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Dr. Gabriela Flores: Team Mistake
73 Plays2 years ago
Dr. Flores shares her winning philosophy: "Hire slowly, fire fast," and why embracing employee growth leads to a vibrant, energetic team. Whether they find me, or I find them, it's all about the winning ATTITUDE.
About the Guest:
Gabriela Flores is a practicing dentist based in Miami Beach, Florida. With roots in the University of Florida for her undergraduate education, she transitioned to Tufts University School of Dental Medicine for further studies. Post-graduation, Gabriela garnered a wealth of experience by working in distinct environments ranging from DSOs and PPO practices to holistic clinics before taking a leap into entrepreneurship by acquiring her own practice in Miami Beach. Notably, she embarked on this venture only a year after completing dental school, setting her apart as a new entrant in the field with a practice owner’s mindset.
Episode Summary:
In today's episode, we delve into the intricacies of team dynamics within a dental practice, straight from the experiences of someone who's gone from a DSO to owning a practice. Dr. Flores opens up about the learnings acquired through mistakes made and overcomes in staff management to help listeners understand the foundation of successful teamwork in dentistry.
The discussion kicks off with the cardinal rule of "hire slow, fire quick," revealing the pitfalls of not acting promptly in personnel decisions. Dr. Flores then shares the wisdom behind always being open to potential new hires and the benefits of constantly engaging with candidates to build a robust team—insights that are rich with SEO-optimized keywords like "team building," "dental practice," and "staff management." The conversation seamlessly transitions into tips for cultivating positive energy within the team, which Dr. Flores believes is paramount to patient satisfaction. Emphasizing the significance of leadership and cultural fit, we get a glimpse into the strategic and personable approach Dr. Flores takes to build a dream team that aligns with their practice: from evaluating attitude over experience to observing potential hires in social settings.
Key Takeaways:
- The importance of the "hire slow, fire quick" philosophy in building a solid dental practice team.
- Proactiveness in always interviewing and being open to new talent can lead to discovering great candidates.
- The quality of a team member's attitude takes precedence over their experience, as skills can be trained but not the disposition.
- Creating a positive work environment and showcasing it on platforms like social media can attract high-value employees.
- The longevity of team members isn't as critical as their growth and contribution during their time at the practice.
Connect with Gabriela Flores: @doctorgabiflores
Connect with Ignitedds: @ignitedds
Connect with Tanya Sue Maestas: @tsmaestas.dds
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Transcript
Introduction to Dental Fuel Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Dental Fuel, the podcast that focuses on what no one else is talking about. Mistakes. The dental world is full of before and afters and no one is talking about the middle. Dental Fuel brings you the unspoken in-between.
Sponsorship by 90 Day Jumpstart
00:00:14
Speaker
Dental Fuel is brought to you by 90 Day Jumpstart, a program to help you increase production and break free from financial stress.
Building Effective Dental Teams
00:00:22
Speaker
Team Dynamics can be challenging as a new practice owner and new dentist. Dr. Gabriela Flores is back sharing some insight on how to build a successful foundation for teamwork in dentistry. Now, moving from working at a DSO to now your own practice, working in teams we know is the foundation of how we practice dentistry.
00:00:45
Speaker
How well first of all I'd like to know any mistakes that you've made either with your team that you had at the DSO or now that you have in your own clinic and how you've grown from that but also the importance that you've seen in building your own team as you start to build your own practice. Number one mistake with dealing with staff that I've made is the
00:01:06
Speaker
violating the rule, hire slow, fire quick. Great rule. The second you feel like that person needs to be fired, fire them. It doesn't matter. Hold your own suction if it's your assistant. Answer your own phones if it's the front desk. I mean, you can end up just doing more harm and even emotionally. You're doing more harm to yourself. You're leading that person on.
00:01:31
Speaker
That's for sure. And then the hire slow. Take your time and also always be hiring, always be interviewing. I'm always open to talking to people. If someone seems like a great candidate, because you never know if that person can come back around one day. I would say that's the number one mistake I made was firing too slow and hiring too quick.
Hiring and Firing Strategies
00:01:53
Speaker
I follow Gary Vee. I don't know if you know who Gary Vee is. Of course. Of course, yes. I hope most people do. I would hope so. If you don't, you should. Oh, he's great from a business aspect, but I think that he gives great just information and advice in a world aspect and a life aspect. But that's one thing that I've heard him say several times is,
00:02:14
Speaker
Hiring slowly and knowing when to fire, you know firing quickly and you know Just accepting that reality that sometimes you make a mistake in hiring the wrong person But knowing to let them go so that way you can bring somebody who is a better fit In your life and your practice I think is so huge absolutely and from experience I have found that as long as you're putting the right people in the right seats patients will get over it I had to fire staff of 25 years and
00:02:43
Speaker
Right. So, um, and then I, but I replaced with amazing staff. So very friendly, the trade off. Yeah.
Embracing Team Turnover
00:02:52
Speaker
Yeah. You know, they were great. It was just, I have to build my team for the next 25 years. And also, also nowadays to build a 25 year team, you have to realize that's probably not going to happen.
00:03:02
Speaker
So you kind of have to let your patients know. They'll try to be nosy, but people who are excellent are usually going to be people who are trying to find that next step. So it's very hard to find someone who's amazing that's not looking for growth because someone who's settling is not going to be amazing. So I don't think that it's right to think about dentistry. You don't want high tone turnover.
