Imagine having a process in place where you set up your team to handle conflict resolution and address issues more easily? Or what if you could easily be able to identify the right team members to hire?

It may feel too good to be true, but it's a system that many businesses throughout the world use to clarify, simplify, and achieve their vision. In today's episode of Beyond Bitewings, Ash welcomes EOS implementor Jeff Schafer to discuss how dental practices could use this system to grow a better and stronger practice.

They talk about the role of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) in enhancing leadership, management, and overall organizational effectiveness and give examples he's seen in different companies, but especially dental practices. They also talk about why company values are crucial to creating the right culture and fostering team cohesion, building organizational health, and ultimately driving business success within the dental industry.

To find out more and look up Jeff, visit: https://www.eosworldwide.com/implementer

If you have specific questions about any of these topics for your practice, or if you'd like to have another question answered on a future podcast, please reach out to the Edwards & Associates team.

Visit us at: https://EandAssociates.com

Episode Breakdown:

• After selling a business, why Jeff was rehired and grew the business, and became a successful coach
• Emphasizing core values for building dream teams
• Why core values are crucial for employee alignment
• The book "Good to Great" by Jim Collins emphasizes core values and right people in the right seat
• Simplify systems and focus on key functions
• Creating discipline and accountability to solve issues
• The People Analyzer tool validates core values, facilitates conversations
• Teach and execute efficient business strategies

Implementing EOS tools can help achieve business objectives.

Welcome to Beyond by Wings, the business side of dentistry brought to you by Edwards and Associates PC. Join us as we discuss how to build your dental practice, optimize your income, and plan for your future. This podcast is distributed with the understanding that Edwards and Associates PC is not rendering legal, accounting, or professional advice. Listeners should consult with their business advisers before acting on any of the information that is shared. At Edwards and Associates PC, our business is the business of dentistry. For help or more information, visit our website at enassociates.com. Hello, and welcome to another episode of Beyond Bitewings. In today's episode, we will be talking about the people side of your business.

I think oftentimes, we forget that in a dental practice, we're not really selling products. We're selling services that are produced by the people, your team members, your staff members. And we felt like to start off the year, we need to talk a little bit about that, because the market has changed a lot. Whether we're talking about hiring the right kind of people or even with the retention part of good team members. So to talk further on this subject matter, we have a very special guest. His name name is Jeff Schafer. He's with EOS World. So Jeff,

how are you doing today? Doing well. Thanks, Ash.

Sure. So tell our listeners a little bit about you and what you do and how you plan to talk more about this subject matter.

I appreciate it. Thanks for having me here. And, yeah, my background, I'll give it just so you get a little context. I'm a 4th generation entrepreneur. I got started in Vancouver, Canada, grew and expanded my, services company to Frisco, Texas, where I found my true home, and grew that business to a point where I became really frustrated and realized it was sucking the life out of me. My kids were at home and I was working really late. So I sold my business, sold it to a group out of Ohio.

Mhmm.

And first thing they did is they hired me back, and the second thing they did is they hired a business coach, a particular type of business coach that does what's called EOS, so the entrepreneurial operating system. So I watched the company that I built with EOS. I watched it triple in size over 3 years. We were, we acquired a couple companies, and I was even in a 2 page magazine spread. I was famous in Cleveland for about 15 minutes. But it was fun, but then I realized, Hey, why didn't I do that in the 14 years approaching my exit? So I then brought this EOS tool into a few more companies. 1 I fit 1 failed fast, didn't hurt too much, and another one, I 5 x'd in a year. And it was during that time that I realized, I think I'd like to become a coach and just really help people with this.

That's me in a nutshell.

I see. And what is this EOS? Sounds like a software.

It does. It's something that helps you get more of what you want in your business. It's a complete and proven system. Mhmm. More than anything, we do what's called vision, traction, healthy. Vision, meaning getting everybody on the same page of where you're going and how you're gonna get there. And traction we we refer to traction as, like, discipline and accountability towards that vision. So everywhere you look, people are working on your stuff.

