Leadership Strategies to Reduce Burnout and Build a Thriving Dental Practice with Heather Crockett

If you are experiencing the Sunday night scaries, the Sunday night blues, whatever it is that you wanna call it, when that's happening, you have to evaluate now what it is that you are carrying. What is it that you are feeling the stress of on your shoulders?

This is Growth in Dentistry, a dental intelligence podcast where we ask the question, what does growth in dentistry mean to you? I'm Steve Jensen, a data dental nerd and your host. Welcome back everyone to another episode of the Growth in Dentistry podcast. Super excited for today's episode. I know I say it every time, but it's the truth. Before we jump in and I introduce our guest for today, huge shout out to the marketing team at Dental Intelligence for sponsoring this podcast week after week after week. A lot of work goes into producing these, so I'm so grateful for their help and for their sponsorship. They have a special offering for all listeners of the podcast. If it's been a while since you've checked out DI or you've never checked it out, they'll give you a $50 gift card just for taking a demo. Now don't do it for the money because DI is a super cool platform. Everything from automating your forms and consent so those just get sent out automatically, filled out by the patients and written back to the practice management software, all the way to things like analytics and team follow-ups and workflows that way. They've got so much to offer, so definitely check it out. Okay, with that out of the way, I wanna introduce Heather Crockett from ACT Dental. If you have never had the pleasure of meeting Heather, she has 25 years of experience in dentistry, which is crazy 'cause she still looks like she's in her 20s. Heather.

Nah. I gotta say it.

It's the flattery. No, Heather is one of my favorite people in dentistry. She carries this energy where she is so curious, she is constantly learning, and she stays on top of the best practices and the best way of doing things within dentistry. Uh, ACT Dental has worked with hundreds, maybe thousands, I don't know. For sure, their reach in dentistry goes into the thousands and thousands and thousands of dental practices. One of my favorite things was during COVID Kirk and the team at ACT, uh, I think like took over the world with webinars and basically trained everyone while they couldn't go to dentistry on like, hey, how do you think about your relationship with your practice now that you're sitting here and realize, okay, like I'm closed down. He really started to get the message out there to say like, hey, maybe dentistry needs to be more than just getting dental work done. Maybe I need to think about my culture. Maybe I need to think about my own personal life and how I think about my relationship with work and family and friends and community. And I was personally so grateful for the message that Kirk and Heather and others at the ACT, dental team have gotten out there. So today we are gonna talk about just that. We're gonna talk about some of the realities of being a dental practice owner, dental office manager, and some of the frustrations that you experience. So Heather, welcome to the show. Super excited for our conversation today.

I'm delighted to be here, Steve, and anytime I get to hang out with you is a good minute or hour. So thank you for having me. I'm thrilled to be here. Fun. And we have the best topic of all time. All time, what we're gonna talk about.

So, so here's, uh, I agree. Here's where I want to start. So I think, like, I even think about my own life experience, and there have been times in my career where it's Sunday night and I think about going to work the next day, and then I just get like an absolute pit in my stomach. And I know for a fact that there are lots of dentists and lots of office managers that probably feel that same dread. So in, in a topic of trying to help, the whole goal of this podcast is to help folks get rid of that or like start to alleviate that. So I'm going to start with a question. So what advice would you have for like eliminating or maybe like reducing that amount of dread that a doctor or an office manager or team member might have going into their work week on Sunday night? The Sunday scaries.

