The Best Practices Show with Kirk Behrendt

Finding a Mentor in Dentistry

Episode #390 with Dr. Kevin Groth & Dr. Zachary Sisler

Every dentist needs a mentor. And, eventually, every dentist needs to become a mentor. But how do you find one — a great one — and build a relationship? For an idea of what an amazing mentorship looks like, Kirk Behrendt brings in Dr. Kevin Growth and Dr. Zachary Sisler to share their mentorship journey and the important lessons that being a mentor and mentee has taught them. Mentorship is a two-way street! To learn the key things to look for when seeking mentorship, listen to Episode 390 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

It’s easier than ever to find great mentors.

Mentorship is not a one-way street. You grow together.

Mentors come and go, and that’s okay.

Your team can also be your mentors.

Be willing to lean into the “awkward” and ask for help.

Don't be afraid of failure.

Quotes:

“If you don't have a mentor in dentistry, it’s very isolating. You're going to crack at some point. So, everybody who’s listening to this should know that there's an important role, that you need to serve as a mentee and a mentor out there for other people.” (8:21—8:33)

“With mentors, it’s not necessarily a one-way street. It’s not necessarily like the mentor is just teaching a mentee; you're growing together as you're going through this.” (8:57—9:10)

“I used to think, initially, ‘I've got to find this guy who’s going to be with me for the rest of my life. We’re going to grow together.’ And there's very much a season of your life where mentors maybe come and go. Like, I had a great mentor when I was in dental school. He helped me a lot, and he helped grow me, and really encouraged me to get out. And then, as I moved on and transitioned to other things, that faded a little bit. And that's okay. It’s okay to realize that in that current season of life, there are still people around me that I can find and connect with and know that it’s not necessarily forever.” (11:18—11:53)

“Ultimately, when you are looking for a mentor, the importance is to be vulnerable too. Because I think, oftentimes, you want to go to these people that you aspire to. But I think it’s easy to say, ‘Look at how much I know. Look at what I do. Look at what I am.’ And it’s almost the opposite of that. Because if you could say, ‘I don't know anything. Teach me. I'm a sponge. I'll do whatever you want me to do. Just show me the ropes, and I'll do it.’ And when you could actually learn that way, and then you implement it into your life and you could see it, it engages the mentor. Because then they're saying, ‘Wow, this person is actually taking my advice and putting it to practice. And that's so, so important as someone looking for a mentor, is to, one, engage with them, and then also implement it.” (13:23—14:07)

“If you're alone in life and you don't have people to lean on, what's the point? You're just going to struggle. It’s going to be depressing. And ultimately, it’s energizing to know the people that I look to, the people I trust the most and I'm vulnerable with and comfortable going to with life moments are expressing to me like, ‘Lean on me. We got you. We’re going to do this.’ And that makes me better.” (23:08—23:31)

“Mentors are there to build you up and to also provide the safe space to talk, but also to provide the, I don't want to say criticism, but the hard truth, sometimes. It’s not like, ‘Oh, no. It’s fine. You're doing great.’ No, it’s, ‘Hey, guess what? You didn't do that really great. You messed up. So, let's talk about it and see how this is going to be different next time.’” (26:13—26:44)

“I used to have mentors who, I would send them a case and I would show them about how excited I was about it, and I was looking for them to build me up, and they just continued to...

Elegant Handoffs & PIT Stops in Your Dental Practice

Episode #389 with Heather Crockett

There’s a great deal of pressure in the dental industry to move quickly and get through as many patients as possible to be more profitable. But is that creating a healthy atmosphere in your practice, or does it instead cause more conflict? Today Kirk Behrendt brings practice coach Heather Crockett on the show to discuss the topics of the Elegant Handoff and the PIT Stop—find out how utilizing these systems will lead to more clarity, predictability, and overall patient satisfaction. To learn why you need to slow down and make a PIT Stop, listen to Episode 389 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Predictability and clarity help to calm the patient and set everyone up for success.

When you deliver on what you promise, you create trust in the marketplace.

A second set of eyes helps you more accurately assess a situation.

Slow down and make a PIT Stop—discuss the Procedure, Investment, and Time involved. 

A PIT Stop leads to more clarity.

Learn to ask questions instead of talking more.

Practice these systems and they will become more natural.

