Episode 763: How to Infuse Gratitude Into Your Practice

 Happy Thanksgiving! Kiera talks about how grateful she is for her team, her business, and her listeners — and gives advice on how you can incorporate more service into each of your own practices.

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Transcript:

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kira and oh. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. I love Thanksgiving. As a kid, I didn't really like it at all,

but today, I just love that there is a day dedicated in our year to really reflect and be so thankful. So. Happy Thanksgiving. I'm super glad that you are choosing on Thanksgiving to share your day with me. And that just truly is an honor. It's kind of crazy to think about our Dental A Team podcast family.

And when I started this, never in a million years would I have guessed that the podcast would become what it is today. To meet a lot of you in person, to share your journeys, to watch your lives evolve, to genuinely just get to know you, to share this, to share ideas with you, to

just inspire and to be inspired. So I just want to say thank you. Thank you for being here, thank you for listening, thank you for your reviews, thank you for sharing with colleagues. Thank you for commenting. How much you love dental. A team on forums. I see you guys in Facebook groups.

I watch your comments. I watch how we're doing for you. And so I just want to thank each of you for being a part of our Dental A Team Podcast Family. And for those of you who are Podcast Family Members, plus Dental A Team in person, and Platinum and Gold and Practice Momentum and all the different things, thank you for being a member of our inner circle.

I feel truly humbled and honored to serve you. It's kind of crazy to build a business. I'm sure a lot of you business owners feel this way where you build a business and you don't know if your idea is going to resonate with people. And to get the experience and to laugh with your teams and to come to your practices and to meet your families and to learn about your personal struggles and goals and to be able to make whatever life you want a reality is so humbling to me.

Kiera Dent (00:01.25)

And it's just a true blessing to be able to know you all. So I just wanna say happy Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for all of you. That's not just a blanket statement. I truly am. And so today I always love on Thanksgiving to just kind of do a little bit different of a podcast for you guys. This is the time that I get to publicly thank my team. But in addition to it, I feel like this podcast always needs to serve all of you listening. And so giving you guys some ideas of how can you infuse more gratitude into your practice.

Um, it's interesting. I went to a conference in gosh, August, 2019. It was a Tony Robbins business mastery. And at the event, they had us build a business within the event. And I've shared this story a couple of times. Um, during the event, I truly felt like I was just a failure. I'm like, how am I supposed to be listening to all this stuff and building a business at the same time? Like I'm ready to go. I'm not cut out for this. I don't, I can't swim in the Tony Robbins.

business people like they're way more advanced than I am. I'm just a schmuck here. And I remember like literally sliding down the wall at this event. Just imagine I'm in like some nun costume because we were part of this group called none believable. And so I'm in this nun costume like awkwardly walking past people. I go to this private area, I slide down the wall and I just cry. I just feel complete and total overwhelmed.

And I don't know what caused it, but I had a thought pop into my head of, this is business. This is business. There's always gonna be more than we can do. We've got to prioritize. We've got to figure out what we're going to do. And then we need to be able to execute. And the business we were building, ironically, was called Live to Give. So we would always like our group, like we're getting all these people, we're having people donate for this company called NoneBelievable. So,

every donation that people made to buy these cookies was going to actually give these nuns and these people food and it was feeding like thousands of people. We were able to raise over $165,000 in three days, which I think equated to, gosh, I think it was like at least a hundred mils per dollar spent. So you guys can do the quick math on it. And we would always like, you had to have like team camaraderie and team morale and all these things. And so our team chant was live to give, live to give.

Kiera Dent (02:24.31)

And it was ironic that I was feeling so defeated for something that was so giving. And I've thought about this live to give so much of really truly the secret to living is giving. And it's ironic because we hear it and when we do it, we feel it, but then it feels counterproductive. And so it was just something where really truly the secret to living a fulfilled life is giving. And I think giving and being in gratitude and service

is such a piece that I think we feel like we do at work every day. We're serving these patients, we're serving these clients, we're serving our team. Um, but it's like, how can we give of ourselves and where can we go above and beyond? So I decided I needed this in my life more. Um, we created a dental team, live to give portion of our company. And so every year we do some type of, of give back, um, mostly for me to remind myself of where I've come from and how blessed we are.

