June 19, 2025 • 20 mins
When the office manager and the owner dentist are in sync, the practice thrives. But what happens when they’re not? In this candid episode, Savanah and Jen dive into the essential (and sometimes awkward) dynamics between practice managers and owner dentists. From communication breakdowns and forgotten birthdays to setting boundaries and standing united in front of the team, this conversation is packed with real talk and practical leadership gems.
Whether you’re leading the charge or caught in the middle, this episode will help you feel seen and remind you that you're not alone in navigating this delicate relationship.
Highlights:
-
How to create true alignment with your dentist
-
The daily check-in topics no one talks about
-
What to do when you're not getting support from the top
-
Boundaries: Why they matter and how to set them (even if it’s your birthday)
Ready to clock out with us?
- Subscribe now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen, so you never miss a minute of Back in 10.
- Follow us on Instagram @backin10pod for behind-the-scenes chaos, leadership laughs, and bite-sized wisdom.
- Shoot us an email at brb@backin10pod.com if you'd like to share some wisdom with us!
We’ll be back in 10.
Special thanks to our recording partner, Chris "Wizard" Stone of Rock Solid Media.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jennifer Steadman (00:02):
Back in 10 is a podcast for dental leaders who do it
all and need 10 minutes to themselves.
Savanah Carlson (00:07):
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.
Jennifer Steadman (00:17):
Hosted by Savanah Carlson and Jen Steadman, two women who've
led, learned, and laughed through it all.
Savanah Carlson (00:24):
This show brings honest stories, leadership truths, and
the occasional sassy take on what itreally means to lead in dentistry today,
Jennifer Steadman (00:31):
because sometimes the best leadership happens when
you step away for 10 minutes.
Savanah Carlson (00:36):
This is back in 10.
Hello everyone.
Welcome to back in 10.
I'm Savannah.
And I'm Jen.
And on today's episode, we are gonna talkabout the leader relationship, so the
(00:57):
owner dentist, and the practice managerrelationship and the communication
that needs to come with that.
Uh, Jen, any initial feelings andthoughts on that relationship?
Jennifer Steadman (01:09):
Oh goodness.
There's a lot that we're gonnaunpack in the next 10 minutes,
so get your coffee real quick.
Everyone get to a safeplace and, uh, let's do it.
Let's do it.
Savanah Carlson (01:21):
I did have the privilege of working with the owner
dentist at my last practice, and Ican honestly say communication is
the absolute most important thingwhen you're the practice manager and.
Having it be honest communication.
You know, in our last episode we talkabout honesty and integrity and ensuring
(01:44):
that you and your dentist align inboth of those values is crucial to
running a very successful practice.
Jennifer Steadman (01:53):
Yeah, absolutely.
And I think I've been in that positiontoo, where I've been fortunate
to work with the owner dentist.
It gets very complex when youstart adding layers to that.
So the first thing in that relationshipis making sure that you're always,
when you go to the team, thatyou're in a united front, right?
Right.
Like you guys are on the same page.
(02:14):
Your team knows that.
You've already communicated thatwhatever you're bringing to the team is.
Is stone, I'll say, right?
Mm-hmm.
There's always wiggle room becausenothing is black and white.
In dentistry, there is manydifferent shades, right?
But it is so important that youare a united front when you come
(02:34):
together and that you're notalso playing the parents, right?
You don't want the team to beable to play the parent, so you
need to be united in that front.
Savanah Carlson (02:42):
Mm-hmm.
To create that unison it.
You have your weekly meetings and thetopics of those meetings will change, but
you should also have daily check-ins too.
The, check-ins with your team.
Crucial, but daily check-inswith your owner dentist.
Even more crucial.
(03:04):
Yeah, even more al whether that's,reviewing your financials, reviewing the
previous day and the ongoings of that day.
Whether you're looking at the, theteam team relationships and what
other topics do you put at theforefront of these daily check-ins?
Jennifer Steadman (03:25):
Yeah.
Is there any initiativesthat you're working on?
Are there any, like, whatis the pulse of your team?
You know, we, we, a lot of thetimes leaders will focus on
KPIs that are measured withdollar signs in front of them.
But you really wanna knowwhat the pulse of the team is.
