DISTINCTIONcast – How to Keep Rockstar Team Members: Real-World Strategies for Retaining and Appreciating Your Dental Team
Learn from Leaders Who’ve Built Teams That Stay
Join us for an honest and inspiring discussion on one of the toughest challenges in dental practice management: keeping great team members. In this special Power Panel, AADOM favorite Penny Reed will moderate a dynamic conversation with three powerhouse AADOM distinction holders—Teresa, Brandi, and Rebecca—as they share what’s really working in their practices when it comes to team loyalty, appreciation, and leadership growth.
They’ll answer key questions like:
- What makes team members excited to stay
- How to show appreciation that truly matters
- What they’ve learned (the hard way) about turnover
- Mistakes to avoid when trying to lead with gratitude
Whether you’re dealing with turnover now or planning ahead, you’ll leave with real-world insight from managers who’ve been there, made mistakes, and come out stronger—with teams that trust them.
Panel Moderator: Penny Reed, Vice President of Membership and Events for AADOM
Panelists: Teresa Spence, DAADOM, Brandi Williams, MAADOM, and Rebecca Herring, MAADOM – All AADOM distinction holders and respected practice leaders
This is more than a conversation—it’s a chance to rethink how you lead, recognize, and retain.
Don’t miss this Power Panel packed with honesty, experience, and practical takeaways you can apply right away.
Sponsored by: CEDR HR Solutions
AADOM Members log in HERE to watch the full recording and earn .5 CEU.
Join AADOM now to access the full video and a world of resources. Your next big step is just a click away!
Read the Transcript Now!
Penny: Hello everyone. Welcome to DistinctionCast, where AADOM showcases the best and brightest minds in the dental industry from within our Dental Management Association.
I’m Penny Reed, the Executive Vice President of Membership and Events for AADOM. Thank you so much for joining us today.
AADOM’s DistinctionCast is more than insights into dental management. We amplify the voices of AADOM’S distinction holders, the leaders in the trenches of dental management who share their insights, inspiration, and real world strategies to help you thrive in your practice.
And now a word from our sponsor.
Sponsor: Work is weird sometimes. Our weekly HR newsletter helps office managers lead like pros, even when things get weird—and trust us—they will.
To subscribe, visit www.cedarsolutions.com.
Penny: Alright, so let’s dive in. I wanna introduce you to today’s guests. So, I will introduce and say their names and then we’ll come back in that order. I want you guys to tell us a little bit more about you, where you’re from, what your role is, and what distinction you hold.
So, we’ve got Rebecca Herring—if you’d wave Rebecca.
Then, Teresa Spence. Welcome, Theresa.
And Brandi Williams, who you will have just heard from in our last DistinctionCast, which sort of sounds like a distinction class.
So, Rebecca, let’s start with you. If you would tell our audience a little more about you.
Rebecca: Sure. I’m Rebecca Herring and I’m located in Denver, Colorado. I am a coach, but I’m also the Director of Healthcare Operations. And I hold the distinction of MAADOM just for a couple more months until I earn my Diplomat in September in Round Rock, Texas.
Penny: Woo. Let’s give it a whoop-whoop for the DAADOM. Awesome, awesome. Welcome, Rebecca.
Okay, Theresa.
Teresa: I am Teresa Spence and I am from Fernandina Beach, Florida. And I hold the distinction of DAADOM. And, I am a practice administrator of a private group practice of five doctors, 10 hygienists and 8 assistants, and 11 office team members. So, there we go.
Penny: Awesome. Welcome, welcome. Thank you, Theresa.
And ,Brandi.
Brandi: Hi, I’m Brandy Williams. I’m based out of Oklahoma. I have my MAADOM distinction and I will be joining Rebecca in September, getting my Diplomat distinction. I’m so excited for that.
I am the Chief Growth Officer for Catalyst Dental Allies. We are a mid-sized DSO based out of Oklahoma. We have 46 locations. And, I get the opportunity to work with our newly acquired teams and train all of our managers and leaders in the organization.
Penny: Wow. There is so much wisdom in this, what I’m going to call today, like an HR think tank. We may break the internet. So, we’ve titled today’s round table: “Finding and Keeping Rock Stars—Real-World Strategies for Retaining and Appreciating Your Dental Team.” What a timely topic.
So, thank you all for being here and I’m super excited because we’re making DistinctionCast history today. First round table. We can’t wait to hear what all of our viewers think about it. And I imagine this may be the first of many to come.
