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Is It Your Staff or Is It You? Leadership Truths Dentists Avoid · The Millionaire Dentist™

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  Hello, everyone, Welcome to the Millionaire Dentist Podcast, brought to you by
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  four Quadness Advisory. On this podcast, we break down the world of dentistry,
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  finances and business practices to help you become the millionaire dentists you deserve to
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  be. Please be advised we do speak with an honest tongue and may not
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  be safe for work. Hello and welcome. This is Casey. Heires back
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  at the Millionaire Dentist Podcast in studio with co host Jared Bridgeman. Casey,
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  good morning, How are you doing well? Doing well? Casey? You
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  know how much I love talking to you. We do it every day,
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  not always in front of a microphone, and we've often talked sometimes. I'm
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  always very interested since you're out and you get to speak to, you know,
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  dentists and specialists constantly and face to FaceTime. Are there some certain aspects
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  or complaints maybe that you find that dentists will speak about the kind of a
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  common theme. Yeah, I'm unst the people, yes, yeah, And
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  that's a lot of our ce. It's addressing a lot of the challenges practice
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  owners face, and our subject matter expertise comes from more of financial and tax
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  and money right, which is very important, but one of the biggest challenges
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  when we get into that. It's incredible that that's the first place that practice
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  owners will go is their team or their staff. And I say it's incredible
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  because ultimately, if you're making a boatload of money and you're saving one hundred
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  thousand dollars a year for retirement, you're on track for an eight digit retirement.
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  Normally, staff kind of doesn't bother you as much because you get your
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  money right. But psychologically, I think that number one, it's a day
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  to day challenge, and so it's right in front of their face and top
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  of mind. But number two, it's a little easier, perhaps because you're
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  almost deflecting away from ask if it was a deflection like, well, my
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  money's not right and overhead's terrible, and I don't like my business model,
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  but I don't want to talk about that. I want to talk about staff
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  because it's almost feels safer, right right. It's like a husband complaining about
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  his wife with his friends. You know, maybe you're a jerk. You
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  know, I never do that. I don't know. I don't get your
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  reference, Jarry. No, Honestly, every every time I talk to you,
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  Casey you just say nothing but great things about your wife. Well that's
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  true, Yeah, that's true. She's awesome. But yeah, the team
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  and staff is one of those that ultimately when I'm presenting, I like to
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  get away from. But it's a topic that we're going to tackle today a
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  little bit. Staff and team. Right, I've heard staff is an infection.
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  You most called him a team. That's cute. So that's why I
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  say staff and team. I never heard yeah, yeah, I heard that
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  once and it was just what about family? What about what about your family?
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  You're calling your staff or your team a family. So, and this
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  is just me doodling for a few minutes of prep, I'm breaking I'm gonna
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  break it down into four Like, if you think about your team and your
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  staff, it seems to be a frustration. And I get it, hiring
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  hard and you're more money, but I kind of sometimes people just suck.
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  That does happen. If you want to lose your faith in humanity, go
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  to an airport or them all. I've been saying that for years. Oh
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  holy smokes. Anyway, but I've broken it down into almost four buckets.
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  Right, So if your team and your staff, there's maybe four stereotypes or
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  four types of team or staff, And we're going to jump into that a
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  little bit and I'm going to go from my least favorite to my favorite.
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  But the first I think maybe if you if a practice owner had to describe
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  their staff, unfortunately, the worst one would be they're just kind of a
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  just get through the day. So your staff and your team, you know,
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  they know they have a lot of really important things to do, and
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  they just put their head down and are just trying to get through the day.
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  And you can have that as just like a very negative where it's just
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  like a zombie that just wants to get through the day and just leave me
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  alone, or just somebody who they're almost so overwhelmed with with what the task
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  at hand that they're just not wanting to make a mistake. And that's ay,
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  just get through the day mentality. It's almost like what they call like
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  the grind, like grinding through the day. Yeah, it whears you out.
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  Yeah, And and and that's that's hard on everybody. Patience too,
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  you kinda you know, they feed on they're not feed they they pick up
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  on energy. That energy and that body language and the tone of voices.
