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929: Clear Communication, Stronger Team – Miranda Beeson

Without clear communication, even the best teams can fall apart. So, how do you clearly communicate expectations as a leader to your team? In this episode, Kirk Behrendt brings back Miranda Beeson, ACT’s director of education, to share a framework for when and how to give feedback — and how to receive it! To learn how to create a stronger team through clear communication, listen to Episode 929 of The Best Practices Show!

Learn More About Miranda:

Learn More About ACT Dental:

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Episode Resources:

Main Takeaways:

  • Clear is kind. Being clear is better than being “nice”.
  • Be consistent, specific, and safe when giving feedback.
  • When you're consistent, clear, and calm, you will earn trust.
  • Don't only give feedback when your expectations aren't being met.
  • Proactively reward good behaviors or when expectations are being met.
  • Learn the three feedback styles of appreciation, coaching, and evaluation.
  • Start with having systems. It helps provide clarity for what needs to be done.
  • Systems should be documented so they can be referenced, reviewed, and revised.
  • Reframe your fears around providing feedback. If you avoid it, it is harmful to the team.
  • Think of feedback as a gift, not a punishment — not only as the giver but as the receiver.

Quotes:

“When we step out of the clinical chair and we have to lead our team, how do we get the most out of our team? How do we empower our team? How do we drive success? A big piece of that is being able to clearly communicate expectations and give really meaningful feedback to our team in a way that helps them perform more consistently, encourages them to function autonomously, and solve problems proactively. I often give the example of going and doing a crown, coming back to your office, and you have seven sticky notes all over your desk, and it's like, ‘Man, I wish I didn't have to solve every little problem.’ The leadership piece — being able to clearly communicate expectations and provide feedback to your team — helps with that and helps them to start solving problems on their own proactively, and it really helps your team to stay engaged long term.” (6:06—6:55) -Miranda

“Without clear communication, even the best teams can fall apart.” (7:18— 7:22) -Miranda

“You don't always have to be talking to communicate.” (8:30—8:32) -Miranda

“Communication that's strong impacts your culture. It builds trust, openness, and continuous learning. When your culture is a culture of clear, consistent communication and transparency, you have so much trust that when feedback does come it's a norm, it doesn't feel threatening anymore. It's welcomed because our culture supports this. I know I'm not going to be caught off guard. I'm not going to have to have my defenses up. It's very consistent, it's very transparent, and we're very open here to continuous learning.” (10:31—11:04) -Miranda

“When we have strong, clear communication, performance is going to improve. There's a lot better individual accountability when people know what's expected of them and how they're going to receive praise and or constructive feedback. Your team tends to be more efficient and, overall, the standards are held a bit higher by everyone.” (11:04—11:22) -Miranda

“We hear a lot of times, ‘How do I get my team to buy in?’ The biggest thing is, how are you leading? How are you communicating? What is this psychologically safe space that we’re creating around communication? Do we only talk to our team when they're underperforming, or are we consistently communicating even when they're doing well or if there's a new expectation that comes to mind?” (11:22—11:46) -Miranda

“When we're communicating well, we're going to have strong communication that replaces gossip. It replaces drama triangles. It replaces assumptions and biases. We talk about the attribution error and how we can sometimes look at someone and make a judgment or make a bias, and we communicate through that without sometimes even realizing it. So, how are we making sure that this communication is clear of assumptions, clear of bias, clear of gossip, it’s direct, it’s fair, it’s kind? When we as dentists are strong leaders that are confident in our communication, our emotional intelligence is going to grow. The connection and trust we build with our team is going to grow, and we’re able to then also accept feedback — because leaders need to accept feedback too. When we start to demonstrate and model how well that can go, our team gets more open to that idea.” (11:46—12:44) -Miranda

“When we're communicating well, and our culture is on fire, and people are performing at their highest level — we're communicating clearly, leadership is rocking — the patient experience is going to be better. We’re going to be better at delivering that consistently and at a high level. Feedback loops are going to lead to stronger systems, stronger follow-through, and generally a happier team and happier patients.” (13:01—13:23) -Miranda