So, I put together some questions that our panel will have some conversation about. And one thing you guys will learn the more that you’re around me is I have these little quips or quotes or things that have stood out to me that I’ve learned in my own management leadership journey.
And that is that growth, like true growth, occurs in relationships. And that’s what we’re doing in this discussion. In some ways, a lecture style, presentation style may be more impactful. In other ways, I think this sort of thing—you guys are in for a real treat.
So, here’s the first question. And then you guys, whichever one wants to go first, can speak to it and then we’ll move on through.
Empowerment and Growth: Keys to Long-Term Team Loyalty
What’s one thing your practice does that you feel has team members excited to stay there long term? So, what’s one thing that you feel like you guys do well, that has team members want to stay at your practice, beyond, you know, what’s in it for me right now? They wanna be there long term. Who would like to go first?
Rebecca: I’ll jump in if you’d like. I’m gonna play off of what you just mentioned, Penny, which is growth. I think a lot of times for, at least in our practices, our team members really appreciate empowerment with clarity, which for them, this really means, “Tell me what I have to do to grow. Tell me what I need to do to be better.”
But they also want to have that opportunity to grow. No one likes to feel, I think, stuck in one position or in just their little circle. I think that they like the opportunity to know how they can grow in their position within the practice.
And when they have that opportunity to grow, I think they feel invested. I think they feel like they have a part in the success of the practice itself, whether that means cross-training, having that opportunity to own a piece of that growth, whether they get to be a part of creating something in that practice—whether that is an SOP or creating something that they get to own or lead themselves in the practice—helps create that sense of growth and empowerment within the success of the practice.
Penny: Yeah, I love that. Keeps things interesting. That’s awesome.
Alright. Teresa or Brandi, would you like to speak to that?
Teresa: Yeah, I have to piggyback off Rebecca. I think whenever you bring your team in and ask them their perspective of things, when things start to change and empower them to be a part of the growth of the overall health of the practice, you get the buy-in from the team. It just helps things to grow overall for the practice.
But whenever you value them and appreciate their thoughts, because, yes, I may be the practice administrator, not the hygienist, but when you’re talking systems in the hygiene department, who am I not to ask them how that’s gonna impact that department?
Same for the assistants that are ordering. Let’s come alongside them.
So, when you value their opinions and what they do with their workflow day in and day out, it makes a big difference.
And I think that alone helps for long term. Where sometimes you go into some places and it’s not there. And I think that has helped us long term for keeping ur employees here long term. So that’s huge.
Penny: Yeah. That’s awesome. Alright, Brandy.
Brandi: I’m gonna have to piggyback on that too, partly because my role consists around growth. Like that’s in my title, that’s what I do day in and day out, is creating opportunities to coach and develop our employees to give them resources to grow in their current role or out of that role into something even bigger.
And, I think another thing that’s really cool in the DSO space is that they might work with their small group in their office, but we find times throughout the year to bring everybody together to let them know that they’re a part of something bigger.
So, it’s not just your team. You’ve got a team of 45 other office managers that you can connect with and network with and build community, and I think that community really helps with job fulfillment and wanting to stay someplace. When you feel like you aren’t by yourself, you’re not alone, you’ve got a group of people that want to support you and guide you and go along the journey too.
Penny: Yeah, I love that. I love the sense of community and helping them stay inspired, right? So, when they think about what their role might look like five years from now, that in a good way it can look very different than it looks today. So, well done. Well done.
Meaningful Appreciation Beyond Bonuses
Alright, so, here is the next question. How do you ensure your team feels genuinely seen and appreciated beyond a traditional reward, maybe like a gift card or bonuses? What are some other ways that you ensure that they feel seen and appreciated?
And actually, if it’s okay, I’m going to go in reverse order this time. Brandi, would you be the first one to take that one?
Brandi: Yeah. At the office level, of course, I think communication and just finding out what really motivates them is the best place to start. So, if they’re not motivated by bringing in lunch, and that’s how you are acknowledging their performance or success is by bringing lunch every time, you’re missing the mark.
So, finding out what truly motivates them and listening to that, and then finding creative ways to honor that motivation. From a larger area where I’m at, I don’t have that one-on-one recognition with employees. I don’t get to work with them on that level. But I can do it on a broad spectrum.