Quotes:

“One of the challenges you have is creating a predictable, safe environment for your patients where they know what to expect and it actually happens the way you described it. And so there’s two components to it: we call it an Elegant Handoff, and then there’s something called the PIT Stop. Now you as a dentist, you know this; if you can put these things in place, it gives you what you and your team need—you need high levels of predictability. It’s an incredible system.” (01:46—2:18)

“One of the things you have to do is you’ve got to learn how to over-deliver. Now, I say that because the only businesses in the world that are growing, they’re over-delivering, which means they’re making promises and they’re giving people that they serve a little bit more. Now the first piece of this is you’ve got to deliver on what you promise, and we use a formula internally, and we use it in almost everything we do, which is E-R=C…Expectations minus Reality equals Conflict. If you can build your dental practice where expectations are set, and the reality is your patients…what happens to them or happens with them or happens as a result meets their expectations, you have little or no conflict. The challenge for most businesses is we have so many expectations but the service or the experience provided is less than we expect, so the reality is much less.” (04:57—05:54)

“In a dental practice you guys have so many processes, there’s a lot of moving pieces. And so, putting in a system where you can make promises and they’re delivered the way you promise them, it has multiple benefits. Like I said, it benefits the patient, it benefits the team members because they’re doing the same thing every single day, it improves the quality and consistency in which you deliver your care because it’s enhancing the product—you’re going to see, you’re going to become more efficient. You’re actually going to be able to promote more because you’re going to become more confident, and you’re probably going to do it in less of a time frame.” (06:36—07:15)

“Every single appointment, and I do mean every appointment, do a PIT Stop, which means we’re going to slow this down. Even if the patient wants to do the procedure today, we’re going to pause, and we’re going to go through our system, because I know if we don’t have a lot of clarity before we start treatment, that’s where problems happen—that’s where bombs go off, and surprises take the equity out of the relationship.”...

Understanding Dental Insurance

Episode #388 with Dr. Travis Campbell

Dentistry is the easy part of being a dentist. Dental insurance, on the other hand, can be a nightmare — especially when you don't understand it. And to help make dental insurance more of an annoyance than a nightmare, Kirk Behrendt brings in Dr. Travis Campbell, “The Dental Insurance Guy,” and author of Understanding Dental Insurance. If your biggest frustration is having your claims denied, read this book today! And to learn how to make insurance work for you, listen to Episode 388 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Learn the myths about dental insurance.

Don't blame the insurance company if your claims are denied.

Provide more information to increase claims acceptance.

Know which procedures are covered under medical rather than dental.

Coding is how you communicate with insurance companies — learn it!

Quotes:

“Everybody thinks being out-of-network is the best way to make money. And I will say it’s probably easier that way. But what I've noticed is there are a lot of patients in the world that will only go see an in-network dentist. Period. They're brainwashed, or that's their mentality, or it’s financial. Whatever the reason, there are a lot of people that will never set foot in a fee-for-service office or an out-of-network office. It’s just what they are. And I wanted to help them.” (6:08—6:40)

“If we understand how insurance works, the amount of write-offs we have to take are so far less than what we think. When we went back in-network, most of my fee structure now is 15% or 20% discount, when it used to be 35%, 40%, 50%. Well, we also have plans for our cash patients, membership plans, where they get a 10% or 15% discount naturally. So, for me to give 10% or 15% to a cash patient or 15% or 20% to an insurance patient, is not a big difference. And so, I can treat everybody pretty close to the same fees in-network. So, why not? And our collections went up by $700,000 last year.” (6:45—7:35)

“The number-one thing I would say I learned myself was, we’re taught well in clinical. And when I first got out, the CE courses I took were mostly clinical. They're the fun stuff. They're the ones we want to learn more of. But I realized after spending a fortune on some high-end clinical classes on TMJ therapies and CAD/CAM and a lot of other things, it doesn't matter what we know if we can't communicate with the patient well enough to get them to want to purchase what we can do.” (8:34—9:12)

“When I started learning more about communications with patients, that opened up everything else. It doesn't matter if we’re the best clinician in the world to do an implant, or high-end surgeries, or whatever. Because if we can't get the patients to say, ‘Yes, I'm willing to drop X amount of money to have you do this thing that will change my life,’ it doesn't matter.” (9:14—9:36)

“I've been a business coach for quite a few dentists. And one of the biggest challenges I see [in] most offices [that] are struggling financially is treatment acceptance. And dentists have an average of 25% or 30%. And it boggles my mind because we always want new patients, but we have all these patients that aren't getting treated in the first place. And if we can just have higher treatment acceptance, we don't need new people. We could drop insurance plans. We can do a whole lot if we have the ability to take care of the people that are in front of us already.” (9:40—10:14)

“[What most dentists get wrong about PPOs and insurance is] listening to the myths. There are so many myths in the industry. Feeling like you have to file every claim, regardless, is one of them. Insurance companies don't want to see claims that they're not going to pay for. It’s a burden to them as well. And yet, I see it all...

