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957: Beat Burnout With Better Systems – Miranda Beeson

When you're burned out, it leads to chaos. Luckily, there's a cure! In this episode, Kirk Behrendt brings back Miranda Beeson, ACT’s director of education, to share five steps to create a solid system that will keep your practice running smooth and stress-free. To learn how better systems can bring joy back into your practice, listen to Episode 957 of The Best Practices Show!

 

Learn More About Miranda:

Learn More About ACT Dental:

More Helpful Links for a Better Practice & a Better Life:

Episode Resources:

Main Takeaways:

  • Align with your team about what you're creating.
  • Convey the “why” to get understanding and commitment.
  • Identify where exactly your systems apply. Be very specific.
  • Define when your systems should be activated and followed.
  • Assign responsibilities clearly so everyone knows who does what.
  • Determine how your system will be applied with clear, specific steps.
  • Document your systems. If they aren’t written down, then they don’t exist.
  • Do this process together as a team. Get their weigh-in so that you get buy-in.
  • Constantly revisit, review, and revise your systems. Don't just set it and forget it.

Quotes:

“Burnout causes dentists and team members to lose the joy in their profession. We hear it as coaches quite often. The dentists in our community love being dentists. I'm a dental hygienist; I loved being a dental hygienist. But what would pull that joy from that profession for me, and what happens for a lot of dentists in our community, is when we feel like we're churning and burning or we're spinning in circles. We're talking about the same things over and over and not coming to any solution, or we have team members who we feel like can't make decisions on their own, or if you're a team member and you feel like you're not allowed to make a decision on your own, or you don't know what to do — it can come from every angle in the dental practice, and it's often the result of unclear systems, repeated chaos, and too much dependency on people in the practice and not enough dependency on written aligned systems.” (9:19—10:18) -Miranda

“When you're burned out, you make bad decisions.” (18:49—18:52) -Kirk

“The systems are what really get to the root of it all and create a cure for that chaos and for that burnout. So, if we can be really consistent with creating systems, the systems become what run the business, and our people are what run the systems . . . Everyone on your team is a human resource — and they're humans before they're a resource. When you have systems that run the business and people that run the systems, it really allows for you to lean into that human aspect of who each person on your team is, and it allows them the freedom to open up and really bring their best selves to that system and to your practice and, ultimately, to your patients.” (19:32—20:17) -Miranda

“A lot of times, it's that there's not documented expectations for who does what, when, where, and how. When we have systems documented, it is very, very clear what the expectation is for the how, now we have something that we can refer to when we're talking to our team about performance, underperformance, overperformance, whatever it may be, because we have documented and all aligned and agreed on what is the expectation of how we manage our sterilization center, what is the expectation for how we treat periodontal disease, what is the expectation for how we process appeals to our insurance claims — every little thing. I joke with teams, like, all the way down to who replaces the toilet paper, how often, and when and where do we order it from. You laugh at me, but it has actually been on a team's issue list before, like, ‘We keep running out of toilet paper,’ all the way down to replacing the paper in the printer. It's crazy over time. Once a practice becomes systematic, you crave those systems for everything.” (23:31—24:41) -Miranda

“We have an equation with ACT called E – R = C. This means expectations minus reality equals conflict. So, in every dental practice, and really in every family and every business anywhere, if there's not really clear expectations, then it's hard for the reality to meet those unspoken or unclear or undocumented expectations, so we're going to have conflict. Now, you might also have conflict — there are really clear expectations, we've got this system documented, we are very clear on what's expected of this, and the reality still might not meet that expectation, and we have conflict. But at least we have the expectation documented somewhere to reference.” (25:15—26:03) -Miranda

“It is so powerful when somebody makes a promise and keeps that . . . and the only thing that allows you to be able to keep those promises are systems.” (28:20—28:30) -Kirk

