if that's not what we're focused on, we're failing and we're losing the mission. So when I looked at that and I saw people don't quit teams, they quit leaders, I thought, oh my gosh, this is something we're helping our team realize. Our team is not actually quitting people. They're quitting their leaders. And so if we can fix that, if we can empower that and we can fix that, that would go a long way.

0:06:50.4 KD: Another thing I really love, it's still one of my favorites, and it's a very well-told story is it's the story of the two boats, and there are two different leaders, and they have this boat race. And one of the leaders said like, "This is ridiculous. I have a terrible team. That's why we ended up losing." So they switched, so the teams stayed exactly the same, and only the leaders switched and guess what? The leader who won the last time, with the losing team won again. And it was... Really, it's the leader. The team is a reflection of that leader, and so what is that leader doing? And so what's really just fun to look through that and to look to see, where is my ownership? Where am I actually having... Am I making excuses? Am I blaming other people? What am I doing?

0:07:37.8 KD: And so when... I took tons and tons and tons of pages of notes, and one of my other things was to take the extreme ownership of everything in their world. Teach your team members to take that extreme ownership of everything within their world, 'cause if they're doing that, guess what? The whole practice will rise up and empowering them to do that. Then it says, "If a team member isn't rising, we need to create protocols and mentor them, and then if they don't rise, it's time to let them go." And I loved this one. "Excuses are just excuses. Dig deeper. It's always a leader when things aren't executed. Leaders must lead." So really thinking about that. Another one of them is, "There's no bad teams, only bad leaders." And then going down, "Leaders drive results or they don't." It's just that simple. "Leaders drive results or they don't." And then another one of my favorite quotes are, "Standards are not what you teach, but what you tolerate."

0:08:31.8 KD: So looking in our practice and in our organization, what are we actually tolerating? 'Cause those are your standards. They're not what you think are your standards. Another one, "Brutally honest feedback is crucial and necessary for yourself and for the team. A team that is focused on their own selves instead of them as a team will fail." Another one, "Is my goal to survive or is my goal victory?" It's a great question, and notice there's a different outcome associated with both of them. Is your goal to survive or is your goal victory? Are we strong or are we weak? And in what areas are we strong or are we weak?

0:09:04.9 KD: So we actually took this a step further for our quarterly, and we looked at our whole organization, and we said, where is our organization strong? And where is our organization weak? Where are our leaders strong? Where are our leaders weak? And where is each team member strong and where are they weak? So going through that, you guys, I have pages upon pages upon pages of notes. And the last thing that I think was a really key point that our team took was debriefing after every mission. So for us, we do a debrief now after every single event, so all of our masterminds with our teams, events that we put on, we have a debriefing session each day, and before we even start, we know what winning looks like. What does it look like to win? What are we actually trying to achieve? And if we can achieve that, we know we're on our way to victory, and then at the end of every one of them, we debrief. And it was interesting to debrief.

0:09:53.8 KD: For the next three months, I have watched our meetings get better and better and better. Our participation and our engagement is better. Our offices are getting better results, and it's because we debrief every single time. What went well? What didn't go well? What was winning? How would we rate it? And we give that brutally honest feedback so that way, people can actually know what we need to change, how we can change, how we can improve, and that's going to actually be a lot better for everybody. So taking that ownership, and then what I've been doing is every single week, especially since ownership was our main shebang, every single week in my Friday Five, I ask people and I do a tidbit of ownership from the book. Also a fun fact, the way I read books is I put them on Audible, and then I take notes on my phone, and then I have things to implement in the business, just things I wanna remember. And that's how I take notes. So that way I don't have to go back and re-read the book. And then I put mine into a Google Doc, and I shared it with my team, so that way they could also have the notes from it and they could add to it.

0:10:54.7 KD: So "Extreme ownership" has just become something where people really own it. And we stop making excuses. If things aren't working, I don't wanna hear the excuses. I don't care. I wanna know, why are we not winning? And what can we do to fix that? And what are we going to do to fix it? Also, something else that was really clutch from the book was they said, "Empower your junior leaders." And I think often times senior leaders, those who've been in positions longer, sometimes forget that you've gotta empower your junior leaders because they're going to be the people that rise, and always thinking that you can do it, you can do it better, that's never gonna grow your organization. That's a good way to slow down the growth of your organization.

0:11:33.0 KD: And so that's been something fun of, am I disempowering my... The people I put in charge by making decisions or not standing behind their decisions. If they think through it, they need to have it. And also for junior leaders or junior team members, people that aren't necessarily in a senior position or a leadership position, if you're not clear on what's being asked of you, you have a responsibility to go ask and to get the clarity and follow through on the deadlines given. It's not up to someone else to remind you. It's on you. So it's been super fascinating to watch our team rise up and to say, "Hey, I didn't do this", or... Like one of our gals, she works from home, and she's got two little kiddos, and she was struggling and feeling like she wasn't able to get a lot of things done. Well, she took the ownership and said, "This is my life. This is what I have right now." And so she said, "I'm gonna start prepping all of my meal prep and all of the different things so that way I can actually be prepared for each day when I've got my kids." Sp she prepares snacks, and she prepares games for her kids, so that way her kids... Instead of having an excuse that it was her kids and not getting things done, she found the problem, created a solution and executed on it. And that was what I wanted my team to do.

