Episode : #980: How To Know If Your Practice Is Thriving (Or Just Surviving)

Podcast Description

Tiff and Kristy give listeners examples of different practices that have different definitions of ‘thriving.’ They then provide questions each practice owner (or even team member) can ask themselves to identify what success looks like for them.

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Transcript:

The Dental A Team (00:02)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. We are so excited to be here with you today. My name is Tiffany. If you've never heard me on this podcast and you haven't been listening for long enough, then go back through, sift through. We've got so many episodes with so much amazing content and information for doctors and teams alike. There are very doctor-specific ones and very team-centric ones, but I do tell you this. Doctors, listen to them all because I want you to always know

what your teams are doing, what they should be doing, or what they could be doing. So there's a million different ideas in here. Please make sure you listen to all of them. We love you for that and we value you as a listener, client, prospective client, or just listener. Thank you guys so much. Kristy, I've got you back here today. I have stolen you today for quite a few episodes and I am so, so thankful for you carving out this time in your calendar, making sure that we could be here together.

I know we both really love this time together and I'm just super appreciative of it. So Kristy welcome and thank you for being here. Yeah. So I'm excited for today's podcast. One, because there's not a lot of structure to it. So it makes it fun for me. Cause I, you know, I just like to ramble sometimes. So just be here with it.

Kristy (01:05)

Thank you.

The Dental A Team (01:19)

I'm just kidding, but I am excited for today's podcast because I really love telling stories and I really love to utilize experiences that we have had, and teachings that we have done with other clients or things we've learned along the way. love utilizing those things to just provide more valuable information to the world. And today I want to, Kristy, just have conversation about the difference between surviving.

and thriving in the business owner world. And these two words, I love them because you know, they almost rhyme and that makes it fun. And I think our marketing department enjoys that. But I really love it because it's such a wide definition for anyone, right? Just surviving could be someone else's thriving. And someone else's thriving could be someone else's I'll never get their dreams.

Right? I think it's really interesting to chat about a subject like this because it is so in like independent, right? It's so dependent on the individual's dreams and what it means to them specifically. And Kristy, I think you have a really wonderful ability to articulate yourself really well.

and to see into spaces of life for people and with people. And I just think it's really cool that you can take a statement and really see further into it than maybe your average Joe might be able to see. And so I want to pick your brain a little bit on this and the idea of thriving or surviving. And it kind of makes me think of, you know, our onboarding call when we get a new client and we ask them, you know, what does success mean to you?

and what are your goals? mean we take them through this goal build out and Kristy what is this thriving or surviving like where does it take your brain? What do you think of and how do you think it relates to just dentistry right now?

Kristy (03:26)

Yeah, I'm with you. It is a vast subject, if you will, and it can mean different things to different people. Surviving could be that they just worked really hard and they're kind of burning out. They don't see the spark anymore, right? Yet, it could also mean that they're fearful. They don't know or they're unknowing of the next step. They don't know what's next.

for them. They feel like they want to do more, but they don't know how to do it. I think asking more questions when we get on these calls. And I love that you say that onboarding because they obviously come to us for a reason, but sometimes I think they are just surviving and they don't really even know what they're looking for yet. And same with thriving. mean, thriving, it almost sounds like it has a little more positive spin on it, but yet sometimes

The Dental A Team (04:16)

Yeah.

Kristy (04:25)

Our docs don't feel that way when they're thriving. They feel burnout as well. So it is a big topic on both sides.

The Dental A Team (04:29)

and

Yeah, I agree. And I think the difference there, right, or the space to find is the definition. And so, Docs, I think...

Figure out what thriving means to you. What is it that you're going for? What is it that you're here for? If we don't have a purpose driven behind us, right? We don't have anything driving us to our goals, then you could make that $300,000 this month that you wanted and it still might mean nothing or you might just be surviving because like Kristy said, you're burnt out. So what does thriving mean?

And I have, you know, I told you that we do this on our onboarding call. We chat with our doctors. We do this with every doctor that we work with. It's what is your business doing for your personal life?

