Episode 801: Double Purpose Job Descriptions!

 Job descriptions are one of the most underutilized tools in dental practices — especially when it comes to additional duties and how those can fit in. DAT consultants Tiff and Dana discuss using job descriptions for more than just onboarding.

Transcript: 

Tiffanie (00:01.19)

Dana, you are back here with me again. You are by far and away one of my favorite people to podcast with. I think you and I sometimes share a brain which makes this really easy because we kind of riffed off each other and you say things that spark my brain like oh my gosh, that's so true and we just keep going. And I tell you this all the time, I think of you constantly. Every time I put my running shoes on, which I still love, I got on my Peloton this morning and I was like.

I wonder when the last time Dina got on an assault bike was. Because I do not do CrossFit, but you CrossFit. And while I was on my fun bike is what I like to call it. I thought when was the last time she killed herself on one of those ding assault bikes that I just am so proud of you for knowing how to do. So how are you today Dina? I know you're like back.

Dana (00:51.086)

Thank you.

Tiffanie (00:53.838)

You took a little break on your workouts. I pick your brain for workout stuff and I make sure the whole Dental A Team community knows that you work out because I think it's really, really cool and I've worked out for a really long time. You do way better and way more than I've ever done, but it's a huge part of my life. So I always bring that topic up and I know you took a little break. So tell me, how is it getting back into CrossFit?

which I think also kind of relates, like we all took a little break in personal and professional lives during the holiday season. And it's been a little bit now, hopefully people are getting back on track, but I think this relates to the office too, but how are you doing getting back on track? Crossfit's a big deal. And I think any break from Crossfit makes it like, going back in, I can imagine is not like, putting on a pair of tennis shoes and walking straight outside, it's gotta be a little bit of work. So how's that going for you?

Dana (01:43.814)

It's going good and to answer your questions since there is an assault bike in my garage. I do it fairly frequently.

Tiffanie (01:48.114)

Oh my gosh.

Tiffanie (01:51.971)

Of course you do. Ha ha ha.

Dana (01:54.154)

But getting back into it, you know, when I take a break, like, and I just wanted to do just like take walks with my daughter, right? Play outside with my kids. So I feel like I still get out there, but I definitely took a break from my traditional fitness routine and getting back into it, I go in with the mindset of, I'm gonna go in there and do what I can, right? And just take it day by day and yeah, back at it, back in that routine and.

I give myself more room than I usually do as far as like, so it's always eye opening going back how like, even when you're so, so consistent, like taking a week or two off, it's like, you can, and I advocate everybody to do it, right? But just remember, it's going to take like, it's that mental grind even more just for at least that first week getting back in. So the first week's over. And so I feel like I'm back at it.

Tiffanie (02:24.358)

Hehehehe

Tiffanie (02:36.562)

Yeah.

Tiffanie (02:43.374)

Yeah, I totally agree.

Tiffanie (03:07.462)

Yeah, I

Tiffanie (03:16.37)

course and making sure that everybody has those in line, but something I was really kind of wanting to pick your brain on. And if you guys notice this actually aligns these podcasts align with our newsletter. So if you're not subscribed for our newsletters or to our newsletters and you want more information than what this podcast delivers, by all means, please go hop over to the website, get subscribed. You can email us at hello at the dental 18.com. We can send you the link, we can subscribe you on the back end. But these always kind of coincide with

those newsletters. So Dana, actually, you wrote that newsletter and you and I, before we hopped on this call, we're talking about it. And I think you just took that in such a beautiful direction and it's so very helpful. And it all kind of ties back into those habits and kind of knowing who you are knowing what you need. And, and when we think about fitness, it's like quote unquote, so much easier for us to think about taking a break and jumping back in. But really we are people and everything we do is kind of the same. It's just, it looks a little bit different. So

delegating my job description and making sure that every year everyone knows what their positions are and what they're best suited for. So one of those pieces that you wrote about really intrigued me with like the alignment piece and making sure that people understand what their job descriptions are but then the additional duties that come across the tables align with those as well. So I really wanted to hear you, the newsletter.

writer here, our author, and the beautiful brain that came up with that stuff is really cool. I want to hear a little bit about that. What do you mean by aligning it? Tell me how we can do that a little bit better and how did you create this newsletter and this content?

