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Dr. David Willey: Team Mistake
32 Plays19 days ago
Being a leader in dentistry isn’t just about running a practice—it’s about building a strong team, making tough decisions, and creating a lasting impact in your community.
In this episode of Dental Fuel, Dr. David Willey and Dr. Tanya Sue Maestas dive into the realities of leadership, team development, and community involvement. From having difficult but necessary conversations with team members and associate dentists to leading by example, Dr. Willey shares how to build a practice that thrives from the inside out.
Listen in as Dr. Willey shares:
✅ Why tough conversations—with both team members & associates—are essential for growth
✅ How to identify leadership potential in your team and cultivate a culture of accountability
✅ The power of a “Day of Giving” and why community engagement strengthens your practice
✅ Why losing a key team member isn’t always a setback—it could be an opportunity
✅ How to balance practice goals while keeping patient care & values at the center
Connect with Dr. David Willey: @lakesidedentalarts
Connect with Ignitedds and Dr. David Rice: @ignitedds Free Intro Call
Connect with Tanya Sue Maestas: @tsmaestas.dds
Learn more about Ignite Coaching : https://ignitedds.com
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Sponsorship
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.
00:00:11
Speaker
Dental Fuel brings you the unspoken in between. Dental Fuel is brought to you by Ignite DDS Coaching, empowering dentists to build self-determined futures. Together, we're shaping the next generation of leaders in dentistry.
Leadership in Dental Teams
00:00:25
Speaker
Identifying and fostering leadership qualities among team members is important, as well as regular evaluation and training. In this episode, Dr. Willie talks about team development and leadership skills, as well as some team mistakes.
00:00:39
Speaker
I'd like to go back to something that you were saying a little bit earlier. You talked a little bit about the importance of relying on your team and designating different roles to team members. I would like to know, you know, things that you find important in building a team and different team mistakes that you have found or you have encountered throughout your dental journey.
Team Evaluation and Development
00:01:00
Speaker
Well, the first thing I think is you need to evaluate each team member and see if they have some leadership qualities. they may not be perfect leaders. And as we have grown, I've taken some wonderful people that have had to learn some leadership skills and have hard conversations with some of their team members. So I think that's one of the things is setting expectations for your team.
00:01:21
Speaker
ah We have quarterly retreats where we actually take a day, the seven of us, and really sit down and analyze our key performance indicators, where the practice is at, are we on track and setting new goals for the practice?
00:01:34
Speaker
um I don't want anybody to think that it's all about the money because it's really our goal is to really make patients happy and really kind of see how many people, how many people's lives we can touch.
00:01:47
Speaker
And so that's one of the things we really look at. The numbers are great. you know There are driving factors because it is a business, but overall it's a profession and i everyone in our office understands that um you have to care about
Post-COVID Team Challenges
00:01:59
Speaker
those patients. And if you're a leader, you have to care about your team members.
00:02:02
Speaker
And you have to have sometimes some hard conversations with these team members. The beauty is, as you grow your practice, you can expand your team. ah But you typically are going to need at least an office manager, a front desk person, and one of your team leads in the back, you know, and if you have a hygienist, a hygiene team lead. And that way they can pass on all the important information that needs to be passed on, typically on a monthly basis to these team members.
00:02:30
Speaker
but you know i think it's just fine, you know, finding the right people. And, um, COVID has but definitely presented challenges as the new workforce comes back or comes back into the business world. Um, it is hard to find some pay, some people to really that want to work, that want to work in the way you work. So, uh, it's, so I won't say it's been easy. We have recycled a number of people through here, but, um,
00:02:55
Speaker
When you have 18 people on your team, ah not including the doctors, you have to find the right people and constantly be training them too so that they know what their expectations are. So we're constantly working on training too.
00:03:09
Speaker
COVID definitely did a number on on our profession in numerous ways, which is crazy. But the workforce, I think, was ah one of the ways that it really, really hit it.
Handling Difficult Conversations
00:03:19
Speaker
ah But those tough conversations are so, so challenging, especially as a new dentist. It can be very uncomfortable to have those conversations because it's different. you know You're not used to having those conversations, but they're important. They're important for The practice as a whole, they're important for the care that you're giving um to your patients.
00:03:37
Speaker
What is some advice that you would give to a newer dentist or maybe even even a seasoned dentist who has difficulty in having those to come tough conversations? Well, sometimes I think you have to sit down and say what is working well.