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  Yeah, I mean there's you know, I've I've gone to different dentists in
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  my life and and now looking back, I mean, uh love where I'm
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  currently at and and like most of them. But there's times where maybe there's
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  a substitute hygienist or somebody and you can just feel it. I would just
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  be like, what's wrong? Are you okay? You know, but I
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  don't want to ask them because I think they're gonna say no, right,
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  and then you're stuck in a three minute conversation. But you know, it's
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  that just get through the day mentality, and that's that that's no good.
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  The second one might surprise you when thinking about your team or staff, like,
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  oh, we're family, Yeah, we have a we have a family
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  mentality and that's been around for decades, and that kind of description of any
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  mini companies. It feels very a very dated way of companies. It's dated.
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  And here's the thing. Is that a positive or a negative? Because
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  there's a lot of families that don't talk to each other, They hate each
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  other, they stab each other in the back, they haven't talked to each
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  other. That family reference number one, I don't know that it lands number
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  two. So what are you saying like we're very close and we like each
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  other and we spend time. I just don't know what it means. It
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  sounds cheesy to me. I will say that it's it's a well known red
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  flag for younger generations if a company says that, get into that so very
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  much with like younger millennials and gen z. It's kind of what you're saying
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  is if if they tell you you're a family, like that almost implies like
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  little to raises in terms of pay, maybe working extra because they're asking you
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  to do favors for them. It's just a negative context. Yes, yes,
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  yeah, that that whole oh we're family. It's like, I just
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  I just don't buy it. I think that in any work setting or professionally,
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  you should like who you're working with. You should, you know,
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  get along and challenge and maybe do things outside of that. I think that's
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  all good. Like I'm not gonna lie I love working here, but I'm
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  also here to make money. Yeah right, I've I've got a buddy and
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  his wife talks about how we're all family and at work bl blah blah,
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  And he's like, oh cool, you would you do it for free?
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  And then there was an argument about that, right, It's like, you
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  know, you it's a plus to like where you work and like the people
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  you work, but like you're there to make money. You're not necessarily there
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  to make friends or certainly not to have extended family. That's a great bonus
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  if that's where you are. Like, I'm not being a dick about it,
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  but I find that we're a family. I find I find it kind
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  of insincere. And I almost want to ask people, so what do you
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  mean by that? Because there's good families and there's bad families, right,
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  and uh, but that that's the second one. And I think that one
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  might you know, surprise people, but I don't know that that's the best
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  that's the best way that you want it. And then if you fire somebody,
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  it's like you're firing your grandma. Yeah, that's the other thing.
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  I just just fired another family member. And and uh. And then if
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  you get if you hire somebody new, you know, you've got a new
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  step brothers, Like do you want one? I mean, there's a lot
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  of psychology there, but I think that that descriptive. You know, you
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  can either take advantage of people or get away with things. I don't I
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  don't love that. The third one is okay maybe, and now the third
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  and fourth one, I think or where you're starting to turn the corner to
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  be more positive. Okay, we're accountable, okay, right, so you
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  know that there's respect and all and all those same, but like, we're
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  accountable. We're accountable to each other to get a job done, to accomplish
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  a goal. I think that's accountable to both your your your teammates, crew,
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  and your patients. Yeah. Yeah, I think a culture of accountability
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  is a really good place to start. Feel. It kind of drives pride
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  too, like Kevin pride in your work. Yeah. If you're all accountable
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  to to the mission or the vision and you all do it, you know,
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  you kind of give each other that nod like, hey, we we
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  did this. Like that that's great. Versus if you have a family of
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  ten and two of your family members support the other eight. Yeah, like
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  group projects in college, one person does the work. But I think you
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  know that accountable, we're accountable to each other. I think that should be
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  the bare minimum. Yep, don't you know what. Oh my gosh,
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  that's such a good thing to say. That also works just an actual family,
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  not just your quote unquote work family. It's a it's a novel concept.