So, when I meet with teams, I wanna find ways to highlight them. So, we have a monthly manager virtual meeting. We call it the third Thursday, where all of our managers come together for a virtual meeting.
And I encourage managers to step up and share experiences. I want them to pick a topic that they feel like they’re a rockstar, that’s their superpower, and share that with the rest of the team so they can establish themselves in our organization as the Call-Conversion Master or the Treatment Plan Master, and help kind of brand them to be an expert in their field. And I think that creates some satisfaction and motivation too.
Penny: I love that. Wonderful. Thank you.
So next, let’s go to Rebecca here on this one.
Rebecca: Yeah, I think there’s—I love what Brandi said, of course. I think there’s lots of ways to recognize our teammates and what they’re doing to support our practices.
For us, I always, when someone knew would start in our practice, I always had them fill out a get-to-know-me kind of form that was down to like the littlest things: their favorite color, their favorite candy bar, if they could go shopping somewhere, where would it be? Those types of things so that we could celebrate when things would happen in, in the practice, for like their birthdays and those kinds of things.
But for me, personally, I’m a note—I’m a handwritten note person. And so I always try to take time once a week to try to recognize someone in the practices and I would just slip that handwritten note into their locker. And, I wanted them to know personally from me how much I appreciated something that they had done.
And I tried not to make it just a, Great job this week! Thanks for showing up at work.” I’m just kidding.
But I wanted to make sure I pointed out something really personal that they had done. “Thank you so much for taking that extra time to sit with the child that was crying. Thanks for taking the time with the parent to explain what was happening,” you know, right down to, “I heard that parent or that patient that was yelling at you at the phone, and I appreciate you keeping a calm tone. Thank you for deescalating and taking that, so it became a positive experience for the patient.”
Things that I think that sometimes we don’t always see, but when we recognize the little things, making sure that our team knows that we see those things and we appreciate them going the extra mile.
Penny: That’s so special. I love that. Alright, Teresa.
Teresa: Okay.
So, I think we have to genuinely be interested in people as a whole. That goes for our team, our patients overall. And that means walking with them through the happy times and the low times.
And as you all know, being a practice administrator, you know, there are low times and we have to be there when they walk through those. We have faced death, we have faced divorce, we have, you know, there’s all those things.
And I think it is just as important to be there when your team walks through that back door to be that crutch for them. And I think that support speaks volumes across anything sometimes, because we can always be happy, but we have to be there when they hit their low.
And that makes—that’s huge because that’s—I don’t wanna use the thing like being like family, but it kind of is because, you know, there’s that mix on like family. But, I think it’s important that we are there through the happy times and the struggles because it’s us that they look to to help them through their day to day in the office, because we spend more time at work than we do at home sometimes.
Penny: Well, and hey, Teresa. Some team members may like their work team better than their family. You never know. I’m not saying that that’s the case for me.
I think what you’re saying is like it’s a safe space. If they feel that it’s safe and you’re right. The longer that someone does work in the same place, the more likely it is that they will have their highest of highs, and also, their lowest of lows.
Teresa: And I could say that because I’ve had, you know—there’s one question that you’re gonna ask and we haven’t had much of it, but we are at retirement ages and so I’ve seen it. But I have had young ladies that have said that they look at some of our doctors as their father figure. So that’s huge.
So, we’ve been through some, you know, some things that it’s like you’ve gotta walk through life-changing events with your team, as well as the happy time. So that’s important.
And weekly shout outs, you know. We send a weekly email out every Sunday to get us pumped up for the week coming up and, you know, just shout out when you see something. That’s for everyone to see.
Penny: I love that. And, I always, on a lighter note, will say, you know, appreciation is something that, you know, all of us crave, but it’s the one thing that you really can’t give to yourself. I mean, you can, and if you journal or something like that. But it’s a, you know—there’s not a price tag that you can put on it.
And I’ll chime in, even though I’m not one of the panelists. After I was an office manager and became a consultant, my business partner was and still is a practicing dentist. And one of the things that he did so well, and he has continued to be—I mean, his team members retire from there. They usually don’t go off and find another career, you know, until they’re ready to not work anymore.
He did the best job of complimenting his team members, sincere compliments in front of the patients. And, you know, it was like, “Hey, great job,” or “I really appreciate that.”
And I think it’s not only that acknowledgement, yet, if they are hearing that, and it’s not only directed simply towards them, but others are hearing it as well. And I mean, it worked because most of the time he would joke and he would say the patients would say, “Oh yeah, we’d be happy to see another dentist in you’re not in, but we really come here because we love your team.”