Is something going on, someone have abig family event or a different, anything
(03:47):
in their personal life that could alsoaffect something in the practice or affect
their performance or anything that youknow that the other leader might not.
And sometimes there are some thingsthat we keep to ourselves as leaders
too, because we need to, right?
It's, if a team comes to us, they'recomfortable, but you need to let.
Your owner, doctor, or your, yourjust your, your doctor, no, the
other leaders in the practice.
(04:08):
If there's something going on, youneed to keep that communication open.
Anything that could create a potentialchallenge or something that you also
want to share with them, that's exciting.
Right.
It doesn't always have to be a challenge.
It can also just be like, oh my gosh,did you know they got engaged or.
They're celebrating their child justgot, is up into the new grade or,
(04:31):
or whatever it could be reminding
Savanah Carlson (04:33):
them of team celebrations.
Yes, it's, yeah, it is.
It is.
Danielle's birthday tomorrow.
Am I going to have a celebration forher or did you wanna plan something?
Do you want to, this was a big one.
Do you want to write the card for your.
Employee or should I write the card?
(04:54):
I was always a big proponent of,you know, it would hold more weight
coming from you, so you need me to,to invent the messaging forward.
And then you just, youwrite it and sign the card.
Awesome.
But having that involvement,it means a lot to the team.
Jennifer Steadman (05:09):
Yeah.
Or how about, it's my birthday tomorrow.
How do you wanna celebrate me?
No, I'm just,
Chris Stone (05:16):
wait Jen, I almost Jen when you said that it's the wizard.
Yeah.
I almost came in to start singingHappy birthday, knowing if
tomorrow was really your birthday.
Jennifer Steadman (05:26):
So it's not, it's not, but okay.
There are times that I've had to makethat friendly reminder that it's also my
birthday and I celebrate your birthday.
And every other special day that wepossibly could, but it's my birthday
too and I wanna be celebrated.
(05:48):
Everyone does, right?
Savanah Carlson (05:50):
There have been times where the dentist has forgot
very important milestone dates.
Jennifer Steadman (05:59):
My, I'm just gonna say this and I'm sure that my former.
Lovely employer will watch this.
Hi, Dr. Nick.
Love you dearly.
He called me up this past Septemberand said, happy anniversary
of our work anniversary.
Man, you never even said thatwhen we were working together.
(06:21):
How rude Nick.
I know.
Savanah Carlson (06:24):
How exciting!
That was very nice of him.
Jennifer Steadman (06:26):
It was very nice of him.
So I'm like, he is a great guy.
Appreciate him dearly.
Gave me amazing opportunitiesso, so, so fortunate.
But I was like, thank you for that.
And.
You could have rememberedwhen we were together too.
And I said that to him.
So it's not a surprise.
Love you bud.
Chris Stone (06:44):
So you know, it's, it's interesting ladies, you
talk about daily check-ins.
I also think part of a dailycheck-in should be daily product
placement and shameless plugs.
Savanah Carlson (06:55):
Oh yeah.
Logo and brand is so important.
I feel like I.
You know what?
Maybe I should take some extra notes.
Chris Stone (07:10):
Love it.
Savanah Carlson (07:12):
Wow.
We are goobers.
Jennifer Steadman (07:15):
You know what?
But we are, you are comic relief and we'rea little spicy today, so let's have at it.
Savanah Carlson (07:22):
It's been a day.
Jennifer Steadman (07:23):
Again, so, so important and I think.
In that leadership relationship too.
One of the things that I knowthat I really worked on with my
doctor was making sure that teamcouldn't play the parent, right?
So if they went to him and said,Hey, 'cause this happened, I'm
gonna take a week off of PTO,and he's like, yeah, yeah, sure.
(07:46):
In between stuff.
And then I would find out the morningof that the hygienist took a week
off of PTO and I never knew about it.
All the patients are in the schedule,and I'm calling her to figure out
what if she's okay, and I findout that she's on PTO all week.
So we worked through some things andlearned a very powerful phrase that said,
(08:09):
you need to go to Jen with that, or.
Did you talk to Jen about that?
And we did coaching with the amazingJudy k Mossoff, and we worked through
a lot of those things together.
But that was a very powerfulphrase that he learned was,
you need to go to Jennifer.
That because he was the practice owner andhe also led the practice for many years.