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  I have to talk to my wife. We're all accountable, even with
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  kids, you know. I think I think that's important to instilling them explain
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  that, hey, we're guys, we're all accountable to make sure our home
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  is clean, instead of just barking at them, like and as a as
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  a practice owner, if you're just barking in a everybody to do things versus
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  hey, we're all in this together, and it's holding out. If you're
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  the captain of a ship, you know, Hey, this is what the
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  ship is, and this is what it's about, and this is where we're
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  headed. If you don't like that vision, don't get on the ship.
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  If you're on it and you don't like it, get the hell off the
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  ship. But that don't needs to be real clear when you see yeah,
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  and when you set those expectations new hires, I think that's important. Give
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  them a vision of what you where you are at, and what you want.
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  Have that mission statement and all, and you might go, hey,
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  we're right now, we're in office. It's highly accountable to each other.
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  But our goal is to get to the next step, which which is pursuit
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  of excellence. Let's have an office, a staff, and a team that
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  we are all accountable and pulling in the same direction. We're on a pursuit
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  of excellence. Okay, what would you say? That is for a possible
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  example, and I think it can be different. But I think that there
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  needs to be clear expectations and metrics, and when there's metrics, there's potentially
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  some incentives. And I think that really helps everybody then be accountable to each
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  other. But then you're all pursuing excellence. You're pursuing more than just accountability.
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  And again that's going to get felt by your colleagues, the practice owner,
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  GENI, assistance office manager. Patients, Right, patients are getting I
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  would say, the majority of the time, really really good clinical care.
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  Now I've been to a terrible dentist out in southern California and still that son
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  of it. Yeah, free dentistry in that alley, in that van.
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  It just seems so inviting. But that pursuit of excellence, you know,
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  it's a concept, but then you can also drill down and make it.
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  Here's what we mean by that. Here are the six metrics for pursuing excellence.
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  But ultimately it's attitude, it's joy. There's a lot of things that
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  maybe you can't measure. But that's the culture that you want, right,
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  I mean, that's the culture you want your family, that's the culture you
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  want with friends at a workplace, as you're serving your patience and your team
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  and staff, be in a pursuit of excellence. Just getting through the days
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  not good enough. The cliche family thing, like if you're pursuing excellence and
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  you're accountable to each other, the family label is going to be laughable because
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  you guys are actually all going to achieve something. Yep. But those are
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  the four you know, And and it's it's ask yourself, where am I
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  at? What is my team? What is my staff? And if I
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  don't like it? What am I going to do about it? Right?
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  Because it all comes back to you, and stop using the excuse of well,
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  it's you know everybody, it's a it's a tough hiring market, labor
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  market. You know, underwhelming talent. Talent is coming demanding money. And
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  I've got to do it again. If you let the tail wag the dog,
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  you're going to be frustrated. And it's all you. And again,
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  this is all top down did you ever see the movie remember the Titans?
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  Yes, yes, yes, that's the high school football? Right? High
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  school? Actually I didn't even know. I think it was anyways, football,
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  wasn't it the jail? Was it high school? Or oh the extra
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  yard? No? Anyway? Yeah, so remember the Titans, right right?
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  Do you remember it? I remember coming out done unch. So we
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  worked at a video store and that came out running out VHS, copy video
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  connection, Yeah, Blockbuster? I mean which one was it? Back then?
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  It was video Stop. They got bought by Blockbuster, which is you
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  know, no longer around. Yeah, and I didn't anyway, we won't
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  get into that. Here's a quote from that movie. Attitude reflects leadership captain.
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  As the practice owner, you're the captain. If you don't like the
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  attitude of your staff, look in the mirror, yep, because this is
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  top down and if you don't like it, most likely you were the origin
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  of it. And so while so many practice owners like to kind of get
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  into that topic because it's almost deflecting and not super personal about again, income,
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  overhead, retirement savings, when can I retire? Like all those real
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  personal things that we master this staff and leaders this is something that it starts
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  and stops with the practice owner. And if they don't like it, look
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  in the mirror. Yep, just like just talk to yourself like Michael Jackson,
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  you know, man in the mirror. In the mirror. I mean,
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  yeah, we got to play some background music. But again, attitude
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  reflects leadership. Captain, what a quote. This is top down. We
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  ask our clients what type of practice do you want? And we help build
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  the blueprint, the roadmap and the path to get them there to be profitable.