Teresa: It’s kind of like filling that cup and you know, it’s like, you know, that reward, that great behavior, you’re gonna continue to get that great behavior type thing and they’re gonna continue to do more great things.
So it’s a win-win.
Lessons Learned from Team Turnover and How They Shape Leadership
Penny: It is a win-win for sure. Alright. Next question. And Teresa, I’ll have you be first up on this if you’re, if you would be willing to. What’s a lesson you’ve learned about team turnover that helped shape how you lead today?
Teresa: So, team turnover. So, that is one of the things we haven’t really encountered until COVID. What I experience most is a lot of retirement. With that came adding new people to our team.
We’ve been in practice for over 48, almost 50 years with several buyouts. The original owner—we have a great system of buyout here, and the way they do it is great.
But what I have learned and has helped shape me over my time being here, and I’ve been here for 34 years, is getting to know my team, understanding what motivates them, using the DISC personality to my favor, to understand what motivates my team to work their workflow, what gets them going, and if they’re even in the right seat on the bus in the office.
You know, because if you’re sitting there and they’re miserable, the whole team is gonna be miserable, basically. And I know, ’cause I’ve used it and I will go, I have a binder with everyone’s disc in it and I’m like, something is off. And I’ll go and read it and you can tweak one little thing and you can see the light bulb go off from that person. So that is one thing that I go to. And that’s huge.
And then I’ve also learned that annual reviews are not a time for pointing out anybody’s faults or what they need to correct. That is a time for us to sit down and go over their successes over the year in what we are gonna plan to succeed over for the next year. And that’s for them and for us as the leadership team to see how they can grow and how we can grow.
And so those are two things that I’ve learned over my time doing this.
Penny: Very valuable. I love DISC. Well, I love all of the behavioral assessments, but that DISC is my favorite.
Teresa: It will teach you a lot of things about yourself and other people.
Penny: Absolutely.
Alright. Rebecca, would you take that one next?
Rebecca: Sure. So, I think in my experience as a leader and a manager and a practice, one of the things I’ve picked up on and realized in my time is psychological safety in the workplace.
When your team, including your doctors, right, when everyone feels like they’re in a really safe space, that they can be vulnerable, even in their weakest moments and that they’re not gonna be judged and they’re not gonna—and that whatever they share with you as a manager is gonna be kept private, I think that is worth so much to you as a leader, but also to your team.
And I remember a really specific example where I wasn’t sure if I had that psychological safety without a specific team member and I knew something was really off and I was worried about her. And so, I asked her to come in my office and we sat down and she was very quiet and very shy.
We ended up learning some things in that time and thankfully the doctors didn’t come in the office. And we ended up agreeing that she needed some time off and she admitted that she needed to check herself in to a mental hospital and that she needed and to take some time away for herself. And I was glad that she felt comfortable sharing that with me.
And I think when we allow ourselves the ability to create that safe space with our team, that’s when we really can learn a lot about each other because turnover in our practices is so difficult. The cost of trying to replace somebody is extremely high.
And so, after that experience, I decided to do what I called: stay interviews instead of exit interviews. I wanted to know what made my team stay. What do we do and offer for you in our practice that has you staying with us long term? And, I learned a lot about what each team member needed in our practice that was different but the same.
One needed to be recognized openly. Loved having that recognition that Teresa mentioned from the doctor in front of patients. They loved that.
And we had another team member that did not like public acknowledgement. They were embarrassed and they appreciated, you know, those notes in their locker. They loved that. They appreciated being recognized, but just not in front of the whole team.
And so, recognizing some of those different things helped us to retain our team in the ways that they needed to be recognized, appreciated. And what us as a practice offered and provided for our teams that made them feel like that’s the place they wanted to work forever.
Penny: Wow. I love that. Stay interviews. Very powerful.
Brandi: It’s awesome. I love that too.
Penny: Yeah, that’s great. Alright, Brandi.
Brandi: Man, this is such a tough one, such a tough one for me. I think you say the first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem. So, I’m going to admit I have a problem with this.
I am working with so many people. There are several different generations represented in our organization. And I come from a time where you didn’t need to know the why. If somebody told you to do something, you just did it and you got fulfillment by doing that job and good job.