Contribution Margin in Your Dental Practice

Episode #387 with Fred Joyal

As a dentist and business owner, it’s important to understand profit. But profit margin isn't the only thing to keep your eye on — you also want to focus on contribution margin. And to explain what this is to help you grow your business, Kirk Behrendt brings back Fred Joyal, co-founder of 1-800-DENTIST, to show you a different way of looking at profit. Dentistry is one of the most profitable industries in the country — and the profit is there for you! To start reducing overhead and increasing revenue, listen to Episode 387 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Have a great coach. You can't run your business without them.

Learn the different ways to leverage your contribution margin.

Once you beat your overhead, every dollar you produce is a 70% profit dollar.

Help your team understand contribution margin so that they can help you.

Every action either increases or decreases case acceptance.

Quotes:

“Every dentist should have a coach. Why you think you can run your business without coaching — everybody who’s good at anything has a good coach or a great coach. I have two.” (2:49—3:01)

“[Contribution margin is] basically about the profitability of dentistry as an enterprise. And you have to understand that most businesses, as they increase their revenue, their profit often decreases. But normally, it stays very static. It doesn't change direction. Like, if they go from making $5 million a year to $20 million a year, their profitability, their percentage of profit, doesn't increase.” (5:41—6:16)

“I love using the example of a supermarket just so people understand how a lot of businesses operate. Supermarkets operate at a 3% profit margin. So, they have to sell $33 million of groceries to make $1 million of profit. There's competition everywhere. Think about the inventory. Think about the waste. Think about the shoplifting. Think about the unions — all of these things that they have to deal with. And all they're going to make is 3%, no matter how big they get. If they move it to 3.3%, they're ecstatic.” (6:17—7:00)

“Dentistry is completely different as a business model [from other industries] because it has a very unique structure, which is, it has what you would say a large percentage of fixed costs versus variable costs. In other words, rent, leases, equipment purchases, supplies, labs, and employees, those are all pretty much fixed. The variable costs are consumables and lab. And so, what happens is, the term is, when you “crack your nut,” when you beat your overhead in the month, suddenly, every dollar you earn after that, you make about 80% profit because all you have is labs and consumables against it.” (7:01—8:08)

“Once you beat your overhead, conservatively, every dollar that you produce in a practice is a 70% profit dollar.” (9:08—9:17)

“Dentists don't experience the contribution margin advantage because they're stuck at that level, the $750,000, or something like that. So, they say, ‘Oh, no. Anything I do, my profitability is only 30%.’ And for them, it is, because somehow, they never break through. But the idea is, at $750,000, you've paid your employees. You're paying yourself $60,000 a month or something like that, or whatever. And that's all you're doing, is you're paying yourself, you're paying your team, you're paying all your fixed costs and all your variable costs. The next $100,000 that you make, it goes right in because you don't have to add any staff. That next $100,000, $70,000 of it is yours in profit. There's no expense against it. And you can keep doing that indefinitely.” (12:09—13:18)

“What's going to happen is, your costs are going to go up, but they're going to be disproportionately low, relative to other businesses, because...

The 80% Approach from Dan Sullivan

Episode #386 with Jenni Poulos

Dentists tend to seek perfection in everything. But is that perfection holding you back from being productive? Today, Kirk Behrendt brings Jenni Poulos on to the show to discuss Dan Sullivan’s 80% Approach. Dan created the 80% Approach as a method to help us escape the paralysis caused by perfectionism and procrastination and become productive. Kirk and Jenni discuss the steps and challenges involved, as well as tips for how to start using it. To learn how to stop letting perfection get in the way of progress, listen to Episode 386 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Just do 80% of a task instead of stressing about getting it right immediately.

Perfection is your enemy.

Take your 80% and hand it to someone else to add another 80% to it.

