453: Get Your Party On

Episode 453: Get Your Party On

It’s the most wonderful time of the year … holiday work parties and bonuses! Kiera takes some time to talk about successes she’s had in celebrating her business and her coworkers, and she wants you to do the same!

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0:00:05.8 Kiera Dent: Hey everyone, welcome to the Dental A Team Podcast. I'm your host, Kiera Dent, and I have 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 traveling consultants where we have traveled to over 165 different offices, coaching teams. Yup, 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.

0:00:52.5 S2: Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera. Oh, you guys, I cannot wait to do this podcast. I sometimes get real excited about podcasts and I get so jazzed 'cause I start writing these, I have... On my notes, I have all my podcast topics and I literally go down and I'll select podcasts off, so I don't duplicate a topic. And this one I was so excited to do for you guys, like giddy as a little girl over here. So today's topic are holiday parties. Guys, I love any reason to celebrate. I love to do parties, I love to celebrate my team, and I think you guys hopefully should too, because this is where it's fun. It's fun to reward our teams, it's fun to give back to our teams, it's fun to highlight our teams for just being awesome people that have literally helped us grow into the offices that we are.

0:01:46.8 KD: So holiday parties, I know I've been talking to some of our coaching call clients, shout out to them, and they are saying, "Kiera, we really wanna do a holiday party, but COVID. But not COVID guys. I know COVID's here, but let's get excited about different types of holiday parties that you could do for your practices. So I just wanted to pop on today, give you guys some ideas, as I know some of you are doing holiday parties, wanting some ideas.

0:02:12.2 KD: So, at the Dental A Team, you better believe it, every single year we have a holiday party and we're a virtual company. All of my team is all across the world. Okay, they're really just in Nevada and Arizona. We did have people in Utah for a hot minute. We've got some people in California, but every single year we do something fun. So the way we do ours, I'll just tell you guys ours, and then I'll give you some ideas for practices. So hopefully this will at least spur and jog some ideas for you, so you can have a really fun celebration this year. And even if you don't do a holiday party, that's totally fine. Use this as a fun team building activity as well, these can also be done as team building activities, not just holiday party ideas.

0:02:50.6 KD: So number one is we send a package out to all of our team members every single year. One year it was for a pajama party, so we sent socks and like hot cocoa. Another year, we sent like, these are just from the dollar store guys, we don't go fancy schmanzy over here, like reindeer antlers, but something fun 'cause we are all on Zoom, and so do something fun to get us all in the holiday spirit. Then we play games. So everybody gets one raffle ticket, and then we play some type of games, we've done Jack box TV, we've done trivia. This year, you better believe it is going to be on our core values, our vision, our mission and our niche, because I have been harping on that all year long, and I tell them they better memorize it if they wanna win a holiday party.

0:03:33.3 KD: So there's some type of something that we will do with them so that's... And then we play games and whomever gets... Whoever wins, they will get more raffle tickets. Now, you're probably wondering how do we do this when we're virtual? And I'll tell you the answer is, I actually have a ton of tickets with me, so we ship them all a ticket in their gift bag, and then we tell them what the ticket is. So I'll tell them, "Hey, here's your other ticket," they write it down, and I put the other side of the ticket in the cup for drawing the ticket. So that's how I'm able to do a raffle virtually. So if you've got lots of practices all across and you can't get everybody together, it's a great way to do this, it's a ton of fun.

0:04:13.8 KD: So we play a bunch of different games. We've played holiday bingo, we've played... We've played all sorts of games, you guys, there are so many fun games on the internet that you can do virtually that make it really, really fun. Usually, these activities last about an hour, and then what we do is I do... There are prizes, so I get enough gifts, you guys, we are a virtual company, so I ship them on Amazon, but we have gifts behind the door. So examples of gifts... I've done a Kindle. We've done AirPods, we've done a Rumba. This year I think there will be a KitchenAid brought to the table, so you'll see. But we look to see what are popular items, we also have a team survey that people fill out when they're hired, so we know gift ideas that they would love. So we try to create gift ideas that most people would be excited to win. Last year there was an air fryer, Tip was so excited to win an air fryer. I've done a knife set, we've done a ninja blender, we've done an Insta pot when those are hot. It just, it depends every single year, so it's a ton of fun.

0:05:17.6 KD: And so what we do is actually everybody gets to see all the prizes that are up. So we have a picture of all the prizes that they can win. If I was in person, I would have already purchased all of these prizes and then I do a raffle in person, if I was in-person. Where we're virtual, well, you know, it's the best we can do. Then we actually have tabs, so up on the computer, we have tabs and they're all linked to one of the gifts, so when... You guys it's so much fun. So then after everybody does all their raffles, we've played all the games, I put all the tickets in. I might do a quick trivia right then and there to give out a few more tickets if I just want to. There are so many things you could do, like what's in your house? And you could give people points for all the different things in their house, you could do a holiday scavenger hunt. You guys go on Pinterest for two minutes and you will find tons of fun ideas.

0:06:06.0 KD: So then after we do that, we'll pull out the raffle tickets and each person gets to win a gift that way. They get shipped to them that day, it usually arrives in two days, so it's a ton of fun. They have to choose tab one, two, three, four, five, six, however many people we have, and then that surprise that they get. So it's super fun. Everybody has a great time, I love it. But that's a virtual Christmas party or a holiday party, if you want.

