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August 22, 2025 14 mins

You’re back from the conference, your brain is buzzing, and your notes are overflowing. Now what?

In this episode, Jen and Savanah break down how to transform that inspiration into action without overwhelming your team. From creating a game plan to setting timelines, delegating tasks, and tracking metrics, you’ll learn how to roll out change in a way that actually sticks.

Because leadership isn’t about dumping every new idea at once, it’s about pacing, purpose, and progress.

 

Special thanks to Chris "The Wizard" Stone of Rock Solid Media, our recording partner!

 

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Chris Stone (00:00):
Here they are.

(00:00):
The Boston Bombshells in 3, 2, 1.

Jen Steadman (00:06):
Back in 10 is a podcast for dental leaders who do it all
and need 10 minutes to themselves.

Savanah Carlson (00:11):
It's about real conversations, not curated ones, the
kind that happen off the clock behindclosed doors, and between the chaos of
running a practice and running life.

Jen Steadman (00:21):
Hosted by Savannah Carlson and Jen Stedman, two women who've led,
learned, and laughed through it all.

Savanah Carlson (00:28):
This show brings honest stories, leadership truths, and
the occasional sassy take on what itreally means to lead in dentistry today,

Jen Steadman (00:35):
because sometimes the best leadership happens when
you step away for 10 minutes.

Savanah Carlson (00:41):
This is back in 10.

Jen Steadman (00:47):
Welcome back everyone to back in 10.
I am Jen.
I'm Savannah.
On our last episode, we weretalking about conferences, what
to pack, our top three things thatwe always make sure that we pack.
We talked about talking to yourdoctor about going to a conference,

(01:08):
about speakers and what we do with,you know, all of the information
and different note taking tipsand different things like that.
So today what we're gonna be talkingabout is what do you do after.
Savannah after a conference, yes, thereis so much information that you need
to download, not only like from yournoggin, but reviewing your notes and

(01:32):
getting prepared and wanting to makesure that your doctor sees that the
investment that they made in you andfor you, being out of the office for
that amount of time was a good decision.
So where do you start?
What do you do?

Savanah Carlson (01:47):
I always like to start with my game plan.
What was my game plangoing into conference?
What had I discussed with my doctorabout the courses I was taking
and or the vendors and industryleaders I was going to speak to?
What did we decide was mostimportant to go from the get go and.

(02:10):
That's where I wouldstart with the game plan.
Go back to your game plan.
See if you've knocked off all ofthose bullets first, that those
discussions with the, the leadersand get that all done in writing.
Then you have your, your bonus plan.
What other new and excitingthings did you learn at this
conference or this meeting that.

(02:32):
Would benefit thepractice and its success.
Um, so you have those,those two separate things.
Priority, always gonna be thatgame plan and then the bonus stuff.
That's the extra extrawhy for the investment.
So let's look at that game planand what was on that game plan.
Did it involve the rest of the team?
Was it financial questions thatyour doctor had that you were

(02:54):
tasked of getting the answers for?
Um, was it for patient outreach?
Then when you've decided on how that isbroken up, we get into the nitty gritty
of, okay, how slowly or how quickly arewe going to implement this new knowledge?
Who is it going to affect?
Who is going to help me implement this?

(03:17):
And most importantly, why is itimportant that it gets implemented?
If you're unable to answer the why.
You shouldn't be doing it.
Mm-hmm.
Then it just creates chaos and confusionand creates resentment among the team.
So always have a why when you'reimplementing any type of change.
That's what I would doto start Jen, honestly.

(03:39):
Mm-hmm.

Jen Steadman (03:39):
I love that.
Get get it ready.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I love that.
And look, you know, one of thethings that you said was like
deciding timeframe, right?
Like how quickly or how slowlyyou're gonna implement this and now.
One thing that you know, wantto remind our listeners is you
need to be realistic with that.
It usually takes longer than you expect.
I will say in my experience,it usually takes longer than

(04:03):
you expect, and that's okay.
Um, but you really have to get theteam involved too, because you need
to delegate some of those things.
And I'll say like, you know, when you'retalking about, you know, the initiatives
and your game plan, and who's gonna bedoing this and who's responsible for it.
Your name should not always bethe one that's responsible for it.
So don't think that when you'regoing back that you are going

(04:25):
to be the one that's doing.
All of this on your own, have someoneelse be responsible for like that project.
You can still be there to assist andsupport and help and be part of it.
But it shouldn't always be you.
It can't.
No, no.
It can't always be you.
So I think that's another,another big part of it too.
Mm-hmm.