Dana (04:53.842)

Yeah, sure. I think job descriptions are probably one of the most underutilized tools in a lot of practices um, because it's like, okay. Well, I created this job description for Oftentimes the person that's already doing the job, right and not necessarily like

Tiffanie (05:07.194)

Yeah, yeah.

Dana (05:09.862)

Ultimately who you want so I'm gonna just challenge again to create it for ultimately who you want because then it's an easy tool to Utilize for delegation if you have on there what you want out of that person as far as organization What you want out of them as far as like customer service skills what you then when you have something to delegate, right? Take a look at your job description and see who best

fits this based on their job description? Where would this best fit? Oftentimes, it's just what we think about delegating and we're like, well, I know that Maria has extra time, so I'm going to give it to her. Well, is that really a task that Maria can handle based on her workload and based on her strengths and weaknesses and what she's currently doing? Does it fit in? If we're asking somebody, let's say,

Biller, right? Like organization is super important for them. So if I have something that I'm going to delegate that needs to be super organized I'm probably gonna look to that person, right? Or look at my job descriptions and say who really does Or is able to handle something like this

Tiffanie (06:12.326)

I love that. And I love that you're not shying away from the fact that there are extra projects that come up. There are extra things that come up in the practice and within the business that people just have to handle. So just because it's not on an original job description doesn't mean that it fits within the job category, right? So whatever that position is, what is their end result? What is it that they're working towards? What are their strengths and weaknesses? And Dana, you said at the beginning there that...

we're building these job descriptions to begin with based off of the position and the goal, right? What does the practice need that position for? Not the person. So then when you speak to strengths and weaknesses, it's looking at the strengths and weaknesses of a person that would fulfill that space, that position and what they look like because they think we get lost in it. And again, I agree with you, it is the most underutilized thing.

in the dental practice, I think most of us have a broad idea of what we want it to be. And some of you, I think, even have them typed out, but are you using them is the key. And this is a really cool way, Dana, that you've helped them to find areas that they can utilize the job description for more than just onboarding. I think we onboard somebody who are like, these are the pieces that you need to know. This is your end of day sheet. Now, good luck. And we never think about a job description again after that.

And Dana, do you think that that's where, as I think it's easiest to think of front office when we think of job description, when we think of this kind of delegating, it's just easier to compartmentalize that. So do you think, I have a theory, do you think that the underutilization of job descriptions and really not seeing how you can use those to even delegate new projects is why so many practices have so many front office team members that are overlapping one another?

that busy mentality, right? I walk into practices all the time where they're like, gosh, we're so busy, Tiff. Doctor keeps telling us he wants us to do X, Y, and Z, and we just don't have the time. But really, Dana, I see this practice, and I'm like, well, you guys are all doing confirmation calls at 3 p.m. and there's four of you, so can one of you do them? Right, and who's supposed to do them? They're like, well, we all do it.

Tiffanie (08:31.194)

Well, who sends the claims? Oh, I had an office a couple weeks ago I was in, and I said, who's responsible for sending the claims every day? Well, we all kind of do it. We do it at checkout. Okay, so who's responsible for making sure the claims were sent every day? Well, we all do it. Okay, so they're not getting sent. So do you feel like though, that the under, I think that was a huge thing you just said, the underutilization, do you feel like that feeds into that mentality? And that could be part of the like,

systems aren't working, my team members aren't working, and I don't know who to give this to because everybody's busy. How do you feel about that? And then what do you think could be a solution for that?

