Unlocking Success: Must-have Leadership Strategies For Orthodontists

[00:00:07] Welcome to the Grow Ortho Podcast. I am one of your hosts, Zach Dykes, joined by Dr. Bryce Gilliam, 2024's 40 Under 40, America's Top Young Dentist, co-host of the TV show Making Modern, available on Max, and the owner and operator of Elevation Orthodontics. Welcome to the show, Dr. Bryce. What's up, Zach? My man, how are you doing?

[00:00:31] I am fantastic. I am excited because we're already into the new year. We're cooking with some grease, as my grandmother would say, and I'm excited for what we got planned today. How are you? Man, I'm great. Same thing. I'm feeling really inspired starting 2025 off. Hopefully this is gonna be a banner year for everybody and any little information that we can give them, I'm excited to give.

[00:00:56] The thing that I love about this show is that you are in the trenches each and every week. You are a practicing orthodontist. This isn't theory. You know, a lot of people come up with theory in there. Oh, well, it, you make payroll. You see patients, you put on brackets and braces and do Invisalign and all of these things each and every week. So you know how this is going.

[00:01:20] But today's topic, Dr. Bryce, is leadership challenges. And I am excited for this one. That's right. Leadership, man. It is so important. I think that this is one of those things that, you know, if you got it, great, you're gonna go far. If you don't have it, then you're in a weird spot.

[00:01:38] You better start learning and reading a lot. Leadership, it plays a pivotal role when you really think about it in any kind of business, but orthodontics specifically, because precision and teamwork are paramount.

[00:01:54] Like you want to be able to count on people. And while some may view leadership in this weird thing where it's like, oh, well, you either have it or you don't. It's actually a skill that you can develop and cultivate and learn through different ways. You can read, you can observe, you can have someone coach you, but it all depends on continuous improvement. It's not just something that's going to happen overnight.

[00:02:22] That's exactly right. And, you know, whenever we talk about improvement, we have to create some type of steps for improvement, right? We have to talk about it in ways that we can put it into action and make ourselves better.

[00:02:37] And one of the main and first ways to do that is self-assessment. This is something where you have to look internally and say, all right, how am I as a leader? Am I efficient? Am I practical? You have to be honest with yourself.

[00:02:54] I tell you a good person to ask. Ask your spouse. Ask your parents. Ask them how they view you as the leader. They'll give you their honest opinion. At first, they may give you some kind of beating around the bush, but say, no, I really want to get better. And then they will start to tell you. They will start to tell you things about yourself that you didn't know. And then the next thing would be to make sure you seek resources, right?

[00:03:19] You want to make sure that you're reading books, you're subscribing to podcasts, you're using those mentorship opportunities to really kind of invest in yourself. But then also listen from other people's point of view is really what you're trying to do there.

[00:03:37] I think the third thing that you absolutely need to do if you're trying to do an overall improvement to your leadership style is to commit to the continuation of improvement. Embrace that leadership is a continuous journey that you need to focus on and be willing to go through to get that growth that you're looking for. It's not something like I said earlier, it doesn't happen overnight and you will have great days.

[00:04:07] You will have not so great days. But as we say over and over on this show, consistency is key, you know, and spot check yourself. You know, it's like ask for feedback and it's like when something goes wrong, fess up to it. It's like, hey, I, you know, I handled that situation, not the greatest way. How can I improve?

[00:04:29] And your staff will be like, whoa, I've never had a leader, a boss, whatever, actually take ownership when something has gone wrong. It's going to speak such volumes to people. You have to be vulnerable as a leader. You have to have these conversations where sometimes it is your fault. I mean, and when it's your fault, you admit it, because what you're trying to do is you're trying to show them that it's OK for them to have faults as well.

[00:04:56] But we're going to work together as a team to get better, that you want to improve, that you're a normal human being. And that as a leader, sometimes you have to make have those uncomfortable conversations. And sometimes it might be your fault that something went wrong. That goes to our second point of this episode is communication, effective communication. Like you can break down any kind of problem starts with communication. That is where the breakdown starts, because there's assumptions. There's well, I thought I said, no, you didn't.