So excited about your question, Stephen. It's a loaded one, right? Super heavy question that so many people experience. Not just in the world of dentistry, um, but anybody in the world of work. If you are experiencing the Sunday night scaries, the Sunday night blues, whatever it is that you want to call it, um, when that's happening, you have to evaluate now what it is that you are carrying. What is it that you are feeling the stress of on your shoulders? And so we're gonna pull— we're gonna pull that all apart. That Sunday dread, it normally stems from some kind of lack of clarity. Something might be gray, or there's so much on your plate that you are completely overwhelmed and exhausted, or there's some people problems that you haven't yet addressed, which is totally normal. If that's happened to you or is happening to you, guess what? You're a normal human and you're a normal dentist practice owner. Um, what I recommend is start by auditing your week. So do you have scheduled time to think? You know, you mentioned Steve, COVID, We had a lot of time to think during COVID right? We had all the time in the world to think about what's going on with our own lives, what's going on with our practices. You know, our motto at ACT is better practice, better life. What does that look like? It means something different for everyone. We need to be intentional about scheduling that time to take ourselves out of our practices and think about it in a different way and with a different lens. So you need to be sure to have that time to think about your practice. Um, or are you just doing dentistry on autopilot? Because if that's the case, you're going to get into that hamster wheel of burnout and you're going to experience more of that Sunday night blues. Um, I love— so many doctors don't work on Fridays. Now, if you work on Fridays, it might look a little bit different for you, but I love coaching my clients to tell them, hey, on Friday, just take some time, even if it's 20 minutes, 30 minutes, and really think intentionally about your practice. Look at the week ahead. Look at the week behind you too. And oftentimes as humans, we think of all of the things that we could do to be better. We need to reflect on the things that we're actually doing well, because there's a lot of things that we're good at. There's tiny, small wins that if we just step back and focus for a second, like, yeah, we did totally do that. We kicked butt at this and we crushed that case. And that really helps to boost our mood and our emotional state. So we don't experience that Sunday night blues as often. If we put that rhythm in place where we're looking back, celebrating those wins, and then looking ahead at the week ahead of us so that we can mentally prepare and think, gosh, if I had 30 more minutes to do XYZ throughout the week, I know that I'll be more grounded. Then you will be more proactive and not experience as much of the Sunday night blues. No guarantees here.

Now I wanna jump in because I, I don't want people to miss that. I think that's a huge thing, at least for me, that's been big. The way that I've like had it phrased or that, I don't know if it's someone explaining to me or if it just like in my own head is like stacking evidences. So like I've always, I've not always, but maybe the last 7 or 8 years had this visual where I go through a similar routine And it's just over the years, the idea was, hey, if I can start stacking daily evidences, or in this case, like it's a weekly ritual where I can say, hey, like I have this win and this win, like, hey, I executed really well on this task that I planned to do. I helped these team members, that coaching session went really well. And I start to identify. And then even like in my personal life, like, hey, I said I was gonna go run these 4 days in the week and I did the run and I executed on the treat. Like I did what I said I was gonna do. And if I can start creating these moments when it's like, okay, I did what I said I was gonna do and it went well, or at least in these few moments it went well, then I start every day, I start to add up all these evidences. And by the time I would get a year away, 2 years away, 3 years away, I have this like mountain of evidence where it's like every day it's like I can't allow myself to go into like a deep dark dread because it just, I just kind of got in the habit of getting so much evidence to just show, hey, like, I'm moving in a positive direction. I have evidence that my brain can point to because we do have this like availability heuristic that tends to look at the most recent negative things that have happened and then we like over-index on those. So I hope people hear what Heather just said. I think that's a really, really thoughtful life practice that— so I like that every Friday, if that's kind of your day off, maybe it's a day during the week, but I like that intentional time to like And now do you like write them down? I think I used to. Now I kind of just like mentally do it. What do you think, Heather?

Oh gosh, there is so much power. There's research when you write things down that it sticks with you more. It's, it's much more powerful than just thinking of it. I love that idea, Steve. Yes, absolutely. Every quarter when I go meet with my teams and my clients, I make them write down all their celebrations. Yes, we do it multiple iterations and times. I send a survey, make them write it down. We write it down together. We make it a fun activity or an exercise. Because that really helps to boost those dopamine levels and what is, whatever, endorphins and things that we need in order to get over that negative piece that as humans, we just always focus on the negative and the worst things.

I guess it's not true that I don't write them down. Like I go in and report on my own work. Like, hey, here's what I accomplished this quarter. Like here's the podcast I recorded, here's the speaking events, here's the customers I helped or the things I helped with and sales. So, or the projects I led and here's the results. So no, I guess that's true. I I do report on things that are like written down, which is super helpful.

Yeah, but if you're a normal human being, like I'm sure that you are, we tend to not give ourselves enough credit. Yeah. Like, gosh, we've really gotta grant ourselves grace. We are working and trying so hard. And if you're a dentist listening to this, you went to dental school and you graduated, like you've done something extremely difficult. You need to give yourself more credit.