“If we’re clear in our message as a leader, we can be direct and polite. Leaving it a little muddy, or vague, or not delivering feedback when something's not meeting our expectations, it's not really kind to our team. Our team wants to do well. Our team wants to be doing the best for our patients and doing the best for each other.” (13:59—14:21) -Miranda

“When people know that you care about them, you can be very direct in the way that you challenge, or provide feedback, or criticism, or whatever words you want to use to describe the fact that you need to hold someone accountable. When they know you care, it’s met with kindness.” (16:46—17:00) -Miranda

“One of the biggest questions that we get asked as coaches is, ‘When do I give feedback? How do I give feedback? It’s uncomfortable. I don't want people to leave.’ There's so much that goes into being able to communicate in a really positive way, and the first thing that we’ll start with is talking about systems. You and I both say it’s usually not a people problem, it’s usually a systems problem. Occasionally, if we get through that piece, we might look at the Right People, Right Seat [scorecard] and be like, ‘Maybe there's a person associated with the issue here.’ More often than not, it's a system problem.” (17:57—18:30) -Miranda

“We use this equation all the time: E – R = C. Expectations minus reality equals conflict. You always say unresolved conflict always results in crisis — and it's true. When conflict occurs in the practice, that's when we feel a little icky, when we sit there and we have that little bubble in our gut or that tightness in our chest. ‘I know I should be addressing this, but it's uncomfortable, and I don't know where to go.’ Well, number one, let's start with systems. Systems really help provide clarity for what we do here. It’s the easy thing to pull up, print out, and sit down with someone and talk about the system. ‘Where is this system perhaps failing us? Where is the break in the system? Let's poke some holes in it. Something is not working out here, and it’s not about you, necessarily, awesome team member. I think it’s the system.’ Either we don't have one, or the one that we have is failing us somehow. When we start there, it's a much easier place to connect with a team member. They don't have to start to feel defensive that, ‘It's on me. I've done something wrong.’” (18:31—19:40) -Miranda

“In systems, they should always provide clarity as to who does what, when, and how do they do that step by step . . . Systems are only going to work if everyone knows that they exist and what to do with them. We say all the time, without weigh-in, there's no buy-in. So, when I'm talking about systems and E – R = C, it might be easy if you're an office manager, if you're a dentist, and you're like, ‘I'm just going to go make a bunch of systems and, cool, I'll tell my team to do them.’ That's not going to work because when the team doesn't buy into helping understand why we're doing it, who's a part of it, when does it happen, and how does it happen, there's less buy-in from them to even want to do it.” (19:42—20:33) -Miranda

“We use systems to communicate what we do here and how we do it, and the core values are what help us to communicate how do we behave, how do we show up. For example, if you have a core value that is “own it”, the behavior that you might be looking for is, we expect people to take initiative without waiting to be told what to do and take accountability. You own it. Anything and everything that you do, you own it. “Be professional”. The behavior that you might be expecting out of a team member is speaking to patients and team members respectfully, even under stress. So, you can make it super clear to people what it is that we expect about how you behave. Then, for example, “eager to learn”, or we have one called “always be growing” at ACT, very similar. A behavior that you might expect of a team member around “eager to learn” as a core value in your team is that you accept feedback with curiosity and not defensiveness. We need people here who are eager to learn, eager to grow, and eager to improve. You can't do that without feedback, and being able to accept and receive feedback, and not meet it with defensiveness.” (26:41—27:53) -Miranda

“We have to be really clear and confident in actually giving feedback to our team around expectations. This is where we can really develop strength in our team and in our people. So, feedback, when it's done right, is not about calling somebody out. It's about calling them up. I absolutely love this statement because all of us as leaders want our people to be the best version of themselves in and outside of the office.” (28:23—28:53) -Miranda

“You also need to think of this same concept [of being called up, not out] when you're receiving feedback. When somebody is giving you feedback, they're just calling you up. They're just coaching you. They're trying to develop you. They're trying to bring you to a better place and maybe point out a perspective that you're not able to see on your own. If we can shift our mindset a little bit around feedback, it's going to land a lot easier.” (30:16—30:36) -Miranda