(08:32):
So I was his first officemanager in that position.
So there's also a change in thedynamic in the authority and
who the team goes to and it.
Creature of habit.
So completely understandable,but that was a very powerful
phrase for him and for the team.
I've still had
team members, even with the knowledgethat they need to go to me to ask for time
(08:57):
off, other than putting it in the systemand me approving it or asking further
questions, still continue to go to thedentist and sway the dentist, and then.
Also having to look like the bad cop.
Doc did you say the coaching that we'veagreed upon, and furthermore, did you
say, you know, that you have to go tospeak to Savannah to do this, right?
(09:22):
Mm-hmm.
Ask them that question.
Mm-hmm.
So you can, it, it helps to getthem to further understand and.
Follow the follow protocol.
And look, there's sometimes,look, there's certain things in
everyone's position that we canrelinquish and ask for support with.
(09:45):
I could never drill and fill.
That's not, I'm a hygienist,that's as high up as I can go.
However, I'm here to supportthe practice and support the
team and all of those things.
So.
I will let you know if there's somethingthat comes up that I need your help
with or that the team needs help with.
But there's a lot of things thatI can handle and I can do on
(10:07):
my own, and that that dentistneeds to know that you can do it.
So you also need to show andprove that you are capable and
that you're trustworthy andreally work on that relationship.
So then there isn't asmuch going back and forth.
I think that's a hugepart of it too, and it's.
Savanah Carlson (10:27):
Have the conversation with your dentist about what your
position really entails and whatthe success of your position is.
Jennifer Steadman (10:37):
Awesome.
Savanah Carlson (10:38):
Having that clarity is for both of you and then
Jennifer Steadman: relaying that to the team. (10:43):
undefined
And also having the dentist be theone to say, I'm gonna pretend I'm
the dentist right now, and say, team.
I want you to know that I completelytrust Savannah and her capabilities
and that anything that she is goingto roll out or any initiatives that
(11:06):
she's trying to support you with andget completed, her and I have already
talked through it, so I need you toknow that if she's asking you to do
something, that's also coming from me too.
That is huge.
Savanah Carlson (11:19):
I have been in that situation where I have not felt supported.
And it mm-hmm.
It's so defeating and deflating.
Jennifer Steadman (11:27):
Yeah.
Savanah Carlson (11:27):
You put your, you know, you've put a lot of hard work
into an initiative, and then you don'thave that backup from your dentist.
It's sad.
It's so sad that there are dentiststhat don't really offer that support.
Jennifer Steadman (11:41):
Yeah.
And honestly too, I thinkwhen it's private practice
it's, it's very difficult.
Especially 'cause you're right therewhen you get into multi-locations
or DSOs, it is a whole other animal.
So I always had the support of my doctor.
Always had the support.
(12:02):
I didn't always havethe support of others.
Mm-hmm.
Which makes it very complicated.
Right.
So.
It's a completely different levelof understanding and frustration
and it's a whole other animal.
And so just really important thatyou have that foundation that you can
(12:25):
communicate that with your team andcommunicate that with the leaders in the
practice, like you need to be able togo to them for anything and everything.
Savanah Carlson (12:35):
So let's explore, um, for a moment that a dental
office manager doesn't have thatsupport of their owner dentist.
Mm-hmm.
And has maybe approached them and said,Hey Doc, are you open to some feedback?
Are you open for coaching?
Yeah.
And what if they get No.
(12:59):
There are, there, there aremany, many dental office managers
who don't have that support.
From their owner dentist or fromeven from their executive leadership.
So what would they do in that situation?
So other than maybe find a new job.
No.
Jennifer Steadman (13:14):
So I, I will say this, you can go and you can
ask, you can ask for that support.
You can, you have to give it thegood college try, I'll say, right?
Um.
It gets to a point where it's okayif your values and your, it's okay
(13:40):
if you don't align anymore, right?
Everyone grows and if your valuesno longer align, that's okay.
Find somewhere that does.
Savanah Carlson (13:52):
Along those lines as well are the boundaries, but
the relationship boundaries betweenoffice manager and dentist owner.
Many of us have been put in that situationwhere we feel like the superhero and
we have to do everything all the time.
