June 4, 2025 • 14 mins
Ever felt that mounting frustration when someone keeps crossing a line you never actually drew? That's exactly what happens in dental practices without clear boundaries. When you're constantly putting out fires, feeling resentful toward team members, or watching work bleed relentlessly into your personal time, it's not just about difficult people—it's about undefined limits.
The truth is uncomfortable but liberating: your practice will take whatever you allow it to take. Those late-night texts from team members, patients who expect weekend emergency care despite ignoring your treatment recommendations for years, staff who consistently arrive late to morning huddles—these aren't just isolated annoyances. They're symptoms of boundary deficiency.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Have you ever met someone who doesn't take the
hint?
You try to be nice, you hint atyour limits, you try to drop
these little subtle cues and saythis is what I don't like that
you're doing and this is what Iexpect from you, but you just
want to rip your hair outbecause they just don't get it
and they keep pushing until youfinally say something direct and
(00:22):
nobody likes it.
That is what it's like when youdon't set boundaries with
people.
But I want to talk about todaysetting boundaries with your
practice.
If you've ever felt resentmenttowards your team, if you've
ever felt frustration thatyou're always the one putting
out the fires, doing so much, orburnout because work just keeps
bleeding into your personallife, well, this episode is for
(00:46):
you.
We are talking about boundariesnot just with people.
We're talking about boundarieswith the practice and how that
relates to leading our team, tocreating a practice that
amplifies our lives instead oftaking from it.
For those who don't know me,I'm Dr Paul Etchison and you are
listening to the DentalPractice Heroes podcast.
I am the author of two books ondental practice management, I'm
(01:08):
a dental coach and I'm also theowner of a large group practice
in the south suburbs of Chicago.
My mission is to teach otherdental owners how to organize
and run their practice in a waythat gives them freedom, more
money, more time and lets themlive the lives that they want to
live, no matter what that is.
So if you want your dentalpractice to be the foundation of
your amazing life, but not thefocal point in the top priority,
(01:31):
you are at the right place.
So today we're talking aboutboundaries.
I want to share a story thatreflects this very recently for
me.
Now, I am an avid reader.
You guys all know that I readlike crazy.
I used to be all 100% Kindle.
Right now I'm about 50% Audible, 50% Kindle.
One thing I don't like aboutAudible is it's hard to
highlight things.
So I often find myself takingnotes in little notebooks and
(01:52):
stuff and sometimes it's hard todo if you're listening in the
dark.
But I just listened to this bookcalled the Book of Boundaries
by Melissa Urban and this wasrecommended to me by somebody.
And it starts off.
It talks about relationshipsand it talks about the people in
your life and the things thatyou let them do and expectations
and stuff.
But the more I read this, themore I realized dude, I have
(02:13):
really got a problem with this.
I mean, I suck at settingboundaries.
You know, we were just sayingthe other day at the practice
why do I have so many pain inthe ass patients?
What is it about these pain inthe ass patients that love me to
death.
They love the way that I treatthem, they love the way I take
care of them and they're like,doc, I love you so much I want
to send you all my pain in theass.
Friends, and they do that.
I get more pain in the asspeople.
And what it is is I don't setboundaries.
(02:35):
I am big on, hey, when thispatient gets here, I'm going to
tell them this.
I'm going to tell them I'm notdoing that.
I'm going to tell them thatthis is their fault and blah,
blah, blah.
And then I walk in the room andI'm like yes, sir, yes, ma'am,
anything you want, what do youwant?
I will do.
I will bend over backwards foryou, and it's not just with
patience for me, it's with thepractice, it's with my team.
(02:59):
I'm going to be in town nextweekend and I want to get my
teeth cleaned.
You know, my first reaction waslike why does anyone text me to
get them appointments.
They know I have people at thepractice that do this.
This is their job.
Right in front of them They'vegot a telephone and right next
to them they've got a computer.
And guess what's on thecomputer?
You're not going to believe it.
It's our schedule.
(03:20):
They can schedule anappointment for you.
You don't need to text me.
And I'm just getting all pissedoff about it.
Why would he do this?
Oh my gosh, I'm not going torespond to this.
I'm going to wait a day and ahalf to respond to this, because
this is just unreal.