00:03:50
Speaker
You always want to start off with something. Hey, this is what's working well. Here's an area of concern or an area of growth that we can have. And sometimes on these tough conversations, I put a dot on one side of the board.
00:04:01
Speaker
That's you. A dot on the side. That's me. And up top here is our end goal. And if we can't get to this goal, then something's going to have to change. It's probably not going to be me.
00:04:13
Speaker
But you know you have to say, you know and I'm willing to train you up to get to this point, if you're willing to put in the effort and if you believe in it, but if not, then we're going to train you out and help you find someplace else to go. But um I can tell you the times where some of my key team members have left, I've found somebody even better.
00:04:35
Speaker
And it's just the way, know, the good Lord sometimes works for us. And sometimes another door opens. And when we feel very frustrated, sometimes we just got to keep pushing on and and understand that sometimes they're going to be some tough conversations and hopefully the team member will get on board, but you have to do this sometimes with your associate Dennis, you know, that you there's certain things you're going to need to do to be successful. You know, I can't provide you all the new patients all the time.
00:05:02
Speaker
You're going to have to be out in the community doing certain things that allow you to be seen out in the community, that you're not just a doctor, you're somebody participating in the community.
Community Involvement and Service
00:05:11
Speaker
So you have to have those conversations sometimes with doctors.
00:05:15
Speaker
Um, you know I tell people the days of me just closing the door and going home, I'm i'm always out trying to do things. ah I don't coach baseball anymore, but I was coaching baseball, coaching soccer, you name it.
00:05:27
Speaker
ah And now our associates are involved in lot of community events. and And I really feel that they ah get great pride in understanding that they're contributing back to the community. And that's one of the you know the core values you have to also impart to your team members. or What are your core values?
00:05:43
Speaker
And, you know, that's some of our leadership has really sat down one day and spelled out six just key core values. When we interview somebody, do you understand all these core values? Tell me what the definition of them is.
00:05:55
Speaker
All right, good. Are these important to you? Because if they're not somebody just punching a clock, but they don't care about integrity. They don't care about me positive mental attitude. They don't care about being a team player.
00:06:06
Speaker
I mean, don't care about being proactive. These are all things that are so important to me and commitment to excellence that, you know, that these things that everybody on this team knows that those are our core values that the team needs to know about.
00:06:21
Speaker
I couldn't agree more with that. I think that oftentimes there are many who treat dentistry as just a job. You you go in, you do your work, you leave, you talk out, and you're done.
00:06:32
Speaker
But I think there's so much more to it. you know It's a profession. It's important for us to play a role in our community, to let our community know that you know we're not only there for them when they're in our chair and in our office, but we're there for them you know, upside and we're there for them in different activities in the community. And so I think that that's huge. And I think that that's something that I hope that we continue to see, especially with the newer denies. I hope that they, they feel that they're, they're passionate about, know, the profession and what the future of the profession is, but also what they can do ah for their patients, both in and out of the practice.
00:07:05
Speaker
Yeah, I, you know, just a quick story. We do an annual day of giving like dentistry from the heart. We've been doing this for 13 years and the community just knows that that's our practice. They know one day in the summer, we're going to open up our practice and we're going to do ah procedure on whoever shows up that day.
00:07:21
Speaker
And, you know, i I can't tell you that that has not been really something that has helped us grow our practice, but also provide a real sense of team and our, our team looks forward to it. All of them work for free that day.
00:07:34
Speaker
and we call it the 12 hours of dentistry. We start at five in the morning, we end sometimes at five or six at night. And it's just a way to give back. So, you know, we, that's another thing that we feel is very important. And I would encourage others, if you can open up your practice one day, we put a tent outside, we have people checking in at sometimes five, six, seven hours before that day opens up. And you get one procedure, a cleaning, removal of tooth,
00:07:58
Speaker
you know, failing and we, we circle them in and I have four other dentists that join us. And now we, we see well over a hundred patients on that day. So just a, just an idea to give back.
00:08:10
Speaker
I bet you that you receive so much more from that one day of giving than anything else. but Our team looks forward to it. They just, they love getting hugs from patients. when They're out the community. You see an LDA on their shirt somebody goes, hey, you do that free day, don't you? You know, it's just, that's part of our culture. And I would encourage others to do it. It's just in a small community like ours, you really can make a big difference.
00:08:33
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Yes. And I hope ah that our listeners who are out there, you know, maybe they're thinking of doing something like this. Yeah. they incorporate that into their practice. We hope you're enjoying our conversation with Dr. Willie. Join in next week where he shares some expert advice.
00:08:47
Speaker
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