“At GLS a couple of years ago, [Craig Groeschel) shared with us that you have to be clear about what you expect, reward it when you see it, and correct it when you don't. That's how you really start to build trust with your team. What we often do as leaders — some of it is because we don't have time. Again, we're balancing being the clinician and 95% of the time doing dentistry — is we will give feedback when we don't see our expectations being met, sometimes consistently, sometimes once it boils over into resentment and we can't take it anymore. It's not as frequent that we reward when we see our expectations being met. It's easier to let that stuff slide by and like, ‘Today was a good day.’ But really, stop and proactively reward when you see your expectations being met. Then, that other side of it is, don't wait for it to pile up until you just can't take it anymore. When you see your expectations not being met, go ahead and have that corrective conversation as swiftly as possible.” (31:09—32:14) -Miranda

“This book, [Thanks for the Feedback], is by Doug Stone and Sheila Heen. I think it's fabulous. It leans into how to give and receive feedback, and we talk about these three unique feedback styles, which are appreciation, coaching, and evaluation. When we are giving appreciation or receiving appreciation, it’s basically saying, ‘I see you, and you matter.’ When we’re looking at coaching as a feedback style, it’s how can you improve. When we're looking at evaluation, it's a measure against where you stand. It's letting us know where you stand against maybe an expectation, a piece of data, a metric, or a benchmark. So, when we look at these three different types, it's easier to lean into delivering the right kind at the right time.” (32:33—33:17) -Miranda

“The trickier pieces of feedback are coaching and evaluation. Coaching is feedback that is intended to improve or develop a skill or a component of someone’s performance. So, it’s going to provide guidance, a tip, or suggestions on how to have future success. That's a big element that separates it from evaluation . . . Those two get muddied a little bit at times. Coaching answers questions like, how can I get better? What should I do differently next time? What would help me improve? The purpose of it is to improve competence — ultimately, also confidence — and, long-term, grow their capability. We talk a lot about the Right People, Right Seat scorecard and the capacity to do it. A lot of times, we'll just assume that if someone doesn't have the capacity to do it, they just don't, when in reality, if we give some coaching, use that note section, the bottom of our check-in agenda, and really provide some valuable coaching and give them an opportunity to apply some of that, we'll see that capacity and that confidence really change over time. And coaching lands best when it's framed as support. That's when we bring back in that caring deeply and challenging directly side of things. When they know that we care about them and this is coming from a place of positivity and wanting to develop and not just pointing out flaws, it really goes a long way.” (34:06—35:36) -Miranda

“We're big fans of regularly scheduled check-ins. I want you to think about this. You can give people feedback in coaching, but don't make it a flyby. Like, ‘Hey, I've got a few seconds. Just going to give you some feedback. It wasn't very good what you did. Get better at it. Bye-bye.’ That's what they hear, even though your intention was probably good with that. With a regular system of check-in — and if you use the Right Person, Right Seat scorecard — now you have to get extra specific. It forces a regular meeting or cadence where you're giving feedback, you're receiving feedback, and you're also talking about more than just that piece that you're giving.” (35:44—36:22) -Kirk

“The other piece around a check-in is that it's all about building connection. Check-ins are frequent, every four to six weeks, one-on-one, 15 to 20 minutes. They're not intended to be what you would consider a traditional performance evaluation. Once a quarter, we encourage teams to bring in the Right People, Right Seat scorecard to do a bit more of the evaluation, like measuring up to an expectation or a bar of some kind. The majority of the check-ins are going to be coaching opportunities, a time to connect so that the team members know you care about them as humans, not just resources, and then give you the opportunity to, like you said, which is just as important, receive feedback from your team, along with giving feedback to your team.” (36:24—37:13) -Miranda

“Once a quarter, we build in that Right People, Right Seat scorecard. That's when we can use evaluation. Now, occasionally, you might bring evaluation into the mix at a check-in, or even sometimes at the end of the day, if it's a very urgent thing that needs to be discussed. But evaluation is going to be feedback that lets someone know exactly where they stand. This could be good or bad. It might be that we’re saying, ‘Hey, here’s some evaluation feedback for you. You're crushing it at hygiene reappointment percentage. You're at 98% week, over week, over week, hygienist, of reappointing your patients. Good job.’ Now, that might feel like appreciation, but that's actually evaluation feedback because it’s measured against a metric, a bar, or an expectation. Now, in the same breath, evaluation feedback could be, ‘Hey, guess what, hygiene friend? You're at like 60% hygiene reappointment and our goal is 90% or above. So, now let me bring in a little coaching. Here are some things I think that you might be able to do to help improve this over time.’ So, they're getting a little bit of evaluation. Any time you're measured against a bar of any kind, whether it be against a core value, against behavior expectations, system expectations, metrics, that's evaluation, good or bad. If you bring in the support mechanism of what I think you could do to improve, we've now layered in coaching. So, that's the big difference that can get a little unclear between those two types of feedback.” (37:14—38:50) -Miranda