Savanah Carlson (04:43):
And you don't wanna overwhelm the team with your excitement.
I know I've been there and Ihave learned from that mistake.
I've come back and said,this is gonna be awesome.
This is gonna be awesome, and we'regonna get this done and this is how
it's gonna impact it, and we're gonnado this and we're gonna do this.
And it just keeps building,building and building to the point

(05:05):
where no one wants to listen.
No one's as excited as you are.
They might have been like interested atfirst, but now they're like, oh, hell no.
She is crazy.
We're not doing all of this at once.
I would save that type of excitement.
For your doctor, I would go back and say,look, this is what I'd like to implement.
This is my timeline.
How does that fit with yourtimeline as dentist, owner, doctor?

(05:30):
Um, yep.
And go from there.
Slow rollout.
Mm-hmm.
You can say you can high level,exciting things to the team.
Oh, I met this person.
They do this.
It was awesome.
We learned this.
It was very cool.
Just don't tell them everythingthat's gonna happen right away
because you don't have a plan for it.
Right.
If you don't have a plan, youdon't have to roll anything out.

(05:54):
'cause you can't.
You can't.
Right.
It just creates trans confusion.

Jen Steadman (05:58):
Yeah.
And I think look withthat too, your excitement.
You brought up that point.
Like when you come back, you'reso excited, you're ready to go.
You don't know what happened lastweek when you weren't at the office.
So also be mindful of.
Your team may have had a kaka weekbecause you weren't there to support

(06:20):
them because you were, you werebuilding things for the future, right?
Which is excellent.
But don't come in and just, you know,guns blaze and lack of a better term.
You're like, let's go.
We're gonna do this and do that.
They need time to like adjust to youbeing back in the office and you need time
to adjust to be back in the office too.
Mm-hmm.
So game plan is huge.

(06:41):
Game plan, game plan, game plan.
Love it.
Yeah.

Savanah Carlson (06:46):
And rolling out.
So let's say you have your gameplan all set up and it's your
first implementation of change.
Uh, we already said the why is soimportant, knowing who is, who it isn't
affecting and who it will be doing it.
Um, and then creating mini SOPsalong the way for the tasks involved

(07:12):
for, for this implementation.
It doesn't have to be a fullextensive like five page
document that you do on Scribe.
It could be a demo and a link to the demo.
This is, this is the SOP for this task.
Watch this demo, learn about this,and then we'll get together next
week and we'll talk about it.
Involving the team in change is important.

(07:36):
It helps them have more pride in theirwork and also ownership in the new.
Change and it creates a comradery anda pride in their position that you
wouldn't see if you didn't involve them.

Jen Steadman (07:52):
Yeah.
A thousand percent.
A thousand percent.
Man, look at that.
Boston bombshell, Savannahsdropping 'em over here.
Dropping the bombs.
Dropping the bombs.
Yeah.

Savanah Carlson (08:03):
I mean, we've gone where, right?
Growing up in the dental office and nothaving a leadership position to start.
When you're involved in big decisionsand big change there, it's exciting.
It adds to that positivity.
We want change to feel like growthand not feel like a barrier or

(08:26):
feel like a burden to the team.
Mm-hmm.
Which I, which also leads to make sureyou have the time and the capacity.
You don't wanna be a 10 poundTurkey and a five pound pan.
You gotta be realist.
It could take you six months.
Before you are able to implementanything, it could, realistically,
you don't, whatever's happened in yourpractice, it could take you six months.

(08:48):
But it will

Jen Steadman (08:48):
happen.
It will happen.
I'm gonna digress real quick because, uh,on the last episode we clearly have some
poultry problems because last time it wasroosters and now that now it's turkeys.
No, let's turkeys now it's turkeys.
I'm just gonna, I don't know.
But anyways, you know, um, I'mnot gonna make a Turkey gobble
even though like I have the chin.
That could be like, oh.

(09:10):
Cut it up.
Well, you just did itanyways, so there you go.

Savanah Carlson (09:15):
I'm so embarrassed.
Oh man.
I'll do it.
I'll behind the mic so you can't see it.
Drop.

Jen Steadman (09:21):
Look, you know, with change I'll say there's a restaurant
that Savannah, you and I have, havefrequented, um, and they have a tip
jar on the counter and it says, ifyou don't like change, leave it here.
I love that.
You know, it's just.
Your in anything in lifechange is inevitable.
Everything changes constantly.