And I have that expectation or had. Again, I’m working through this guys—that if you simply explain like this is the expectation, this is what I want you to do and how to do it, that people would do that and feel motivated and happy to work with you. And that’s not the case anymore.
I have to really be intentional with the different generations on how they accept direction, how to best motivate them. It killed me, but I had to offer like flexible scheduling. I had never thought that would make such an impact on my team.
But, and because I was like, “No, we work eight to five,” like everything works eight to five. We, but no, not anymore. I’ve got some people that work six to two and seven to four, and learning to be flexible and adaptable and to meet some people where they are—I’m getting the same results. I’m getting an amazing product in return, and I have happy people that wanna stay here.
I just had to get past that. This is the rule, this is the way we always done it. This is the way I was told to do it, and I’m passing that wisdom down to it might look different for somebody and it might be that if I ask you to do this extra task that wasn’t in your initial job role, I have to assign another title for that for you to feel comfortable doing that job.
So, it’s just kind of learning what each generation is expecting and what is motivating them and getting past myself and what I’m just used to and what I think leadership and motivation looks like because if I were working with an office full of 40 and 50 year olds, we’d be great. But if I’m bringing in people in their thirties and twenties, if I wanna be a great leader for them, I’m gonna change the way I look at leadership.
And, again, I’m in recovery.
Penny: In recovery. I love it. Well, I think we always are in recovery if we’re really being transparent. Yeah. Well, and I think it’s that it’s not a one size fits all. And I’m sure there’s some studies that were done somewhere about what precipitated the change of this is how you do it. And maybe it’s curiosity. Maybe it’s the internet.
Brandi: I think we’ve parented these kids.
Penny: Yeah. So thank you. And I love the differences in the answers because, you know what I’m saying? The differences of the experiences and for all of the things that are alike with the, you know, single to maybe three or four location offices, all the way up to 45 locations, there are the similarities, there’s definitely the nuances there, right, as far as being able to respond and evolve the, you know, the skillset.
So, I think that if I were to join in on this one, the lesson about team turnover that shaped me is that I have, you know, not only in the dental office but also in other work capacities, I always now, not to say that I do it really, really well, wanna be sure that the individual understands like what I was thinking about, Teresa, when you were talking about the annual review.
You know, that we don’t save things up into buckets. You know, like all these secrets. Here’s all the things that you do really well, and here’s all the things that you don’t do so well, is to, you know, go ahead and have that difficult conversation sooner than later.
And it’s amazing how sometimes they have a breakthrough and sometimes they don’t. But, for me, it’s like, don’t save it for a rainy day. Address it sooner than later, because if not, then you have a whole stack of things that have stacked up. It makes the conversation more complicated, so. Alright, very good.
Brandi: So defeating to hear that, to think that you worked more all year and now you’re just getting dumped on for all the updates.
Teresa: Why didn’t you tell me this?
Brandi: Exactly.
Teresa: So you can handle it.
Penny: Well, it doesn’t let all the positive things really soak in, right? You remember at the end you remember the however many things, you know, that we’re covered.
Avoiding Common Pitfalls in Showing Genuine Appreciation
Alright, so. Last official question. Um, what’s one mistake leaders often make when trying to show appreciation and how can we avoid it?
So, who would like to go first on that one?
Teresa: I’ll do it.
Penny: Okay. Thanks Teresa.
Teresa: Well, one of the things that we did this as a team, I think we, as leaders, we need to understand our team. And so, we as a team, as leaders, when I say leaders as our team leadership here at the office was my doctors and myself—we were having a hard time understanding our team and how we could better appreciate them.
So we took the time and we read the book, the Five Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace. And this is the book. It is amazing.
And I think as leaders we also make the mistake that we have to be the one that has to run around the office and do all the appreciation to everyone.
But what we did with this book is I challenged, it was a book club in the office and we all read it and we all learned the appreciations of ourselves, but also for one another.
And at the back door when you walk in, everybody’s primary and secondary language is at the back door. So now you know what their primary language of appreciation is.
And just a little side note, I have a doctor that is our senior doctor here. I probably shouldn’t say this, but I knew what his was and it’s words of affirmation and you wouldn’t think that would be for a doctor, but he just really needed to hear it.
And I told a couple people on my team, I was like, “I’m gonna test this and let’s just see.”
It was amazing when I turned the switch on a couple of us using the words of affirmation to him, how things changed with him. And he just needed to hear how well he was doing and how it kind of changed, but also the ripple effect through the whole office was a change.