“I would say evaluation probably hits triggers more often than other types of feedback because it is a bit more direct and there's a bit of identity that comes into play when someone is receiving it. But to be effective as a team, as a practice, we have to get comfortable with having these conversations when they're needed. You can balance the good with the bad. If we're always having evaluation feedback — how we're not meeting the expectations — and we're never providing feedback on how we are meeting the expectations, that’s when you get into trouble.” (39:46—40:18) -Miranda

“A lot of times, what we see leaders do is immediately say like, ‘Ugh, I don't know what I'm going to do with this person. Maybe we should just find someone else.’ But have you put the work in as a leader to truly lead and develop your people?” (43:34—43:46) -Miranda

“Intentional feedback is the key. I would encourage every single person listening to really check yourself on how often you give appreciation and positive evaluation. It's probably not as often as you would like or would think, and it's probably not as often as your team would like. You’ve got to balance it. If all anybody is ever hearing is what they did wrong, that's when we hear from teams like, ‘Well, I don't want to get in trouble.’ ‘Well, why didn't you tell me about it?’ ‘Well, I don't want to get in trouble.’ Any time I have team members that tell me they think they're going to get in trouble from their doctor, I automatically know they're not getting enough appreciation and value-driven evaluation.” (43:54—44:31) -Miranda

“Just because you've let it boil over and you can't take it anymore, that doesn't mean it's time to have that conversation. It needs to match when the receiver is ready to receive it. And you have to assume blind spots. You have to know that there may be things driving you absolutely crazy, Doctor, that your team member has no idea is even a problem. You're festering in your office and on your drive home about it, and they’ve never even seen it. They have no idea. So, we have to assume that those blind spots exist. Lean into developing and bringing awareness to our team members versus immediately resulting in discipline, evaluation, or something that might be met with defensiveness.” (45:40—46:25) -Miranda

“Ultimately, feedback is hard because you're growing people and you're growing yourself, and growing is hard. Growth is hard, and making those changes is hard.” (46:26—46:35) -Miranda

“The biggest factor [holding dentists back from giving feedback] is fear. They might think, ‘They're going to take it personally, and that's going to be uncomfortable,’ or, ‘I'm afraid that they might get mad or quit. I'm afraid they're not going to like me anymore.’ If you're a high I [on DiSC], you want everyone to like you. It’s a party all the time. So, the fear thoughts might start to show up like this. If the fear thought is, ‘Well, what if they take it personally and it gets uncomfortable?’ What that might sound like is, ‘Well, I don't want to hurt their feelings.’ So, why is it harmful? You might delay or water down helpful feedback, which allows bad habits to grow. If you reframe that, feedback is a gift. If I deliver it with empathy, it's going to help them grow in a good way versus allowing those bad habits to grow.” (47:10—47:51) -Miranda

“That fear thought of, ‘They might get mad or quit.’ It might sound like, ‘She's been under a lot of stress. I’d better not pile anything on. It’s so hard to find hygienists right now,’ that kind of thing. But if we avoid the feedback, it's going to enable those performance issues to continue. That can hurt the whole team. Sometimes, that can even hurt patients. So, if we can reframe a leadership mindset that hard conversations protect the team, they protect our patients, and they improve that individual success over time. It's reframing, mentally, the outcome and being really focused to that eye on the horizon to what we want to see happen. We have to go down this hard path.” (47:52—48:30) -Miranda

“Fear of, ‘They're not going to like me anymore,’ might be like, ‘Well, if I give them feedback, it's going to change our relationship. What if she starts ignoring me? She tends to hold a grudge.’ Well, it's harmful because your desire to be liked might outweigh your responsibility to lead. And you're certainly going to upset your really awesome team members if you allow a not awesome team member to continue down this path simply because it's easier for you or you're afraid they might not like you anymore. Leadership reframe: being liked is nice. Being respected for fairness and clarity and being a strong leader is so much better.” (48:31—49:09) -Miranda