[00:05:26] My wife tells me all the time, I can't read your mind. And just tell me what you're thinking. And I'm like, I thought I told you. But, you know, recognizing that team members have different learning styles. Some are visual. Some are auditory. They like to hear what you're thinking. They can't read your mind or kinesthetic. I'm all I'm kinesthetic guy. So but like learning that and allowing yourself to tailor your communication to the people around you, you're going to connect with them.

[00:05:55] And they're going to feel like, man, I really understand what Dr. Bryce is trying to tell me. That's absolutely right. And I think we should really just kind of jump into all three of those and really talk about it. So we have those visual learners, right? Those are the people that you bring charts out. You show them visual aids. You demonstrate it, you know, via YouTube, right? And then they get it. They can put that into practice. On the other hand, you have the auditory ones.

[00:06:20] Those are the people that you can clearly verbalize what you want to happen and they can get it done. The last one is like really like hands on, right? And those hands on people want the real world experience. They want to see it, but they also want to do it. They have to try it to see where they mess up, see why it's hard, see why it's easy before they can actually execute that to the full the fullness of it.

[00:06:44] Going to like a little step further than that, like with your language, like if you've got a visual person, it's like, hey, picture this with me. And you start talking and you use words to paint the picture. That's going to spark their imagination with auditory. It's like, how does that sound? You know, it's it's rings clear as a bell with kinesthetic. It's like, you know, this makes me feel or, you know, let's try to make people feel comfortable.

[00:07:10] Like you use like those kind of language things and that is going to be huge for you. One thing that we can do here is the next time you have a team meeting, you can pose this question. What can I do as a leader to better support you?

[00:07:26] And I think this is great because it invites open communication and it shows that you're actually willing to listen to people because if you show them that you've got two ears and one mouth, that's going to go so much further than you just talk, talk, talk. I actually do this often. Every time that I give my team criticism, I ask for feedback and how I can be better, how I can better serve them. How can we be better as a team?

[00:07:55] But from their standpoint to me and listen, I have thick skin. You have to have thick skin. Allow them to say the things that they truly feel. That way you can get to a place where you're getting better. The worst thing that you can do is get no feedback and think that you're doing everything correctly and that you're the best thing since sliced bread. When the reality of it is you could be a poor leader. You could not be communicating things correctly. You could not be giving them or meeting them where they're at as far as their way of communicating.

[00:08:24] And so as part of being a good leader is you have to have the tough skin to ask the tough questions to get those tough answers. You don't want to be surrounded by yes men, yes women. You want people that will be honest with you. They're doing it in an integrity standpoint where they're wanting to see betterment out of you as well, just like you want to see the betterment out of your team members. It's like we talked about earlier on in our episodes. You're building a family here.

[00:08:52] And I know a lot of people, they kind of cringe as like, oh, a job, family, and all of that. But it's like you spend more time with these people than you do with your wife, your kids, whatever. So you want that place where everyone feels like they're going to be listened to and they feel like they can communicate with everyone on the team. You hit it right on the head.

[00:09:14] I mean, it sounds like it's weird to say this work family, but if you can create that type of atmosphere where you can have these open and honest conversations as a leader, you're going to take your practice to the next level.

[00:09:29] You will have people that are not just saying, oh, yeah, we at Elevation Orthodontics, they're going to own the practice in a way that people would pay millions of dollars for to have consultants come in and teach all of this. If you do these things, it's going to be huge.

[00:09:49] But I think the next thing you need to be careful of is not overwhelming your team because anytime we get big ideas, we want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. And it's so important to start one tactic at a time because you can overwhelm the team and they still have to function. Don and Rice, they still have to function.

[00:10:12] So prioritize areas like communication, trying to enhance that or making the decision-making process to be easier and more streamlined where everything doesn't have to run up the flagpole to the doctor every time that something has to be decided on. And when you do that, you're going to see immediate benefits within your practice. Yeah, I think that you really want to limit all of that noise.

[00:10:41] You want to select techniques and whatever techniques that you use as a leader, you want to focus on that strategy. And we talked about this in the 12-week year. I think that's a really good time to implement some of these strategies. And, you know, the first quarter you do very specific things and then you test and observe them, right?

