418: Your Team Members Are the Avengers

If you could be any of the Avengers, who would you be? That question was asked of Kiera, Tiffanie, and Brittany in this episode (listen to find out their answers). Fan of superheroes or not, there’s a huge point to this: collaboration makes the best team. The Tony Starks and Thors are great on their own, but when they work together, they’re unstoppable! It’s the same with your team.

Kiera, Tiff, and Brittany talk about collaboration and why it makes the best practices. The top three takeaways:

1. Seek to genuinely celebrate other people

2. Leaders, let go of that false idea of control

3. Raise your standards and only hire A-team players

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera, Brittany, and Tiffanie

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast on iTunes

Podcast Transcript:

[music]

0:00:05.7 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. 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.

[music]

0:00:50.0 KD: Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera, and you guys, this is something that we have never, ever, ever done before. And you know, we decided to be a little innovative over here, 'cause we expect you guys to be innovative. So we just had a 90-day check-in with our one and only Brittany. She is one of our newer consultants, but guys, that woman, you will never believe she's a newer consultant. She has so much experience and massive plug and play. She is a hygienist as well. So that's always fun, but Tiffanie, Brittany, and I were all on Zoom. We finished it a little earlier, and we said, "Hey, why not have all three of us on a podcast?" So, welcoming to the show, we've got Brittany and Tiffanie. Britt, Tiff, how are you today?

0:01:28.8 Brittany Stone: Fantastic. [chuckle]

0:01:30.9 Tiffanie Trader: Yeah, I'm super stoked. I think the 90-day review was fantastic. I love doing reviews, and I get super pumped afterwards.

[chuckle]

0:01:38.1 KD: Yes. Britt's been killing it, and I will have to do a shoutout to Tiffanie. We might even have talked about this on this podcast or another one. Tiff did a really fantastic job of putting together an onboarding for Brittany. You guys in offices, I say, practice makes perfect. We practice and practice and practice, and redid this... Tiff, how many times have we redone the onboarding for consultants?

0:02:00.3 TT: Six, maybe?

0:02:01.4 KD: Six, maybe? Maybe? If we're...

0:02:02.7 TT: Yeah, and it's been like six different consultants, but I would say we probably switched it up at least six times.

0:02:09.0 KD: And we're gonna switch it up again.

0:02:09.2 TT: Just trying [0:02:09.6] ____, so... Yeah.

0:02:11.0 KD: Yeah, exactly.

0:02:12.4 TT: Innovate or die. We're innovating.

0:02:14.0 KD: Innovate or die, that is one of our core values. We... I think it's our... It's innovation, and we say innovate or die, so... But I think that that's the power of just redoing things, making sure that you're constantly innovating, and making it into what works for your practice, and... Agreed, our 90-day check-ins have been so fun. Britt's been on it; she knows what she needs to get done. It's been really fun. So Britt, how was the 90 days for you? Welcome, welcome to Dental A Team for 90 days. How was that for you? [chuckle]

0:02:40.6 BS: Thanks, it's been fantastic for sure. Along the process, I felt supported, loved all along the way, so it's been great.

0:02:48.0 KD: That's awesome. I love that, and we just love having you. If you guys have not listened to Brittany's podcast, the... Having no drama in your practice, go hit that one up. We already have an office that called me and said, "Kiera, I really love working with you, but can we maybe have Brittany do one of our Zoom calls, because we loved her podcast?" So guys, I am not offended at all. You should work with Brittany; she's incredible. And Brittany, I think you're just adding massive value out there. So, since we have the A Team on here, we've got our three traveling consultants, we've just added another traveler, and if any of you guys know consultants that would be great travelers for the Dental A Team that have front and back office knowledge... We don't poach from offices. If you work with us as an office, sorry, Charlie, no go. You see us on the regs; you don't even need to work with us. But if you guys know anybody in the dental field, send them our way, [email protected]. We are always bringing on only A team. You cannot be a B team, C team, or D team, or F team on our team. You have to be part of the A team. So Britt, take us away. You've got a really fun topic for us, as you, me, and Tiff, on the podcast today to dive into. Take us away, Britt.

