AADOM DISTINCTIONcast – Implementation: How to Roll Out New Ideas and Get Your Team to Take Action
Do you ever get fired up about a new idea just to have it fall short when it comes to getting your team on board? (Yeah, me too – hand raised). During this course, I’ll share some effective strategies to enroll in your team so you can implement those new ideas like a pro!
Sponsored by: Patterson Dental
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Read the Transcript Now!
Savanah: Hey everyone! Welcome to DistinctionCasts, where AADOM showcases the best and the brightest minds in the dental industry from within our Dental Management Association…and these members hold AADOM Distinctions.
My name is Savanah Carlson. I am the Director of Member Services and an AADOM Distinction holder. And I’m thrilled to be here with you today!
DistinctionCasts is more than just insights into dental management. It’s a dynamic platform designed to amplify the voices of AADOM’s Distinction holders, providing them with the opportunity to educate and inspire their peers.
By tapping into the expertise of AADOM Distinction holders who are in the trenches of everyday management, we aim to empower and support leaders as they navigate the challenges and opportunities of running successful dental practices.
But, this wouldn’t be possible without our sponsors.
Sponsor: This DistinctionCast is brought to you by Patterson Dental — Your Partner in Shine!
At Patterson Dental, we see your shine, AADOM stars! And to show our appreciation and help you shine even brighter, we’re offering one lucky member a diamond necklace.
Enter by May 31st at PattersonDental.com/AADOM for your chance to win!
And if you are listening after May 31st, don’t worry. We’re offering resources, exclusive member deals, and more giveaways throughout 2024. So, visit PattersonDental.com/AADOM for the latest.
Thank you for all you do, office managers! From your partner in shine — Patterson Dental.
Savanah: I’m excited to introduce AADOM’s first DistinctionCast educator, Erika Pusillo.
Erika is the Practice Optimizer at the Spodak Dental Group in Delray Beach, Florida.
A true leader in her field, Erika was awarded the 2023 AADOM Green Leader and is a two-time recognized practice administrator of Distinction.
Her journey in the dental industry began in 2009 as a dental assistant, and, since then, she’s risen to lead a team of fifty
in a single location, multi-specialty, state-of-the-art practice.
Her dedication and expertise have earned her the DAADOM Distinction, which she received in 2022, and it’s the highest recognition level AADOM offers.
But, Erika’s impact doesn’t stop there. She’s also passionate about bringing out the potential in others and regularly speaks to dental teams through the bulletproof dental practice.
I want to welcome Erika. Erika, thank you so much for being with us today!
Erika: Thank you, Savanah, for having me.
And, I want to say: I sound amazing! I was just like, “Wow! Dang! Who is that person?” It’s so interesting to hear yourself being talked about like that.
And, I’m just so humbled to be a part of the AADOM network and to be able to learn and grow. And it’s just exciting to see that recognition and to be here sharing it with everybody today.
One of my strengths and one of the things I really enjoy doing within my practice is implementing. And, so, that’s one of the things that I wanted to share with everybody today.
I feel like a lot of times, where we get all hung up…cause office managers are amazing at creating, ideating, and just getting really pumped and excited for what’s next in their practices.
And, oftentimes, where we fall short is the implementation and getting the team on board.
So, I’m excited to share that!
Savanah: It’s like coming back from a conference or a real rockstar certificate program and having all of these new things that you need to get done, and you’re just like, “How?” How do I do that effectively, and how do I get the doctor on board with that?
So, I’m super excited for you to share your knowledge with everyone in the dental industry.
Erika: Awesome! Well, let’s get started.
Savanah: Here we go!
Erika: So, you already talked enough about me, so I don’t need to introduce myself.
I am, if you guys can see, in sunny South Florida. It is absolutely gorgeous here, and I am super excited!
One of my favorite quotes is this one here:
“If you have a plan and you don’t follow through, the plan is worthless. But, if you don’t have a plan, then your target is aimless.”
What I love about that is that you really need both. You need to have a plan and you also need to be able to implement that plan.
How to Bring Your Plan to Life
I have a system cycled here on the left-hand side. Basically, any time you want to bring a new idea to life,
you have to create a system or a process in order for that to be sustained.