Yeah, I agree with that. Now, any other advice there? I have like another question, just thinking about like the dentist. So they're wearing several different hats like you just mentioned. They graduated from dental school, which in and of itself was like quite the accomplishment. And so naturally they have the hat of a clinician, or a clinician, or like a clinician. That's in and of itself difficult. Like there's lots of burden that comes with that. Even if they're working as an associate in a dental practice, I would still argue that they are a leader in the business. People just look to the doctors as like, hey, You are the one that like runs the show and we follow your lead. Your attitude, the way you talk about patients in the business, even as an associate, are incredibly impactful. And then a lot of the people that are listening to the show are probably entrepreneurs, probably own their practice as well, so are trying to juggle wearing those hats. How do you think about like balancing all three of those without burning out? Because that's such a big problem in dentistry, is doctors getting like— I can't tell you how many people I've talked to that they get like 10, 15 years in their career and they're like, holy crap, can I do this for another 20, 25 years? Or do I need to go, you know, start dancing on TikTok and see if I can make money there instead?

I mean, there are some dentists that are really lucrative and they do.

Oh, they are.

That makes sense. I know, like, dang, I gotta learn your ways. And I love that you pointed out, Steve, that there's also associates that are leaders in the practice. Truly, I like to say that every team member on the team is a leader.

That's true.

But, but, but yes, dentists do have— dentist practice owners have a little bit more on their plates as far as what those hats look like. Most of them, they're the most comfortable wearing their clinician hat, right? That's where the majority of time is spent. That's where they feel good because they see good success. They see a lot of success from the work that they do in the cases. And it's really easy. It's black and white to say, here's what I treatment planned and my diagnosis. And here's the result. And it's, it's a little bit more gray when you start diving into, you know, how do I lead my team? How do I really effectively run my business so that it's successful? It's really, really tricky. Leading your team well and leading the business well, it's when you need to recognize when you need to shift and wear those specific hats. I'll even say to my clients, Like, what hat are you wearing right now? And where, where is your brain at? So they, they almost like, okay, I'm going to take this hat off right now and I'm going to put this hat on because we do have to compartmentalize and think differently and segment the things that we are doing or not doing depending on whatever hat it is that we're wearing. Those— your clinical time is very sacred, but we also need to be very protective and put boundaries around when we need to have our CEO time, when we need to plan strategically for what it is that we're doing and where we're trying to take the practice. If we're staying the exact same, we're not getting any better. So it's important for us to take that time, be intentional with it, sit down and say, what do things look like a year from now, 3 years from now, 5 years from now? It's really difficult to do that when you're placing an implant. So it's really important to put that into your schedule. Um, there's this thing called context switching. So if you're thinking about your business and what it is, where you want it to go in 3 years from now while you're prepping a crown, you're gonna struggle to do that right now. It's really, really hard.

All things are gonna have issues with them. Like, with the crown, might screw up something with the thought pattern.

Yeah, exactly. Yes. Um, it's really important to be sure that your team knows and understands what those hats look like too. Um, oftentimes I'll have clients that are trying to live in all three, the clinician, the entrepreneur, and the leader all at the same time. And you just end up in this place where you're stuck and you feel like you can't move forward with anything. And that's when, when you recognize that, that's when you need to say, okay, what hat am I wearing right now? And when you say that and ask yourself that question, your team can help you. And I have a lot of my clients too where, um, their team will bring them something and they're like, I'm currently wearing my leader hat. If this has anything to do with dentistry, write it on a Post-it note and stick it right here. Because otherwise you'll end up with that context switching and it just becomes really, really difficult. That's when the burnout happens. That's when decision making becomes really, truly difficult and you get these blurred lines. It's so hard to keep everything straight when that happens. Um, you can do it all, but you can't do it all at one time.

