743: The Secret to Efficiency: The Checklist – Miranda Beeson & Carlie Einarson

What takes a practice from good to great? One secret ingredient is the checklist. To explain how a simple habit can make your life better, Kirk Behrendt brings back Miranda Beeson and Carlie Einarson, two of ACT’s amazing coaches, to share the best practices for creating, maintaining, and implementing checklists in your practice. To learn how to be more efficient in your day, listen to Episode 743 of The Best Practices Show!

Learn More About Miranda & Carlie:

• Send Miranda an email: [email protected] 
• Send Carlie an email: [email protected] 
• Follow Miranda and Carlie on ACT’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/actdental
• Send Gina an email: [email protected] 

More Helpful Links for a Better Practice & a Better Life:

• Subscribe to The Best Practices Show: https://the-best-practices-show.captivate.fm/listen
• Join The Best Practices Association: https://www.actdental.com/bpa
• Join ACT’s To The Top Study Club: https://www.actdental.com/ttt
• See the ACT Dental/BPA Live Event Schedule: https://www.actdental.com/event
• Get The Best Practices Magazine for free: https://www.actdental.com/magazine
• Please leave us a review on the podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-best-practices-show-with-kirk-behrendt/id1223838218

Episode Resources:

• Watch the video version of Episode 743: https://www.youtube.com/@actdental/videos
• Download ACT’s 5 Systems Every Dental Practice Must Have: https://www.actdental.com/free-resources/5systems-every-dental-practice-must-have
• Download ACT’’s Systems & Checklist Support Guide: https://www.actdental.com/free-resources/system-checklist-support-guide
• Download ACT’s Productive Downtime Tasks Your Practice Needs: https://www.actdental.com/free-resources/productive-downtime-tasks-your-practice-need
• Read The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande: https://bookshop.org/books/the-checklist-manifesto-how-to-get-things-right/9780312430009

Main Takeaways:

• Checklists create efficiency and predictability.
• Having a checklist will help you be present with patients.
• Don't set it and forget it. Use your checklist on a daily basis.
• You can't make the checklists for your team. Get them involved.
• A checklist will make it easier for your team to support one another.
• Audit your checklists regularly. It will motivate your team to follow them.
• Use checklists in other areas of your life to help you be more productive.
• Your checklists are living documents. They will change and grow with you.

Snippets:

0:00 Introduction.

1:29 Why this is an important topic.

7:38 Use your checklist every day.

8:37 A checklist is a living, breathing document.

9:13 Prioritize your most important tasks in the checklist.

10:24 Have a checklist for everyone to keep them involved.

11:32 Be fascinated, not frustrated.

13:25 The simpler, the better.

14:29 Clarify expectations with checklists.

19:19 Audit your checklists.

21:05 Be consistent and use positive reinforcement.

23:58 Checklists make it easier to support one another.

27:14 Final thoughts.

Miranda Beeson, MS, BSDH Bio:

Miranda Beeson, MS, BSDH, has over 25 years of clinical dental hygiene, front office, practice administration, and speaking experience. She is enthusiastic about communication and loves helping others find the power that words can bring to their patient interactions and practice dynamics. As a Lead Practice Coach, she is driven to create opportunities to find value in experiences and cultivate new approaches.

Miranda graduated from Old Dominion University, and enjoys spending time with her husband, Chuck, and her children, Trent, Mallory, and Cassidy. Family time is the best time, and is often spent on a golf course, a volleyball court, or spending the day boating at the beach.

Carlie Einerson Bio:

Carlie Einarson is a lead practice coach who has a passion for helping others succeed in the dental field. She loves helping to create a stable foundation for practices so both professionals and patients have a great experience every time they walk in the door!

Carlie graduated from Utah College of Dental Hygiene. She has ten years of experience in the dental field, including clinical dental hygiene, front office, and leading teams.

In her free time, she enjoys spending quality time with loved ones, traveling, skiing, playing volleyball, and golfing.