There needs to be a strong conversationregarding your personal boundaries
(14:16):
when you clock out for the day.
Clock out for the day.
There needs to be conversations aroundthat more often, I feel within the
practice, and that's even betweenpractice administrators and the team.
We should not be texting our teamafter hours regarding something that
(14:37):
happened on hours the dentist shouldnot be communicating regarding,
jamie's five o'clock appointment.
What?
What was I supposed to actually billout that should not be a conversation
that happens off the clock.
Those things you think have been on theclock and I, and boundaries are mm-hmm.
Are big topic.
Jennifer Steadman (14:59):
Yeah.
And to go with that too, I've coacheda lot of leaders to say, you know what?
They'll come to me and say, ohmy gosh, my team texts me all the
time, and they'll text me on theweekends or text me on vacation.
And my first question is,well, do you do that to them?
You can't expect somethingof your team that you're not
(15:20):
willing to do yourself, right?
So if you're texting them on theirvacation and you're texting them off
hours, they're gonna do the same to you.
So you know, it's.
You need to make sure thatyou have those boundaries set.
I will say for myself, as my positiongrew, I found it increasing, challenging
(15:41):
to be able to do that, and just thesheer volume, like I had over 200 team
members and leadership and a lot ofpeople and vendors and everything.
It got increasingly challenging.
So for the sanity of myself and.
My family and to be mindful of my familytime, and I'm not saying everyone could
(16:04):
do this or everyone wants to do this,like I, I have two phones, I have two.
This is my personal phone.
This is my work phone, and my workphone stays on my desk flipped
over when I'm done for the night,it's flipped over and it's done.
Yeah, I do not look at ituntil the next morning.
(16:26):
I might peek at it real quick, like beforeI'm getting ready just to see if something
crazy happened that's done, it's off.
And the other main leader of of thegroup would have my personal cell in case
there was a fire or something happened.
Exactly.
Savanah Carlson (16:43):
Mm-hmm.
But other than that, definingwhat an emergency is.
Oh Lord.
Uh, yes.
An emergency is, oh my God, the bathroomflooded overnight if it's in the morning.
Jennifer Steadman (17:02):
Yes.
The emergency is, well, how muchdo the bathroom flood though?
I want you to be really specific.
There is there a small pool of water onthe floor that you can pick up with a mop?
That's fine.
Yeah.
Is it leaking down into, into equipment?
I need to know.
Yep.
If it.
Flooded the basement that happened beforethere was a pipe that just like burst.
(17:24):
It was, it flooded the entire basement.
I need to know, I need to be ableto be there, but like look, if the
seal is broken on the toilet andI can come in with a wax ring and
replace it tomorrow morning myself.
You don't need to call me right now.
It's fine.
Savanah Carlson (17:44):
Yeah.
And or okay.
Also illnesses.
This was, a conversation thatI had to have with my team.
If you wake up in the middle of thenight and you are very ill and you
know you're not coming into work,I requested that, set an alarm for
6:00 AM and notify me at that point.
There's nothing I can do atthree 30 in the morning to.
(18:08):
Help you or adjust the schedule.
All it's going to do is createimmense anxiety for the next three
and a half hours and I can't sleep.
So there's nothing that can be achievedin those early am hours of knowing you're
not gonna be in so kindly just notifyme at 6:00 AM Like that's the earliest I
(18:28):
wanted to be notified when I was managing.
Jennifer Steadman (18:32):
There's other different things you can do
with different phones, right?
Like if you have an iPhone, you can, andI know leaders that have done this, they
would change the tone of the ring tone ofanyone on their team to be something else.
So they knew if it waswork or if it was personal.
Mm-hmm.
Also set different focus timesso that way certain phone calls
or text messages don't come in.
So there's things that youcan do if you're tech savvy.
(18:54):
But again, having those boundariesand understanding the expectations in
general, whatever the case may be, yeah.
Is really important.
Savanah Carlson (19:03):
Yeah, totally agree.
Yeah, totally agree.
On that note, I think I'm,uh, ready to clock out.
Are you ready to clock out, Jen?
Jennifer Steadman (19:12):
Yeah, and I'm not gonna talk to you after this because
I'm gonna respect your boundaries.
Savanah Carlson (19:16):
That's fine.
I'll journal about it in my notebook.