Dana (09:12.491)

Yeah, I

Tiffanie (09:18.111)

Oh my gosh, yes. Yes.

Tiffanie (09:26.661)

Mm.

Tiffanie (09:38.362)

Yeah.

Dana (09:39.354)

even from the beginning, creating that job description, look for those opportunities of growth, right? Even create those were saying, okay, this is what they do now, but this is also what I would like my scheduler to eventually do, right? Look for those growth pieces even as you're creating them, because I think we can get in this mentality of either, well, we're all doing so much because there isn't clarity in roles, or, well, that's not mine, so I'm not touching it, right? And I think...

Tiffanie (09:51.73)

Mm.

Tiffanie (10:05.987)

Yeah.

Dana (10:06.894)

we've just got to use the job descriptions to fight right or combat either mentality.

Tiffanie (10:12.854)

Mm, I love that. I think that's our least favorite statement ever is, well, that's not in my job description or that's not part of my job. I know I have a practice out in, an oral surgery practice that I work with out in Georgia. They're one of my favorite practices of all time.

And I remember my first time I ever went in practice, we did the lanes, right? The front office lanes. Like this is your lane and you just stay in your lane. You can come out of your lane. You can merge into someone else's lane when they ask you to, but you gotta have that blinker on first. And like, if you need somebody to merge into your lane, like you need to ask for it. But it, what my good intention and my great analogy turned into.

literally like, well, that's not part of my lane. And I had four or five team members, I can't remember now, it's been years. Since that first visit, I had four or five team members that I've got, I've got the doctor and the and his wife, the business administrator calling me like these girls won't get out of their lanes. Oh my gosh, okay. So it does like, you've got to tow that line, but really express full expectations. And I think that

literally goes into that growth piece that you're talking about. And I think part of growing each of those positions is the open mindedness to understand that you will be delegated tasks that are not listed on this, this piece of paper, like we are not some corporate giant.

company that's like you have these 10 things to do and once you do those, you're free as a bird like no, we are constantly growing and changing and morphing and sometimes things will come in. So, I think that speaks to your growth piece right there of really just making sure that they understand this is your job description and these are like there's going to be more. We're going to be doing updates and while the position may look like this today.

Tiffanie (12:02.702)

I'd be really excited to add three operatories, another doctor and another hygienist and this position could look like this in the future. Not to say we're promising things, but I think that speaks to that growth piece for you. So delegating my job description, I love that. You said align with their strengths and their weaknesses for the position.

and make sure that it makes sense. I'm gonna go back to something you said in the beginning and you said, make sure it makes sense with the jobs that the tasks that position is already doing. So like, if I've got, maybe I'm trying to delegate some EOBs that came in, I'm the office manager, I saw some EOBs came in and they needed additional information, so they needed x-rays attached. So I've got Susie in billing and I've got Jolena, who's at checkout.

Right? And I've got my billing girl who does all the claims and the insurance, but Jelena's got 10 minutes. She could surely attach some x-rays to these EOBs. So Jelena, I delegate to her. Jelena goes and attaches them, sends them off. Well, they get denied because the wrong teeth were put in there or whatever. And it gets now over to Suzy in billing. And she's like, who sent this? This is ridiculous. Well, I would never have sent this information. And now I have to write an appeal and do all this stuff.

So I think that's kind of where you're talking about delegating by the job description. Don't just pass it to somebody who may have the time, pass it to the person that it makes sense with their position. And if that person needs help getting it done, they can then ask for that help or get feedback from whoever's delegating to them on priorities of tasks. Do you feel like that kind of hits it? And is there anything else you can see in there that's like, just watch out for?

Let's not do this. Do you feel like there's other things we need to warn them about?

Dana (13:55.614)

No, I think you need to know, I think it's just setting clear expectations. What is it, anytime you give anything, right, whether you're giving it to the person who that's their strength, it's, they still need to know what is done look like and what are the expectations of completing the task and how should they communicate to you that they've completed it.

