#891: Who Builds the Ops Manual?

Dental A Team Podcast

Tiff and Dana take a look at the mechanisms that go into building an operations manual: who participates versus who keeps everyone on track, what’s the timeline, what type of accountability methods come into play, and more.

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Transcript:

The Dental A Team (00:02.51)

Hello, Dental A Team. We are so excited to be here with you. I have the one and only Dana back on the podcast with me today. And Dana, your hair looks amazing. I hope people are watching, because I love this side swoop and curl thing you got going on. It's super cute, super cute.

Dana (00:20.448)

It's Friday, right? Fun Friday.

The Dental A Team (00:22.52)

Fun Friday, I love it. You're right, you're right. Dana, just so you guys know is, well, you guys already know she's my fashionista when it comes to workout apparel and athleisure wear, which we live in. So she's my fashionista there, but she also teaches me tips and tricks on how to do my hair. One time I made her record herself on how to, I think it's called the wave now, it's like the crimper thing, and she literally had to record herself to send it to me. I'm the older sister.

So I don't have people in my life to teach me these things. Sorry, Eileen on Dana for that. So now you're gonna have to record yourself doing your hair today. Thanks. thank you, thank you. I am excited to be here today. You are, I say this constantly, but you are like our Ops Manual guru within our company. You have done so much work on the Ops Manual itself for us and you work with clients on it and you've done.

Dana (00:58.02)

Okay, do it again, always for YouTube.

The Dental A Team (01:17.416)

Ops Manual masterminds and creation courses, like you've done it all. So I've had a few things come up where practices are asking, they're kind of writing in, doctors are asking who does the Ops Manual because doctors will sign up, they'll take it on, they're like, yes, Tiff, we're gonna do this Ops Manual, sign me up, Dental A Team, send me your manual. Like, okay, great, you signed up for the manual. And then the doctor's like, well, now I'm seriously overwhelmed because there's no way I can do all of this.

So I thought it would be nice to take a couple of minutes today to really talk about who should be doing the operations manual and what that looks like. Like how do we hold the accountabilities? What are the parameters? What are all of those pieces? Because it's not, in my opinion, the doctor and it's not just one person. I think the doctors, the associates, the everybody hygienists have a part to play in it. But Dana, when you're working with your clients and maybe specifically, even when you're working on your courses, your opti -manual courses that you've done in the past, how do you

have doctors really figure out who to have build out those operations manuals.

Dana (02:19.448)

Yeah, absolutely. I completely agree with you, Tiff. Right. If one person were to build this, and specifically the doctor who is also doing dentists thing, it's a huge project. And I feel like it could potentially take you years. And by the time you're done, it needs updated. You've added new things. So I think going in with realistic expectations of who's supposed to participate, how are we going to get this massive project done. And it really does take full team.

The Dental A Team (02:27.296)

Yeah.

The Dental A Team (02:34.836)

Yes, exactly.

It's Nolan Boyd, doesn't even matter.

Dana (02:49.355)

Okay, so there are lots of pieces in the operations manual and so core values mission vision Yes, those things can be done by doctors your job descriptions could be done by doctor and you don't have an om maybe doctor that does fall on you but then once we get to like the how to's the checklists the task lists all of those pieces that is full team all on board there who sits in that seat and does those things day in and day out and Honestly, ideally that's who you

want to be building them because they know the systems, know the protocols, they know all the button clicks of everything much better than no offense doctors typically you do right for each position.

The Dental A Team (03:26.006)

Yeah.

The Dental A Team (03:31.222)

Yeah, for sure. For sure. I agree. I totally agree. think doctors want to have the control of it and they want to know and I do think doctors I do think you need to go through it to know those different clicks and to know what your team members are doing. But we don't expect you and this is why we have training. This is why we have clients. We don't expect you to know everything that every position is supposed to be doing or is doing. And again, that's why there's training.