And to keep that mindset of giving. And so I've just thought about like, how can we give to our teams who truly without our teams, we wouldn't be here. Like I think about dental, a team and honest to goodness. Yes, sure. I can be the face. I can be the founder, but the team, our consultants, Tiff, Dana, Britt. They're how we have the success of the company. I think about the behind the scenes of our HQ team of Shelby and Eve and, um, our marketing team as well. Like.

and our podcast team, Alex and Sissy, and without them, definitely team wouldn't be here. This podcast wouldn't be here for you. And so like without our teams, our businesses wouldn't be here. Yes, you founded it. Yes, you created the ideas, but without a team, nothing exists. And so how can we be a bit more giving to our team? And I don't mean that monetarily, of course, make sure you're always paying your teams the top tier of what you can be paying them, but how can we give and appreciate

our teams and serve our teams more. And I think just some simple, quick ideas are, when was the last time that you publicly acknowledged or privately acknowledged just the small subtle things that make your life easier? Like for example, a dental assistant, when was the last time you told them that they had a killer tray set up? Like, thank you so much for having this all set up perfectly. You save us so much time. Or when you told your hygienist like, hey, thanks for doing that FMP. I know that's such a pain. I appreciate those numbers and for you just truly loving and caring for our patients. When was the last time you told your office manager like,

Kiera Dent (04:49.526)

Thank you so much for taking on all these hard conversations and like truly bringing our team together. You are my right hand. And honestly, I'm so appreciative of you just truly caring about this team as your own. When was the last time you went and told your treatment coordinator, like, Hey, you kill it all the time. Like, thank you for loving our patients and presenting treatment in a way to help them say yes, so we can help and serve more patients. When was the last time you went and told your scheduler, thank you so much.

for making our job a reality. Like without you, we wouldn't have a schedule. And I'm so appreciative of you answering the phone and loving our patients and building a perfect schedule for us 80, 90% of the time. Like I am so appreciative of you doing that and really just representing our company so well. The last time you told your biller, thank you so much for fighting with insurances and like taking care of the claims and making sure things are set up for us. So that way we get money into the practice and we can keep going. And that our patients are taken care of and that you get the insurance verifications.

So that way we know when we have better estimates. When was the last time you told your doctors, your associate doctors, thank you so much for loving these patients and for caring about them and for really going above and beyond to make sure they're getting the best dentistry, like for you constantly refining yourself so that way you can provide the best dentistry. When was the last time you genuinely gave thanks to each of your team members, whether that was in a text, verbally, in a note, when was the last time?

because I feel so often we have these incredible teams that we forget to thank, that we forget to tell them thank you. They are the ones who are with us day in, day out. They deal with the slosh. They're the ones who take it for us to make this a reality. And while yes, we provide them with jobs and we provide them with this incredible place, truly giving back to your team members, I think is one of the greatest gifts you could ever give them. So as you're thinking about it, I know as a team member myself, I loved when my doctors recognized things that I did well.

Um, I loved it. So whether that's in a public email, whether that's at team meetings, whether you have high five jars or shout out jars, but especially as owners, truly taking the time to thank your team, to thank them, um, it's crazy how much a little bit of gratitude goes such a long way and it also just feels good for you too. It might feel awkward. Uh, I have some doctors where I literally tell them, put an alarm on your phone. And that's your reminder to thank someone genuinely. Uh, the book, how to win friends and influence people by Del Carnegie.

Kiera Dent (07:10.63)

Great. He talks about being intentional with how we think people and truly recognizing them versus just saying, thank you, but, but genuinely putting it out there and, and being so appreciative of them in a very specific way. So on that note, um, I love to share with you guys ideas to make your practices better, um, and in addition to that, thanking my team publicly, my team is an incredible team and it's morphed and it's grown and over the years.

funny because sometimes I'm like, I've got some of the same people and I've got new people and I don't have some of the same people year over year. And I appreciate all the people who have come before, um, that made dental a team possible. I'm super appreciative of them because our time together, however long or short it was, they did help create dental a team and dental a team wouldn't be here without them. So I'm super appreciative of them. And our current team now, like we're just going to go down the list of all the people in our team and publicly thank them.

to publicly for all of you here, how incredible the dental team is, but also I want my team to know how much I appreciate them. So first of all, is spiffy Tiffy. Uh, I'll just go in order of who's been here with me and we'll go in order of, of their time with me, but gosh, spiffy Tiffy, she started here. And I am so appreciative of tip. Tip came in, um, the company was like literally nothing and I didn't know what I was doing and tipped didn't know what she was doing and tip just came in and really truly.