Your first attempt should never be more than 80%.

Sometimes you just need to get something on the books.

Most of the time, done is better than perfect.

Figure out what your unique abilities are.

Quotes:

“One of the biggest challenges that people have…and [Jenni] mentions this, is perfectionism and procrastination. I have it too, and it’s like, ‘We’ve got to write this system up—we’ve got to get it all right, and got to get it perfect,’ and first of all, I don’t have the time to do it. And then secondly, I’m not the one that needs to do it perfectly, because I’ll mess it up every single time, and it slows the process down.” (03:40—04:09)

“[Perfectionism and procrastination] are keeping you back from progress. And it was just this huge light bulb moment, that if we can let go of this need to get everything to 100% before we hit play, before we hit go, we make so much more progress. And the reality is sometimes we have to let it go at 80% to even know if it works, right? We spend all of this time on the little details, and sometimes we have to get something into action to even know what the little details are, and that’s true for systems in the office a lot of times.” (04:21—05:02)

“I’ll sketch something out, and I get to 80%. Then I hand it off to other people who are really good at details, and they get it to another 80%. So think about this—you get it to 80%, and then they take what’s left and they improve it another 80%. What’s the math on that? We are now at 96%.” (07:42—08:05)

“Whenever we begin to work on something—our 80%—it’s always fairly easy when you’re first attacking something, because you have good energy to put into so. So by sharing this task, be it a financial arrangement document, a scheduling system, what we’re able to do is everyone is able to give fresh, good energy to it. And we move really quickly through things because we have good energy.” (09:40—10:10)

“There are some instances in which you need to give 110% really, or 100%. That’s why in the other 80%, save your energy. Give 80%, move through it quickly, and let other people help you, and you’ll be able to identify holes, identify weaknesses. Have someone say ‘You know what, this is a good idea, let’s take it to here. I’m great with the details, let me do the math.’ And that is where you will make progress.” (15:29—16:04)

“Everyone is happier when they are operating within their unique abilities, and I think that’s a really important thing, because we have days—a lot of days—in the dental practice that are hard, that are stressful, that we hit the ground running and we don’t stop. If you think about your unique ability as a rubber band, and when you’re within your unique ability your rubber band is whole and it’s not stretched. As you stretch more and more and more and more out of those places that...

How I Stay on Task

Episode #385 with Dr. Marty Williams

Do you want to be more efficient, more productive, and a lot less stressed out? Then you need systems and checklists for your practice! And to help you build your ideal system, Kirk Behrendt brings in Dr. Marty Williams to share his checklist that gives him predictability and peace of mind. A checklist is one of the easiest ways to get things done! To learn the best practices for staying on task, listen to Episode 385 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Checklists will give you high levels of predictability.

Distractions are inevitable. But checklists will keep you on task.

By using checklists, you can ensure that nothing gets left undone.

Having checklists and systems will improve workflow.  

Review your system and checklists often for improvements.

Quotes:

“[Staying on task] is extremely important because there are certain things that we do and want to have done with each procedure, and with each system that we have, or the patient that we see. I want to follow certain steps so that I assess, diagnose, and treatment plan all the different areas of their mouths and make sure that I get all the documentation in at the end of the week.” (4:29—4:59)

“I practice the Pankey/Dawson philosophy where we get [patients] in, I do a separate new patient exam. I spend at least a good hour with them. And then, all the data that we gather, at the end of the week, my team will give me a purple folder that will have all the information in there, and it'll have a copy of the checklist in there. So, I sit down, and I'll go through that step by step. I'll start by looking at all the notes that were taken that day. I have it right here, and it’s listed down here, the sequence of steps, and looking at the X-rays, looking at their periodontal information, looking at the information about the tooth, the aesthetics, the smile, function. And then, I take a set of clinical photographs for each new patient. I want to make sure I edit those and read those and put them into the Dentrix system. So, we take all their information. I put it right into their Dentrix chart.” (5:05—6:03)

“Sometimes, when I'm going through this, there are distractions. I come in on a Friday and typically go through all my new patients from the week. And sometimes, there are emails; I would get distracted and look at it. Or my phone will go off and I'll look at that, or UPS comes and rings the doorbell, and I come and let them in, or I have my therapy dog here, he wants to go out to the bathroom, or I just want to take a power nap and then come back, and I've got everything here when I get done with all these distractions. And I think I have all my i’s dotted and t’s crossed. I go through the checklist at the very end, and I literally check everything off to make sure that I checked all the areas of that case that I wanted to, and I made a nice diagnosis and a thorough treatment plan for each patient.” (6:06—6:56)