And healthy is just, you know, having a functional, cohesive, healthy team. Because leaders, sometimes as individuals, we're healthy, but you bring us together, we're not so healthy. So as go the leadership rest of the organization. Mhmm. I just get everybody building a right plan, working on that plan with discipline and accountability is a healthy, fun loving team that wants to work together.

Now the team members that you mentioned, like, how do you do that, or how can one do that, actually get leadership on the same page as the other team members?

Well, I'm gonna tell you something that I see, especially for dental offices and making sure you have great people in your organization. I'm gonna talk about one aspect of it. It's not the only aspect, but it's something that's been, slightly overused in its core values. I say overused because companies like Enron came along and said they had integrity as a core value, and some people may remember Enron dragged that word through the ringers. And so everybody has these core values, but in an EOS company, we live and breathe these core values. I take my clients through an exercise where we discover what their core values are, and then I teach them to execute on those core values by hiring, firing, rewarding, reviewing, and recognizing folks based on those core values. And when you truly, truly commit to that, you end up with a dream team. You end up with the folks that can actually take you to the next level.

That's one of the tools. That's one of my favorite ones.

It's interesting and fascinating what you're saying, and honestly, that's also something that we've come across at some point, whether we're reading a book or online, you know, doing our own research. I also feel like it's something that's easier said than done, like figuring out your core values. And in this instance, we're specifically talking about the business, so the business's core values. Like, how would one figure that part out? Well, if you wanna do

it yourself, I would read some great books by Patrick Lencioni. I would read Traction by US founder, Gina Wickman Mhmm. And Don Tinney, and sorta get up to speed on how you discover those core values. You don't aspire to them, you discover them in the people you already have.

Oh, wow. Okay.

You don't want those core values to be things that don't resonate. You want them to be things that you reek of, the things that you're that you're you really have in your organization. Otherwise, people aren't gonna follow you based on things that you don't really buy into.

That's right.

So they can't be things that you don't have or that you wish you had. Mhmm. They can't be things that in your industry, everyone has, like if I saw a bank that said honesty was a core value, I'd be like, well, it better be. I mean, you're a bank. Right. No. Like a dental office, if you if you if you say something like, caring about people's pain or something, it's like, so what? So what? You gotta you gotta take it a a level higher and find that core value, that thing that that is in your organization that, that makes that makes you different, that makes people wanna be be there. Not just internally, but even your vendors and your customers are attracted to those core values.

I

see. So these are inherent values that are authentic to you. So these are the what I'm hearing is that these cannot be values that you're going to make up, they should already be there so that your recognize them and be on the same page with you.

Yeah. They're not competencies. Mhmm. They're not things that you, want people to check a list and say that they've, you know, they can work towards. They're already there, and if they're not there, they're not there. Oh, I see. So they can't be things that don't resonate with folks, and they can't be things that have no, didn't come from any management intent. I knew an insurance fellow who said, I'll talk to folks with a wedding ring.

If they're married, that's the value that I, and it really that those 2 things have nothing to do with each other, and so valuing that really isn't gonna help his business. It's a bad value to have. Uh-huh. So you want things that, come about authentically, like you said, but also things that you can actually manage. The trick is not discovering them so much. Okay. It's execute and one of the filters, one of the ways you can see if it's truly a core value is, are you willing to fire somebody within 24 hours for never showing that core value? There's a litmus test right there. Right.

Right. You've got the right one if you know you would fire based on it. Mhmm. You've got the right one if you don't hire based on it or reward somebody. Yeah.

That would be a good marker. Yeah.

If you're not willing to do that, then you don't have a core value. Right. It might be something else, but it's not a core value. The real benefit of core values and getting, and making sure you've got the right people and you retain the right people is how you execute on those core values, making sure that day in, day out, month in, month out, you're sticking to those core values, and that the folks in your organization, every 3 months hear you talk about those core values. You do a state of the company.

I see.

You let them know where you're at according to the plan, and you repeat those core values. You tell them what they are.