[00:11:02] You go back and you spot check to make sure that those improvements or those things that you actually incorporated are coming to fruition. And, you know, you use these times to get feedback. And then the more regular you are to gaining feedback or to receiving feedback, the better you'll be. And you'll see those improvements just start to go out of the roof. So many people use daily or weekly huddles.

[00:11:31] Use that time to actually better your practice. It's not just something to say, oh, yeah, well, we do weekly huddles or we do daily huddles. And nothing gets done. And the whole, you know, team is just like, ah, we got to have another huddle. And it's like, what are we going to waste our time on today? But using that time to embolden and develop these tactics and get that feedback is like, hey, how did that work yesterday when we did X, Y, and Z?

[00:12:00] You know, it's those little, little tweaks. You know, Harrison always talks about small hinges swing big doors. And this is where that starts with. Yep. And we do that. We practice. We practice each week. We have a certain number of things that we want to incorporate into being excellent, right? And each department head, they bring up their particular thing. And we talk about that every day of the week when we do our morning huddle. And we look back.

[00:12:30] You always have to look back. I think that that's the thing that's the most important. You have to look back to see if that worked or if it didn't. You always have to be critically thinking. You always have to be analyzing. And as orthodontists, we have been taught to do this. But we don't typically do it from a business standpoint. We do it from a patient moving teeth around standpoint. We look after the case and say, I could have done better here, here, here. But if you do it from a business standpoint, it's the same thing.

[00:12:58] You get better and you start to become excellent at your craft. That's what we want to do here. Like everybody is like, you know, we talked about in the State of the Union. You are an expert in your field. We're trying to develop the other part. So the orthodontics is just going to shine more. But I think something that when you're talking about practices, they've already got a leadership team. They already have people in places.

[00:13:25] And sometimes they might have inherited these leaders because they bought into a practice or, you know, they picked people. And, you know, there might be a ton of different things. But you need to see if there is a lack of effective leadership among your current leaders because leadership requires unique skills from different people. Some, like we talked about, naturally have it. They, you know, they just shine through.

[00:13:52] And then, you know, they might have developed it earlier on. They might have been in high school and leaders and all of that. While others must be taught. And there is nothing wrong with someone having to be taught how to be a leader. You can always get better. Yeah, that's absolutely right. And when you're talking about leadership and in your practice, it is having a great, having great leadership isn't just nice to have.

[00:14:19] It is a crucial part of a smoothly running practice. You know, strong leaders create motivation in your team. They create a positive work environment. And then they also create a great patient experience. These are all things that are foundational to having an amazing practice. You might have to unlearn some habits as well within your team.

[00:14:43] You know, they might think, oh, well, if I'm, you know, hounding on people micromanaging, it's making sure the job gets done. But it's like you're not letting them grow. You're treating them like a child. Spot checking is one thing. But, you know, you don't want to treat adults like children. Because then you're right. It takes the morale. It takes the autonomy. It takes the passion and the ownership away from what their particular role is.

[00:15:11] And so often, you know, whenever we first start. So I am just in general. I am a person that likes to delegate. I don't like to micromanage. I'll say it a million times. I'm not a micromanager. I'm not going to treat you like a child because you're an adult. However, whenever you first start, you've got to figure out what type of team and teammate you're working with. Are you working with someone who needs to have their hand held a little bit more?

[00:15:38] Or are you working with someone who you can give direction to and they can follow it? That is, again, about identifying, you know, your team and your new, either new hires or your old team to successfully navigate that process. Yeah, and it goes back to the visual auditory kinesthetic, the VAC method. It's like, you know, if you understand how they communicate, that's going to be huge.

[00:16:04] Because some people, it's like, well, I have to say the same thing over and over and over again. And it's like, well, maybe you're telling them the wrong way that they don't understand because it just doesn't connect. You know, you can be told one thing and you're a visual person and you're like, yeah, well, it makes me feel this way. And they're like, I don't know what you're talking about. You know what I mean? It's like you're not painting the picture for them.