So, step number 1 is:
- What does your dentist want?
- What does the office manager want?
- What is it that we’re trying to create or do?
Then, we’ll collect some information. From that information, we’ll create a plan, and then we’ll implement that plan.
We need to measure and make sure: Did that plan actually come to life the way that we intended it to?
Any time we have a plan we’ve done for the first time and are implementing, expect there to be hiccups. Expect there to be bumps in the road.
And, so, this is a calibration cycle.
Once you go through and you measure: Is this really effective?
Tweak the stuff that doesn’t work and then go ahead and go through the cycle again.
How Can I Implement My Plan Effectively?
We’re going to focus on implementation, so, step number four in this presentation.
And, in order to implement effectively, you need to have the following:
- The team’s buy-in
- Clear communication
- Accountability
- And, the fun stuff, which is incentives.
So…team buy-in.
We are going against a society narrative that “Work Sucks.”
And, this isn’t just in dentistry, right? This is everywhere!
And, even time and time again, we may find ourselves having this mindset and this sentiment that work sucks.
We’re burnt out, we’re overworked, and we’re tired.
And if this is the mindset that maybe yourself has or your team—and now we’re trying to introduce a new idea, which means new work…more things added to my plate—you’re going to get the grumblings of your team.
You’re going to get people who say, “I’m going to pick the path of least resistance, and I’m just not going to do it. I can’t handle anymore.”
And, really, what it comes down to…We can’t change the sentiment of what’s going on in society, but we certainly can try to shift that within the four walls of our practice.
Learn to Inspire Your Workmates
One way we do that is by providing an inspiring workplace.
People want to feel like they’re adding value, and the way we add value is through contribution and participation, by having a voice to feel like we are effectively creating changes within our work environment.
A lot of times, when it comes to work, we fall into this trap of creating an environment of: These are the things that you have to do because there are things that you have to do, and here is a checklist that you have to work off of within your practice.
But we never consider that our team may want to be a part of creating those checklists or creating the vision or creating what the future of the business will look like.
And when you have people that can truly feel like they have a voice and they can contribute, now you have engagement. You have people excited to implement because, essentially, they’re implementing a little piece of them, too.
I’ve also been in the trap of this: You roll something out, and people don’t do it.
And so, our first judgment is: “They’re lazy and they don’t care.”
And this is what I love about Tony Robbins’ quote here:
“People aren’t lazy. They simply have goals that do not inspire them.”
What that means is that we have goals that actually don’t affect us as human beings because all we do is focus on: What’s good for the practice?
When you create things and implement things, you’re talking about a win-win:
- What’s good for the practice?
- What’s good for the team?
- And, actually, win-win-win…what’s good for the patient?
Creating Team Buy-in
So, how do we create team buy-in?
Number 1: Team Participation
Now, I’m not saying create a democracy. There are certain things that the team may not have an opinion on or can’t participate in.
But, wherever applicable, have them contribute. Have them participate, whether that’s in meetings or through emails, or by asking for feedback. Make sure that you know or that they know they have a voice.
Number 2: Judgement-Free Zone
Sometimes, we don’t even realize that we’re doing it.
So, you have to put some intention behind this. If somebody actually steps up and contributes an idea, maybe it’s a really dumb idea or so outlandish that you’re almost like, “You’re ridiculous for even bringing this up.” You want to make sure that you have that filter on.
Be sure to acknowledge the person for stepping up and contributing. What happens is that somebody took the initiative to give you feedback, which means you have engagement, whether the feedback is good or not. So, you’re already step 1 in a positive direction.
Step 2 is to realize that ideas are messy. Ideas are just something that pops into our brain and sometimes we don’t even think about it, especially if we’re talking about it for the first time in the moment.
Number 3: Build on the Ideas of Others
But, that bad idea can actually inspire somebody else to have a really good idea. Or, maybe that bad idea came about one time, but that team member, at a different meeting, will have another great idea.
So, you don’t want to squander your team any time that they bring up something, even if it’s not very good.