Tiffanie (14:03.536)

Yeah.

Tiffanie (14:12.258)

Yeah, oh, I love that one. I love that one. I got an email this morning. I was CC'd on an email from a doctor who's acting as office manager as well, but to her front office. And we've been working really hard on follow-up and building the follow-up into the initial communication because she's getting really frustrated with team members just not always telling her that it was done or not getting to it by the date that she.

wanted it to be done or thought it should have been done. And her email this morning made me so happy. I texted her and I was like, oh my gosh, girl, this is beautiful because she literally set the whole email up with the checklist and then followed the last sentence she put in there. So regardless of like anything else she said, I was impressed. She said, what questions do you have on this? And I was like, girl.

You just made them respond and that's an enforced acknowledgement that they received that in email because they either need to say no questions or they need to ask questions. I was just so impressed and I think that's that is the key is forcing the acknowledgement making sure that they understand when you want it done and making sure that it falls within their spectrum of abilities.

because you also don't want to overload with someone with something that could take them 10 times longer than it may take someone else because it doesn't fall within their spectrum. I love that. So I think action items boil down to number one, make sure you've got your job descriptions and you have your ideas of the positions, especially for front office, you guys. Everyone needs a job description, but that front office team really needs to understand what their main positions, goals, and duties are.

So then after you've got those job descriptions, you can listen to a couple other podcasts. I know Dana and I have done a few podcasts on how to write job descriptions. There's a ton of newsletters out there. So again, if you need to subscribe or if you need that newsletter, you can search our archives, but you can also email us. We're happy to just send them over to you. Hello at thedentaleteam.com. So go make sure you've got your job descriptions updated and then utilize those to give you a clear picture of who would be best at doing this thing I'm about to delegate and align with.

Tiffanie (16:23.094)

So align with the job description that would be best and their strengths and weaknesses within that. So who do you want? Who best fits for this? Look for those growth opportunities within your job descriptions as you're updating them and building them if this task that you're delegating is something That should be on a job description just add it straight in there and then you guys make sure there's always an actionable follow-up

that you guys have requested a date that it's done and an acknowledgement that it's been received and that date works for them as well, that they can get it back to you. I'm so excited for you guys because I know that we're fresh into the year. The year is 2024, so hopefully this is like 2035 and you're still listening to dental A team. That would be super cool. But we're super fresh into the year and I think these are really great tips and tricks to really get you guys started in the right direction.

and ensure that your team is fully aligned with where you're headed and what their job duties are so that they specifically can win in their position and they can see the team win. So you got some action items guys. Dana, do you have a tip or two? You do job descriptions constantly with our operations manual creation course. Do you have just maybe two quick tips on making sure that they've got these job descriptions aligned by position?

Dana (17:45.31)

Yeah, I think one, make sure that you're writing all of your job descriptions for what you truly need out of that position. And then I think to make sure that anytime you edit, update, or you bring on a new team member that they have reviewed and signed and acknowledged, like they know and understand what their role is, because you can have them there. But if we're not actually utilizing them and team members aren't actually looking at them when we update them, it's just not as

much of a resource or any resource at all if it's just sitting in a dry.

Tiffanie (18:16.786)

I love that. I love it. All right, guys, you heard it from Dana first. She is a wizard when it comes to this stuff. If you need help with this, please don't hesitate to reach out. If you've got a consultant already, reach out to your consultant. You know we've got our Discord chat for many of you who are popped in there already when you're our clients. So you can pop in there. If you're not our client yet, and if you're not our client future, like...

Fantastic. We honestly are here to serve all of you guys. So please reach out hello at the dental a team.com we are literally here to help. And we have examples. We've got a whole operations manual course, we've got all kinds of things to help you make sure that you are utilizing all of the information that you have and that you need. So let us know hello at the dental a team.com and we'll catch you next time.

Thanks for watching!