Is there like, uh, this is probably like too tactical of a question because I'm sure the answer is probably like, ah, it like depends, but Is there like any rules of thumb? Like, hey, 80% of my time can be spent clinical, 20% of my time is spent on like CEO stuff. 20% of 40 hours is like 8 hours a week. Is that like too much, too little? I'm just thinking like anecdotally where it's like, okay, most doctors have like 4 working days. Maybe they work on their off day. And in that case, it's like, yeah, then on a 40-hour— 40 hours, maybe it's probably more like 50, but maybe 40-hour work week. Like your day off, is that 8 hours that you're gonna spend more on the business? Like how do you—

I love your question. I can't answer it simply because each practice and each practice owner is so unique.

I let myself answer by saying, yeah, you probably won't give me like an exact here, but worth considering, you know?

Yeah, it's gonna be different for each specific person, right? And what they're gonna have to do is they're gonna have to play with and experiment with how much time makes sense for them. It's gonna depend on what stage of their practice they're in, what stage in life they're in, what is it that they're going through or what their team is going through to determine how much time. I would always say like overplanning, like just, just say, ah, I'm gonna take 2 hours every Friday and if it ends up being 1, awesome, just got some time back, right? So I would say overplan for the time. And then just see where you're at. And if you try 2 hours and you're like, that wasn't enough time and you really enjoyed it and you got a lot done, then give yourself more time the next week.

Yeah, as you were sharing, the thought that came to my mind is like, there's probably like times and seasons to that where like, if I just opened a brand new scratch practice, then honestly I'm probably like 60 to 70-hour weeks. And it's like, I have to do all this clinical, but then I'm doing like a crazy amount of business stuff because I'm, training, I'm putting in new systems where it's like any time I'm implementing systems or I'm changing processes, I'm probably going to have to put in more time and effort and thought into something. And then as soon as I've proven that those systems are working and we have like good trained, you know, SOPs and alignment across the team, then the amount of time I'm spending in CEO management mode can go way down, right? 'Cause it's like, okay, cool. Like we've kind of solved the big like SOS problems and I'm in more of like maintenance mode. And when I'm in maintenance mode, it's probably, you know, a little more chill, but then in maintenance mode, you're not in like growth, exciting change mode. So, you know, you kind of gotta probably balance like how often you're going in and out of that.

Yes. And I love that you said that 'cause I was just about to say that like maintenance mode, what's that? You gotta challenge yourself. You always have to, you always have to challenge yourself. Yeah, please stop doing that.

A dentist, it was a fun thread. A dentist on Facebook posted yesterday and was like, "Hey, is anyone else sick of hearing about growth? I'm so sick of hearing about growth." So he was kind of like ranting, but it was so fascinating because most of the comments were like, "Totally relate with you." At the same time as I've tried to like, they basically kind of lamented and said, "Look, there's moments where I've tried to say, okay, like I'm just gonna chill and like kind of just let my practice run." And then they, you know, at some point of just like, quote, letting the practice run, they realize they're, declining. And so most of the comments were like, hey, like, maybe it's more around, you know, having the self-awareness to like adjust your relationship with growth and what that has to mean or not mean. So like, maybe that's like a good like segue. So like, I think that like being a really good leader has to do with being like very self-aware. So what is— what does that look like to you in a dental practice setting for like a leader, Heather?

Love that you're saying that, Steve. Yes. And before we, before we go on to that, I just have to say, you ever have a car where you put it in neutral? I was like, just bear with me for a second. You put it in neutral and you're going, you've gained momentum, you stick your car in neutral, what happens eventually?

Yeah, it's gonna, it's gonna roll.

It will roll and stop at some point unless you're like going downhill. That you're not going downhill because then you're downhill and crash.

I guess unless someone else comes and pushes it, you know? Okay.

And the coach could come in and push it. Or competitors could come.

DSOs will come and push it.

Oh, so true. But if you go into neutral and you're coasting, you'll eventually come to a stop.

Yeah.

So anyway, that's why I had to challenge you, my friend. Anyway, so we always gotta be pushing the gas pedal at some point. Part of that, you're absolutely right. Leaders and what I've heard, I am so obsessed right now with the Working Genius model from Patrick Lencioni and The Table Group. If you have any questions, feel free to email me, but Um, what's so great is they, they keep saying over and over, and so it's been ingrained in my head, in my brain, is that the best kind of leader is the self-aware one. And the whole idea behind this is to know what you're really amazing at and know what drains you of energy. Listen, we've talked about this already on the podcast. We're human. We are not perfect at everything. And if you think you're perfect at everything, you probably need therapy over coaching or consulting because there's something going on. Um, I recognize that I make plenty of mistakes and I have many weaknesses. The key to knowing, um, how to get over those, and not even get over those, but is to fill in the blanks with people around you that have areas of strength in your areas of weakness. And it's so important that once you realize that and you're aware of that and you surround yourself with people that fill in those blanks for you, ah, like a magical moment. You recognize— I got a question.