So, it’s understanding as leaders, us understanding our team. But empowering and challenging our team to understand one another and us as leaders, not taking that burden on ourself to do it, but us as a team to do it to one another because as leaders we need it just as much as they do.
Penny: So that’s awesome. That’s awesome. Would you repeat the book title again for those that may not have gotten it down?
Teresa: Five Languages in the Workplace, and it’s by Gary Chapman and Paul White, and it is a great read. It’s a quick read, but you know, they had the five languages of the love languages in your marriage. This is just the appreciation in the workplace and it is amazing.
It’s awesome. It’s been a game changer here. But when you know someone’s appreciation language. Whoa!
Penny: That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Alright. Who wants to go next? Brandi or Rebecca?
Brandi: Oh, sorry. Or you can go, I don’t—what did you say?
Rebecca: I just wanted to piggyback off of Teresa because I think that as a leader, I think I always felt like, like Teresa, I felt like I always had to be the one to express that you’re doing such a great job. Thank you for—I mean, I feel like I always had to be the one to lift the whole team up.
So, I really appreciated what Teresa shared. So, we started doing the same kind of thing, but we did it in our morning huddles and we just, we made it kind of like a front offices team was like Mondays, and Tuesdays was the dental assistants, and Wednesdays was the doctors, and then the Thursdays was like the hygiene team. And it gave everybody a chance to point out someone from the previous day, like, did you notice somebody?
And so it made it possible for everybody to have a turn, recognizing anyone they wanted in the practice, but it really made it so much easier for us doctors and the managers to not feel like it all fell on us all the time. But it also opened up the door for everybody to realize you can say thank you to anyone you want to anytime.
And I just appreciated the shift in our office that it created when everybody felt like they could, you know, say thank you, but publicly, but also just in our small little group.
But the other side of this I think is important to also remember in our practices was consistency. I think sometimes we get on this kick of like, “Oh, we need to make sure we’re being appreciative of everybody.”
And so, I think, I mean this more towards the doctors because we’re like doctors, we really need to be appreciative of our team. And they get really good for about a week and then they fall off, I think in that appreciation mode.
But, I don’t know about anyone else’s practices, but especially in ours, it felt like the appreciation of, “Hey, you know, dental assistant, thank you so much for staying late and helping me with that case that ran long tonight,” means so much more coming from the doctor expressing that appreciation to a team member than really anybody else on the team sometimes.
When the doctor would express it, sincerely, not just, “Hey, thanks,” but really express that appreciation to the team member, it really seemed to hit home to them. Like, “Wow, the doctor’s saying thank you for staying late. He recognized my hard work.”
It meant more sometimes than other people, especially me, especially the leader, right? The manager who’s always saying it. So, I think being really consistent in that appreciation, so it feels genuine.
Penny: Alright. I love that. All right, Brandi.
Brandi: I love what you said about the doctor. We encourage them, like, before you leave the building, make contact with everybody. Tell them goodnight. I hope, you know, ask them what they’re doing this evening. Thank them that if they can get in the habit of acknowledging.
There’s some offices where the doctor doesn’t speak to them, know anything about them personally, and when that connection can be made and that relationship can get built, you just have this amazing team where you do have a culture of appreciation and it’s easy for everyone to appreciate things.
My mistake I wanna share though, is just assuming that everybody is motivated by the same thing that I am. And I have watched, I’ve like stumbled and felt miserably over that for several years, but I’m like, “Oh, we’re doing CE tonight.”
And they’re like, “I don’t wanna do CE tonight.”
“But that’s what I love. That’s so fun. I get motivated, my cup gets full,” but the person working next to me is like, “Do I get paid for this? I’m missing my kids softball,” like.
You have to really make sure that you are finding out what drives and motivates your team.
And don’t just assume that bringing in lunch today is gonna, you know, change the atmosphere and everyone’s gonna be excited because they got pizza. It really is about relationship building with your team, finding what drives them and being a part of their journey.
And hopefully, you know, I love to quote Teresa Duncan’s, Leaving the Ladder Down, but that’s how you leave the ladder down is motivating, growing and investing in the people that you work with.
The Importance of Gratitude and Community
Penny: Yeah. I love that. So true. So true. Well, thank you guys so much.