0:03:54.6 BS: Yeah, so I think, just jumping into how much fun we have when we are together and working on things, we wanna focus on collaboration today: Building teams that love to collaborate and enjoy working together, coming up with ideas, so... I think... And just defining collaboration a little bit so that we've got a focus of what we're talking about, a process through which a group of people constructively explore their ideas and power to look for a solution or opportunities that are beyond one's own limited vision. So, I love that it is incorporating each person's power and being able to see things beyond our own vision.

0:04:35.2 KD: I love that, Britt, so much, because I think that you are the consultant that actually is the collaborative consultant. That's how you were as an office manager. You ran multiple, multiple practices and large offices, and I love that you talk about the approach of coming in as a collaborative coach, a collaborative office manager, a collaborative doctor... So Britt, what is that? And then I'm gonna tie it over to Tiffanie, 'cause I know Tiff; this is her mantra as well. What is it about that collaboration that you found is successful that helps grow these practices as well, when it is a collaborative team versus a dictated-to team?

0:05:07.5 BS: Yeah, so I think it comes down to that each team member has a lot of power and knowledge within them, and that that we can be much more powerful and innovative as a group than as an individual. And I like the analogy of the Avengers are stronger than any one team member. So you can take your Iron Man, you can take your Hulk, you can take your Thor, and they are powerful on their own, but you put 'em all together as the Avengers, and man, they can make some things happen.

0:05:36.6 KD: Yes. That's such a good imagery too. So Brittany, with that analogy, we're gonna run with it for a minute. And Tiff, think about this, I'm coming to you next. Who would you be in the Avengers, Britt? Who do you think you would take on?

0:05:50.2 BS: Who would I take on? I think I'd wanna be the Iron Man. I'd like to be the science guy, the tech person.

0:05:58.7 KD: I like it. Okay, I'll take that. Tiff, who would you be?

0:06:01.8 TT: I would be the Scarlet Witch, and that's [0:06:03.7] ____ my answer because I've thought about this a lot.

[laughter]

0:06:07.9 BS: You had it ready to go.

0:06:09.1 TT: She did.

0:06:09.5 KD: You did.

0:06:09.8 TT: I did. [0:06:10.1] ____ Everybody loves Avengers, you know that, so... [0:06:13.0] ____... And Scarlet Witch. She just... She just is that age. She always pulls it together.

0:06:19.1 KD: I like it. I don't know the Avengers as well, but I just wanna be the Hulk. I just wanna be the Hulk. I wanna be this ripped muscular, like, "Let's take things over." But I agree with you, Britt. It's a really good imagery for teams to think about when... If you just have that one rockstar that you're depending upon all the time, and the rest of your team isn't living up to that, and they're not in their zone of excellence, they're not being collaborative, first and foremost, it allows people to be lazy. I'll be completely honest, when you have people just running, driving, like, "Why should I pitch in when you're just gonna do it for me anyway?" And really, having everybody up to par makes you guys be able to do way more things. I've watched that in our company; I think Tiff could also chime in on this. Over the last four and a half years Dental A Team has been in existence, it's that long, crazy. Tiff just celebrated her four years with Dental A Team. She was here basically from inception.

0:07:09.2 KD: I would say, Tiff, I think we, as a company, have been able to innovate, create, and move mountains this year, because we have a much stronger team that really is pulling in stronger players that are innovating, that are creating, that are in their zones. And Tiff, you and I aren't trying to do it all. So I think we've actually become much more collaborative as well, which has been a shift and a pivot for you and me as well, because for so long, we've just driven this company, and pulling back and realizing we need to let other people be the strong players in the company as well has been a mind shift change for me. What are your thoughts on that, Tiff?

0:07:40.7 TT: Absolutely agree. I think that for us both, it's a control thing. I think we both like to know that things are going in the direction that we want it to go, and if we're not in control of that, then we don't... It's trust and control. We don't really trust that it's gonna happen correctly if we're not controlling it, and I think we've limited ourselves a lot in the last few years, not realizing that that was even something that we... It's a habit we had created, I think, because it was just the two of us for so long. We just... And we had some admin team members, and we've gone through a few admin team members, and we've had the support, but not having someone strong... Another consultant strong, like the ones we've seen come through, but especially... Brittany, to be honest with you, someone who can come in and collaborate like she does and just help pick things up without us even realizing that it needed to be done really let us let go.