(09:43):
Yeah.
Everything constantly changes.
The way that you anticipate and react tothat change and the way that you support
others in that change, it's what'sgonna make or break the, the outcome.
Right.
So as a leader, like you were saying.
Understand the timeline,help to support your team.
It's also a great opportunity forsomeone on your team to step up
that might not have originally.

(10:05):
Right.
And I think, look, you and I have hadchange in practices where we have been,
and because of that change we're here.
Right?
So, um.
Just change isn't always a bad thingand just support your team and just
know that it might not go swimminglyif you haven't done a lot of change

(10:29):
in your office, in your officethe first time, and that's okay.
Every single time that you try to doanything, it's a learning experience.
You will learn something from it,whether it's good or it's bad.
You're gonna learn and just go from there.
And that's really, that, that's,that's the biggest thing.
And you bring up a really important point

Savanah Carlson (10:49):
about supporting your team, uh, making sure that they have the
tools to be successful with this change.
Um, and the support.
Doesn't stop when thechange is fully implemented.
You have to follow upwith any type of change.
Create a I create thesuccession plan of change.

(11:09):
Right?
How many weeks after change happens?
Are you gonna follow up with theteam or the team members who are.
Making the changes.
Uh, is it six weeks?
Is it, do you have a three month check-ina six month check-in a year check-in
and say, okay, we, we implemented thischange in this process a year ago.
How is it going?

(11:29):
What are our metrics also importantto include in your, your game plan?
What metrics are you monitoring?
Mm-hmm.
For any
type of implementation ofchange to prove its success.
We don't wanna do things on feelings.
Right.

Jen Steadman (11:44):
Right.

Savanah Carlson (11:44):
You might have a gut feeling that it's good.
Awesome.
Follow your gut.
What can you back it up with?
You need the data and the KPIsand metrics to be able to back
up that, that gut feeling.
If you don't, it's a gamble.
I don't, sometimes I don'twanna take that gamble.
I can't do it.
I can't do it.

Jen Steadman (12:03):
I, one of my biggest pet peeves anytime that we had
changes in our office, right?
We have changes inproviders, so patients leave.
I'd always get the comment, well,a lot of patients are leaving.
Well, what does that mean?
How many, what is a lot?
Exactly How many, why are they leaving?
You know, we need to really understandand you have to measure that.
So don't exactly, like yousaid, make sure that you.

(12:26):
Have measurable goals.
Know what those metrics are, know whatthe goals are that go with them, who's
accountable for tracking those metrics.
Mm-hmm Do you have software?
Are you reviewing it at huddle?
How often are you measuring those?
Um, really getting down to that whenyou're implementing anything and
understanding what that is beforeyou even start is so important.

Savanah Carlson (12:47):
I love change.
Change is good.
Change is hard.
We're not saying that change isn't hard.
No, there's is going to be changeThat is hard even for you, even
for, for us, for me, looking
Savannah's been through a lot ofchange in the past six months, okay?
I'm here to tell you, you will survive.

(13:09):
You, you will make it through.
You're gonna cry it out.
I'm gonna cry right now.
You're gonna cry it out for a solid24 hours until your eyes are blue.
Like these right here, and you'regonna put your big girl pants on and
throw on some lipstick and you gotthis and you're gonna keep going.
Change means growth.
Growth is improvement in your life, grow.

(13:34):
We're here to grow.
That's

Jen Steadman (13:37):
my soapbox.
Okay.
I'm gonna go cry in the corner now.
I know.
And I'm gonna cry again.
I love you Savannah.
And we are gonna clockout so we can go cry.
Okay.
We will see you on thenext episode of Back in 10.
Bye everyone.
Bye bye.
Someone

Savanah Carlson (13:50):
pass me a tissue.
Thanks for spending afew minutes with us on

Jen Steadman (13:55):
back in 10, if something made you laugh, nod or feel a little
more human, share it with a friendand make sure that you're subscribed.
You can also follow us on Instagram

Savanah Carlson (14:05):
at Back in 10 Pod for more behind the scenes updates and

Jen Steadman (14:09):
probably a little chaos.
We're not here to have it all figured out.
We are just here to tell you thethings that we wish someone had told us

Savanah Carlson (14:18):
and remind you that leadership doesn't
have to be perfect, just real.
We'll be back in 10.
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