[00:16:29] But Dr. Bryce, talk about some of the common leadership gaps that you see in practices. There's so many. And really what I see the most is the disconnect or the disengagement, right? You see when leaders don't communicate well and they don't have clear expectations, the team starts to feel discouraged. They start to feel like, you know, maybe this is just a job. This is just a paycheck that I'm trying to get. And that's what you don't want. That's when you start to see that high turnover.

[00:16:59] That's when you start to see the kind of leak over or the negative impact on the patient care. And so you want to make sure that whenever you look at your leadership gaps and things like that, you want to fight that as much as possible. You want to fight that disengagement. You want to fight those things.

[00:17:18] And the way to do it, again, is that clear communication, but also kind of building them up as teammates and letting them have that autonomy to make some decisions and take pride in their job and their position. All it takes is literally having a conversation with them. It's like, hey, I've been seeing this trend. Like, what's going on? You know, you are connecting with them on a personal level.

[00:17:44] Again, it has to be professional, but you're making them feel like they're seen, they're heard, and that they're valued. Once they know how much you care, they'll move mountains for you. And then you're going to see them rise to the occasion and be the leader that you know and you've empowered them to be. And I think that is going to be huge for a lot of orthodontic practices. I agree. And you need help. I mean, you need help.

[00:18:12] As being a leader, you want to maximize and promote them to do awesome work because it only looks better for you and the whole entire practice. I know you're not a micromanager, Dr. Bryce, but I have seen so many times in practices within different businesses, you've got either the really hands-off people or you've got the micromanager trap. So kind of talk a little bit about that.

[00:18:39] This is kind of going back to what I said earlier is whenever you think about micromanaging, you basically take all of their decision-making, all of their uniqueness that they could potentially bring to the job or to the role. You take that away. And then if you're on the other end of the stick and you have a totally hands-off, you're letting them kind of dictate what the standard is.

[00:19:04] And so there needs to be this nice blend of your standard of excellent, your vision, but mixed with their personality and what they offer just by their God-given talents. And so that's when people feel the most happy and the most excited at working at your place. And I think sometimes with the hands-off approach, that comes off of, I don't want people to not like me.

[00:19:30] They're afraid of not being liked and that's when they start getting taken advantage of, they start feeling less than, and the team starts respecting them because of that. And then the same with the micromanager. It's like, you don't trust me. So it's like you got to, like you said, you get this perfect blend to it. So I think something to do and to start like immediately is the next time you have a meeting, start with this question.

[00:20:00] Ask everyone, what can I do as a leader to better support you in your role? And then really listen. Have applaud. I don't know if people know this, but there's got little AI things you can do it with your phone. It'll listen and give you all the notes from that meeting. But like actually listen, take notes and then make action to improve on that feedback. Yeah. One thing that we've kind of incorporated is I will make these anonymous like Dropbox where they can have them.

[00:20:29] Because what I found is, man, it's hard to tell your boss that, hey, man, you're not that great at doing this, this and this. Right. Because you're thinking that there's going to be some repercussions and from from giving honest feedback. So what I've done is I'll put the same color pen with all of my teammates and I will put it in a box, just like a little Valentine's Day box. Right. And they write down whatever they think or whatever they believe and they put it in there. I read it at a different date. I don't even read it right then. I read it like maybe a day or two later.

[00:20:59] And the reason why is because I don't want to be influenced with this person said that. All I want to do is I want to take it at its face value and try to become better. Trying to keep it as anonymous as possible. Like we're human. You know, let's just be honest. We're human. Words do sting at times. And you never want to, oh, well, you gave me feedback. Now there's going to be repercussions.

[00:21:23] Like you do not want to be that leader because your staff, your team, they're not going to be honest with you from then on. So just know that going into getting that kind of feedback is you got to handle it the right way. Absolutely. So, Dr. Bryce, how would you hold teams accountable using like the goals for their practice, like the growth and the vision that you have? Yeah.

[00:21:48] So me personally, I think that it is very important for you to set a clear vision. You want to talk about the importance of where you want the office to go. You want to ensure that every team member is aware of the direction and the why behind what we do. Even the daily task. I mean, if you want to break it down to that, why we do this is because we do this. Right. And I know it seems redundant. I know it seems like it could be busy work.