Part of what I love to do is that when people come up with an idea, maybe sometimes it’s crazy where I’m like, “We’re definitely not doing that,” then I’ll usually say, “Thank you so much for coming up with that.”
And then we can build on the ideas of others and we can say, “How can we maybe implement part of that?” or “How can we bring that to life somewhere else within the practice?” versus saying a complete, “No!”
Building on others’ ideas means we can collaborate and take a little piece of what everybody really wants to bring to the table to create something that truly represents your team and your culture.
Number 4: Finalize and Assign
So, if you’re whiteboarding this out, most often in a meeting, sometimes you come up with all these really creative ideas but never leave the meeting knowing which one you’re going to implement.
So make sure you actually finalize that and make sure that everybody knows this is the idea that we’re going to move forward with. And then assign who’s ultimately going to be in charge of making sure this actually happens.
I know a lot of times when we have that excitement in the room, we assume who’s going to be doing it, but we never actually clearly communicate who’s going to be doing it.
Why Good Communication is Crucial
No matter how good you think you are at communicating, there’s always room for improvement because we have someone else on the other end who is listening. It’s subject to their interpretation if they’re understanding what we’re trying to say and what we’re trying to communicate.
You always have to make things as simple as they possibly can be. You cannot have team buy-in if your team doesn’t understand what you’re trying to say.
And, again, I know we have many experienced people out there.
And even for myself, when I’m creating things, I like to create these beautiful, well-thought-out, structured systems—super elaborate!
And the fact of the matter is:
- if you’re trying to bring people in
- if you’re trying to get people to do the things that you want them to do
- if it’s not easy
- if it’s not simple
- if it’s not quick
…it’s not going to happen!
The Essentials for Great Communication
So here we go. We’ve got some essentials:
- Is the result clear?
- Do people understand where we’re trying to go?
- What is the win that we’re trying to develop here?
- Is the process simple?
- Who is accountable for the process?
- When does it need to be completed?
Okay, I forget this one all the time because we have a lot of assumptions when we communicate.
I will say something to somebody, and for some reason, without communicating, I’ll assume they know what I mean, how urgent or non-urgent it is, or when this needs to be done.
And, so, when you don’t have these core elements in your communication, you will get exactly what you receive. People will fill in their own assumptions and their own blanks in the absence of communication.
I know that sometimes the doctor will say something like, “Hey Erika, you know, I really need this report done” or “I really need x, y, and z done.”
And sometimes, I will say, “Oh, okay. That seems unimportant, so I will put that lower down on my priority list.”
Maybe he will follow up with me at the end of the day and ask, “Where’s my report?”And we could have some miscommunication there.
Or, on the opposite end, maybe I stop everything I’m working on to work on this report for the doctor, when he actually meant, “In a week or two from now.”
So it is really critical to make sure you have that by when it needs to be completed and with the appropriate urgency and priority.
Ready to see the full version of this DISTINCTIONcast and elevate your skills?
Join AADOM now to access the full video and a world of resources. Your next big step is just a click away!
Learn about the presenter:Erika Pusillo is the Practice Optimizer at Spodak Dental Group in Delray Beach, Florida. She began her dental career in 2009 as a dental assistant in sterilization. One of her favorite quotes by Tony Robbins, “the only impossible journey is the one you never begin,” inspired her to pursue larger, seemingly impossible dreams. Now she leads a team of 50 in a single location, multi-specialty, state-of-the-art practice. Erika has a passion for reading, learning, and mentoring. She earned her DAADOM distinction in 2022 and will be presenting an educational session at the 2024 AADOM Conference.
Erika has a giving heart. She coordinates and participates in several volunteer events with her team which include:
- Community Greening Tree Planting
- Beach Clean Up
- Alzheimer’s and Breast Cancer 5k Walk/Run
- Boynton Beach Angels Food Drive
- Toys for Tots
- Freedom Day USA (Free dental care to active military and their families)
- Emergency Dental Day (Free emergency dentistry)
- All-Star Smiles (Free dentistry to underserved children)
Erika is a wife and mother to a twelve-year-old boy. She enjoys doing projects, cooking, reading, and spending time with her family.