“The first step of every system is to get really clear and align as a team on what is this system that we're creating. So, the “what”. We want to align as a team on exactly what it is that we're doing. Is it a protocol? Is it a daily checklist? Is it a follow-up process? Is it a new communication flow? We really want to create a label for this system that says what this is very clearly . . . Specific is terrific. Vague is the plague. The more specific you can be around each of these steps, starting with the “what”, the clearer it's going to be for your existing team members to replicate this over time, and for you to be able to introduce this to new team members as they come on board. You really want to begin every system conversation by clarifying the “what”. What is the scope and the goal of what this is that we're creating together? Get aligned on that before you even move on to whatever that next step is going to be for you.” (29:45—30:55) -Michelle

“We also love and often talk about . . . leading in with the “why”. So, once we know what we're creating, it's really important to align as a team on why. Why are we even taking time in this team meeting to work on this system together? So, people committing to what they understand — without weigh-in, there's no buy-in. When people understand why we're doing this, it's going to be so much easier for your team to step in and commit to something they believe in and understand.” (30:55—31:29) -Miranda

“The next step in a system is where. This one is important . . . The where is really identifying where this system applies. It might be in a specific operatory, it might be in a designated physical place or software, or it might be on a specific type of patient or service. Sometimes, yes, it might just be in our dental practice. But occasionally, it might be in our sterilization room, or in the lab, or in the doctor operatories, or in our break room, or in Open Dental, or in Eaglesoft, or wherever you're working in your practice management software. It's really important to make sure we're specific about where this system is going to be taking place. Again, specific is terrific. If it's not clear where it happens, it may not happen anywhere.” (36:13—37:10) -Miranda

“The next piece is the “when”. So, when should this system be activated or followed? Define the timing and the triggers. It could be as simple as daily or per patient. It could be after treatment is presented. Maybe that's the trigger. Maybe we're writing a system for an insurance appeal, so the “when” is when a claim comes through as denied. We want to indicate very specifically when is this happening.” (37:51—38:19) -Miranda

“The next piece is “who”. Every system needs ownership, assigning roles clearly. Who is responsible for this? Who is supporting this? It might say the administrative team because perhaps there's a system that truly is, or it's your periodontal protocol system and the “who” is the hygiene department, or the “who” might be the doctors and the hygienists diagnosing periodontal disease. But when everyone owns it, nobody owns it. So, there does need to be clarity to who is responsible.” (39:53—40:31) -Miranda

“Don't point the finger at the person — point it at the system.” (42:26—42:29) -Kirk

“When you're sitting side by side and you can point your finger at that system, it's very, very rarely a people problem. It can be. But if they're the right person, they fit your core values, and they are really supposed to be on your team because they are the right person for what we’re trying to do here, the majority of the time, they want to be meeting your expectations. It’s just a matter of, are those expectations clear? Being able to point at that piece of paper on a table sitting next to your team member, collaborating, is a lot easier and it's going to be a way more productive conversation than sitting there in their operatory pointing at them, saying, ‘You're not doing what I need you to do.’ But like you said, on the backside of it, maybe they didn't even know. Now, they might say they didn't know, and you're like, ‘But I have said this 7,000 times.’ It doesn't matter if it's not written down, whether you like to hear that or not. You can say it 700,000 times. But if you don't have that signed piece of paper — and I say piece of paper; it could be digital — that says, ‘Yeah, we did talk about exactly this,’ and you're able to point to that system, it makes the clarity so much stronger. It's not about the people. It's usually a broken system or a system that isn't specific enough.” (43:48—45:12) -Miranda

“The last piece around creating a system is the how. So, we're getting through what is it, why are we doing it, where do we do it, when do we do it, and who does it. Now, we're going to get into the meat of how. This is when we're going to break the system into clear, specific, and measurable steps. We want to be clear about what happens first, next, and last. What tools and templates are involved? . . . I tell my coaching clients, ‘Pretend I'm showing up to fill in for one of your team members today. Could I grab that system and know exactly how to do it with the expectations of what you want it to be?’ So, this is why I think it's great to have, say, your admin team write up a system and then share it with the hygiene team. They don't do those functions on a regular basis, so they'll be able to say, like, ‘Oh, wait. I think there might be a gap here because you said to do this, but where do I do that at in the software?’ And the more repeatable and teachable the system is, the more freedom it's going to create in everyday life for everyone.” (46:37—47:44) -Miranda