[00:22:18] But I promise you that is where you're going to start to see the value in all of this feedback loop system that we've been trying to create with the leadership. Another thing that I think is very important is you want to do those regular check ins. You want to make sure that, hey, I just want to follow up on that thing we learned last week or we talked about. Is there anything that you would change? You know, that type of thing. Again, we want to analyze those.

[00:22:44] We want to share practical tips for holding each other accountable without micromanaging them. All those things. And then we also, at the end of the day, we have to celebrate small wins. Whenever they are doing the things that you want or your practice is growing the way you want, celebrate it with them. They've worked hard. You've worked hard. This is something that you should enjoy and be happy to do together. People want to have a win after a long day.

[00:23:11] Doesn't matter if it has been an amazing day or a bad day. If you can have some sort of little win, it's going to set the next day up for success. And you were talking about regular check ins on the things that you're implementing. One thing that I would suggest is when you are trying something new, you have to be excited about it and believe in it. Because if you don't believe in it, they're not going to believe it.

[00:23:40] No one in your team is going to believe in something that you don't believe in. That's right. Whenever you're implementing something new, do not go in there with a negative attitude or, oh, we're just going to do this because we have to do this. Or that is the quickest way for something not to work. I'm telling you, I've done that before. I'm like, oh, we've got to do this little audit because blah, blah, blah. It doesn't work. Everybody notices your energy and they'll follow along with it.

[00:24:06] Now, if you come in there and you're excited about it, even if it's something hard, even if it's something hard, it doesn't matter. If you come in and you're excited about it, you're saying, hey, we're going to make some changes. I know they're going to be weird, but this is going to make us amazing. They'll feel that energy, too, and they'll kind of jump on board. I just want to point out, like, the body language you just used matched what you're saying. You can't be incongruent with your body language and your words. Be like, guys, I'm really excited about doing this thing.

[00:24:34] And, like, your body is, like, all tensed and everything because when you're communicating, 7% of what is actually retained is through your words. 93% is through body language, the visual side of things. So you've got to actually believe it. And that's something that at HIP we really push with our doctors. It's like you have to buy into this because if you don't, your team's not going to buy into it.

[00:25:02] Yeah, how can you convince someone else to do it if you don't believe it? Right? That doesn't make sense. So you have to, yeah, you have to buy into it. Dr. Bryce, how can orthodontists help develop strong leadership skills for their team members personally and within their assigned roles? It's important. You have to invest in leadership training. I know this is going to be one of those expenses. Maybe as a startup, you don't really have the funds to do it.

[00:25:27] But as you start to see those rock stars, as you start to see those people who are inspiring to be more than just getting their paycheck, lean into those people. Send them to a training class. Send them to seminars. Have some people come in and train them. Encourage leaders to invest in themselves through other leadership courses or mentorships or something like that or even coaching. I think that whenever we look at it, we think, like, man, this is a big expense. What if that person leaves me?

[00:25:56] Well, you can't think about things like that. That's so self-limiting. You have to push people to become better. You have to push your practice to become better. And the only way to do that is to invest into them. One thing that you said earlier on in our episodes is that you, when you interview somebody and they're coming on, you said something very specific. It was like, I want to see you succeed. I'm going to empower you. I'm going to give you everything that you need to.

[00:26:24] It's not just about what you do here. It's about everything. And that has stuck out to me because so many times it's just about the job. I had an interview today. And when I was talking to her, I said, what are your goals? And she said whatever she said. And I said, listen, it is my goal to empower you, to give you all the tools that you need to succeed and to reach your goals.

[00:26:52] Because when you're reaching for those goals and you're happy, we're happy. Whenever you're performing good, we're performing good. So it's this weird trickle down effect. But it just feels good to help humans reach their goals. I mean, and at the end of the day, if it doesn't do anything other than make you feel better, which it's going to do more than that. It's really cool. I love that mentality. It's an abundance mentality.

[00:27:18] And just because someone, they rise through the practice, they become very strong in leadership and you've poured into them and they've been there five years and they end up having to move for whatever reason. That doesn't mean that you wasted that time. You've empowered somebody. You've set them on a path that they would have not been able to do. And you're putting good out in the world.

