Team culture can make or break an orthodontic practice. Practice Manager Laura Wilde opens up about what truly keeps teams thriving. From defining team values and reinforcing them relentlessly to rethinking orthodontic hiring with working interviews, Laura delivers real strategies. She tackles staff retention, toxic team members, and why transparent employee motivation through bonuses and shared production goals changes everything. If you lead a team, this conversation will shift how you show up every single day.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode:

• Defining and consistently revisiting team values at monthly meetings and morning huddles creates a culture of accountability and keeps orthodontic practice management focused on what matters most.
• Why orthodontic hiring should include a working interview where candidates spend half a day with your team, revealing the soft skills no resume or traditional interview can uncover.
• How sharing production numbers openly with your whole team strengthens employee motivation, builds trust, and connects every role, including back-office assistants, to the practice's shared goals.

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Introduction to team culture and Laura Wilde's role and thoughts about orthodontic practice management

07:55 Building team values: why nine core values outperform a single mission statement

13:18 Scheduling around the doctor's personality to elevate patient experience and grow the practice

17:29 Orthodontic hiring strategies: phone screens, in-person interviews, and working interviews

23:25 What do you do when an employee is not working out

29:10 Bonuses and why sharing production numbers with the whole team reduces entitlement and builds employee motivation

35:34 Shifting your practice management mindset: a manager's real job is solving problems, not avoiding them

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Toxic team members act like a cancer on team culture: the longer you wait to act, the more damage spreads to your strongest employees and your entire orthodontic practice management structure.
• Positive reinforcement must outweigh correction by at least five to one. Even managers committed to employee motivation often underestimate how much consistent, specific praise is needed to help staff feel genuinely valued.
• The working interview is the most powerful tool in orthodontic hiring: candidates who thrive will grab instruments and jump in. At the same time, poor fits reveal themselves within minutes, protecting your team's values before they are ever threatened.

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

People + Practice - Website

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