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  What kind of staff and team do you want? You need to ask
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  yourself that you need to start there. I mean, maybe it has to
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  do with finding a sounds super nerdy, finding a book that illustrates the way
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  you want your team and get that book for them. And you know,
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  hey, there's all kinds of books out there with all kinds of as you
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  said, like advice for things like that. For example, I bought a
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  book this week called How Not to Be an Ass so I can learn to
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  be nicer at home. There's all kinds of stuff like that. You know.
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  Yeah, I won't tell you the book that came today, The geopolitical
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  politics and you know, conspiracy facts or theories whatever you want to call them.
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  I won't get into that, but I wanted to spend some time on
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  this because we hear it. We hear it a lot, and it really
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  and I mean there are That's not to say that we're we're poo pooing on
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  real complaints that may be happening with staff, but it's real. But the
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  origins you what you don't do about it? Yep, you know it's time
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  to stop deflecting. It's time to look inward. And if you need to
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  correct your your steering on your ship, you get to it well and think,
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  you know, think about Thanksgiving. So many times people are like,
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  oh, they dread Thanksgiving because they have to get together with family and they
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  enjoy their friends giving. They're so excited for to have some time off and
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  to spend time with friends. And so again, the family, the family
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  culture label connotation. I think it's stated. I think it's cliche, and
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  I actually think it can be viewed as negative. Pursuit of excellence, make
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  that your your standard and and then lee to your team. In that manner,
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  it's going to be so much better again, doubling your income and saving
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  a boatload of money and having twelve million that'll change your attitude and you don't
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  care up. Our clients will tell us, yeah, our staff doesn't piss
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  me off as much because all these other things are right great. But hey,
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  if you're a di wire out there trying to trying to master the business
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  and financial side of dentistry while providing great dentistry, the onus is on you
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  to have that great team and staff. Don't just shrug and throw your hands
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  up in the air. Do something about it, and that strong leadership will
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  resonate down, no doubt about it. Casey, you're going to be traveling
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  again soon. If you folks out there want to check out high Ball in
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  Harvest. H Harvest is a badass place in Orlando, Orlando. That's right,
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  yep. We'll have some great subject matter on the business side of dentistry
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  at a great venue with enjoying some great things. Go to four Quartersadvisory dot
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  com slash events, get registered, click on it and make sure you register.
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  It's gonna be awesome. Oh, it's going to be fantastic. And
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  just so you know, there's a fifty dollars placeholder when you go to register.
• 16:04
  When you attend, you get that money back. But just like you
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  don't like no shows in your practice. We need to have accurate accounts,
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  and so it's been really good. We've just started doing that. But yeah,
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  it's a placeholder and you know there's limited seating. Uh, the these
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  events sell out. People love that they go. We've had people recently go,
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  hey, I heard it on the podcast, looked it up, registered,
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  and so glad I'm here, and and yeah, we'll be in Orlando
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  and then after Thanksgiving all of an IVY in Scottsdale, correct there before one
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  of my favorite places. That place rocks, is it. I've never been
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  to Phoenix. Yeah, I mean, I like to think people want to
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  come to hear the subject matter. But high Ball in Harvest and Orlando and
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  all of an IVY in Scottsdale, those places are awesome. Fire fire All
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  right, Casey, thank you so much. That's all the time we have
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  today. Thank you to our guests for their insight and for sharing some really
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  great information, and thank you to you the listener for tuning in. The
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  Millionaire Dennis podcast is brought to you by four Quadrant Advisory to see if they
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  might be a good fit for you and your practice. Going over to four
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  Quadransadvisory dot com and see why year after year they retain over ninety five percent
• 17:14
  of their clients. Thank you again for joining us, and we'll see you
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  next time.