[00:27:46] I know that you look at the thing with the practice and like, yeah, that's not great that someone's leaving. But it's like you're putting someone out there better than when they started at your practice. Yep. I mean, I can't stress that enough. And if you have that mentality, everything will be so much easier. Even when they move on, because you're just supporting them to be a better human and have a better life for them or their family. And great that you're a part of it.

[00:28:15] I absolutely love that because you're going to get so much good back from all of this. You know, and people are going to, man, you'll never believe what my job is doing for me. They see something in me that no one else, all these other jobs that I've worked at, and they're investing in me. And then they're going to talk to their friends that are rock stars. And they're going to come in and want to work there as well. And you're just going to keep reaping the benefits. You got it.

[00:28:45] That is it. And that's a secondary kind of thing that happens whenever you start implementing just caring about people, caring about your team. And I think that there's no better referral source than an internal referral. Like somebody who says, I've worked here for the last five years. I know this person and they would be great at working here. Those are the referrals. You don't want to have to put a job posting out.

[00:29:15] You want to get internal referrals and go that way. One, it's going to be way more cost effective. You are getting people that you know that others will want to work with. No telling how many times I've had people like, hey, can you recommend me for this job and everything? And it's like, nope. It's like, sorry, buddy. You're not going to be a good fit here.

[00:29:39] But when you know that person is going to crush it for you, like I know you're doing that there. I know Harvey and Thomas is great at this. And Fishbine is awesome at this as well. It's like Fishbine doesn't even hire people like other than with referrals from people on the staff. And I was like, that's huge. Yeah, I actually think that that was the first time I had ever heard that. And then whenever I started thinking about it, I was like, that makes so much more sense. And so we kind of, I don't want to say we were inspired.

[00:30:09] We were inspired by that. And so that's what you should all seek. You should all seek to not have a huge turnover. But when you have turnover, you have someone that cares enough about you to help find a replacement, train that replacement before they get out of there. It's a win-win. You bring it up, training them before they leave. And I think that's going to like modeling the behavior that you want to see within the roles and the staff.

[00:30:33] And I think that this is where effective leadership really takes place and takes precedent is whenever you model those behaviors personally or you see someone modeling the behaviors for their team. So we have department heads in my practice. And those people are held to a slightly higher standard.

[00:30:56] They're held to the standard of, I want you to do right, where if I have to correct someone, I can say, this is how it's supposed to be done. And modeling those behaviors and making sure that you are an example of empathy and energy and just good in the community is super important.

[00:31:16] Nothing says more to someone that is, you know, on a different level within a practice or an organization than the boss is working harder than anyone else. You know, someone above them. Because if the leader is coming in late, they've got a bad attitude. That is going to set the precedent. It was like, well, why do I have to be on time if, you know, Joanne is not on time? Or, you know, that you never want that thrown in your face.

[00:31:46] And having leaders that model is so, so important. Yeah, man, I actually agree all the way around with that for sure. Dr. Bryce, we know that leadership in orthodontics is about embracing, continuing learning and adapting your team's evolving needs. What is your needs right now might not be what you need six months. You've already developed that need. So you have to be continually growing and developing. And I think viewing the challenges as opportunities.

[00:32:16] These are things that you can grow and be persistently refining the skills in your practice. Because at the end of the day, the patients are going to get the best experience. They're going to be raving fans. And that is what it's all about. You're trying to get them and elevate them to have an amazing, amazing experience. Leadership is one of those evolving skills that demands a constant commitment to learning, adaptability.

[00:32:46] And you want to actively engage with your team to make sure that they are doing the things that they need to do to become those high-performing teammates. But then also that you can excel in your practice. And I promise you guys, if you use some of these tips and techniques that we've given you, you'll go really far. 2025 will be your year and you'll crush it. That's our episode this week, guys. I hate to see it in.

[00:33:14] I've been enjoying getting to just chat with you, Dr. Bryce. But guys, if you want us to answer a question you have about growing your practice, fill out the Google form in the episode's description. And Mark Twain said it best, the secret of getting ahead is getting started. So go out there right now, get started, and make the changes you want to see in your practice now. This has been Zach. I'm Dr. Bryce. Thank you for listening to the GrowOrther podcast. Smile, big guys. Bye.