“People always ask, ‘When do I give [feedback]?’ When we’re looking at the types of feedback, when you're looking at appreciation, give it immediately, whenever you can. Usually, that's received positively. You can usually do it easily. You don't have to think things through or work yourself up with appreciation. You can also save it for one-on-one, and you can bring it to your quarterly scorecard. There's really no time in which appreciation is not welcomed by your team members. Generally, it doesn't require a whole lot of mental or emotional energy from you as a leader.” (49:31—50:07) -Miranda

“There are some particular triggers that can happen for people when they get any type of feedback. When we're providing coaching, we can look at coaching right now if it's clear, it's concise, and it's constructive. I like to think of examples that are things that could potentially impact other team members or perhaps patients — that we don't want to wait to provide this type of feedback, it’s something we need to give now. Yes, you can do that now in the moment if it’s clear and behind it isn't bottled up emotion or resentment. If it needs discussion or context, then you're going to want to save it for a one-on-one. If we're waiting for that quarterly scorecard, like, yes, you can build some coaching into the quarterly scorecard. But you don't really want to wait and hold all of your coaching for a quarterly scorecard. Or for some people who are doing it twice a year with big teams, that's too delayed. It's not going to be as useful. So, with coaching, you're going to want to do that in the moment if it's quick, clear, and not met with emotional flooding behind the delivery. And one-on-ones, which are every four to six weeks, you're going to be able to add an element of discussion or context. Waiting till every quarter, every six months, or an annual evaluation to provide someone with coaching is far too long.” (51:45—53:11) -Miranda

“When you look at evaluation, which is judging against a standard . . . we have it marked here not to deliver evaluation in the moment. But I would argue that if it’s positive evaluation, you could. Evaluation, in general, because it is to some degree a level of evaluation or judgment, should be held for these private one-on-ones with opportunity to discuss things further. So, your one-on-one meetings, and perfect for your quarterly scorecard because you have metrics right there in your scorecard that you're measuring against. If you remember, evaluation is measured against a standard, a behavior, a metric — something specific to let that person know where they stand. The scorecard is the perfect opportunity to deliver that feedback.” (53:12—54:03) -Miranda

“It's important to think about feedback as a gift and not a punishment — not only as you, the giver, but also as the receiver. When feedback is given well, it really shows belief in someone's potential. It helps them to know that you care about them and where you want to help them go. Try not to hold back in fear and instead gift your team the clarity of feedback. Clear is kind. People want to know where they stand, and they want to hear it consistently.” (56:11—56:39) -Miranda

“Your future depends on one thing: trust. People have to trust you. In order to do that, they have to know where they stand with you at all times. Your team members can like you, but they might not trust you. When you are consistent, clear, and calm, you can earn both of those. They can like you and trust you — and they will. I promise you.” (57:49—58:12) -Kirk

Snippets:

0:00 Introduction.

2:02 About ACT’s BPA, TTT, and Pro Coaching.

5:09 Why this is an important topic.

8:33 The value of strong communication.

13:24 Clear is kind.

17:57 E – R = C: Systems and core values.

27:53 Keys to giving clear feedback.

32:15 The different types of feedback.

43:48 Key elements of feedback.

46:35 Giving feedback without fear.

50:58 When to give feedback.

54:03 Feedback type examples.

55:48 Final takeaways.

59:18 More about ACT’s BPA.

Miranda Beeson, MS, BSDH Bio:

Miranda Beeson has over 25 years of clinical dental hygiene, front office, practice administration, and speaking experience. She is enthusiastic about communication and loves helping others find the power that words can bring to their patient interactions and practice dynamics. As a Lead Practice Coach, she is driven to create opportunities to find value in experiences and cultivate new approaches.

Miranda graduated from Old Dominion University, and enjoys spending time with her husband, Chuck, and her children, Trent, Mallory, and Cassidy. Family time is the best time, and is often spent on a golf course, a volleyball court, or spending the day boating at the beach.
ACT Dental Team

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