And then it occurred to me haveI ever, ever, ever, ever
explained that I won't do it?
(03:40):
No, I have never said it, I'venever put up that boundary.
So I just politely texted backhey, totally understand.
If you want an appointment,please call the office.
They are the people that willschedule you, not me.
We're open tonight until eight.
And he said thanks, no problem.
And then he texted me back likefour minutes later Cool, got an
appointment next week.
Thanks so much.
Perfect, easy peasy.
(04:01):
Lemon to the squeezy Bro.
Why was I getting so mad?
And it's because I have thisexpectation that everybody
should see things my way.
And that is not the way theworld works.
We have to politely and kindlyestablish boundaries in our
lives and, oh my God, these pasttwo weeks I have seen it come
up so much, and you know what Isee it in people around me.
(04:23):
I think this is a big problemfor a lot of people.
So if you're looking for a bookto read that, maybe you need.
It's the book of boundaries byMelissa Urban.
The boundaries that weestablish are critical to the
relationship that we have withpeople, and just like a
relationship with people, wealso have a relationship to our
dental practice, and thatrequires boundaries to be
(04:44):
healthy as well.
The practice will take what youallow it and it will keep
taking more from you if youdon't define the limits.
Are you willing to come in earlyfor a patient?
Will you stay late for apatient?
What if someone really wantstheir veneers and they got this
wedding coming up?
Do you think you could come inearly for a patient?
Will you stay late for apatient?
What if someone really wantstheir veneers and they got this
wedding coming up?
Do you think you could come inon your day off?
What about this person that youtold they need an endo and then
(05:06):
they went away for two yearsand they call you and they're in
so much pain and it's Saturdayafternoon.
Are you going to go in for thatperson?
Don't you love those people?
They call you and they say, hey, I'm in a lot of dental pain,
I'm not a patient at yourpractice, but my dentist can't
get me until Monday.
So I'm calling you to see ifyou'll pull your ass out of
whatever you're doing with yourlife.
Remove yourself from that andcome take care of me.
(05:27):
Who's never been a patient atyour practice, had no intention
of ever coming to your practiceuntil today, when my dentist
couldn't hook it up for me.
We get those calls.
What are you going to do?
What is the boundary thatyou're going to put there?
If we don't establish whatwe're willing to do and what
we're not willing to do, thepractice will continue to take,
and that has been my experiencewith my life, with my practice.
I have had many, manysituations that I'm thinking
(05:47):
back after reading this book andsaying man, you know that was a
boundary situation that wascaused by boundaries.
That was caused by boundaries.
So I want you to think aboutthis is, when you're
establishing a boundary.
It's not mean, you know, youwish you didn't have to do it.
You wish people would just takethe hints, but the fact of the
matter is we can't expect themto do that, and if we do, we're
always going to be disappointed.
So clear is kind, clarity iskindness, and this applies to
(06:09):
your team.
You've got to set clearexpectations.
You can't just have vaguefrustrations.
I work with so many dentaloffices.
They say they're really pissingme off.
You know, I don't know why youhave to ask them to do this and
that.
And so I'll say to them okay,well, what do you want them to
do?
Like, what are theirresponsibilities?
Well, I don't know.
They're like the front desk.
They should be doing this, Iknow, but have you had that
conversation with them?
(06:30):
And it's always no.
The conversation has never beenhappened, because we just want
people to show up and know whatthey're doing and do all the
things we want to do withoutasking them.
Which is why we often look forpeople when we hire them for
experience, because then wethink we don't need to tell them
how to do anything.
They'll figure it out.
They already know what to do.
So I want you to say you knowclearness is kindness, clarity
(06:51):
is kindness.
You have to be clear with yourteam.
It's just really not fair toresent your team for doing
things that you never directlytold them to do or not to do.
You know boundaries don't haveto be confrontational.
Boundaries is like you areestablishing the way that
everyone can work to be happy,and when you put up a boundary
with a member of your team, theycan also put up a boundary with
(07:12):
you.
The ball is in their court andthey can say what they're
willing to do and hopefully youcan find something where it
works within everybody'sboundaries.
I want to share something withyou from the book Melissa Urban.
She talks about there's green,yellow and red boundaries.