How do you figure out what those weaknesses are? Because I think a lot of dentists kind of have the same mindset as me where it's like, hey, look, I can be good at anything I want to be if I put enough time and attention into it, but it's not always like worth our time or attention. So it's not always super easy to like just recognize it myself. So Do you have any suggestions like getting feedback from team members? People in general don't like giving like harsh or critical feedback. So how, how, how do you even go about like recognizing where your gaps are as a leader?

Yeah. Well, gosh, I know some people that aren't shy. They'll just tell you straight up like it is.

That is true. Nevermind. I have been to enough like, like 8 AM and like office manager meetings where it's like, man, a lot of these folks are like callous. They'll just tell you like it is. We're like, no. Yeah. Buddhocks always behind, struggles whenever they talk about finances and we fill in those gaps. You know, that's, that's, that's true. There are a lot of very like blunt and like in a good way people out there.

Yeah, for sure. We, we like to say clear is kind, like that clarity, like it is kind. It might come off really bold in the beginning and direct. Steve, I love your question. Here's the thing. There's, I mean, all the consulting coaching, everybody uses something a little bit different. At ACT, we like to use DISC and Working Genius and 5 Behaviors of a Cohesive Team. And there's lots of assessments that ask specific intentional questions that help you to discover that. Not only that, but we ask guiding questions like, what brings you energy? What specific things drain you? And oftentimes I'll get like, I don't know, looking at my P&L. Well, let's dive a little bit deeper. What exactly does that mean? You know? Asking those questions, tell me more about that. Tell me about this. Tell me about that so that we can get to the point where it's like, if you feel like you're not good at this, and I, anything can become data, right? We've talked about this in telecom before. Anything can become data. So if we're based everything off feelings, then we're in trouble. But if you give it a rating, okay, so on a scale from 1 to 10, doing, uh, performance evaluations for your team members, do you, do you love it? Does it bring you energy or do you hate it and it drains you and you're exhausted afterward on a scale from 1 to 10? And then it becomes an easier way to recognize that, hey, I may or may not be really great at that.

Yeah, I like, I like the assessments too, because then it doesn't feel like it's like as much of an attack where it's like, you just take the test and you're like, oh, okay, well, I'm not, you know, I'm not very high on my dominance on D. And so I probably need to surround myself or look on my team, like who is better at that? And then they're probably going to be the one that's going to help me with like enforcing SOPs or like making sure everyone shows up to huddle on time, you know, and I will be there on time as like the leader to show an example, but maybe I'm not going to be as like good at that thing. Yeah, that's a, that's a nice way to, to get an idea of strength and weakness within the team without having to like have like a rat each other out fest situation.

Exactly. Yes. And then, then you can't really argue with the results of the test and the assessment because you're the one who answered those things. Questions, but you're absolutely right. Teams that take assessments like that and then are aware of the results of everyone on the team, really what happens is there's support in the language. You know, just knowing and saying, you are a C style communicator within DiSC. I need this because I'm an I and you and I are like the yin to yang. Let's make this happen together. That's where these leaders are, are really going to thrive is by leaning on specific team members to help fill in where, where they need help, where they might be able to do something, but it doesn't bring them any joy and energy, or it might take them 10 hours to do something that it would take another team member 1.

Yeah. I, I love that. We, we have done DiSC as well here as a leadership team at DEI. And it also gives you the ability to like give people a little more grace in the role where it's like, oh, like I know that that's not gonna be their strong point. And so I'm willing to like jump in and help there when I know there's a gap where if you don't, if you don't have kind of those same words or structure to kind of describe where we're all at, then I think there's going to be more judgment that can happen where it's like, oh, this person just sucks at processes, you know, or isn't, you know, anyway. So I think, I think that's helpful too, where it helps create like the ability, like a framework where I can actually trust those around me to do what they're really good at. And I'm gonna do really good at what I'm good at, and then as a team, we're gonna like actually, um, win, right?