0:06:32.8 KD: Are you guys sick of trying to figure it out on your own? I know I am. When I'm trying to run a business, sometimes I just think, "There's got to be a better way to do this." And so for me, my answer has been to find someone who's done it and does it really, really, really well. Like I'm talking the best of the best of the best. I want someone who's been in my shoes, somebody who understands what I'm going through. When I was looking for the consulting business, I found a coach who literally has run a consulting business. Well, that seemed like the perfect fit. So you guys right now, we have a few spaces open in our Platinum Consulting, that is in the consulting where we actually come to your practice, we help you get systems implemented, we don't just tell you what systems to implement, we actually implement them with you and for you. It is one of the best investments I've ever made is to hire a coach who understands the business I'm in, who's lived it, who's done it, and that's what we and the Dental A Team do, we literally physically fly to you.

0:07:31.8 KD: So if you're sick of trying to figure it out on your own, if you just want somebody who understands you, join our Platinum, I'd love to have you. I'd love to have our consulting team come out and see you, be in your office, be with your team, and truly help you get on to the easy path of dentistry. It doesn't have to be hard. So join us in the Platinum, we'd love to have you.

0:07:53.0 S2: Now, in the practices, some other ideas you guys could do, you could actually bring people in. So maybe get a paint and wine night, call them up, see if they'd be willing to come in. There's candle making that could come in, you could have catered food brought into your practice and have a nice dinner at your practice, I know it's not as fun as going out, but hey, guess what, guys, innovate or die here. There are so many fun things that we could do that we can do, that we should do. We just have to get a little creative and think outside the box. So bring somebody into the practice, you could easily have somebody who comes in. Also, I really, really, really strongly suggest surveying your team to find out what kind of gifts they like versus just guessing and assuming. Why not just ask them what things they like and then get them those things. So you can do, like I said, a paint and wine night to bring somebody into the practice, you could even have spouses come, you could fancy up your whole thing.

0:08:47.2 KD: You guys, don't tell me a dental practice cannot be fancied up. At Midwestern Dental College, in the wet lab, we literally turned that into a Harry Potter like platform, I think it's nine and three quarters. Judge me, guys, I don't remember exactly. I think that that's it. But we literally made the wet lab into it. We took black garbage bags and we made it spooky with candles. It was awesome. So please don't tell me that you cannot convert your dental practice into it, you absolutely can if you want to. You could also take everybody out for a Spa day. That would be a really fun activity that you could do. Other holiday parties, some people love to do like casino night, bring it in, turn it in, you guys, we have this thing called Pinterest that literally has so many ideas for you that you can create in your own place.

0:09:35.6 KD: You could learn a new skill together, you could go out to a service place, you could do a hot chocolate bar at your practice as well. So have all different types of syrups that you could put in. You could have a mixology bar that you could have... That could be really fun. Another thing you guys could do would be a gingerbread house building contest and take pictures and have all your patients vote on it to see who the winner person is and have a gift card associated with it. I know some offices do pajama parties and they'll have breakfast at the office and everybody's in pajamas, and they have a ton of fun. Obviously, there's white elephant gifts that people do. But I really want you guys just to think outside the box, what things could you do for fun holiday parties? I just think it's a blast, I think it's so much fun to celebrate, to end the year strong, to look for fun things.

0:10:23.2 KD: You could do a caramel apple bar. I actually did that for my wedding and it was a blast. So just a ton of... You can get Caramel in a crock pot and get a bunch of different toppings for it, slice a ton of apples or just have apples there with an apple slicer. Easy peasy and have a Caramel Apple bar. You can have everybody bring in a treat. There are so many things that you can do for these holiday parties, but get creative. You can have it themed, you can have a masquerade where everybody comes themed and dressed up to the practice. Again, you could go out to dinner. I know that's a little trickier. Some people are hosting it at their homes. But at the same time, practices feel kind of safe, they feel like that's where we are day in and day out in a place that we can just have a ton of fun.

0:11:09.6 KD: Like I said, you can also do virtual. You could actually do a, if it was Halloween time, you could do a pumpkin carving contest with everybody at home. I know my husband's work, they gave everybody a gingerbread house kit, they sent it home and then everybody joined zoom and everybody built their gingerbread homes, and they took pictures and had it all voted on. So there are so many things that you can do, so get creative. You could do scavenger hunts in the practice, give 'em a whole list. I used to do a lot of activities with youth, and I would send them on a scavenger hunt through the mall, and it was a blast. Split them up in two teams and have people go for a scavenger hunt. A picture scavenger hunt can be a ton of fun. But I think at the end of the day, do something that's fun, get your team involved, get them excited and have a blast, guys. Tis the season to be merry and bright tis the season, to have a ton of fun, tis the season...

0:12:02.8 KD: You guys could even go... Like another Holiday Party is go shopping for an Angel Tree gift, those are things that you could do as a team that could just be more of a bonding. Maybe go to Barnes and Noble and choose a book that you guys all wanna have as a book club, or maybe each person chooses a book and that becomes, I don't know, six months, 12 months, 10 months, however many employees you have of book club reading that you guys can do based on everybody's preferences. Again, so many things that you guys can do. Get creative, have a ton of fun and celebrate. Guys as always, thanks so much for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.