0:08:32.6 TT: I think of those control things, and really see that if we stop putting the limitations on this business by making it about us all the time... It has grown exponentially, and truthfully, we are helping offices that I just never... I don't think they would have ever found us, because we didn't have the space open for it, and the incredible practices that have onboarded in the past year with us have really just added massive value to the incredible practices we already had, 'cause we learn from everyone that comes on that we teach as well, so it's been incredible.

0:09:04.1 KD: For sure.

0:09:04.3 TT: I agree. Cooperation is amazing.

0:09:06.2 KD: Yes, and Tiff, I love that you brought up the fact of control and trust, because, I think, as leaders, as owners, as office managers, as lead hygienist, whatever your position is, it does come down to control. And I heard... I think it was actually someone who we interviewed, they said, "Control is just a facade. We think that we have it, but we really don't." And I really loved that. And I would say... I think, Tiff, you brought a tactical, because we all know I'm tactical, our company's tactical, the podcast is tactical... And so Britt, to your point of helping build these collaborative teams, I think one of the first steps is, first and foremost, recognizing that you might be holding your team back by trying to have this illusion of control and thinking that you know the best way.

0:09:49.5 KD: Today, for example, we had our morning huddle. Everybody said when I join morning huddles, they become like 30-minute morning huddles versus a quick 10-minute. Sorry and not sorry... I don't think I'm actually sorry about it. Because today, it was so helpful. We collaborated on figuring out how to look at our numbers differently as a company, how to look at how many clients we wanna help this year, and how many we can actually see for consultants, and that collaborative spirit, versus me thinking, "I'm the smartest, brightest person in the room." Saying like, "Guys, I don't know, and let's collaborate," 'cause it gave people permission to give input on a problem they didn't even know was a problem. I had to share that that was a problem to allow people to collaborate.

0:10:27.7 KD: And then another piece that I did this year is... My goal, actually. It's funny, I was in a coaching course, actually, and I set a goal this year to have the business have a strong foundation and to be able to operate without me. And I think that mindset shift for me was maybe the push I personally needed, because I keep thinking, "Kiera, if you were to not be a part of this company, or... " And it's not that I don't wanna be a part of this company, I just don't want the company to depend on me, 'cause I realized... It needs to outgrow me. It needs to be bigger than me if we're going to serve the number of people we want, and I've gotta let go of that. So I think, as leaders, that was something I did. I'd love... Tiff and Britt, I know you are leaders in your practices as well. Any other thoughts you wanna add on? Britt, I'll start with you, of things that you found that really do... Like tangibles, to help build these collaborative practices and teams.

0:11:16.5 BS: I think that's kind of along the same vein when it comes to the mindset, and just kind of changing your perspective a little bit to be more collaborative, is I think we also need to recognize that... The value of a person, knowledge, good ideas; none of those things are mutually exclusive. So meaning that just because I have a good idea doesn't mean someone else can't have a good idea. There's no limit on ideas or value or knowledge that someone can bring. So that's... We wanna welcome it. We don't wanna be jealous of it. There's no limit to the possibilities of value, knowledge, or good ideas that people can bring to the group. So, I think sometimes, just putting that ego in check a little bit, and it... I don't have to be the one sitting in the room that has all the ideas, 'cause guess what, I'm not the all-powerful. I don't need to be... Know it all, do it all, be it all. Everybody brings such great ideas and so much power, and it just increases our power and our strength and our value instead of having it limited just to one person.