Um, embraced it, loved it and reformed and refined herself to become the consultant that Denali team needed her to be. And I'm just appreciative of Tiff always being that, that person that I know is rock solid for me. Um, I do a lot of crazy things cause I know at the end of the day, Tiff's there and worst case scenario, Tiff and I will figure it out somehow. And I'm just super appreciative of her. I know, um, a lot of you get to work with her and the life she's been able to change. Tiff is an incredible person. Denali team's an amazing company. And Tiff's a part of.

But Tiff is a human being. I feel just has this special secret sauce to her where she makes people feel seen and heard and loved in ways that I've never been able to replicate. And that's just Tiffany. Tiff has this wealth of love and I'm so appreciative of her to learn from her to grow with her. She is a culture queen in our company and every person who meets her just loves her. So that's Tiff and I'm just super thankful for her. Then I actually, I think I'm pretty sure.

Kiera Dent (09:33.802)

It's Shelby who's next. Um, it's either Shelby or Britton Dana, but I'm pretty sure it's Shelby. Um, I should know their order. Gosh, like that's good, right? You don't know who came first, second, third. I just know Tiff cause gosh, Tiff started with me when it was nothing and she's gone through all the changes, but Shelby is next and Shelby is just someone I'm so thankful for. Shelby, Shelby has a love for people that I've never ever seen in someone else. She wants to make life easy for people. And I watched that girl.

go above and beyond behind the scenes, not in the spotlight, making sure clients are taken care of, making sure the team has an easy experience. If you have ever onboarded in Dental A Team, Shelby spends a solid amount of time and effort to make sure your first week is perfect. She's there, she answers the phone, she cares about people, and for her to be over my schedule and my life has truly been a blessing. I know Shelby would take a million bullets for me. I know she will have my back every single day.

And to have somebody that I have that much loyalty to and from is something that I can't even express with true gratitude of how thankful and appreciative I am for Shelby and for who she is and for being someone that's my lockbox of I can share anything with, I know she's got my best interest at heart. And someone that I truly just respect. That girl has grown so much since I hired her and just someone I am insanely thankful for and our team has been blessed because of her exponentially.

Then we got Brit. I know there's quite a few No BS Brit fans out there. Brit is someone who from day one when I met her, I knew I wanted her in my life because she just has this calm collected, no nonsense, amazing vibe to her. And Brit this year has shifted her role as some of you might know, where she is shifting from consultant to director of operations and watching her shine in her role has been so fulfilling for me.

And so appreciative that all the things I hate doing as a business owner, Britt loves to do. And she's become a like really good yin to my yang and someone that I just lean on and I rely on and the structure and the culture she's helped create in our company has been just exponentially beautiful to watch and just so thankful for her, I feel like her sound judgment is something I lean on her so much for. And she's not afraid to make the hard calls and she's not afraid to do.

Kiera Dent (11:55.318)

Uh, things she's not afraid to execute. She brings a structure and an attention to detail that I have been lacking in that dental, a team has been lacking. And I'm just appreciative of her being a confidant of being someone that I know I can count on. And then she also can make all of us laugh at the drop of a hat, which I just appreciate her leadership and teaching me how to even be a better leader by watching her lead and guide our team. We've got Dana. Dana is. Gosh, Dana is just a little ray of sunshine and

Dana has this yes can attitude. Dana is my go-to for all things, projects and creativity. Uh, she constantly creates, she constantly things have ideas and she just loves her clients so much. I love that Dana is my, my solid. I know that I can count on her. I know she's just delivering things. I know she's building out projects and I love that she's always willing to help. We had some shifts in our company this year and, uh, Dana just offered to help in so many areas to take stress off of Shelby and Brit and Tiff and myself.

And I just appreciate that she sees people's needs and that she really has grown. This year, I give Dana mad kudos and appreciation for growing herself personally and professionally. I watched her do a complete metamorphosis this year, and it's been a joy to watch her and to see her passion for our company, a passion for her clients, and have so many raving fans out there is truly incredible. And I'm just super appreciative of her.

having that fun attitude, the yes attitude. And honestly, she gives me all the workout tips that I could ever ask for. And I appreciate her being that workout accountability partner for me too, as silly as that sounds, but that's a zone I'm not as strong on and she's super strong on it. And so to have somebody personally and professionally push me and grow me is something I'm super grateful for Dana for. Next up is Danae. If you know Danae, you love Danae. Danae is such a brilliant consultant and a brilliant just type A.

go with the flow, which feels so opposite. I've learned so much from watching Danae just be an incredible presenter of being so driven, but also okay to go with the flow and not have to always be in the driver's seat. Danae makes me giggle so hard and I just love to listen to her coaching calls and any office who gets to work with Danae, I'm so excited for them to learn from her and to pick her brain because Danae.