“You'd think that I'd have it down and I wouldn't need the checklist. You’d think, every time, my memory would have that checklist right in my head. But I'm amazed at the times I go through and it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh! I didn't do that part,’ and I go back and open the chart back up, and I redo that step and check it off the checklist, and I know that I've got it done. And so, nothing gets left undone.” (8:35—9:02)

“[Checklists] are the strategic things that I do when I need to get things done. There are so many other piles of things and emails that can be done, but I want to make sure I get the important stuff done. And then the rest of it, it'll be there when I get back on Monday.” (9:49—10:05)

“[My current system] has been pretty standard and set for a number of years. But all of our systems and things we do...

Get Ready to Take Your Practice to the Next Level

Episode #384 with Dr. Leonard Hess

Are you ready for your practice to work for you, and not you working for your practice? If you are, it’s time to take your practice to the next level! And to guide you through this process, Kirk Behrendt brings in Dr. Leonard Hess from The Dawson Academy to share the best advice for being in the top 10% — not just in production, but also in quality of life. To learn how to take your practice to the next level with The Dawson Academy, listen to Episode 384 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Be a physician of the masticatory system, not a tooth mechanic.

Stop comparing yourself to what you see on social media.

Don't be pressured to do treatment that you're not ready to do.

Never attach your self-worth to your case acceptance rate.

Predictability is important for overall practice health.

Become the go-to dentist within your community.

Be in the top 10% for quality of life, not just for production.

Quotes:

“There are different ways that you could be in the top 10%. You can be in the top 10% for production, which is nice. But I want to be in the top 10% for net income. There are a lot of people out there producing $1 million a year, yet they're dragging home $180,000 or $200,000 a year because their overhead is 80%, 85%. It’s not uncommon that we’re running into dentists that have overhead pushing 85%. And, boy, I'll tell you what, dentistry is really hard work. And if you're working that hard only to be making $0.15 or $0.20 on the dollar, then there are things that have to change.” (4:49—5:22)

“There are a lot of foundational skills that we weren't really taught in dental school that we need to learn if we want to put ourselves in that top 10%.” (6:16—6:25)

“Dental school, it’s a hard process. It’s difficult. But it really only prepares us to be minimally competent. Dental school prepares you to pass a board examination, which is an examination of minimal competency: can you do an MO on tooth number 12? Can you scale and root plane? Can you set some denture teeth? Can you do an endo access on a fake tooth? Can you do a crown prep on a single tooth? That's what it prepares us for. And then, when we get out in the real world, the challenges that we face are far beyond bacteria.” (7:28—8:01)

“When you think about it, in the world, who makes the most money? Who are the most successful people, if we want to look at money? It’s people that can solve the biggest problems. And what we want to do is we want to be able to set you up to become a problem-solver within your community. When somebody has a problem that's beyond normal and ordinary, we want you to be the go-to dentist in that community, and those people will start coming to you. But there's a lot that you need to learn to become that problem-solver. And if you commit yourself to that journey, the money is going to start beating down your door. And the next thing you know, you're going to have to see less patients. You can work less days. Your production per hour is going to start to go up. And dentistry is going to start to become fun again.” (8:34—9:16)

“A lack of predictability, I predict that you're going to have a very rough road ahead of you. You're not going to enjoy dentistry as much as you could. Because when it’s predictable, also, not only is it profitable, but that's how your patients are happy. And when your patients are happy, they start going out in the community and start talking, and you build your reputation that way.” (9:46—10:07)

“To be a very effective dentist, you need to stop being a tooth mechanic and you need to start being a physician of the masticatory system. And so, what you need to understand is you need to gain the perspective that teeth are functioning...

I Hate Teams

 Episode #383 with Andre Shirdan

 You’ve got the tech, the license, and you’ve bought your practice—now what? Now you need the most important component—the people. Kirk Behrendt brings Andre Shirdan on to the show today to discuss why he “hates” teams. An expert coach, trainer, and motivational speaker, Andre explains how to create an environment where your employees will flourish. To learn about what it takes to build an effective team, listen to Episode 383 of The Best Practices Show! 