Bye everyone.
Have a great day.
Take your break, set a boundary.
Thanks for spending a fewminutes with us on back in 10.
Jennifer Steadman (19:31):
If something made you laugh, nod or feel a little more
human, share it with a friend andmake sure that you're subscribed.
Savanah Carlson (19:37):
You can also follow us on Instagram at Back in
10 Pod for more behind the scenesupdates and probably a little chaos.
Jennifer Steadman (19:45):
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 (19:52):
and remind you that leadership doesn't
have to be perfect, just real.
Both (19:57):
We'll be back in 10, back in 10.
Back in 10 is a podcast for dental leaders who do it
all and need 10 minutes to themselves.
Savanah Carlson (00:07):
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.
Jennifer Steadman (00:17):
Hosted by Savanah Carlson and Jen Steadman, two women who've
led, learned, and laughed through it all.
Savanah Carlson (00:24):
This show brings honest stories, leadership truths, and
the occasional sassy take on what itreally means to lead in dentistry today,
Jennifer Steadman (00:31):
because sometimes the best leadership happens when
you step away for 10 minutes.
Savanah Carlson (00:36):
This is back in 10.
Hello everyone.
Welcome to back in 10.
I'm Savannah.
And I'm Jen.
And on today's episode, we are gonna talkabout the leader relationship, so the
(00:57):
owner dentist, and the practice managerrelationship and the communication
that needs to come with that.
Uh, Jen, any initial feelings andthoughts on that relationship?
Jennifer Steadman (01:09):
Oh goodness.
There's a lot that we're gonnaunpack in the next 10 minutes,
so get your coffee real quick.
Everyone get to a safeplace and, uh, let's do it.
Let's do it.
Savanah Carlson (01:21):
I did have the privilege of working with the owner
dentist at my last practice, and Ican honestly say communication is
the absolute most important thingwhen you're the practice manager and.
Having it be honest communication.
You know, in our last episode we talkabout honesty and integrity and ensuring
(01:44):
that you and your dentist align inboth of those values is crucial to
running a very successful practice.
Jennifer Steadman (01:53):
Yeah, absolutely.
And I think I've been in that positiontoo, where I've been fortunate
to work with the owner dentist.
It gets very complex when youstart adding layers to that.
So the first thing in that relationshipis making sure that you're always,
when you go to the team, thatyou're in a united front, right?
Right.
Like you guys are on the same page.
(02:14):
Your team knows that.
You've already communicated thatwhatever you're bringing to the team is.
Is stone, I'll say, right?
Mm-hmm.
There's always wiggle room becausenothing is black and white.
In dentistry, there is manydifferent shades, right?
But it is so important that youare a united front when you come
(02:34):
together and that you're notalso playing the parents, right?
You don't want the team to beable to play the parent, so you
need to be united in that front.
Savanah Carlson (02:42):
Mm-hmm.
To create that unison it.
You have your weekly meetings and thetopics of those meetings will change, but
you should also have daily check-ins too.
The, check-ins with your team.
Crucial, but daily check-inswith your owner dentist.
Even more crucial.
(03:04):
Yeah, even more al whether that's,reviewing your financials, reviewing the
previous day and the ongoings of that day.
Whether you're looking at the, theteam team relationships and what
other topics do you put at theforefront of these daily check-ins?
Jennifer Steadman (03:25):
Yeah.
Is there any initiativesthat you're working on?
Are there any, like, whatis the pulse of your team?
You know, we, we, a lot of thetimes leaders will focus on
KPIs that are measured withdollar signs in front of them.
But you really wanna knowwhat the pulse of the team is.
Is something going on, someone have abig family event or a different, anything
(03:47):
in their personal life that could alsoaffect something in the practice or affect
their performance or anything that youknow that the other leader might not.
And sometimes there are some thingsthat we keep to ourselves as leaders
too, because we need to, right?
It's, if a team comes to us, they'recomfortable, but you need to let.
Your owner, doctor, or your, yourjust your, your doctor, no, the
other leaders in the practice.
(04:08):
If there's something going on, youneed to keep that communication open.
Anything that could create a potentialchallenge or something that you also
want to share with them, that's exciting.
Right.
It doesn't always have to be a challenge.