00:03:27
Speaker
But at the same time, I don't think that you should be thinking about that person that they're like, is this person going to be here for 20 years? Right. If they're really great, you should hope that you can help them get to that next step and get to even whether with you or whether in a big organization or somewhere else. And I'm okay with that. I'm being okay with that makes it a lot easier. But as long as your energy, what's most important among everything is your energy with your team and patients will feel that.
00:03:53
Speaker
So if you fired that person and you're scared that they're going to be like, oh, she's going to be patients are going to judge me. They're going to judge you more that you're in bad energy with your staff. Then if you fire someone and bring in a good energy, because one of the first things people say when they come into my practice is, Oh, the energy is so good in here. Oh, you guys work so well as a team because again, patients can sell amazing class ones. Patients do not know.
00:04:19
Speaker
how good your feeling was. What they know is how they felt when they sat in your chair and when they left. That's all they know. How they felt with you, how they felt with your team. Of course you should do good work, but they don't know. They don't know how beautiful if you stained the grooves. They have no idea. They have no idea. You show them like the bite wing after you sealed that perfect box. They're like, I don't know what I'm looking at. I always love to show them and they're like, okay, cool.
00:04:45
Speaker
Look how I sealed that. Look at the matrix and they're like, yeah, am I good to go or was it fast enough? Did I get to watch TV? Yeah, exactly.
Hiring for Attitude vs. Experience
00:04:59
Speaker
What qualities do you look for when you're building your team? Attitude. The rest you can train.
00:05:07
Speaker
I honestly, experience is great, but attitude is everything. How they handle themselves in situations. I love going to dinner with staff as well to see how they handle themselves at a restaurant.
00:05:22
Speaker
seeing how they are with their spouses as well is important, especially if it's a higher level position. You want to see what their dynamic is with their spouse. I know it sounds weird, but trust me, I didn't do it once and I regretted not doing it.
00:05:39
Speaker
I would say that attitude is everything. The rest you can train, even if I have to invest in training, don't cheap out because you cannot train attitude. So if they came in, I do always a working interview and if they vibed well and if throwing them in kind of, obviously I don't leave them loose and make them feel lost, but if they handle things well or if they learn well or take feedback well, that's most important.
00:06:03
Speaker
I think that's great. I love the idea of watching their interactions out of the office because I think that that's really telling. It's almost like going on a date, right? You see how your date is responding to the staff that's providing you care or food at a restaurant. And I think that's very telling about a person. So that's so interesting that you do that with your team. I think that it's really important to see how they respond there and it'll show you how they respond to your patients as well too.
00:06:30
Speaker
That's really tell you something funny. Actually, all of my staff came from either they reached out to me, they were recommended to me, or I knew them from before. And only one of them I actually got
00:06:43
Speaker
I found her resume online, but she was also she had already worked with my hygienist. So I got the recommendation beforehand. And my hygienist said, Oh, she's available, you should bring her in. So that's why I say always have your feelers out always seem welcoming and open.
Attracting Proactive Staff through Positive Culture
00:07:01
Speaker
And another way another thing I do that
00:07:04
Speaker
a little secret-ish, not going to be secret anymore, is technically it's not what you're looking for in your staff. It's what you're projecting to your future staff. So I always make sure that my social media, my website, my energy is put off there as well. And that's why I had people reach out to me for jobs and I ended up getting great staff because of that. I have an amazing assistant that she contacted me asking, I wasn't even really hiring, but I spoke to her and I loved her and I was like, you have to come on.
00:07:33
Speaker
And she found me because she liked my Instagram. She liked my website. She said, this seems like a place that I would enjoy working. So the good candidates are more likely to either reach out to you or interview with you or accept your interview if you have a good appearance.
Creating Mutual Value in the Workplace
00:07:48
Speaker
So whenever I would reach out to someone for something, I would say, check out our Instagram and our website and put the links in that email or text message that I would send out.
00:07:57
Speaker
I think that when people reach out to you who are interested in working with your group, with your team, at your practice, they value you already. And I feel like where a lot of people are struggling now, granted it is hard to find good quality team members, is that the struggle is that they're out there looking and they will take whatever they can get instead of those who are being proactive and want to grow in their career, seeking out offices that they want to be in and showing value into what they're coming into already. So I like that. That's awesome.
00:08:27
Speaker
you know, we all want high value employees, but we have to show our value too. It goes both ways. That's the culture. And I learned this also by watching a lot of people online, especially because there's a lot of hygienists that are active online. So I'm always scoping these things out and I see that the culture is, I mean, obviously not everything is always right on either end. It's very difficult dynamic, but I see that
00:08:51
Speaker
I see what's out there and I see that people people want to work somewhere that they feel fulfilled. So how do you expect someone to give you their all if you're not providing the environment for them to do so? Yeah, yes.
00:09:05
Speaker
Lots of pearls here. I'm really enjoying this conversation. This is excellent.
Conclusion and Next Episode Teaser
00:09:09
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Dental Fuel. Be sure to tune in next week where Dr. Flores shares some expert advice with us. Trying to reach your goals faster? 90 Day Jump Start can help you along the way. Check it out at IgniteDDS.com.