“We like to talk to our teams about the 80% approach. The first time you're taking an attempt at the system, you want it to be an 80% approach. Start with just the first 80% and see what you can do from there. Then, maybe hand it off to someone else, or come back later and do another round, another 80%. Then, another 80%. Little, by little, by little, by little, you will get to that 100% mark — or at least 99.8%, because we're always working on these. They're never actually done. But if we say, ‘Oh my gosh. That's going to take me three hours to write that system. I don't know when the next time I'm going to have three hours is,’ you're never going to write the system. But if you have 30 minutes and you can draft out and throw your first 80%, like big-picture framework out on it, great. The next time you have 30 minutes, you can layer in. The next time, you can layer in. Or a lot of our teams will work on these during their team meetings.” (48:27—49:30) -Miranda

“It's really important to make sure that these processes are done together as a team. Implementing them is not going to be as successful if everyone is not engaged. Like I mentioned earlier, when there's no weigh-in from your team, there is not going to be buy-in.” (52:07—52:21) -Miranda

“Old habits are really hard to break. They just are. So, when you create a new system, it's going to be really important to not just set it and forget it but to make sure that that new system is posted in maybe a few places. Maybe you have a cheat sheet in every op for a little while until it becomes a regular rhythm and habit in your practice.” (55:42—56:02) -Miranda

“If it's not written down, it doesn't exist. Once you create these systems, you don't want to set it and forget it. They need to be tested. They need to be tweaked. We need to make sure that we set scheduled time at team meetings to work on what's working, what's not, and make edits. We want to ask for feedback. We want to encourage the team to say, ‘Hey, we've been working on that new system now for about a month. We do it every day. Here's what I've been noticing.’” (56:48—57:15) -Miranda

“We don't need better employees; we need better systems. Like we said earlier, when the systems are in place, the systems run the practice, and then your people get to facilitate those systems and bring their very best to them. When your team helps build the systems and they help run the systems, that's what's going to bring you to success. Without your team's weigh-in, there will be no buy-in. They have inside knowledge that you don't have about some of these little intricacies that happen in different departments around the practice. And usually, they have really good ideas floating around inside that we have to draw out, like, ‘Hey, have you ever thought about what could be a better way to do this?’ Maybe there is a better way. You always say the seven most expensive words in dentistry are, ‘That's the way we've always done it.’” (58:36—59:24) -Miranda

“Systems are the way to keep the practice running smooth, efficiently, and reducing everybody's stress. Ultimately, no one wants to go home and have to decompress in their driveway for 20 minutes, or maybe even cry before they walk in the front door. So, if we can create environments and practices where — hey, our purpose is Better Practice, Better Life. We want to help people have better practices so that you can feel better and really enjoy your life. Find the joy in this profession, then go and have energy left to be joyful with what matters most to you outside of your practice doors.” (1:07:24—1:08:02) -Miranda

Snippets:

0:00 Introduction.

5:31 ACT’s BPA and Smile Source.

8:24 Why this is an important topic.

19:23 Chaos is the symptom, and systems are the cure.

22:37 Set clear expectations.

28:33 Creating New Agreements, Policies, & Systems: What.

30:55 Creating New Agreements, Policies, & Systems: Why.

36:13 Creating New Agreements, Policies, & Systems: Where.

39:53 Creating New Agreements, Policies, & Systems: Who.

46:37 Creating New Agreements, Policies, & Systems: How.

48:18 The 80% approach.

51:41 Revisit, review, and revise your systems as a team.

55:41 Don't set it and forget it.

57:59 Final takeaways.

1:01:07 Q&A: Can there be an effective marriage of cross-training and systems?

1:08:07 ACT’s To The Top Study Club.

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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