It can also just be like, oh my gosh,did you know they got engaged or.
They're celebrating their child justgot, is up into the new grade or,
(04:31):
or whatever it could be reminding
Savanah Carlson (04:33):
them of team celebrations.
Yes, it's, yeah, it is.
It is.
Danielle's birthday tomorrow.
Am I going to have a celebration forher or did you wanna plan something?
Do you want to, this was a big one.
Do you want to write the card for your.
Employee or should I write the card?
(04:54):
I was always a big proponent of,you know, it would hold more weight
coming from you, so you need me to,to invent the messaging forward.
And then you just, youwrite it and sign the card.
Awesome.
But having that involvement,it means a lot to the team.
Jennifer Steadman (05:09):
Yeah.
Or how about, it's my birthday tomorrow.
How do you wanna celebrate me?
No, I'm just,
Chris Stone (05:16):
wait Jen, I almost Jen when you said that it's the wizard.
Yeah.
I almost came in to start singingHappy birthday, knowing if
tomorrow was really your birthday.
Jennifer Steadman (05:26):
So it's not, it's not, but okay.
There are times that I've had to makethat friendly reminder that it's also my
birthday and I celebrate your birthday.
And every other special day that wepossibly could, but it's my birthday
too and I wanna be celebrated.
(05:48):
Everyone does, right?
Savanah Carlson (05:50):
There have been times where the dentist has forgot
very important milestone dates.
Jennifer Steadman (05:59):
My, I'm just gonna say this and I'm sure that my former.
Lovely employer will watch this.
Hi, Dr. Nick.
Love you dearly.
He called me up this past Septemberand said, happy anniversary
of our work anniversary.
Man, you never even said thatwhen we were working together.
(06:21):
How rude Nick.
I know.
Savanah Carlson (06:24):
How exciting!
That was very nice of him.
Jennifer Steadman (06:26):
It was very nice of him.
So I'm like, he is a great guy.
Appreciate him dearly.
Gave me amazing opportunitiesso, so, so fortunate.
But I was like, thank you for that.
And.
You could have rememberedwhen we were together too.
And I said that to him.
So it's not a surprise.
Love you bud.
Chris Stone (06:44):
So you know, it's, it's interesting ladies, you
talk about daily check-ins.
I also think part of a dailycheck-in should be daily product
placement and shameless plugs.
Savanah Carlson (06:55):
Oh yeah.
Logo and brand is so important.
I feel like I.
You know what?
Maybe I should take some extra notes.
Chris Stone (07:10):
Love it.
Savanah Carlson (07:12):
Wow.
We are goobers.
Jennifer Steadman (07:15):
You know what?
But we are, you are comic relief and we'rea little spicy today, so let's have at it.
Savanah Carlson (07:22):
It's been a day.
Jennifer Steadman (07:23):
Again, so, so important and I think.
In that leadership relationship too.
One of the things that I knowthat I really worked on with my
doctor was making sure that teamcouldn't play the parent, right?
So if they went to him and said,Hey, 'cause this happened, I'm
gonna take a week off of PTO,and he's like, yeah, yeah, sure.
(07:46):
In between stuff.
And then I would find out the morningof that the hygienist took a week
off of PTO and I never knew about it.
All the patients are in the schedule,and I'm calling her to figure out
what if she's okay, and I findout that she's on PTO all week.
So we worked through some things andlearned a very powerful phrase that said,
(08:09):
you need to go to Jen with that, or.
Did you talk to Jen about that?
And we did coaching with the amazingJudy k Mossoff, and we worked through
a lot of those things together.
But that was a very powerfulphrase that he learned was,
you need to go to Jennifer.
That because he was the practice owner andhe also led the practice for many years.
(08:32):
So I was his first officemanager in that position.
So there's also a change in thedynamic in the authority and
who the team goes to and it.
Creature of habit.
So completely understandable,but that was a very powerful
phrase for him and for the team.
I've still had
team members, even with the knowledgethat they need to go to me to ask for time
(08:57):
off, other than putting it in the systemand me approving it or asking further
questions, still continue to go to thedentist and sway the dentist, and then.
Also having to look like the bad cop.
Doc did you say the coaching that we'veagreed upon, and furthermore, did you
say, you know, that you have to go tospeak to Savannah to do this, right?