And in the same line of showing appreciation, I want to pause and, once again, before we do our official wrap up, I wanna pause for CEDR Solutions. Thank you so much for sponsoring this episode and for making programs like this possible.
Alright. So, I want to say specifically thank you to Rebecca and Teresa, and to Brandi for not only sharing of your time and your talents, also for being vulnerable. You know, it’s not easy to get up in front of everyone, even though I know we’re all sitting at our desks—and share, you know, be transparent.
Yet I think that’s how we really learn and that’s how we build community within our AADOM tribe. So, I know that many of you tuning in may not be members of AADOM. So I want to give a huge thank you to not only Rebecca and Teresa and Brandi for participating, but for also for being AADOM distinction holders.
And what that means is, not only are they AADOM members, they put in quite a few hours to say the least, in CE. They’ve written articles, they’ve participated in programs like this, and they truly are the leaders in the trenches.
So, thank you guys so much for being here and for partnering with us to educate dental managers and leaders.
So, for our audience today, thank you for listening and for tuning in and be sure to follow us on all of our social channels to be aware of the educational opportunities. And, hey, before we go, Rebecca, Teresa and Brandi, would you all like do the princess wave bye to everybody until we see them again, right?
Oh, that is just lovely. Lovely. Sincerely, thank you guys so much. I enjoy learning from you and I know that our community does as well. Right? Take care, everybody.
Ready to see the rest of this DISTINCTIONcast and elevate your skills?
Join AADOM now to access the full content and a world of resources. Your next big step is just a click away!
Learn About the Panelists:
Teresa C. Spence, DAADOM
Teresa has been in dentistry for 36 years, most of which she has spent with Amelia Dental Group in Fernandina Beach (Florida). She began her career as a dental assistant, then gradually learned more of the ins and outs of the practice.
She has held the position of Practice Administrator for the past 15 years. Teresa attended her first AADOM conference in 2011. Teresa was named Practice Administrator of the Year in 2021 and is the President of Northeast Florida Dental Connection S.M.I.L.E. Teresa enjoys all things leadership and empowering those around her.
Brandi Williams, MAADOM
Brandi is the founding president of the Oklahoma Society of Dental Professionals, a recognized Dental Professional Learning Network by the American Association of Dental Office Management (AADOM), and a proud member of Women in DSO. As Chief Growth Officer at Catalyst Dental Allies, a mid-size DSO in Oklahoma, Brandi has played a pivotal role in the company’s remarkable expansion from just four clinics in 2017 to forty-six clinics today, encompassing both specialty and general dental practices.
Her 30-year tenure in the dental industry has been marked by a deep commitment to building successful practices and cultivating empowered teams. Known for her adaptability and results-driven approach, Brandi consistently exceeds financial and operational goals, championing innovative growth strategies in the ever-evolving dental landscape.
Brandi blends her appreciation for group practice with her AADOM passion, fostering collaboration and synergy between these two aspects.
Rebecca Herring, MAADOM
Rebecca is a seasoned dental coach with over 25 years of hands-on experience in the dental industry, a journey that began in her youth while accompanying her father, a dentist, on humanitarian trips to Guadalajara. During these early experiences, Rebecca discovered the transformative power of dentistry and the importance of compassionate care.
Her dedication to making a difference has only deepened since, and today, she empowers dental teams and professionals to unlock their full potential, ensuring they are in roles that not only fit their skills but also fuel their passion. Rebecca is known for her approachable, down-to-earth coaching style. She understands the complexities of running a dental practice and strives to make each team member feel valued, supported, and heard.
Her genuine care for others shines through in her work, whether she’s helping a practice streamline workflows, develop leadership skills, or enhance patient care. With expertise in leadership development, standard operating procedures, and team dynamics, Rebecca helps dental offices achieve operational efficiency while creating a positive and motivated workplace culture.
Rebecca believes that at the heart of every successful practice is a unified, empowered team. By fostering open communication and trust, she creates an environment where dental professionals can thrive. Her personalized coaching approach focuses on strengthening team relationships, improving workflows, and reducing errors, all of which lead to an exceptional patient experience and a stronger, more productive practice.
As Vice President of the Denver DPLN network, sponsored by AADOM, Rebecca is at the forefront of dental office management. Her commitment to professional development is reflected in her achievements as a lifetime member of the American Academy of Dental Office Management (AADOM), where she earned her Fellowship in 2023, her Mastership in 2024, and is on track to receive the prestigious Diplomate designation in 2025.