How is your business projecting your personal life and what do you want your business to afford it? I work really hard with every client that I have and Kristy, I know that you do too because we believe, both of us believe so strongly in this. I want your business to work for you, not you to work for your business. And I want your business to be providing that life for you. And...

I've worked with a lot of clients over the years and Kristy, you've worked with a lot of clients over the years as well. And I have a few that really just come to mind for me. And my...

one of my all-time favorite practices that I have ever worked with and I will say that from the freaking rooftops, from the mountaintops, from everywhere. They're incredible human beings and I want to tell their story today because I think it's a really incredible space for everyone to find themselves a little bit in what this practice went through and where they are today.

And when I met this practice, they were pretty new to ownership. I think they were about three years in, a doctor and his husband. And they had just decided that his husband was going to leave his job, which is not in dental whatsoever. He has no dental knowledge and become the office manager.

And they decided this because it was the easy route and that it just kind of really made sense for them personally in a lot of different ways. So it made sense and it was all good. And they had a lot of ambition. They had a lot of change that needed to be made. And then they had a team that was just kind of upside down and at each other's throats. And they were three years into having taken over a practice and they really didn't lose a lot of team members in that takeover, which was impressive, but

We had a lot of cattiness going on in that practice. And one of the first things that I had them work on, they had been working with somebody already who was working on their numbers and telling them, gosh, you need to expand and you need more room, you need more space, and you can do so many cool things. And I sat them down and I said, yeah, absolutely, you can do all those things. That's not a question in my mind. But do you want to do those things? Why are you doing those things? Why did you become an office manager? Why did you become a dentist?

And how do we know when you've reached it? What does success look like to you guys? And I made them sit down and I made them figure it out together as a couple. And I made them figure it out individually within their own positions. And this process of really figuring out the impact that they needed and they wanted to make on the community.

turned into this incredible space of this dentist wanting to serve a community who is unserved and unseen within their

rural town community and it's just really impressive and so amazing and this community thrives with him like they just they know him for it and he's been able to make his name out of this this space because he really believes in it but really what it did was it allowed them to not only see the community aspect but to also see the team aspect and it

we worked together, Osmander and I have worked side by side for many years now and he is this incredible human that just said he wanted something different. He wanted to go home feeling different every day. He wanted his team to feel different every day and we worked through a lot of personal development spaces, a lot of leadership spaces and he has come just, I mean he's achieved so much but in the early stages it really was about him being able to see what he wanted his team to say about

the practice when they weren't at work. So when they're in the community, are they recommending my practice? When they're in the community, are they thinking about the office and are they representing the practice or are they just done working? And he wanted to build a community within their team. He wanted to build a place where his team felt loved and welcomed and all of these things. And that was to him what thriving as an office manager would be.

he would feel less stressed obviously and feel more in tune with his position. But if he had a team that could stand behind him and he had a team that he could say they were thriving, they were reaching goals, that to him was success. And we worked through so much leadership.

Gosh, tenfold with this team. got his entire team. They both did got their entire team invested in the leadership like space and in learning the leadership. Now doesn't mean they had leadership. They had a leadership team. They had a team that was invested in themselves and learning how to lead their own positions. And gosh, Kristy, they did it to do the add on. They did the add on within two years. They did the add on.

They did a full remodel of that practice within three years of us working together. I believe is what that was. We got the owner doctor to, he's in a space now where he's mostly surgery. He's got a thriving associate that he has mentored the heck out of and really, really done well on leading him to be a successful dentist and refers to him for his GP dentistry. gosh, recently purchased, they,

purchased a building that they also have suites in there that they're renting out to other people and that's this whole property management, but they've been able to because they wanted to make such a massive impact on their community. You guys, like they built this place for their community. They've built out a 16,000 square foot practice in their rural town.

And it's beautiful. is gosh, it's so beautiful. But the entire process, I have to say, the entire process was built around what could help our community. There was even talks of like

Kristy (11:04)

And, you know, it was a thank you.