(09:22):
Mm-hmm.
Ask them that question.
Mm-hmm.
So you can, it, it helps to getthem to further understand and.
Follow the follow protocol.
And look, there's sometimes,look, there's certain things in
everyone's position that we canrelinquish and ask for support with.
(09:45):
I could never drill and fill.
That's not, I'm a hygienist,that's as high up as I can go.
However, I'm here to supportthe practice and support the
team and all of those things.
So.
I will let you know if there's somethingthat comes up that I need your help
with or that the team needs help with.
But there's a lot of things thatI can handle and I can do on
(10:07):
my own, and that that dentistneeds to know that you can do it.
So you also need to show andprove that you are capable and
that you're trustworthy andreally work on that relationship.
So then there isn't asmuch going back and forth.
I think that's a hugepart of it too, and it's.
Savanah Carlson (10:27):
Have the conversation with your dentist about what your
position really entails and whatthe success of your position is.
Jennifer Steadman (10:37):
Awesome.
Savanah Carlson (10:38):
Having that clarity is for both of you and then
Jennifer Steadman: relaying that to the team. (10:43):
undefined
And also having the dentist be theone to say, I'm gonna pretend I'm
the dentist right now, and say, team.
I want you to know that I completelytrust Savannah and her capabilities
and that anything that she is goingto roll out or any initiatives that
(11:06):
she's trying to support you with andget completed, her and I have already
talked through it, so I need you toknow that if she's asking you to do
something, that's also coming from me too.
That is huge.
Savanah Carlson (11:19):
I have been in that situation where I have not felt supported.
And it mm-hmm.
It's so defeating and deflating.
Jennifer Steadman (11:27):
Yeah.
Savanah Carlson (11:27):
You put your, you know, you've put a lot of hard work
into an initiative, and then you don'thave that backup from your dentist.
It's sad.
It's so sad that there are dentiststhat don't really offer that support.
Jennifer Steadman (11:41):
Yeah.
And honestly too, I thinkwhen it's private practice
it's, it's very difficult.
Especially 'cause you're right therewhen you get into multi-locations
or DSOs, it is a whole other animal.
So I always had the support of my doctor.
Always had the support.
(12:02):
I didn't always havethe support of others.
Mm-hmm.
Which makes it very complicated.
Right.
So.
It's a completely different levelof understanding and frustration
and it's a whole other animal.
And so just really important thatyou have that foundation that you can
(12:25):
communicate that with your team andcommunicate that with the leaders in the
practice, like you need to be able togo to them for anything and everything.
Savanah Carlson (12:35):
So let's explore, um, for a moment that a dental
office manager doesn't have thatsupport of their owner dentist.
Mm-hmm.
And has maybe approached them and said,Hey Doc, are you open to some feedback?
Are you open for coaching?
Yeah.
And what if they get No.
(12:59):
There are, there, there aremany, many dental office managers
who don't have that support.
From their owner dentist or fromeven from their executive leadership.
So what would they do in that situation?
So other than maybe find a new job.
No.
Jennifer Steadman (13:14):
So I, I will say this, you can go and you can
ask, you can ask for that support.
You can, you have to give it thegood college try, I'll say, right?
Um.
It gets to a point where it's okayif your values and your, it's okay
(13:40):
if you don't align anymore, right?
Everyone grows and if your valuesno longer align, that's okay.
Find somewhere that does.
Savanah Carlson (13:52):
Along those lines as well are the boundaries, but
the relationship boundaries betweenoffice manager and dentist owner.
Many of us have been put in that situationwhere we feel like the superhero and
we have to do everything all the time.
There needs to be a strong conversationregarding your personal boundaries
(14:16):
when you clock out for the day.
Clock out for the day.
There needs to be conversations aroundthat more often, I feel within the
practice, and that's even betweenpractice administrators and the team.
We should not be texting our teamafter hours regarding something that
(14:37):
happened on hours the dentist shouldnot be communicating regarding,
jamie's five o'clock appointment.
What?
What was I supposed to actually billout that should not be a conversation
that happens off the clock.
Those things you think have been on theclock and I, and boundaries are mm-hmm.
Are big topic.
Jennifer Steadman (14:59):
Yeah.