Okay, and what this means islike this is the severity of the
need for a boundary.
Green is like hey, you know,it's the first time it happened.
(07:32):
It's like a gentle nudge.
It's like, hey, you know, wetalked about this, make sure you
get to the morning huddle ontime.
Okay, just a nice gentle nudge.
Then you have to get to yellow,and then it's like hey, you
know, I've brought this up withyou before about getting to the
huddle on time.
I really need you to be on thehuddle on time, because it's
important for us as a team.
We're all working together.
We have the social obligationto everybody and it looks really
(07:54):
bad for me as a leader when Iallow you to show up late.
So can you please make sureyou're here on time so that we
can have our meeting and beready for the day to take great
care of our patients.
That's yellow Now.
If it keeps happening, this iswhere we have to get to red.
I've talked to you numeroustimes about being on time to the
huddle.
You have continually been late.
You were late again yesterday.
Just letting you know this isimportant to me.
(08:14):
If you're late again, we'regoing to have to talk about your
future employment here.
And that's red.
Now, notice we don't go straightto red.
The red is harsh.
The red is like this is what Iwant and this is what I'm
willing.
But all three of those stageswere clear, and this is where we
get screwed up a lot.
As leaders, we set theboundaries.
Sometimes, we tell the teamwhat we want them to do, but
(08:34):
then we don't hold themaccountable.
And then you have practice.
Owners say hey, I have noaccountability at my office.
You've got to hold the teamaccountable through these
boundaries green, yellow and red.
Think about a situation in yourpractice where maybe you need to
throw up that green boundary,maybe you need to throw up that
yellow boundary.
What I often see in my coachingclients is they're at the point
where they want to throw upthat red boundary and they've
(08:55):
completely skipped that greenand yellow right.
They just want to go straightto the red because they're so
freaking frustrated and there'sso much resentment at that point
already.
Don't let it get that far.
Throw up the green one, throwup the yellow one.
What is important to you willbecome important to your team,
and if they can't make itimportant to them, they're on
the wrong team.
That's okay.
That doesn't make them a badperson.
They got to find their happyplace and it's not at your
(09:16):
practice.
So think about areas in yourpractice.
I want you to sit there and saywhat frustrates me at my
practice.
What am I getting the mostfrustrated by?
But what are you doing?
Are you constantly working atnight?
Are you having team memberstext you on Friday night about
something they should probablywait until Monday to talk to you
about?
Like, hey, I have a problemwith somebody else at work and I
was thinking about it.
Now I want to talk to you aboutit on Monday.
(09:36):
No, then talk to me about it onMonday, I don't need to know
Friday.
Okay, there was a certain pointin time where this drove me
crazy and I eventually said tomy team hey, you got me Monday,
tuesday, wednesday and Thursdayuntil 5 PM.
After Thursday at 5 PM I am notavailable and I will not be
responding to your texts.
Guess what happens if they textafter that time and you respond
(09:57):
Well, you just let yourboundary down.
You put up your boundary butyou didn't enforce it.
And just like everything at thepractice, we need boundaries
with time.
We need boundaries with thesystems.
What kind of procedures are youwilling to do?
What kind of things do yourefer out?
What is your policies at theoffice and what do you allow
your patients to do?
And if you're having to enforcea policy, do you allow your
(10:18):
team to not enforce the policy?
Talk about cancellation policies.
I was talking about one abouttwo weeks ago, how we're
changing the way we're doing itin our practice.
We had an all day meeting.
I told my team this is what Iwant.
They were not that happy aboutit.
I want them to really enforcethe policy, and I get it.
You know they're worried abouthow the patients are going to
react.
They don't want to have upsetpatients.
But the fact of the matter is Itold them hey guys, I get it, I
(10:40):
is.
I told them hey guys, I get it.
I know we have the verbalskills to do this.
This is super important to meand we're going to figure out as
a team how to do it.
But I need everyone that workshere to be comfortable doing
this.
So what I'm saying is hey,we're going to learn how to do
this.
If we can't learn how to dothis, you're not going to be on
this team.
I'm being very clear with whatI'm able, willing to accept, and
there was a long time that Iwas accepting that we weren't
(11:01):
enforcing our cancellationpolicy.
