Transcript
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. Dental Fuel is brought to you by 90 Day Jumpstart, a program to help you increase production and break free from financial stress.
Speaker: Building a team requires a strong culture and vision, and there could be many mistakes made along the way. Dr. Chad DePlantis shares how he helps to manage the intricacies of building a team. Building a team can be really tough. You've mentioned that you've tried to integrate your team in purchasing different pieces of technology.
Speaker: and in different ways in your practice. But what are some challenges that you have faced or what are some mistakes that you have faced when it comes to teamwork and team building?
Speaker: So, you know, our team that's with us has been with us a long time. We just, unfortunately, not to get sappy here, but we just lost an office manager in January. Well, she medically retired in January, and she passed away in July. But she had worked with my business partner for 36 years.
Speaker: So 36 years from right out of high school until she passed away due to breast cancer. And that's kind of the way that our team goes. It's very rare that we lose somebody that quits. And when somebody does quit, which is going to happen,
Speaker: We take it very, very personally. And it's getting harder and harder, as we all know, to find quality team members. And it's especially hard to replace somebody that's been with you for as long as our team has. I mean,
Speaker: Going through the office, we have two people that are brand new as of this summer. We have one hygienist that medically retired and she's now our office manager, took place of our office manager that passed away. We have another hygienist that's been with us for 10 plus years and I
Speaker: then I think our shortest tenure is, is our third assistant. And I hate to say third, I only say third because she was the third to come into the practice, but she's been with us seven or eight years. So people come here and they stay. And, and I think it's because they, they see our vision, they believe in who we are, and they see the quality of care that we provide.
Speaker: Um, you know, over the years, there's, there've been a couple of positions that we've had to replace a couple of times. Um, and it's, it's hard. It's hard to find people, you know, uh, I always refer to the quote unquote receptionist as the director of first impressions. And, uh, I, I, I have, uh, Dr. Kirkam hired one that was a waiting tables at a restaurant that he and his wife were at. Um,
Speaker: I hired one who was a card attendant at the golf course, you know, and that's, that's just, I'm, I'm not necessarily looking for somebody in that position with dental experience. I'm looking for somebody with a personality and a smile. And you know, the others, um,
Speaker: It's not easy. I don't know. There's been a lot of mistakes. I mean, we've hired people that have not been good fits and they've been here for a short time. But the one thing that I would say is that if you're just a revolving door for an employee or a team member
Speaker: The problem's not necessarily what you're paying them. If you're a revolving door and it's happening on multiple occasions, the problem's probably you and not the practice, it's probably you.
Speaker: Or maybe it's your influence on the practice. But you know, I don't know, I've made mistakes. But I can also say that we've made some incredible hires over the years. And I have found that over the years, your best asset is word of mouth. I don't care about all these internet postings. Yeah, we've used them.
Speaker: But word of mouth is always the best and you'd be amazed at what you find. You find people that are unhappy, people that are looking for exactly what you're offering. If you've got a good reputation in the community, it's easier, not easy, but easier to find people.
Speaker: Well, I'm so sorry to hear of the loss of your office manager. I know that that can be really difficult on a practice, but I mean, it is hard. It is hard when you have a culture, a culture of success, a vision that you're trying to build in your practice and to bring someone in.
Speaker: to hopefully add value to that, but also not break the mold. Maybe not completely shape them, but hopefully they'll add a little bit more and help grow in that vision. But it's hard. Sometimes you bring someone in and they're just not it. They bring everyone down and that can be really, really hard. Working as a team is really, really difficult at dentistry and something that I've come to learn solely is I continue to learn in dentistry.
Speaker: And I would say this too, for anybody who's having problems with their team or their culture, there was a great article that came out about two or three weeks ago. Actually, it was about four weeks ago because we're four weeks into the college football season, but it was about Dion Sanders. Dion Sanders hates the word culture.
Speaker: However, I don't even think he'll never admit it, but what he's doing, he's completely rebuilding the culture at the University of Colorado. And it's a very heartwarming story because they had a full team and he basically told them to get out. And so he not only took on new coaches, he took on new players.
Speaker: And he threw a product out on the field that by most standards is supposed to be 0 and 4 right now. And they're 3 and 1. And he's got, you know, he's building a great culture, if you will, at Colorado. And it's going to be great to watch that story unfold.
Speaker: That's interesting that he doesn't like the word. I think it's a, I think it's a good word. I think that, yeah, you built up the culture that, that you want to be surrounded by and that you want to kind of put out there for the patients that you come in, especially, you know, in our setting, obviously football's a little bit different, but it's not too far. It's not too far really. I would agree.
Speaker: feeling overwhelmed as an associate or by your debt? There's a better way. 90 Day Jumpstart can help you break free from financial stress and skyrocket your production. Thanks for tuning into this episode of Dental Fuel. Join us next week as Chad DePlantis closes us out with our series by offering up some expert advice.
Speaker: If you'd like to hear more from Chad DiPlantis, you can find him on Dentist in the Know every Wednesday evening. You can also check him out on Instagram at Dentist in the Know and at toothdoc underscore dupe.