0:12:15.8 KD: Britt, I'm gonna have you dive just a little deeper on that, because my question to you... I agree with you, I do, and I'm gonna ask how. Because I think you're somebody who actually knows how to not limit people and to view people in that light. I think that you're one of the least egotistical people I've ever met, so I'm like, "Teach me teach other people," because honestly, as you say that, I'm like, yeah, but sometimes I wanna put people in a box, and I wanna think that they don't have the greatest ideas, because I sometimes worry if they've got great ideas, do I matter? And I know there's so... I can tell you guys all day long, logically, adding more light, like a candle, it just makes it brighter; it doesn't take anything away from you. I get it, I have all the analogies I can tell you, but I stress about it and I worry about it, and so, Britt, how have you done that? Because I do agree that this is one of the foundational pieces of collaborative teamwork.

[music]

0:13:07.3 KD: How many of you have wished that there was an easy way to get that dang operations manual done? Well, guess what? We are here to deliver. That's right, join us Friday, September 17th, for our operations manual creation. That's right, we are literally going to walk you and your team through, step-by-step, workshop style. It's virtual, and you're gonna get that operations manual started and quite a few pieces completed. So join us on Friday, September 17th. Utilize our coupon code, PODCASTOPS, that's podcast O-P-S. Head on over to thedentalateam.com/events. I cannot wait to see you. Let's get that operations manual done, done, and done. Bring your entire team, and I'll see you guys there.

[music]

0:13:52.6 BS: And honestly, I think it just... It takes a constant effort. I think I went through a period of my life where jealousy was a real thing and a quality that I didn't love about myself, and why could I not celebrate good things for other people? And so, it took a conscious effort to be like, "Why am I limiting good or making something that's good and positive in the world... Like, I'm just taking it down and dragging it down?" I need to be able to celebrate it and be happy about it, and it's... A little bit of a fake it till you make it. I chose to have the mentality that, like, "No, I'm happy about this. This is a very good thing," and to sit in the positivity of it, to where I could start to associate those things with being positive, being happy instead of being jealous. So it's a mind exercise that you have to do, and it takes a conscious effort. And I think also, just remembering that, when it comes to any ideas, I think, and even constructive feedback that you get, it's not something against me as a person, right? The value of Brittany does not change, even if an idea... Or I'm getting constructive criticism, something like that. It's just something that needs to happen and to be talked about to help me grow, but it doesn't change my value as Brittany, as a person.

0:15:07.0 KD: I think that that's a really, really good point, and I'm going to give a tactical on this that I just recently started. Shout out to Tiff for introducing me to this author. The book's called Comparisonitis by Melissa... Ooh, I don't know how to say the last name, though, Tiff. Ambrosini? Ambrosini, I think. She's an Australian author. She also has a really great book called Open Wide. She also has another book called Mastering Your Mean Girl. And Comparisonitis has been really helpful for me, of a tactical... Do [0:15:34.4] ____ like to use... What you said, Brittany, of recognizing that other people being amazing... You can genuinely celebrate them, and it takes nothing away from you. And this book has a lot of tacticals. I actually have my notebook writing it all out, and working on it and seeing that, because I agree, I think a lot of it just stems... Collaborative practices often are suffocated by people with egos, so thanks for that point. Tiff, what are your thoughts on that? I know we just talked about a bunch of pieces; I know you're dying to get in on this. Tell us your thoughts on it.

0:16:05.9 TT: I think that a lot of what Brittany said can be related back to the first analogy she gave us today, of the Avengers, because she said one collaboration, but she's saying everybody has a piece that they bring, and if you think about just relating it back to the Avengers, she would be Iron Man. Well, guess what, if you had two Tony Starks, it would never work, right? It would self-implode. So if we had two Kiera Dents, it would self-implode. With two Brittanys, it would self-implode, so we... And no two people are the same; no two people are alike, and we oftentimes forget that and don't celebrate what someone else brings, because we wish that we could have brought it or thought of it, or we think that because they thought of something that was really cool, that it means that ours wasn't as important. And I think in teams and practices, I think... Not just doctors even, but maybe something that they need to realize about their team is that everybody does this. On some level, we all do it; it's human nature, it's the ego. And we're always going to have an ego. People always say, "Stop being so egotistical. Get your ego in check." It's like, you always have an ego. That's a human... That's what makes you human, is that we have egos. So celebrate your ego, and just understand that it's gonna rise up, and you just have to be appreciative that their ego's working too.

