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Dr. Jeff Horowitz: Team Mistake
38 Plays24 days ago
In this week's Dental Fuel episode, Dr. Tanya Sue Maestas and Dr. Jeff Horowitz dive into the common pitfalls of managing dental practice teams. Dr. Jeff shares valuable lessons learned from keeping underperforming employees too long and how it can hurt your practice. He’s all about direct feedback 🗣️ to keep your team productive and positive!
Inspired by "The One Minute Manager" and "7 Habits of Highly Effective People", Jeff highlights the importance of strong leadership and how these books helped shape his approach. Tune in to level up your leadership skills!
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About the Guest:
Jeff Horowitz is a distinguished dentist based in the Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina, with practices in Myrtle Beach and Murrells Inlet. Originally from New Jersey, Jeff moved to South Carolina for dental school and planted his roots there, developing a reputation for his expertise in functional dentistry, specifically focusing on TMJ, airway, and orthodontics. He is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and Charleston’s Dental School and has advanced training from various prestigious institutions, including the Kois Center and the Piper Education and Research Center.
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Transcript
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. Welcome back to another episode of Dental Fuel. Dental Fuel is brought to you by 90 Day Jumpstart, a program to help you increase production and break free from financial stress. We're back with Jeff Horowitz. Jeff is a seasoned dental practice owner and a strong proponent of effective management and leadership skills. Jeff understands the common pitfalls in managing dental practice teams and he shares some key areas where he has received significant influence on his management style. Let's listen in. So I'm curious, Chef. Team mistakes. What are some that you have made and and what have you learned?
00:00:51
Speaker
um Biggest mistake in in management, um dare I use that word, um biggest mistake that I have made is retaining poor employees for too long.
00:01:06
Speaker
um you know There's ah a saying that nothing kills a great employee more than watching you keep a bad employee. and And I've been guilty of that a couple of times. One, um like a lot of people worried about the patient resistance, if the patients had developed a relationship with say a particular hygienist um worried about the fallout and what will happen to the organization or the systems that you put in place cuz you don't have someone train you know it it's we've all fallen into traps like that but
00:01:45
Speaker
you know When someone isn't pulling their weight on the team, it is just so unfair to those that have really dedicated themselves to you and to your practice. It's so unfair to allow those people to seem to be rewarded. And and I've almost lost a couple of really amazing employees because I kept bad ones on.
00:02:07
Speaker
for too long. and And most of the time when you get that feeling something is off, it usually is. And and so I go back to a Ken Blanchard book, The One Minute Manager, which says, you know, one minute praise one minute you know admonishing you know whatever it is be very upfront be you know be very deliberate about saying great job or this was great giving feedback whether it be positive or negative and then at the end of the day saying listen i appreciate you because
00:02:50
Speaker
You know, you do this so well, so well. Here is what I wish would have gone better today. How can I help you do that better? And and you know, that's just some of the management skills. I'm a big self-help book guy. and Me too. Yeah, yeah. I need all the help.
00:03:10
Speaker
That's it you know um you can't you can never give help unless you get help first um i really believe in that but yeah so i think keeping the wrong employees for too long is the biggest mistake i've made.
00:03:22
Speaker
um But one of the things that I've learned over a lot of time is um you know don't be afraid to have difficult conversations. you know Not having a conversation is way worse than just coming out saying, here's what didn't go the way I would have liked it. How can we work together to make this better? That's so much more productive in practice.
00:03:50
Speaker
Tough conversations are are challenging. I have a hard time with them. For me, you know you you were sharing that ah you should give praise and then maybe provide some constructive feedback. um I like the the compliment sandwich. Start with compliment, and give some feedback, and then you end with compliment. It just makes me feel better personally. But how did you, Jeff, get better with giving some of that constructive criticism feedback um to help your team overall grow?
00:04:16
Speaker
So really just just time and and becoming comfortable in my role because what what most dentists don't realize is yes, you're, or are not just dentists, but whoever owns the practice um is is that you're not just the boss. You're not just the person who signs the the paycheck.
00:04:39
Speaker
People are looking to you for leadership and leadership and and teams always find you know whatever the sentiment and whatever the attitude of leadership is you know will permeate the rest of the team.
00:04:54
Speaker
And so if there's a sense of you know not caring or or you know a sense of disorganization and and it's not being paid attention to, then it almost becomes part of that culture that the rest of the team says, okay, this is how the leader is. That's probably how they want us to be as well.
00:05:19
Speaker
So understanding that that your role as a leader, that people are looking to you to be the leader and to step in when things are going well and to step in when things aren't going well. And then, yeah again, just to be deliberate with decisions that will make things better and to let them know that your role there is to always make it a better working environment and make it a better place for patients to be.
00:05:47
Speaker
Very well said. So one minute manager, that was the name of the book. ever Are there any other books that you would recommend when it comes to building a culture in your practice?
00:05:58
Speaker
Yeah, seven habits of highly effective people. Covey. Yeah. um That book changed my life, not just my practice. And it ah it applies to work. It applies to home, to relationships, to spirituality, um everything. Just the the algorithm that that he goes through. And, you know, I can find a situation to use one of the seven habits and and quote it.
00:06:28
Speaker
ah in in almost every Business transaction that I have and in every social transaction that I have like, you know that begin with the end in mind um You know always think win-win seek first to understand and then to be understood like every one of those things has has changed the way that I talked to patients that I talked to my ah Team members that I talked to my wife that you know it that I talked to, you know, brand new business acquaintances. um That would be absolutely the the top of my list. Great choice. I'll throw one in there as well to um start with why is one of my favorite books, Simon Sennings. Yes. um I think that if you have a why and a reason as to why you do what you do in life and you can bring in a vision um to your practice and to your team and really have them stand behind that, I think that that really can add to the culture of how you practice as a whole.
00:07:24
Speaker
So those are those are great two great three books that we will include in the show notes Okay, they better all read them and then we'll come back with some more Yeah, and and then we got a list. Yes Have you checked out Dentists in the Know? What are you waiting for? Be sure to check them out every Wednesday evening, live on YouTube, where they have dynamic and engaging conversations with a guest each week. If you're looking to grow your practice and need some help along the way, be sure to check out 90 Day Jumpstart. You can start for free by contacting Dr. David Rice. Check out the link to his Calendly in the show notes.