Now in today's market, you know, when there's a shortage of certain professionals out there, and I'm going to call them out the hygienists. They're super hard to get hold of, at least at market rate or even a little bit higher than market rates, is their population has shrunk all of a sudden right after COVID. So in a situation like that, let's say, you know, when you put out an ad for a hygienist, and let's say you've only gotten 2 responses, and both of them, when you interview them, you kind of realize, oh, they don't really fit the core values that we have in place, but we really need them. What do you do in a situation like that?

If a client came to me and said, hey. We're gonna look past the core values. Well, first of all, they wouldn't do that. But if, if they ever did, I'd say, well, where do you think that's gonna end up? Because the ones who when you say what your values are Mhmm. They tend to just lean in and wanna be there. Oh, I see. They tend not about money for them. It's not about benefits or all the other things that you think they want.

They wanna be there because they feel they belong. Right. And that there's value in them being there because those values that you have are the ones that they have.

Mhmm.

I don't think it's a compromising point, at time of hire that commonly, but it is when you already have somebody that you know is a great performer in the organization, but they don't match your core values. And if that's the case, if you have somebody like that, what it looks like is every time they walk in the room, your shoulders just kinda go up. Everybody gets a little nervous. Right. And they're great at what they do, but they do not match your core values. And I ask my clients when they're in that situation, Hey, if you have somebody like that in the room, you gotta get rid of them. Yeah. Time to cut the back.

Yeah. When you're not looking, they're they're just, etching away at the culture and everything that you've created. And when you let them go, the the team will fill in the gap that they left Right. Regardless of how much of a performer they were, because they're gonna be so happy that they can go to work in in a place that, you know, that doesn't make them feel on edge. Right.

And that's not to say that people are not open to adapting, because I'm I'm sure you you actually mentioned this that, you know, sometimes they may lean towards your core values once they're hired. So if we can give them, let's say, a set period of time, let's call it a probationary period, to show if they can adapt to the core values, then that that should be fine, right?

Well, it's really hard to tell upon higher often if those core values are there, because people will tell you anything, and you can't really tell. It's core Executing core values comes when you actually see, like if you have like hardworking as a core value, Somebody leaves, everybody's there till 6 PM, but this person, like, leave at 5:30, and doesn't you know, just never finishes the job. You may say, hey. You you told me that you were hardworking, and I don't get the feeling like you are. And, yeah, in some circumstances, if that's all it takes is a conversation, that's fine. But if they say to you, Look, I'm just not that hardworking. Or if everybody, You don't even have to have a conversation because when they hear that you're serious about these core values, this is where executing with consistency works for you. They tend to just deselect themselves.

When they know you're serious about a a core value, like hardworking, they'll just realize I'm in the wrong place, and they'll leave. They'll quit.

Now what about conflict? Let's say you started off with your dream team, excellent people, but then something happened, and then now there's a conflict. For lack of a better term, you know, drama, basically, in the office with your staff members, and now all of a sudden they're not, you know, really sticking to the core values or, you know, just not being able to be as productive as they were. What do you do then as a leader?

Doctor. So there's this book called, Good to Great by Jim Collins. And it describes getting the right people in in the right seat. Mhmm. And right people is really about those core values, making sure they match those core values. Mhmm. So your core values are just in you. So if the truth is that they're not there and they're not authentic, you you need to just call it out and have a discussion with them.

And like I said, they'll deselect themselves. But I reason I mentioned right people, right seat is it's possible that they're just in the wrong seat, that they don't really understand what they're doing there. And you could have given them a great job description, but we find that if you boil their their function or what they do, not their title, but their function, down to 5 or 6 things, roles and responsibilities, things that you that they must do, and you you clearly identify what those are to them to so that they understand if you identify just 5, you just have to you just have to ask them if they get it.

Right.

If they want, and if they have the capacity to do it. Gets it means, is it in their DNA? Mhmm. You know, you wouldn't ask a bookkeeper to design the logo. You wouldn't ask a planner to balance the books. So is it at their DNA that wants it means, do they have the inclination? Do they jump out of bed to do this every day? And you can't tell that on hire, but over time, them showing up to do the work is really them showing that they want it. And capacity is just the learned ability, and it's it's meaning that you've got the education or the equivalent experience or both to do the job. So we we call that the GWC test, gets, wants, and has capacity. And once you define those 5 or 6 roles, and you compare it to whether, and what you're looking for is a, they get it, they want it and they have capacity.