Yeah, you nailed it. See, that's what I was just gonna say. That's when the trust level increases exponentially because we're all looking at each other saying, I trust you to help me with this, and I trust that you won't judge me for the fact that I fall short in these specific areas because you also fall short in some areas.

Now tell me, because As we're talking about other people having strengths that we don't have, sometimes that can feel like you're, it's like an attack on self where it's like, no, I wanna be good at everything. And I don't want people to know that I suck at anything. Or it could also feel like giving up control. I think some of us like to feel like we, like the whole practice success revolves around me. And if I walked away, it would fall apart. So how can you, how do you think about delegation? 'Cause I think a lot of folks struggle with that. So as we figure out what everyone's strengths are, how do you think about delegation and doing it?

Great question. Yeah. And doing it well, that's the, yeah, delegating and then doing it well. That's the key for sure. No, when we are talking about empowering the people around us, we have to reframe it in that we, it's not that we're like giving up control completely. It's that we are doing this together as a team. I made the mistake once of criticizing how my husband washed the mirrors in the bathroom because he was cleaning the bathroom for me, and I was so grateful that he was just helping me and doing it. And then he caught me a half hour later redoing what he had just done because there were a few streaks, you know. But I, I should— what I should have done is just express my appreciation for his help because I needed his help, right? And that's where Listen, we're all human. We all have gaps and we're all going to not do everything completely perfect. And we have to recognize that as we go into this delegation piece. But if you've hired well, the team members that are around you, they are literally just waiting for you to ask them to do something and they will shine and they will shine more and more and more as you provide really amazing feedback to them and, and appreciate them, even if there's some streaks in the mirror. And then walk through together what it can look like in the future if we need it to be better. When we share the purpose and the why of what it is that we're doing, you know, if you know where it is that you're going, if you don't share that with the team, they are going to flounder and they're not gonna know exactly how that mirror needs to be cleaned unless you share with them what that end result looks like, right? You'll be really amazed at what people can do when they feel trusted. Interested and when they know that you trust them to do something. This helps them to feel more fulfilled at work too. It's gonna be way more fun to come to work when you wanna come to work and they wanna come to work because you're all part of something bigger than yourselves.

So I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask a question that's like a little tricky. I, I'm a huge fan of like the more detail, the better. I think some people that might feel like micromanaging. So here's what I mean. You gave this example of cleaning the mirror and some people are like, just tell me to clean the mirror and I'm going to like crush it. And some people legit need you to say like, clean the mirrors. And then here's what good mirror cleaning looks like. Like you're going to spray the mirror with Windex and then, or, you know, with the spray and then you're going to use a paper towel to like go over it. And then you're going to grab another paper towel really quick and like go over the streaks to make sure. Does that make sense? Like, did you need more detail? Alex Hormozi, who's like a big entrepreneur guy, talks about this as well, where he had an experience where he sent a bunch of team members out to a conference and he gave instructions and he thought this was very clear. He said, I need you to be super charismatic, represent the company well. Like when you're there, really make sure that you show up and talk to everyone. And he's like, so like, go do it. So he thought that like charismatic and talk to everyone was good enough. He was there at the trade show with them and he started like observing his team and he noticed that his team members, like some of them weren't looking people in the eyes, they weren't shaking people's hands, they weren't like asking like normal people questions like, "Hey, I'm Steve, you know, where are you from? What brings you to the conference?" Like he realized that he thought it was good enough to just say, "Go to the conference, be charismatic, talk to everyone." And he said the introverts on his team went and talked to like 5 people and to them, they thought they crushed it. They thought that was everyone, but they had the most like cringeworthy conversation. So how do you think about like balancing, giving people enough instruction that they feel confident with like micromanaging? Does that make sense? Because some people could like misread because basically Alex Morsey says like you should just fricking detail out everything. Like, here's exactly what it looks like, kind of to your point, clear is kind, and you'll know what a successful mirror clean means. But then it could also like cripple them where they don't have the ability to be like creative in their role and maybe do it better than what you would've outlined. Does that make sense?