The Dental A Team (11:18)

a gardening area there so that it can be, they want things to be more green, Like green, like reduce, reuse, recycle green, right? And they thought, gosh, if we had an area where the community, the local community could have herbs or gosh, they're here for their appointment and they needed some oregano for dinner tonight and we've got herbs over here that they can just pick and take home with them, that would serve our community. they, and every space it became, their thriving became a space of how are we serving our team and our

community in the best ways possible. I can't even tell you, think you can imagine 16,000 square feet, like what their revenue needs to be, what their profitability needs to be, like they have exponentially projected their personal lives and their business is working for them. And Kristy, it's just been so incredible to watch them come.

from the space that they were in, but really learn and be able to express what success looks like for them. And I think success doesn't have to be a 16,000 square foot building. Like it's beautiful, right? It is gorgeous. And I have other practices that are like, gosh, Tiff, no, like I want to work three and a half days a week. I have four operatories. I want two hygienists a day. And I want to work out of the other two operatories. And I hope that dentist is thriving.

And there are days he calls me and he's like, I'm only surviving. It definitely will come in waves and it has its ups and its downs, but he knows what success looks like for him as well. He knows what he wants to accomplish and he knows if he can do the amount of dentistry and impact the community in the ways that he wants to on three and a half days, that propels his personal life. He gets time with his kids, he gets time with his wife, he can take vacations, like all of these spaces. So two drastically different.

practices, but the point there, are you surviving? Are you thriving or just surviving? Is that they know the difference between that. And it is financial, they do have financial goals because that's how we we gain the profit. But in order to get to those financial goals, Kristy, we had to invest in the leadership and we had to define

those words, we had to know what does it mean to be thriving? What does success look like? And in the on the days when it's just surviving, what are we looking forward to? What are we looking towards? That gets us back in that thrive mindset. And it's just been so much fun, Kristy and I

Kristy (13:47)

Yeah.

The Dental A Team (13:52)

I just love it and I wanted to make sure you guys heard those stories today because it's so incredible. Kristy, you have so many clients too that you have worked through as well. And what do you feel like when we have clients define and when you've worked with clients previously, when they define that success marker, what do you feel like the commonalities are that you see when people are like, yeah, that would be success for me?

Kristy (14:17)

Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head and that it's different for everyone. And I think that you truly have to get down to your emotional why, if you will. Because even though, I mean, we don't really work with any nonprofit people. So we all know that we have for-profit businesses. That just is a given. If we're not making a profit, then our business isn't successful.

in every one of our clients, it's so much more than that. It's what is it going to give them? And just like you said, I mean, we have the ones that work five days a week, and we have the ones that work two and a half, and they're not ever gonna work more than that. And that's okay. But it's, what is it giving them? And like you with these guys, it's about the community.

And for other ones, it could be about them spending time with family, right? And so everybody's why is different, but I guess the common theme, and when I really see, because we're going to use the words, thriving, not just the dentist, but the team, they have articulate, the dentist has articulated their why down to that emotional aspect, so clear that everybody knows what we're going for.

The Dental A Team (15:26)

Yeah.

Kristy (15:41)

And I would also say it's also taking a step back and investing in your team to find out what their why is. Because they're coming to work for a reason as well. And when we're all thriving and going in that same direction and it's meeting those needs for everyone, that's when you get that synergy and it just shines through. I mean, when you have a bad day, you know the why that you're working for on the good day.

The Dental A Team (16:10)

Yeah.

That's beautiful. I love the team aspect that you brought into that because it's so true. And I think I would just challenge everybody now to define those spaces. Like what is thriving? What is surviving and surviving you guys, especially when there's only the two words, right? It sounds like well, surviving is fantastic and surviving or dying. Like, that's not it at all. Surviving is sometimes I'm like, no, I'm happy to be surviving right now. Like I'm good. I am good. And surviving for me today is thriving. So

Kristy (16:30)

you

The Dental A Team (16:41)

find all of those spaces. What is thriving? Like what does success look like to you? What is surviving? What is that space? And what is the this is a panic button space. And I need I need to get out of here. I think

Define all three of those and really like Kristy said, go through that emotional space. Tie it to something that's insanely important to you because when it's insanely important to you, you won't let go of it. You will dig your heels in on those days when you're like, this is panic mode. I need to get back to surviving. How do I get out of this? You're gonna do it. You're gonna push it and you're gonna get all the way. You're gonna surpass surviving and get straight to thriving. So action items, you guys. What is your mission and vision?