They don't even always know everything they should be doing. And so to expect you to be able to develop all of it, again, I agree mission, vision, core values. Those can be built out with the team for sure, but that is like near and dear to the doctor's heart. Why are you here? Why is your practice in business? What does that look like? And job descriptions. I'd love to tailor the job descriptions, Dana, to the results of that position. So like,

Who embodies that position? What's the ultimate result? I think like treatment coordinator is to build relationships and sell treatment, obviously, right? Close cases, get production on a schedule. But when we put that like build relationships in there, when check -in's job is to successfully collect all information from patients while building that relationship with them for a long lasting patient, know, lifetime with our company.

Those are the types of pieces I think that people miss in a job description. They hop into that job description and it's like bullet points of like, well, these are all the things that you would do in this job. That job description is literally describing how can I win within my position? So for doctors and office managers to build that out, you guys are literally building it out based off of why do I have this position in my practice? What's the point of this position? And then from there expanding. So I agree, I think those pieces are key.

elements that doctors office managers can have their hands in but to think all of those pieces that you were talking about Dana, I just think of like all the front office how to is like how to send a claim and a doctor's like screenshotting the ledger and like screenshotting with a little arrow like this is not this is not what I need you spending your time on like I need you spending your time on that lab case that no one else can develop and create right? Let the billing representative take the screenshots of the ledger and put the little arrows in there.

The Dental A Team (05:50.586)

That's not for you to do. So I totally agree. I everyone needs to have a hand in it at a certain point. Now, Dana, hard questions for everyone needs to come up for us. And I just, actually, you guys, I just talked to a doctor the other day and it wasn't necessarily about the operations manual, but it was just accountability in general. He's like, Tiff, I'm off track. Like, how do I get back on track? Like, where am I failing? Why isn't this working? Because he started like turning the dial on.

accountability and really putting it in place and the team was like bucking up like what do you mean like what the heck and like well when you're not used to it when it's not something you've ever had and then you implemented it's kind of like telling your kid all of a sudden like hey you need like your room needs to be clean but you've lived the first six years of this kid's life with a chaotic messy room and all of a sudden you're like no you got to clean your room by tomorrow right like you got to get it done so they're gonna buck up so

I kind of related it this morning as I was thinking about this podcast to the operations manual, because it's an added piece that we're adding to their list of duties. We're adding now, build the operations manual. They're going to buck up a little bit and me, procrastinator queen and forgetful diva over here. I'm going to put it to the last because I'm like, I've got other things that patient facing. got things to do. This is going to be the last thing that I do. And then likely I'm going to forget that I was supposed to do it. And then a year goes by.

and a doctor's like, hey Tiff, I still don't have an operations manual. Okay, well, probably missing some accountability. So how do you structure those accountabilities with the practices that you work on? Because you do really well with succeeding and getting systems in place and operations manuals done. How do you help them structure those accountability pieces?

Dana (07:38.488)

Yeah, and I and I do feel like this is where I say put one person in charge of checking in looking at due dates assigning tasks those pieces and Ideally doctors. I'd love to see this be something that you delegate what that doesn't mean though Is you don't check on the person that you've delegated it to? I usually say pick a lead pick an office manager pick somebody who has the capacity to take it on in your practice and they are like your operations manual guru now that means then you just have

The Dental A Team (07:54.636)

good call.

Dana (08:06.594)

weekly monthly check -ins with that person to ensure that everything is on track. So I think assigning it to one person to really keep track on the rollout, keep track of all the pieces, because it's a lot of pieces. And so we need to make sure that we've got deadlines set for things.

The Dental A Team (08:18.208)

Okay.

Dana (08:23.116)

Tasks assigned to individual team members and so the one it comes to that tools for the person who is in charge of keeping it organized and keeping it on track is Really what works best for your team if a whiteboard works best and they need their weekly, know every week We're putting up what we need to get done Who's doing it by when are they supposed to have it done? And how are they to get it to you? Whether you put it on a whiteboard whether you create an Excel spreadsheet, right? And you are tracking all of that in there figure out what's going to work best for

The Dental A Team (08:48.139)

Mm -hmm.