Main Takeaways:

Have a crew, not a team.

Always keep the Four Ps in mind: People, Process, Product, and Philosophy.

Figure out who you are and what you want.

Whatever you are, be good at it.

You want your employees to succeed—be happy when they decide to move onward or upward.

“Rice, not cotton candy.” You want something substantial and sustainable for your practice.

You live on your reputation—strive to be the kind of person that others seek out.

Quotes:

“I’ve been to hundreds of team-building events—I ran the youth group at my church; I took them to these team-building events, and there was this real big high until they got on the bus home. It was this real big high in the employees that I took on these events, and then the ride home. And I never saw the sustainability of that idea of “together everyone achieves more.” And the way that I have always illustrated it is, in offices—any office we’ve ever worked in—the lotto goes to $500 million, and everybody buys a ticket. So as an office we go out and give somebody a dollar each and they go buy the tickets. What happens if they all hit? The doctor is the only person coming in that Monday morning, because everybody else is at the state capital collecting that check. So is it really a team? Did everyone achieve more, or did we do it individually?” (02:18—03:20)

“What I realized is that you could be 5’2” or 6’2”, and when you get in that boat, you row at the same pace as everybody else, or you get off that boat. And what I find is that we hire people for whatever reason, and expect them to row, not realizing that they have bad days, they have good days, and we should be able to say, ‘Hey, you know, you’re having a bad day? Get off the boat today—no problem—but you can get back on tomorrow.’ But everybody should have a safe word—you know, call you up and say ‘Kirk, you know, I’m having a bad day, can somebody fill in for me?” But then we have to make sure that everybody in the office is trained to be able to fill in that gap. Man down, but not the practice. And that’s okay, but we have to be able to hire to that end.” (04:08—05:00)

“I believe in the four pillars of a business, which are people, process, product—and for us, that’s productivity—and then philosophy. And again, philosophy is that glue, philosophy is that thing that weaves through everything that we do.” (12:06—12:19)

“When I talk to doctors and they say, ‘Hey, should I buy CAD/CAM?’…And I go, ‘Does it fit into your work process (Process), can you afford it (there’s the profitability part of it), will your people use this if you buy it, and does this fit into your overall philosophy of care?...Can you tick those boxes? If so, let’s go find the money to get it.’ And it’s really all about…I tell people, ‘Just stop asking questions and go back to those four things. Can your idea stand on those four pillars, and if so, move forward.’” (12:47—13:21)

“I need the philosophy to be really clear—the elevator pitch. Can you tell it to me on the ride down on a short elevator trip? If you can tell me that, then we can package it and we can...

Hourly or Salary?

Episode #382 with Robyn Reis

Whether you decide on hourly or salary, be sure to do your homework! And to help you determine which may be best for your practice, Kirk Behrendt brings back Robyn Reis, an HR expert from Bent Ericksen, to share everything to consider when choosing hourly or salary for your employees. To learn about the benefits, pitfalls, and the laws you need to know, listen to Episode 382 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

There are advantages and pitfalls for both hourly and salary.

Consider every circumstance that a salary is going to cover.

Quarterly audits are essential for salaried team members.

Have all expectations in writing to avoid future problems.

Schedule regular check-ins with team members.

Be sure to follow the wage and hour laws in your state.

Quotes:

“It’s all about predictability. People think that when I give somebody a salary, it’s predictable. They know when they're going to get their paycheck, how much they're going to get paid. It works for a lot of people. But the caveats that go along with a salary are twofold. One is classification of the employee is first and foremost. And that is, are you exempt or nonexempt? No matter how you pay somebody — hourly, salary, commission, per diem, in blueberry pie — it has to be determined whether they're exempt or nonexempt. That's according to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. And that's part of the Wage and Hour Division laws that govern how much taxes are taken out and all that good stuff.” (4:36—5:28)

“What you want to think about when it comes to that predetermined or predefined salary is, are you making sure that they're getting paid for the time that they work? So, even as a salaried employee classified as nonexempt, you still need to clock in and clock out. You still need to verify your time. That's part of the record retention requirements and the timekeeping. Again, keeps everything fair and equitable. People are being compensated for the time that they work.” (8:56—9:29)

“When you do give a salary to a nonexempt employee, you want to make sure that you're accommodating or counting on all the hours you expect them to work.” (10:45—10:56)