What are they tied to? Because your mission and vision, especially in the dental world, can get a little clinically and it's like...

Kristy (17:30)

you

The Dental A Team (17:31)

I know,

just chat GPT, give chat GPT your, I always tell it like a millennial flair, like give it your tone. What do you need this to say? Right? Just make them not so stuffy, you guys, number one, but do your mission vision. Why are you here? Why did you become a dentist? What is it that you're after? Why do you own a practice? What are you trying to accomplish? And then what's your why behind that? What is it pushing for you personally? What is it doing for you in your personal life? What is your business affording you? Why are you

going to work every day. And then I would look at your core values. Do your core values align with your mission, vision, and why? And do they create a culture in your team that will project those into the?

existence, right? So if our core values are like totally off base, and not creating the culture that you want, tackle your core values and do those simultaneously with your team. I would say work them up on your own, know what yours are, and invite your team share them with your team and invite your team to give feedback to

Kristy (18:18)

you

The Dental A Team (18:35)

answer more questions to provide different angles, different points of view, and maybe even for them, I've had many teams really work their own personal core values. So if I know my core values as a human being, like who I am as a person outside of work, what my core values are, makes it very easy for me to be able to see how I align with the practice that I'm working with. So

Actionable items you guys to really be able to see this space doesn't have to and the reason I did not Have you office the reason I did not take today's podcast. Are you thriving or surviving? I could have talked financials with you guys. I could have said so many

thriving practices who see millions of dollars a year and 20 to 40 % profit in some practices, I could have taken you down those roads and let that be today's podcast. But I believe with my entire heart that that is not

the only reason that you could you could say you're thriving. I thriving is different for everyone. And that's the reason that we took today's podcast in this direction. Figure out what thriving means to you. If thriving means a $2.5 million practice per year, then fantastic. Let's get you there. But I still want that why I still want to know what 2.5 is going to do for you. I still want to know what that extra operatory is going to do for that practice and why we needed to remodel and why we needed a new building. I still want to know why

because I want to make sure that whatever it is that you're doing that you're spending your money on makes a difference in your life. So we could have talked financials and I can give you all those if you want to know, but I'm not here to give you a space where you can compare yourself to someone else's success. I'm here to say you've got to figure out what that success looks like and I will always ask you why every single time like the annoying little four year old that only knows the word why. So, Kristy, thank you so much for taking this

journey with us today. This was a really fun one for me. I know we both love the like leadership introspective personal emotional tie side of life so thank you for for taking that journey and will you will you wrap us leave the leave everyone with your take and and your perspective. I love when you do that for us and I'm here for it today.

Kristy (20:58)

Yeah, you know, I love that you didn't take the money route because I've had clients come in that are You know collecting six million dollars that aren't thriving, right? And so you're you're absolutely right But I think the last takeaway would be as you're defining those core values really get clear with your team I'll give you an example I had a doctor that one of his core values was lived by the golden rule and that can be I mean you would think it's pretty

crystal clear, but always explain what that looks like to you as the doctor when you're setting those. And then I challenge you guys as teams to what are some daily things that you can do that help achieve that? You know, so we're all rowing in the same direction. So give it a little bit of clarity, not just to find it, but explain what it means to you and share that part. Really, that comes from the heart.

Your teams appreciate it and then teams, you know, let your docs know what you will do to make that live, you know? So that would be my advice.

The Dental A Team (22:03)

That's beautiful. Thank you. Thank you, Kristy.

I hope that you guys loved this podcast today. I hope that you really listen to it and that you share it with the world. And I want to thank you for listening to us, for trusting us, for being here, for supporting us. Dental A Team is nothing without all of you. So thank you for being here. [email protected]. If you need help with anything or if you need help working out those goals or those definitions, we're here for you. And as always, drop us a five star review below. We'd love to hear from you guys and we love to know that this content matters.

The Dental A Team (22:39)

So till next time, we'll catch you later.