You're looking for 3 yeses. If there's a no anywhere in there, you've gotta have a discussion and say, Hey, what seat in our organization would you fit in? Right.

Okay. So 5 to 6 roles. So that's actually a good point that you raised. So it is the leader's responsibility to properly describe the role of the individual that's been hired or that's been asked to join the team. And maybe and we talked a little bit about this before the recording is also setting some systems in place. The more defined and clear the system in place is, the easier it becomes for each individual who's part of that system. So cogs, so to speak, will work more efficiently?

A system, yes, but we we have to keep it simple. Right? We can have a but for entrepreneurial organizations who could really benefit by this use of this, system. If it if it's not simple, it won't get done. It won't get used. So, yeah, in your job description, you might have 25 things that you require, things like excellence in written and oral communication, and, you know, basic proficiency with computer skills, but that's kind of implied. What you really need to get down get their function down to are the things that they're accountable for, the things that you depend on them for uniquely. Like what do you do? And so yeah, when you boil it down, you simplify it. It's hard to do as a leader, but when you simplify it down to 5 or 6 things, you just become more clear to those who you're asking, to report to you.

So doing the work up front to clarify each of those, each function in the organization and then testing folks against that GWC test that I was saying really helps you understand if somebody's in the right seat or not.

[Dr. I know we talked about accountability from the, team member's side, but I'm also wondering if there should be some rule of accountability from the owner, the leader.

As it pertains to core values? Yeah. And earlier, I was saying that the tools we use are vision traction healthy, and you know what? The way we do that with core values is we train leaders to really, day in, day out, use those core values, execute those core values, reward, review, recognize folks based on core values, and hire and fire based on those core values. If they're consistent with that, that helps, but that's that's not necessarily a way to become you know, to create a culture of accountability. That's just something that you do in an EOS company with core values.

I see.

But as far as, like, creating that discipline and accountability, that becomes another, like, whack a mole issue that entrepreneurs have. It's like, great. We have great core values. We're executing on them, but we just don't feel like everybody's consistent, or, you know, our meetings are are rough, or people don't say what they you know, they don't really do what they say they're gonna do. So when accountability becomes an issue, there's a couple tools we use. 1 is a meeting pulse. Instead of having a lot of different meetings, in in the day and through the week, we actually have a particular agenda called the level ten meeting.

Mhmm.

And it takes folks through a sequence of questions or a sequence, an agenda that really just gets them through to a point where they solve issues together as a team. They do this once a week. This meeting pulse happens on the same day every week, starts at the same time, and it always ends on time. And by just creating a consistency of that agenda with that weekly meeting, it kind of makes the other meetings melt away because of what is required of the folks in the meeting. They begin to realize their role in in the vision of the company and where it's going forward. So that's one tool we use. Another one is this concepts, concept of rocks. Rocks are really just 90 day business priorities.

In Stephen Covey, there's a book out there where they talk about rocks, pebbles, sand, air, and water, and you've got a set amount of rocks, pebbles, and sand, and you've got a container, and you're told all of this will fit in the container. So the question is, what order do you put stuff into the container? Do you put the sand first, and then the pebbles, and then the rocks? Do you put the rocks and then the pebbles and the sand? Which one do you do first?

The rocks.

Always do the rocks first. The sand just sips in anyway, and then the and then the water in the air just works, and so we call it rocks because we find that when you have a big What we do is we ask our leadership teams to train their companies on this. And what we do is we we set 90 day objectives, and we teach the we teach our leaders to, get those done first in the 90 days. We find that if you build a goal for 1 year and you don't have, like, 90 day check ins, you tend to fray, like, folks tend to not get those objectives done. Rocks are 90 day business priorities. Another way to say it is imagine you're like logging, you're doing a logging, or you're building a road through a rainforest or somewhere, and every once in a while, somebody's gotta climb a tree to see that that road is going straight. And if the road's going straight, great, now you keep going down. So it's that climbing a tree.