And to go with that too, I've coacheda lot of leaders to say, you know what?
They'll come to me and say, ohmy gosh, my team texts me all the
time, and they'll text me on theweekends or text me on vacation.
And my first question is,well, do you do that to them?
You can't expect somethingof your team that you're not
(15:20):
willing to do yourself, right?
So if you're texting them on theirvacation and you're texting them off
hours, they're gonna do the same to you.
So you know, it's.
You need to make sure thatyou have those boundaries set.
I will say for myself, as my positiongrew, I found it increasing, challenging
(15:41):
to be able to do that, and just thesheer volume, like I had over 200 team
members and leadership and a lot ofpeople and vendors and everything.
It got increasingly challenging.
So for the sanity of myself and.
My family and to be mindful of my familytime, and I'm not saying everyone could
(16:04):
do this or everyone wants to do this,like I, I have two phones, I have two.
This is my personal phone.
This is my work phone, and my workphone stays on my desk flipped
over when I'm done for the night,it's flipped over and it's done.
Yeah, I do not look at ituntil the next morning.
(16:26):
I might peek at it real quick, like beforeI'm getting ready just to see if something
crazy happened that's done, it's off.
And the other main leader of of thegroup would have my personal cell in case
there was a fire or something happened.
Exactly.
Savanah Carlson (16:43):
Mm-hmm.
But other than that, definingwhat an emergency is.
Oh Lord.
Uh, yes.
An emergency is, oh my God, the bathroomflooded overnight if it's in the morning.
Jennifer Steadman (17:02):
Yes.
The emergency is, well, how muchdo the bathroom flood though?
I want you to be really specific.
There is there a small pool of water onthe floor that you can pick up with a mop?
That's fine.
Yeah.
Is it leaking down into, into equipment?
I need to know.
Yep.
If it.
Flooded the basement that happened beforethere was a pipe that just like burst.
(17:24):
It was, it flooded the entire basement.
I need to know, I need to be ableto be there, but like look, if the
seal is broken on the toilet andI can come in with a wax ring and
replace it tomorrow morning myself.
You don't need to call me right now.
It's fine.
Savanah Carlson (17:44):
Yeah.
And or okay.
Also illnesses.
This was, a conversation thatI had to have with my team.
If you wake up in the middle of thenight and you are very ill and you
know you're not coming into work,I requested that, set an alarm for
6:00 AM and notify me at that point.
There's nothing I can do atthree 30 in the morning to.
(18:08):
Help you or adjust the schedule.
All it's going to do is createimmense anxiety for the next three
and a half hours and I can't sleep.
So there's nothing that can be achievedin those early am hours of knowing you're
not gonna be in so kindly just notifyme at 6:00 AM Like that's the earliest I
(18:28):
wanted to be notified when I was managing.
Jennifer Steadman (18:32):
There's other different things you can do
with different phones, right?
Like if you have an iPhone, you can, andI know leaders that have done this, they
would change the tone of the ring tone ofanyone on their team to be something else.
So they knew if it waswork or if it was personal.
Mm-hmm.
Also set different focus timesso that way certain phone calls
or text messages don't come in.
So there's things that youcan do if you're tech savvy.
(18:54):
But again, having those boundariesand understanding the expectations in
general, whatever the case may be, yeah.
Is really important.
Savanah Carlson (19:03):
Yeah, totally agree.
Yeah, totally agree.
On that note, I think I'm,uh, ready to clock out.
Are you ready to clock out, Jen?
Jennifer Steadman (19:12):
Yeah, and I'm not gonna talk to you after this because
I'm gonna respect your boundaries.
Savanah Carlson (19:16):
That's fine.
I'll journal about it in my notebook.
Bye everyone.
Have a great day.
Take your break, set a boundary.
Thanks for spending a fewminutes with us on back in 10.
Jennifer Steadman (19:31):
If something made you laugh, nod or feel a little more
human, share it with a friend andmake sure that you're subscribed.
Savanah Carlson (19:37):
You can also follow us on Instagram at Back in
10 Pod for more behind the scenesupdates and probably a little chaos.
Jennifer Steadman (19:45):
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 (19:52):
and remind you that leadership doesn't
have to be perfect, just real.
Both (19:57):
We'll be back in 10, back in 10.
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