It does. It makes perfect sense. You know, I was working with a team actually just here in Utah a couple of months ago when we were talking about training new team members or asking team members to do something new that they've never done before. And we really love the show, do, teach method. Where you show them, right? So Alex could totally have done this, like show them how to do it. And SOPs are a huge part of that show. So as you, as you're letting this team member know and you're mentoring them through that, this is how we do what we do and this is why we do it this way. Because if you don't include the purpose and the why, then it's like, why are we doing, why couldn't we just do it this way? And that then invites those specific questions that they can then share their thoughts and ideas as well, which I love because there's always a way to improve something.

Um, so you show them where it's like, hey, we operate the way that we've outlined and we have a culture, man, we always wanna get better. So if you have like a cooler way to innovate or to do this better, we wanna hear it. And if we can prove that it's better, then we'll rewrite this SOP at any moment. Yeah, that's good. I like that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I love it.

What was the 3 words again?

Show, do, teach. So you show, yep, and then after you show— and it sometimes it takes time, it depends on what the task is at hand, how many times you need to show. Um, research says that 7 times is how many times an adult needs to hear something to— in, in order to internalize it. Now if it's done 7 different ways, it's 7 or more. I'm just kidding, might be more, it depends. But if you share, if you said something with your spouse 4 times, you just have to say it 3 more. So just keep going. Anyway, so you show, and depending on when that team member then is ready, then they do it with you there to help support them. But they do it as much as they can on their own, and then you provide some feedback. Hey, this part was really great, and this part we forgot to click this specific thing. Okay, awesome, good job. Now you're gonna go teach it. So once they've done it at least once, then you have them go teach someone else.

Ah, I like that.

So 95% of the time they retain the information way more when they teach somebody else then how to do it. And again, as the observer, the coach, the mentor, you're there with them the entire way. And really, Steve, I'm gonna come back to, it depends on the unique team member because there's gonna be some introverts that don't quite understand that, oh, 5 people, that makes sense to me. Where the extroverts are like, I talk to 50, you know? So it, it's gonna be tailored to each individual team member. And that's where it's important to take those assessments so you know who exactly is gonna need more support. But I love the question, tell me what support looks like to you. And then your team member can express to you, gosh, I think that I need more time for you to walk me through it. Or nope, coach, I got it.

Yeah, I like, I like that answer a lot. And I really like the, Show, do, teach model. That's really thoughtful. Um, I like that. And I agree. I think when you're teaching something, that's when you like really, really learn it. Um, and you also find gaps in your understanding where you're trying to teach someone. You're like, ah, I'm not sure, you know, and you might kind of make it up as you go.

I don't know.

But, but then you, but then kind of that moment of like almost embarrassment where you're teaching it and you're like, oh, I have a gap, forces you immediately after to be like, okay, I've gotta know this. And then I will never put myself in that position again where I don't know that, that thing. So that's, that's a— that is— I'm just thinking of my own life experience. That for sure works well.

I think it's great for your kids too. You teach your kids something, how to, how to wash, how to clean the mirrors in the bathroom, and have them teach another sibling. Powerful stuff, I'm telling you.

Yeah. Or if you're talking to my wife, she teaches the kids and then they'll come teach me, and they'll teach me how to like clean up, uh, beard shavings and toothpaste spit.

Amazing, even better.

Um, okay, so time— I can't believe how fast time has flown. So, um, getting us towards like a wrap-up, this has been so fun as we think about the experience of being a practice owner or team member, leader in the business, and how can I think about avoiding burnout, conversations with the team, my— the own way I kind of am approaching my work. What's like, um, if you could sum up our conversation today, what's like one practical, immediate step a doctor or team member could take after listening to today's episode to like show up more intentionally in their practice?