Kiera Dent (14:12.306)

She has a magic sauce of growing businesses exponentially with ease. And so to watch her and to see her just love her clients and love our team. And, um, when she joined our team, I feel like Danae has been with me since the beginning. She just fits our company and our culture. And I love that she just has fit right in from the get-go and someone that I'm truly just so appreciative and thankful for.

And then of course, I need to give a massive thank you to Matt. Matt is newer to our team, but he is truly an incredible marketer. When I met Matt and I saw his resume, I knew I wanted Matt on our team. Matt has this, he can look into the future, he can figure things out, he can really just put together information in such a simple way.

that makes our company really grow. And I'm so excited. He is newer. He is someone who, he's one of our first men on the team. So shout out to that. But Matt just is someone I'm really excited. I think he's a good human. He's someone that I just, you know, when you meet people and you just know that they are going to grow your company in the way you wanna go, that's who Matt is. And I'm just so grateful that he took a leap of faith on Dental A team and that he joined our team and that he brings such a good.

energy to our team and that he really has so many brilliant ideas on marketing and looking at our company with like the SWOT analysis and the different pieces to make sure that we really are protected as a company is something that I just value so much. I'm super, super grateful and appreciative of Matt on our team.

And then last but not least is Eve. Eve is such a brilliant marketer. She's behind the scenes and she just is someone who is so, she's got wit, she's got charm, she's got grace. Like she joined us and came right to retreat. And I'm like, this girl.

Kiera Dent (16:27.494)

is money and I'm so appreciative of her. She is so fun and she's got this vibe. And Eve is a really special hire because Shelby interviewed her and hired her without me even meeting her. And so Eve just shows how much our company has evolved for team members to take ownership of their position and to really just rock and roll. And so Eve, I'm just thankful for her, her strong copyright, her ideas for marketing, her outside the box thinking, her organization and creativity is

missed and strive to find and bring into our company and she has it and she loves it and she just is so vibrant on the things she does. She's solid on her advice. She's solid on her opinions and she's not afraid to make mistakes and she does it with a smile and just a wit about her. And I'm so thankful to have a team as I've gone through all of them to have a team of ownership of people who own their role.

of having people who love their clients, who love their position and have passion for excellence within all that they do. And so that's my team and people I'm just so thankful for. I've got Cissy and Alex on the podcast. I'd be remorse to not thank them. They every single week put this podcast together. And I'm so thankful for Alex for being with me for so many years and writing all of these show notes and just showing up constantly and just being someone who writes the things and has gone through this journey with us.

all 700 episodes that girl's been a part of and whatever number we are now, she's been a part of all of them and Sissy too just seamlessly edit them every single week and make sure they're delivered for you guys is something I am so thankful for. We've got lots of people outside of that, but I'm just truly thankful for people who love clients and love each of you to make this company what it is. I'm thankful for all of you and I'm grateful for this season and I hope you give thanks to those in your family.

Those who support you, Jason, I'd be remiss to not thank him. Jay supports me constantly and is up early in the morning and stays up late with me at night. Um, and my parents and my siblings and all those who have helped create. Dental a team into what it is today's a day for each of you to think those around you as team members and as owners to thank those who have made you, um, the people who have been really hard in your life, they've created you, they've made you stronger. They've.

Kiera Dent (18:45.762)

They've pointed out things that no one else would have been able to do. Those who are just like in your corner all the time are people that just say, thank you. Today's a day where I hope you send out at least five, if not 25, text messages of appreciation, someone who has changed your life, someone who has blessed your life, even if you have a strained relationship, thank those people. Remember the secret to living is giving. Give, give more than you take. Always provide more value than you expect.

Look for ways that you can serve and love your team more, your families more, not saying to do more, but to be more intentional with that. And I promise you, your life will be richer and we more happy and you'll be more fulfilled. And as always, I just want you to know how much I love each of you personally and professionally. I might not know your name. I might not know you, but I know you as a person. And I know that if you're here listening, because you're a person who loves your patients, who wants to make dentistry better.

who wants to make this world and your community better. And I'm appreciative of you showing up every single day, of you trying your best and not giving up and realizing that you are needed in this world to make an impact for good. And I'm thankful for you being a part of my life, being a part of our company, and making me a better person by knowing you. So go enjoy your day, know that I love you, that you are so loved, and this is your year. Go send out those five to 25 text messages of gratitude.

And remember the secret to living is giving. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental 18 Podcast.