Dana (08:53.03)

your team, make sure that there's a person that's overseeing it, and then make sure you as the doctor owner are checking in with that person so that you just have a pulse on things moving forward.

The Dental A Team (09:05.085)

I agree. And I, I'm going to pull out that you said, choose what's going to work for your team. There is a lot of doctors out there. There are a lot of doctors who thrive with Excel spreadsheets and the nitty gritty things and like all of those thought processes really work well for them because that's how your brains are working. And that's fantastic, but not everyone jives with an Excel spreadsheet. So

If you create you go through all this work and you create an Excel spreadsheet and you're like, you guys, this is going to be amazing. This is what we're using. And then they don't dive with it and they never look at it. You're going to be really upset. Like you're going to, your heart's going to hurt. You're to be like, put so much work into this. I don't understand. They don't listen to me. Like, why don't they do what I asked them to do? Dana said, do what works for your team and the visual. I love the visual of the whiteboard in the break room or wherever.

conference room, like wherever you guys have that whiteboard. I love the visual because it's a constant reminder. Sometimes, you know, Excel spreadsheets get forgotten about because you have to pull them back up. You got to have it open. You can only have one person in there at a time. Like there's limitations to it. And an Excel spreadsheet may work for your team. That may be the perfect option for them and they love it. And that's perfect too. But think about where's your team at? What's going to be the most beneficial and what's going to remind them to get something done. So I do love that like to tack it off.

Check it off, check it off. And then another thing I want to pull out is that you said buy wind dates. So break it apart is what you said, break apart the pieces that need to be done, the structure of what needs to happen to get an operations manual completed, and then set deadlines. And Dana, I know with my clients that have that I've finished this or that I have them working on it now, it'll be like, okay, you're at your how tos. And I want you to have five how tos written.

by next Friday, September, whatever that date is, sixth. Is that how you mean, like, pick it apart and do a buy win date? Like, really break it down and simplify it? Because I think, if I do, if somebody told me, they were like, you gotta have all your how -tos done by December 31st. Like, today is, what, August 30th, something like that, while we're recording this? Like, have it done by the end of the year. I'm like, cool, I got time.

The Dental A Team (11:24.183)

And guess what's gonna sit there until the end of the year when I'm in a mad dash rush to try to get things done. But if they said, okay, or if I broke it down for myself. So if that was my goal, all right, great, we're gonna have this done by December 31st. I would have to tell myself, okay, I'm gonna do, I have X amount of how -to's and I'm gonna do X amount per week until December 31st. And I've got to check those off. I've got to build my plan. I've got to build my path to get there.

and I'm gonna have to check those off as I do them. Otherwise, we're gonna get to December 31st and it's gonna be like, I got half of them done because I started last night and I really just didn't have the time. I had four months. But I couldn't find the time, I didn't make the time to do it. So we've got all this planned out, we've got it all going. think weekly meetings, if you're weekly meetings or once a week check -in even during morning huddle, if you're doing morning huddles, like really just getting a baseline.

for where everyone's at and having, like you said, that one person who's responsible for the full accountability, but everyone's truly like holding each other responsible and accountable. And the doctors are not just fully out of the loop because I see that a lot with operations manuals, with anything where doctors just like, cool, hands off. And I love that. want a hands off approach, but I don't want you to be frustrated in the end when we get there. And then there's a million excuses from an entire team as to why it's not done. So.

I love that you said that Dana. I love that you pulled that out. If the doctor is the office manager, what do you usually do? Cause you do have quite a few clients actually, cause they don't have a true office manager right now or yet. How do you help them structure that accountability since it is honestly falling to them in most ways.