I talked to the team about myexpectations and now I'm going
to hold them to it and I'm goingto give that green boundary a
second that I see somebody notdoing it.
So it's about prevention.
When we're clear, we arepreventing these situations from
happening.
It's not like a punishment.
I don't want you to think ofboundaries as a punishment.
It's about preventing thingsfrom happening.
It's about telling people howyou want to be treated, and when
(11:24):
you don't do this, you get thatresentment.
You build up the resentment andthen you blow up on somebody
about something that isn't evenat the core of the issue.
Your culture erodes at yourpractice and then your patients.
They feel that too.
They can feel the culture.
So I want you to do this week isI want you to ask yourself what
frustrates you about your team,what frustrates you about your
practice, and I want you towrite it down.
(11:45):
Write it down on a piece ofpaper.
And then, when you write itdown, I want you to write down
who does it affect, because Ithink that's super important for
you to conceptualize thatbefore you address it is who
does it affect?
Does it affect the patients?
Does it affect the hygienist?
Does it affect the front desk?
(12:08):
Does it affect you?
Does it affect your family?
Like, think about this.
Then I want you to ask yourselfwhat do I want in this area of
my practice?
What is the expectation I wantto be fulfilled?
And then explain that to thepeople involved and explain what
you want them to do.
Now you've been clear.
Now you have to follow up on itand you may need to put a
boundary.
You may be one of those peoplethat don't put a boundary, so
your team just thinks oh yeah,you know, he doc just came back
(12:28):
from a class and now he wants todo all this new stuff.
But you know this will fizzleout in a week because they know
you're not going to followthrough.
You have to follow through.
If you don't follow through,that means you created a
boundary without a consequence,and if there's no consequence,
it's not really a boundary, it'sjust a suggestion.
So, closing up, if you'relooking for ways to do things at
your practice, you're lookingfor what are these boundaries?
What is the right way to answerthe phone?
What is the right way to runyour practice?
(12:48):
That's what the Omni PracticeProgram is about, and if you
want that training, you go todentalpracticeheroescom.
It's all there for you and yourteam so that you guys can all
be on the same page.
Create the systems anddocuments and protocols so that
everybody knows what to do, whento do so.
You don't have to ask eachother did you do this?
Things are getting done,expectations set, and that's how
a well-run practice should work.
(13:09):
Thank you so much for listening.
I very much appreciate you andwe will talk to you next time.
Have you ever met someone who doesn't take the
hint?
You try to be nice, you hint atyour limits, you try to drop
these little subtle cues and saythis is what I don't like that
you're doing and this is what Iexpect from you, but you just
want to rip your hair outbecause they just don't get it
and they keep pushing until youfinally say something direct and
(00:22):
nobody likes it.
That is what it's like when youdon't set boundaries with
people.
But I want to talk about todaysetting boundaries with your
practice.
If you've ever felt resentmenttowards your team, if you've
ever felt frustration thatyou're always the one putting
out the fires, doing so much, orburnout because work just keeps
bleeding into your personallife, well, this episode is for
(00:46):
you.
We are talking about boundariesnot just with people.
We're talking about boundarieswith the practice and how that
relates to leading our team, tocreating a practice that
amplifies our lives instead oftaking from it.
For those who don't know me,I'm Dr Paul Etchison and you are
listening to the DentalPractice Heroes podcast.
I am the author of two books ondental practice management, I'm
(01:08):
a dental coach and I'm also theowner of a large group practice
in the south suburbs of Chicago.
My mission is to teach otherdental owners how to organize
and run their practice in a waythat gives them freedom, more
money, more time and lets themlive the lives that they want to
live, no matter what that is.
So if you want your dentalpractice to be the foundation of
your amazing life, but not thefocal point in the top priority,
(01:31):
you are at the right place.
So today we're talking aboutboundaries.
I want to share a story thatreflects this very recently for
me.
Now, I am an avid reader.
You guys all know that I readlike crazy.
I used to be all 100% Kindle.
Right now I'm about 50% Audible, 50% Kindle.
One thing I don't like aboutAudible is it's hard to
highlight things.
So I often find myself takingnotes in little notebooks and
(01:52):
stuff and sometimes it's hard todo if you're listening in the
dark.