Yeah, sure. So I would say recognize it. Like we've talked a lot about self-awareness, recognize it and say it out loud. Even say it like, what I'm experiencing right now is the Sunday night scaries, the Sunday night blues. Like once you say that out loud or share it with somebody else, then it's like something different clicks in your brain. Then that's that motivation and that inspiration to take action and do something about it, to change it to make your life better. Block at least 30 minutes, up to 2 hours, however much you need to wear that different hat, to be the entrepreneur and the leader in your practice on a Friday, on a Monday, on a Wednesday, whatever it is that your specific clinician day is off. Then take that time, not just to catch up on your tasks and your action items, but to literally sit in and think about your practice and how you can do things differently. Use some data from Dental Intelligence even to say like, where is it that we are at and what do we need to do to move forward to hit our goals, to hit our targets, to do the things that it is that we wanna do with our practice so that we show up in the best way that we can for our patients. Again, you can't do that while you are, uh, prepping for a crown. Um, use that time, ask yourself what's working, what's not working, who on my team needs my help, my support, what does that look like? What do I need to do that I have not been doing that I've been avoiding or procrastinating? And then make a plan to make that happen. This is your time. Be intentional with it. If you don't own your time, it will totally own you. So you've gotta be very careful with how you are scheduling yourself. My word for the year is boundaries, and I'm proud to say that I've been doing really, really well with it. It's hard to say no sometimes to some things. If you have that commitment and you actually put it in the calendar, then it's much easier to say no when things might get in your way. Then go tell your team which hat you're wearing and why, so that they are also aware of the fact that you have many hats to wear. That alone will help to bring some clarity and some confidence to you and your team. It's awesome. Listen, leadership. It isn't loud, it's consistent. It just takes time, and your team will notice and recognize a true difference in you, and you'll notice that difference too. When the Sunday night scaries— they may not go completely away, but at least they have come down and decreased.

Yeah, I totally agree. Very, very good advice, Heather. It's been so fun to have you on. I finish with the same question with every guest, so I'll, I'll finish with the last question, which is: what does growth in dentistry mean to you?

Don't put your car in neutral. Nice.

There you go. But don't get— by someone else.

No such thing as maintenance mode. I'm totally gonna use that every time I see you now.

That's great.

No such thing. No such thing as maintenance mode. When things are great, prepare and be proactive for what the future holds because you never know. You never know. Something always is going to be coming your way. Always, right? Like Just be prepared. You know, it's funny, our coaches— talk really quickly— our coaches always talked about how since COVID you can't really plan past 1 year. And this past year, actually, we now have a 3-year strategic plan. So now that we're as far out from COVID as we are, we really should be thinking that far ahead in the future now.

Yeah, I love that. Now tell me, I think listeners, you can probably sense, like, I'm a huge fan of the team at ACT Dental. One of the things that I love the most about them is that they are so focused on making sure that our work experience and our life experience are like just bomb. Like it's not just about going and making as much money as possible. It's really about thinking, how can I craft a life that will be really enjoyable for me, for my team, for my family, and for whatever is most important in my life? And they are, I'll just tell you guys, they are the industry's best at making that happen. They are so good. So Heather, for people that want— you guys have a lot of things. I know Kirk has a podcast as well, which I can throw in the show notes. You guys do a ton of webinars and education people can join. What's the easiest way for people to start connecting themselves with ACT Dental? Obviously they could jump on the website and, you know, actually talk with you guys about like, hey, I want to get some coaching. What's the best way to kind of join the ACT community?

We would love to talk to anybody that's interested, but we have a free community called the BPA, the Best Practices Association. And I know that you're going to help provide that link for our listeners. Steve, thank you so much. Go back in there. We provide so many amazing resources like the podcast, like our webinars, downloadable tools that you can use as well that will really target specific issues and circumstances that you are in right now in your own practice. And talk to our team. We'd be more than happy to help you out with whatever problems or issues or challenges that are coming your way, because heaven knows we all deal with all of them. But yeah, back in the BPA, you can talk to anybody on the ACT team. We love it back there. It's so great. It's an awesome community.

Sweet. So there's an actual app. I'll put the link, actdental.com/bpa. So if you're listening, you know, just know I'll throw it in the show notes. You don't have to write it down. You can go click on it. And jump in and get the app and join the community. So Heather, it's been an absolute gift to talk to you. And thank you. Thank you for joining. Thank you for listeners for joining. This has been another episode of the Growth in Dentistry podcast. My name is Steve Jensen, your host. Keep growing and we'll talk soon.