0:12:52.7 KD: I wanted them to own every single thing within their position. I wanted them to know that they had full autonomy within their position. I wanted the leaders not to blame team members. It's not... There are no bad teams. There're just bad leaders, and so really, if you can take that on, guys, that is a huge dose of humility. That is a huge dose of, oh my gosh, I am actually not that great. And this is on me. That's a big, big deal. And so that was what we took away from "Extreme Ownership". That was what I wanted my team to really embody and to really, really, really grow from. And so for you guys, hopefully, that gave you enough tips, enough things for you to equally ask yourself, but also if you wanna pull out a book club to your team, asking the questions. Okay, so we asked, where are we? What do we wanna do, is how I kinda wrapped it up of where are you going to commit this year to take on more ownership? For me, my commitment was I need to give more honest feedback. I like to sugar-coat it and not always say what needs to be said. That was one of my takeaways, and the other one I decided to grow in was to have a debrief after every single mission.

0:14:02.1 KD: So we put it in the calendar, we have it, and we have sheets. It's called debrief, and I know that they're happening. We have them scheduled. And it's been really, really fun to watch it evolve. Those are my commitments. Every person committed to how they wanted to take on more ownership in their role, and that has been how we've been able to roll this out. So for you guys, I would say if you want, read the book. Like I said, I kinda walked you guys through how to do it, gave you some of my highlights from the book, and then I think the biggest piece just like from the book is discipline equals freedom. And that was something I really learned, was sometimes you don't have to do all these lavish things. Sometimes all you really need to do is show up consistently and have the discipline, have the discipline to say what needs to be said, have the discipline to do what needs to be done.

0:14:50.9 KD: Empower those junior leaders. Realize no one quits jobs. They quit their leaders. There are no bad teams. There're just bad leaders. Don't worry. That line cuts me to my throat every single time. It hurts. It cuts deep, because I realized that's me, that's my leadership team. And when your team can realize it's them and they need to rise up and they can evolve, magic will happen in your practice. Magic will happen in your life. So guys, that was why I kicked January off. I know we're a little bit behind. I'll be sure to get the rest of the book club snippets out, so if you wanna run this, you can also use this podcast, and my question would be, where do you guys feel like you are really strong as an organization on ownership? Where do you guys feel like you're weak? If you're having team turnover, why? What is the root cause? What is causing that? Are you guys debriefing after big procedures? What went well? What didn't go well? If we're running behind and we're having low case acceptance, do you do a debrief weekly to find out, hey, what did we do well this week, and where can we improve for next week? Are you looking at some of those KPI metrics that maybe are lower than you'd like them to be and debriefing and finding out why? What is it? Are you empowering junior leaders to be amazing leaders? Are you trusting their decision? Are you staying disciplined?

0:16:07.8 KD: Those are some questions you guys can ask to have as a starting point. And then we asked for us, what could we do to make it better for our clients? For you guys, you could ask the question of what can we do to make our experience even better for our patients? Where can we take some ownership and what needs to change to ensure that we're having the best patient experience for all of our patients? I would ask if you guys are doing that, and how can you improve that? So the hope is that these book clubs, one, hopefully to give you guys a snippet, if you chose not to read it, something great that you can take too, to add some ownership into your own life. And I don't think it just has to be work. It can be around fitness and health, it can be around relationships, it can be around your CE and your growth, anything. Taking the ownership and realizing it's you is one of the hardest and most freeing things. It's hard because it's hard to admit that you aren't doing everything that you wanted to be doing. That's the hard part. The awesome part is the fact that because it's you, you can change you. That is the one person you have total control over, is you. And so therefore, it's in no one else's hands, but your own. And so really empowering you to be able to do those amazing things on your own.

0:17:22.6 KD: So I'm hopeful to give you snippets, I'm hopeful to inspire you and then also to give you a podcast that you can actually take and utilize with your team if you choose to do book clubs with your team. Take this, run with it, make it your own, and anyone who's joining us on the book club, please email me, [email protected]. I would love to hear... I would love to see pictures of you and your team doing book clubs. I would love to hear the insights that you have, because at the end of the day, we're all in this to rise up together, and if I can give you tips, if you can share tips, this is how we rise together. And my job is to just to be a mouthpiece and to share all the best ideas with you, because at the end of the day, I want the best dental offices to win.

0:18:03.3 KD: I believe we need more great dentists out there to serve our communities, to serve people, and if I can make you guys the best people you can be, I know you'll show up better for your families, for your communities, for your teams. I know it. I know you'll do it. So that's why I'm here to rise you up with our book clubs. So this is January's. Guys, take that extreme ownership. Let me know. I'd love to hear from you. If you have a good book that you want us to add into the rotation, please send it on over, [email protected]. Go back and listen to the book club podcast. Next up will be February, which will be real soon. It was "Atomic Habits". March is "The Psychology of Money", and April is "Comparisonitis".

0:18:42.2 KD: So if you wanna read, those are the four that we're currently in right now, and I'll do a better job of getting you guys up to par faster and sooner and get these book clubs rolled out. It was a new thing, so I'm a little bit behind, but hey, you're gonna get a quick dose of these, whether it's audible or reading them. I just feel it's time to fuel your mind with goodness. It's time to fuel your mind with things that are going to grow you and inspire you. It's time to rise up. So are you gonna take the challenge? Rise with me. I'd love to have you. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.

0:19:18.8 KD: And that wraps it up for another episode of The Dental A Team Podcast. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.

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