But I just listened to this bookcalled the Book of Boundaries
by Melissa Urban and this wasrecommended to me by somebody.
And it starts off.
It talks about relationshipsand it talks about the people in
your life and the things thatyou let them do and expectations
and stuff.
But the more I read this, themore I realized dude, I have
(02:13):
really got a problem with this.
I mean, I suck at settingboundaries.
You know, we were just sayingthe other day at the practice
why do I have so many pain inthe ass patients?
What is it about these pain inthe ass patients that love me to
death.
They love the way that I treatthem, they love the way I take
care of them and they're like,doc, I love you so much I want
to send you all my pain in theass.
Friends, and they do that.
I get more pain in the asspeople.
And what it is is I don't setboundaries.
(02:35):
I am big on, hey, when thispatient gets here, I'm going to
tell them this.
I'm going to tell them I'm notdoing that.
I'm going to tell them thatthis is their fault and blah,
blah, blah.
And then I walk in the room andI'm like yes, sir, yes, ma'am,
anything you want, what do youwant?
I will do.
I will bend over backwards foryou, and it's not just with
patience for me, it's with thepractice, it's with my team.
(02:59):
I'm going to be in town nextweekend and I want to get my
teeth cleaned.
You know, my first reaction waslike why does anyone text me to
get them appointments.
They know I have people at thepractice that do this.
This is their job.
Right in front of them They'vegot a telephone and right next
to them they've got a computer.
And guess what's on thecomputer?
You're not going to believe it.
It's our schedule.
(03:20):
They can schedule anappointment for you.
You don't need to text me.
And I'm just getting all pissedoff about it.
Why would he do this?
Oh my gosh, I'm not going torespond to this.
I'm going to wait a day and ahalf to respond to this, because
this is just unreal.
And then it occurred to me haveI ever, ever, ever, ever
explained that I won't do it?
(03:40):
No, I have never said it, I'venever put up that boundary.
So I just politely texted backhey, totally understand.
If you want an appointment,please call the office.
They are the people that willschedule you, not me.
We're open tonight until eight.
And he said thanks, no problem.
And then he texted me back likefour minutes later Cool, got an
appointment next week.
Thanks so much.
Perfect, easy peasy.
(04:01):
Lemon to the squeezy Bro.
Why was I getting so mad?
And it's because I have thisexpectation that everybody
should see things my way.
And that is not the way theworld works.
We have to politely and kindlyestablish boundaries in our
lives and, oh my God, these pasttwo weeks I have seen it come
up so much, and you know what Isee it in people around me.
(04:23):
I think this is a big problemfor a lot of people.
So if you're looking for a bookto read that, maybe you need.
It's the book of boundaries byMelissa Urban.
The boundaries that weestablish are critical to the
relationship that we have withpeople, and just like a
relationship with people, wealso have a relationship to our
dental practice, and thatrequires boundaries to be
(04:44):
healthy as well.
The practice will take what youallow it and it will keep
taking more from you if youdon't define the limits.
Are you willing to come in earlyfor a patient?
Will you stay late for apatient?
What if someone really wantstheir veneers and they got this
wedding coming up?
Do you think you could come inearly for a patient?
Will you stay late for apatient?
What if someone really wantstheir veneers and they got this
wedding coming up?
Do you think you could come inon your day off?
What about this person that youtold they need an endo and then
(05:06):
they went away for two yearsand they call you and they're in
so much pain and it's Saturdayafternoon.
Are you going to go in for thatperson?
Don't you love those people?
They call you and they say, hey, I'm in a lot of dental pain,
I'm not a patient at yourpractice, but my dentist can't
get me until Monday.
So I'm calling you to see ifyou'll pull your ass out of
whatever you're doing with yourlife.
Remove yourself from that andcome take care of me.
(05:27):
Who's never been a patient atyour practice, had no intention
of ever coming to your practiceuntil today, when my dentist
couldn't hook it up for me.
We get those calls.
What are you going to do?
What is the boundary thatyou're going to put there?
If we don't establish whatwe're willing to do and what
we're not willing to do, thepractice will continue to take,
and that has been my experiencewith my life, with my practice.