0:17:22.4 TT: So, I think we all just come together and figure out what it is that each team member brings to the puzzle, because there's gonna be something that no one else can bring, and celebrating that. And as a team member side, and this is incredibly, incredibly difficult for me, something I have worked on a ton is understanding that when you don't get the shout out or someone else gets a shout out, it doesn't overshadow you. It doesn't mean that you didn't do something right. We do our Friday Five, and it's freaking fantastic. Kiera sends out this email every Friday, and it highlights five things that were really fantastic in the week, every week, and I can tell you right now, sometimes I'm like, "Dang, I didn't make it," and I'm like, "Why does it freaking matter? I helped train these people, that's huge." So I know I have offices that have recently started a Friday Five; one started last week, and his biggest question was like, "Well, what if I highlight people? What are the other people gonna think?" And I said, "We all have to go through it."

0:18:21.5 TT: So I think that's the collaboration is all of us going through it and seeing, it's just our egos rising up, and it's okay because it's human nature, so it doesn't mean it's wrong. Feel that way, that's fine, it's natural. You feel that way, you let it pass, and then you celebrate the people who are there with you, and be appreciative of what they can bring that you can't. Kiera brings an energy that... A level of energy that I cannot achieve. That's okay!

0:18:44.7 BS: [chuckle] Most of us.

[laughter]

0:18:47.4 TT: I want to laugh as much as she does. I wanna giggle at nothing like Kiera Dent, but it's not who I am, and that's okay; it's not who Brittany is. We bring pieces to the puzzle that complement Kiera's energy. If we all came in hot and heavy, excitable, giggly all day, like Kiera does, we would have no diversity.

0:19:09.5 KD: We would. We actually would be a circus, guys, instead of a consulting company.

[laughter]

0:19:14.3 TT: Yeah! All of the pieces... Everyone should have a Kiera in their life, I'll tell you that much right now. She... [0:19:21.7] ____, she will energize you, she will make you happy on the saddest of days, but we can't all be like that, so celebrate everything, and just remember, not everybody can be the Hulk, or Tony Stark, or Scarlet Witch. We have to all of those pieces for it to work; otherwise, the Avengers would self-implode too.

0:19:38.5 BS: And Tiff, I think you hit on a real big tangible of finding a way to celebrate each other and building that in, 'cause that's gonna help to make that shift, and as we feel appreciated when we share ideas, we're gonna be more likely to bring something to the table the next time, even if that might be even a vulnerable idea, where you're like, "Guys, I don't know if this is good or bad. It might not be good, but I'm gonna share it anyways because it might help us to get to our end result."

0:20:02.2 TT: And isn't it so much better when we complement someone else than when you're given a compliment? I can take compliments all day, and it's like, "Oh, thanks, okay." I don't agree, 'cause I don't see that about me, but that's okay. But when you give a compliment to someone else, you actually... You become a happier person every time, so... I agree. Run around, do your jars of awesome, do your kudos stars, do your kudos walls, your Friday Fives... Do it for each other. Don't sit around waiting for your leader to recognize you. Recognize the things about each other that are complementing your team. I don't care who you are; you do not have to be a leader. You can be the sterile tech dental assistant who just started yesterday, but if someone did something that was really cool for you, thank them for it and recognize it, because you're gonna be a better person for it.

0:20:47.4 KD: For sure.

0:20:47.8 BS: And we all create that environment. It's not gonna be successful if it all stands to one person, because you're not gonna get there, so it takes everybody helping to contribute to the environment, to be open, collaborative, appreciative of each other, to where you can really excel and take it to the next level.

0:21:03.9 KD: Yes, agreed. I love this on so many levels. I love what you guys brought up on recognizing it's ego. It was interesting to sit back and listen to you guys on the Friday Fives. And that's actually why we just incorporated, into our morning huddles, of different ways that we celebrate one another, so it's not solely dependent on me to recognize team members, but team members recognizing one another as well. And I think to this whole point of collaborative is, first and foremost, I would say everybody listening today, check yourself on, are you comparing? Are you having that ego there? And can you work on that, like Brittany said, of a mind exercise, to where you can genuinely celebrate other people and recognize it takes nothing from you, and you're a part of that team, so that team winning means you're winning. Number two, I would say, leaders, are you willing to let go of that false idea of control and encourage collaborative ideas and be willing to accept that you don't have the best ideas always, and that's awesome, 'cause that means you hired an incredible team around you that's rising you up, leveling you up, and everybody's bringing great ideas to the table.