“[Expectations are] absolutely huge because a team member has to understand, a) how do they earn their paycheck, and b) when there are some incongruencies that there is something to go back to to say, ‘Wait a minute. This is what I understood.’ So, having it in writing is key. It’s not only for the team members’ understanding, but for protection of the doctor so that they can say, ‘Yes, I'm following all the employment compliance laws that I need to follow for my particular practice in my state, and this is where we start our relationship and our channels of communication.’” (13:23—14:05)

“Putting it in writing means that there is less chance of, ‘Wait, nobody ever told me that,’ or, ‘I thought it was this way.’ Putting it in writing lessens the chance of miscommunication. And when push comes to shove, there's no, ‘He said she said,’ or, ‘I thought she meant that,’ or, ‘He promised me this.’ Every lawyer everywhere will tell you, if it’s not in writing, it didn't happen, much like the patient records.” (14:05—14:31)

“Putting it in writing is really, really important for that employer-employee relationship. No misunderstanding, no question marks. ‘These are your hours. This is your schedule. This is what is expected of you. These are your benefits. And this is what you're going to be compensated.’” (14:52—15:10)

“The pitfalls are, when you do a salaried employee, you still have to watch your hours. They still have to track their hours. So, as a nonexempt employee, they still have to track their hours. I would recommend that somebody who pays their team on salary, once a quarter, go...

The Reason Communication is Challenged in Your Office

Episode #381 with Katie Poulsen

Just like on the playground, there is an in-group and out-group in your practice. And typically, the dentist is in the out-group. To explain why that is and what you can do to close the gap, Kirk Behrendt brings in Katie Poulsen from Dental Intel to share her research findings for why communication is so challenging in your office. There are many key elements to running a successful practice, and one of them is to keep your team happy! To find out how, listen to Episode 381 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

In-groups and out-groups form because of conflict.

Dentists are typically in the out-group of their practice.

Communication breakdowns cause conflict.

Not communicating expectations can cause conflict.

Set a time for discussion so conflict can get resolved.

Have consistent meetings, individually and as a group.

Effective communication is learned, not inherent.

Quotes:

“I wanted to study who was in the in-group in a dental practice, who was in the out-group, and why were they in the in-group or out-group, or does it even exist. And I had an idea, but I wanted to verify it. So, through a survey, and interviewing with multiple different roles in the practice, hygienists and dentists, different genders in each role — I didn't want there to be any gender bias — I found that, as you can imagine, dentists are in the out-group of their practice.” (7:27—8:05)

“For a lot of dentists, [being in the out-group] happens for a lot of reasons. And what it all revolves around is conflict. For whatever reason — and this is a whole other thing that needs to be studied — most dentists, I don't know if they choose the profession because they don't like conflict, or the profession makes it so that you don't like conflict. Maybe they liked it before, and now they don't because they're in the profession. But it really does draw people who do not like conflict.” (8:52—9:28)

“We can make a generalization that most humans don't love conflict. But for whatever reason, there are a lot of dentists who are conflict averse. And so, they want to do their job. They show up, they do their dentistry, and they let the office manager or somebody else in the office deal with all of the drama in the practice. Which, then they're like, ‘I'm the leader, and so I'm going to be over here. You guys work together. Let me know when you have a problem.’ Which, really, it makes for a huge chasm in the communication breakdown. It makes it so you don't get trusted by your employees. They don't go to you with problems because you're not approachable.” (9:29—10:16)

“Dental hygienists do have overlapping responsibilities in the practice. I did a lot of anesthetics for the dentist. You can feel like your hands are tied a little bit with diagnosing periodontal disease. Like, you can see it, but you can't diagnose it. Or can we diagnose it? It’s being seen as a provider, even. I mean, there are a lot of practices where the dental hygienist is just treated like a member of the staff. And maybe they're okay with that. But that's the root of where all the problems exist. And it’s not just dentistry. It happens in any place where some of the tasks and expectations overlap between providers.” (12:04—12:50)

“Add the fact that there's not time to have conflict in a busy dental practice. You can't approach [your team] over the patient, and the next patient is coming in the door. And by 5:00, everybody’s ready to get out of there. So, if you don't set time to discuss these things, then they don't ever get resolved.” (13:23—13:44)

“When reviewing and surveying a bunch of these providers, hygienists and dentists, I was looking for common themes of why they were in the in-group and the out-group....