I have had many, manysituations that I'm thinking
(05:47):
back after reading this book andsaying man, you know that was a
boundary situation that wascaused by boundaries.
That was caused by boundaries.
So I want you to think aboutthis is, when you're
establishing a boundary.
It's not mean, you know, youwish you didn't have to do it.
You wish people would just takethe hints, but the fact of the
matter is we can't expect themto do that, and if we do, we're
always going to be disappointed.
So clear is kind, clarity iskindness, and this applies to
(06:09):
your team.
You've got to set clearexpectations.
You can't just have vaguefrustrations.
I work with so many dentaloffices.
They say they're really pissingme off.
You know, I don't know why youhave to ask them to do this and
that.
And so I'll say to them okay,well, what do you want them to
do?
Like, what are theirresponsibilities?
Well, I don't know.
They're like the front desk.
They should be doing this, Iknow, but have you had that
conversation with them?
(06:30):
And it's always no.
The conversation has never beenhappened, because we just want
people to show up and know whatthey're doing and do all the
things we want to do withoutasking them.
Which is why we often look forpeople when we hire them for
experience, because then wethink we don't need to tell them
how to do anything.
They'll figure it out.
They already know what to do.
So I want you to say you knowclearness is kindness, clarity
(06:51):
is kindness.
You have to be clear with yourteam.
It's just really not fair toresent your team for doing
things that you never directlytold them to do or not to do.
You know boundaries don't haveto be confrontational.
Boundaries is like you areestablishing the way that
everyone can work to be happy,and when you put up a boundary
with a member of your team, theycan also put up a boundary with
(07:12):
you.
The ball is in their court andthey can say what they're
willing to do and hopefully youcan find something where it
works within everybody'sboundaries.
I want to share something withyou from the book Melissa Urban.
She talks about there's green,yellow and red boundaries.
Okay, and what this means islike this is the severity of the
need for a boundary.
Green is like hey, you know,it's the first time it happened.
(07:32):
It's like a gentle nudge.
It's like, hey, you know, wetalked about this, make sure you
get to the morning huddle ontime.
Okay, just a nice gentle nudge.
Then you have to get to yellow,and then it's like hey, you
know, I've brought this up withyou before about getting to the
huddle on time.
I really need you to be on thehuddle on time, because it's
important for us as a team.
We're all working together.
We have the social obligationto everybody and it looks really
(07:54):
bad for me as a leader when Iallow you to show up late.
So can you please make sureyou're here on time so that we
can have our meeting and beready for the day to take great
care of our patients.
That's yellow Now.
If it keeps happening, this iswhere we have to get to red.
I've talked to you numeroustimes about being on time to the
huddle.
You have continually been late.
You were late again yesterday.
Just letting you know this isimportant to me.
(08:14):
If you're late again, we'regoing to have to talk about your
future employment here.
And that's red.
Now, notice we don't go straightto red.
The red is harsh.
The red is like this is what Iwant and this is what I'm
willing.
But all three of those stageswere clear, and this is where we
get screwed up a lot.
As leaders, we set theboundaries.
Sometimes, we tell the teamwhat we want them to do, but
(08:34):
then we don't hold themaccountable.
And then you have practice.
Owners say hey, I have noaccountability at my office.
You've got to hold the teamaccountable through these
boundaries green, yellow and red.
Think about a situation in yourpractice where maybe you need to
throw up that green boundary,maybe you need to throw up that
yellow boundary.
What I often see in my coachingclients is they're at the point
where they want to throw upthat red boundary and they've
(08:55):
completely skipped that greenand yellow right.
They just want to go straightto the red because they're so
freaking frustrated and there'sso much resentment at that point
already.
Don't let it get that far.
Throw up the green one, throwup the yellow one.
What is important to you willbecome important to your team,
and if they can't make itimportant to them, they're on
the wrong team.
That's okay.
That doesn't make them a badperson.
They got to find their happyplace and it's not at your
(09:16):
practice.
So think about areas in yourpractice.
I want you to sit there and saywhat frustrates me at my
practice.
What am I getting the mostfrustrated by?
But what are you doing?
Are you constantly working atnight?
Are you having team memberstext you on Friday night about
something they should probablywait until Monday to talk to you
about?