0:22:08.0 KD: And then number three, I would say, are you raising your standards to only hire A team players? I think that's something else Tiffanie and I did, and now, as an entire company of Dental A Team, as we raise our standards of who we're willing to bring on to our team... Yeah, we were desperate, guys. Tiff and I have been hauling across this United States a lot. I might not hit all 50 states this year, guys; that would be epic. But it's incredible, because we literally raised our standards, and we were not willing to just accept anybody even when it was hard, because we knew we wanted to have a collaborative practice. We knew we wanna have a collaborative team; people that were better than us in their own way, so we really could have that strong A team, collaborative Avengers team, versus it being just a few strong players, and everybody coming in strong in their own area. So those are kinda my wrap-ups. Tiff, Britt, anything you wanna add on as we wrap this up?

0:23:00.3 BS: I would just say, the results that you get from that is gonna be a team that feels more empowered and strengthened to fulfill their responsibilities. It gives them an opportunity to grow, build camaraderie, and ultimately, that's gonna impact what our patients feel when they come into our office.

0:23:16.9 KD: I love that. I think that's the stuff. Tiff, you got anything on that?

0:23:20.0 TT: [chuckle] I think... My only thing I was gonna say is that you... As the leaders and as the owners of their practices, I think I recently have noticed a lot of my doctors are like, "How can I fix this? How can I fix the morale in my office?" And I think it's... That's an ego thing, and it's just realizing and understanding that it's not about you, it's about your team, so getting your team to collaborate together and working together is what fixes the morale in the office.

0:23:45.7 KD: Yeah, for sure. I wanna definitely dive into another podcast on that, and to that point, Tiff, I wanna say that this collaborative teamwork is actually a huge focus that I put in in January. I realized that we were... We needed to change our company culture. We changed our core values; we changed the people we were hiring. We... Friday Five... Guys, I'm not gonna lie to you. Friday Five takes a decent chunk of time every Thursday, and I'm like, "Oh, shoot, Friday Five!" But I love it, because those are things that I, as a leader, committed to wanting to have this collaborative team, and so I'm gonna say, leaders, choose your hard. That's another podcast topic we're gonna dive into; choose your hard. For me, I was nonnegotiable of having a collaborative team, having a team that is... Every person is striving to their best, and we don't just have a few key players we're dependent on.

0:24:32.3 KD: So, I think with this, look to see, where you're at on your collaborative practice and on your collaborative team? Is your team collaborative, or are you just relying on a few sole people? Are we comparing? Are we sabotaging one another, or are we celebrating one another? Are we working heavily to fix our culture and to have a team that can work independently without you and bring the greatest of the ideas, because when you have all people firing on the highest cylinders, that's when magic happens. That's when patient experience is incredible. That's when a practice flows. And I just wanna say thanks to Tiff and Britt for being on this podcast. It's actually... As we're going through this, I'm like, "Oh my gosh." I think we just tapped into a whole new world of podcasting, ladies, because it was so fun to do a podcast with all three of us coming in, sharing our ideas, and I hope our listeners also felt that way as well. So Tiff and Britt, thank you as always for being part of our company, for being a part of our team, for being some of my dearest friends, and for adding such value to our podcast today.

0:25:24.9 TT: Thank you!

0:25:25.9 BS: Loved it.

0:25:26.9 TT: Loved it.

0:25:27.0 KD: Of course! Alright, guys, as always, thank you all for listening, and we'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

[music]

0:25:35.0 KD: Alright, Dental A Team listeners, that's a wrap. Thank you so much for listening, and if you loved today's podcast, go leave us a review. It takes you five seconds, and your review helps more offices, more practices, more team members just like you find out about Dental A Team. Thank you guys so much for being part of my Dental A Team family.