Dana (13:12.876)

Yeah, and I basically break it down. There are each sections to an operations manual and then once you've got it broken down, it truly is, like you said, delegating those pieces in small chunks that are manageable for that doctor in an amount of time. So I think it's setting clear expectations of

When are team members supposed to work on this? Are we doing it during patient care hours? Are we setting chunks aside? Are we all just going to stay late every Friday, right? What are pizza? Crank them out? Are we going to like send one the lunch hour each week together and type up as many as we can. So I think it's the breaking it down into little chunks of manageable tasks, and then figuring out when we're going to do it and making sure that they are assigning team members and how our team members to communicate it up to them.

The Dental A Team (13:35.677)

Mm

The Dental A Team (13:40.221)

I love that.

Dana (14:01.47)

that things are done so they're not chasing people down for things. I think an easy way to do that is build it into things that are already consistent in your practice. Like you said, morning huddles. If that is already consistent in your practice, pick a Thursday, everybody reports to you what they've done. If you have end of day checklists, right, then your how -to's get handed in with your end of day checklist and you write off which ones you've done. So just figuring out what have I already been able to keep consistent that I can just make this

The Dental A Team (14:04.123)

Mm.

Dana (14:31.214)

a part of it makes accountability for a doctor who is also the OM who is spearing this to make it easy.

The Dental A Team (14:38.917)

Yeah, gosh, that's brilliant. Basically, what you're doing is your habit stacking at that point, right? Because you've already got the habit in place. And so we're taking a habit that's already working. We're stacking that next layer onto it because operations manual dig doing these things and staying accountable to it is not a habit yet. So if we can have it stack, which is atomic habits, and it's an incredible book, if you guys haven't listened to or read that one yet, you should or I'm sure that we've done a book club or five on it here.

But if you can have it stack that and really just like she said, like dual purpose, those accountability pieces, it makes it easy. I think we overcomplicate, we overcomplicate the operations manual, number one, because it's so overcomplicated. doesn't have to be that hard. And then we tack on overcomplicating any kind of accountability in a dental practice. And it just makes it hard. makes it, I think it makes it feel like we're not trusted. It makes it feel a certain way, which makes it more difficult. And then doctors are like,

hands in the air, Tiff, can't do this. They just won't do what I asked them to do. I can't do accountability. And then we're like this downwards file of unraveling everything. So I love that habit stack it. Okay, so who should build the operations manual? It sounds like everybody sounds like doctors take apart, pull apart the pieces and divvy them out or have your office manager do it if you do have an office manager. And then you guys as a team really set the cadence, set the accountability, figure out what you want that to look like how long

I think doctors, another word of advice when you come in and you say, this is what I need you to do all of these things by this date Totally fine, like totally fair. Have your accountability set in place. But if you can come in and say, okay, guys, this is the project. Let's brainstorm and see how long do you think this is going to take us as a team to get this done. Now you have some buy -in on the dates because they helped you figure it out and you've taken into consideration their workload.

so that they can take into consideration their workload and give you actual dates that they think they can get it done by. So lots of tidbits there, Dana. This was fantastic. I think something that they definitely need. We're coming up on the last quarter and hopefully we're wrapping up some operations manuals or we're getting ready to start them. I know we used to do October hard start on operations manuals. So that's right around the corner guys. Dana, thank you for your words of wisdom always on the operations manual. I loved all of those pieces today.

The Dental A Team (17:05.583)

And I appreciate you joining me for this podcast today.

Dana (17:09.517)

I had as much fun as I always do, Tiff. Thanks for having me.

The Dental A Team (17:11.978)

Good, of course, and we'll go learn how to do that hair and we'll let everybody else know later. awesome. Everyone, thank you so much for being here. I hope that this was beneficial for you. I hope that even if you have your operations manual done already, when you go to redo it, when you go to update it, you can reference some of these tools here in this podcast because we always want them to be super useful for you. So let us know, drop us a five star review below. We love seeing them. We love hearing from you. [e-mail]. We'll catch you next time, guys.