Like, hey, I have a problemwith somebody else at work and I
was thinking about it.
Now I want to talk to you aboutit on Monday.
(09:36):
No, then talk to me about it onMonday, I don't need to know
Friday.
Okay, there was a certain pointin time where this drove me
crazy and I eventually said tomy team hey, you got me Monday,
tuesday, wednesday and Thursdayuntil 5 PM.
After Thursday at 5 PM I am notavailable and I will not be
responding to your texts.
Guess what happens if they textafter that time and you respond
(09:57):
Well, you just let yourboundary down.
You put up your boundary butyou didn't enforce it.
And just like everything at thepractice, we need boundaries
with time.
We need boundaries with thesystems.
What kind of procedures are youwilling to do?
What kind of things do yourefer out?
What is your policies at theoffice and what do you allow
your patients to do?
And if you're having to enforcea policy, do you allow your
(10:18):
team to not enforce the policy?
Talk about cancellation policies.
I was talking about one abouttwo weeks ago, how we're
changing the way we're doing itin our practice.
We had an all day meeting.
I told my team this is what Iwant.
They were not that happy aboutit.
I want them to really enforcethe policy, and I get it.
You know they're worried abouthow the patients are going to
react.
They don't want to have upsetpatients.
But the fact of the matter is Itold them hey guys, I get it, I
(10:40):
is.
I told them hey guys, I get it.
I know we have the verbalskills to do this.
This is super important to meand we're going to figure out as
a team how to do it.
But I need everyone that workshere to be comfortable doing
this.
So what I'm saying is hey,we're going to learn how to do
this.
If we can't learn how to dothis, you're not going to be on
this team.
I'm being very clear with whatI'm able, willing to accept, and
there was a long time that Iwas accepting that we weren't
(11:01):
enforcing our cancellationpolicy.
I talked to the team about myexpectations and now I'm going
to hold them to it and I'm goingto give that green boundary a
second that I see somebody notdoing it.
So it's about prevention.
When we're clear, we arepreventing these situations from
happening.
It's not like a punishment.
I don't want you to think ofboundaries as a punishment.
It's about preventing thingsfrom happening.
It's about telling people howyou want to be treated, and when
(11:24):
you don't do this, you get thatresentment.
You build up the resentment andthen you blow up on somebody
about something that isn't evenat the core of the issue.
Your culture erodes at yourpractice and then your patients.
They feel that too.
They can feel the culture.
So I want you to do this week isI want you to ask yourself what
frustrates you about your team,what frustrates you about your
practice, and I want you towrite it down.
(11:45):
Write it down on a piece ofpaper.
And then, when you write itdown, I want you to write down
who does it affect, because Ithink that's super important for
you to conceptualize thatbefore you address it is who
does it affect?
Does it affect the patients?
Does it affect the hygienist?
Does it affect the front desk?
(12:08):
Does it affect you?
Does it affect your family?
Like, think about this.
Then I want you to ask yourselfwhat do I want in this area of
my practice?
What is the expectation I wantto be fulfilled?
And then explain that to thepeople involved and explain what
you want them to do.
Now you've been clear.
Now you have to follow up on itand you may need to put a
boundary.
You may be one of those peoplethat don't put a boundary, so
your team just thinks oh yeah,you know, he doc just came back
(12:28):
from a class and now he wants todo all this new stuff.
But you know this will fizzleout in a week because they know
you're not going to followthrough.
You have to follow through.
If you don't follow through,that means you created a
boundary without a consequence,and if there's no consequence,
it's not really a boundary, it'sjust a suggestion.
So, closing up, if you'relooking for ways to do things at
your practice, you're lookingfor what are these boundaries?
What is the right way to answerthe phone?
What is the right way to runyour practice?
(12:48):
That's what the Omni PracticeProgram is about, and if you
want that training, you go todentalpracticeheroescom.
It's all there for you and yourteam so that you guys can all
be on the same page.
Create the systems anddocuments and protocols so that
everybody knows what to do, whento do so.
You don't have to ask eachother did you do this?
Things are getting done,expectations set, and that's how
a well-run practice should work.
(13:09):
Thank you so much for listening.
I very much appreciate you andwe will talk to you next time.
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