You just gotta, every once in a while, see if you're on track with that vision, and that's the discipline of rocks. So what we do is we set 3 to 7 rocks or 90 day priorities for leaders in an organization, and 3 to 7 rocks for each individual leader every 90 days. So when you know what you wanna accomplish in a year and you decide upon what those, 3 to 7 goals are every 90 days, you just have a greater chance of getting there.

That's a great analogy. Now, we talked a little bit about how to pick the right team members. What about retention, the part where we can continue to keep the excellent team members, within the practice?

Oh, that's a great question. So we have a tool called the people analyzer. And it's a way to, in a very, like, black and white way, say, hey. You match those core values, or you don't. We find that it opens up conversations. Some sometimes folks who don't match those core values realize they've got some work to do. About the unsung hero, the one who is never thanked, it's just expected that they keep showing up, the ones where you may have a retention problem if you don't maintain, but you're so busy that you may not. When you have a quarterly conversation with them and you let them know that they match those core values, it's miraculous almost.

When they hear those core values, it's as beautiful to them as if you're saying their name, and you tell them that they have those core values, and that they're a shining light for the organization and and the customers, and it really reinforces why they are there. Now, another great, tool we use in that meeting pulse of that level 10 meeting I mentioned earlier, train our folks on how to solve issues and to create an issues list. And it's almost therapy for a lot of people to actually know that there's a place where issues will be kept and addressed. Because often those things just get fallen between the cracks or compartmentalized. But what we do is we have this issues list that you review in that level 10 meeting, but you work on as a team in that meeting to solve those issues, for the greater good and long term of the organization. So the folks who don't feel like they get there, that there's no way for them to even be heard, let alone solve an issue, yeah, they are a flight risk, they may leave. But when you have a mechanism like the issues list, and you're given a way to solve issues as a team, it makes them a part of the solution.

Now, I could see how that can increase comradery between, you know, upper management and the other team members, by doing that exercise weekly.

It does. Yeah. And that's, you know, this is all high level theoretical, but if you had a specific example, I might be able to tell you a little bit about how you might apply some of this.

I'm thinking as we're speaking, because you're right, the human resource, that part of the dental world, is somewhat of a concern for an entrepreneur every time. Because as I mentioned before, they're not really selling products. They're selling the services, and oftentimes, you know, when things are going well, things are great, but then conflict arises, and then the employer just doesn't know what to do at that point. Is how do I, you know, resolve the conflict? Or do I identify the source of the problem and then, you know, just cut the fat? Or, you know, oftentimes also if it's a particular position, let's say a hygienist, they're like, oh, the hygienist is acting like a diva, but at the same time, I don't know if I can find a replacement. Her schedule's already booked out thus far. Went to lose so much business if I let go of this person. So all of those things come into play. And I guess I'm wondering if systems can alleviate some of those human nuanced issues, especially if it's consistent.

It can. And really, I gotta be really clear. I am not a strategist or a guru. I don't come in and advise folks on how to solve their exact problem. That would be more of a consultant. What I do is I teach them the system, and if they're looking for a system or something to help them find a better market, or another market, or they haven't built their product or service, EOS doesn't That's not what EOS is about. So getting deeper in, or finding the market, this is all about execution. This is all about making sure that the investment in your people, in your investment in in your facility is getting is is getting you're getting as much out of it as you can.

And it's taking your leaders to another level so they can teach other leaders, or they can lead and manage, everyone in your organization better. So I don't I mean, I asked you for a scenario, like, if you've got one. But it's it's really, it's kinda it's really more, it's not like I would actually even answer that or solve that. I actually just teach leaders how to solve it themselves. Because 90% of the time, the answer is in the room. It's it's with the leaders. It they just need somebody to help them see what they, or to draw the conclusion they need to draw. That's what a great coach does.

Bingo, right there. I think you do. You can help the leaders or the dentists in this scenario, just with that statement that oftentimes that, you know, the answers might be with them. They just haven't explored it or they haven't been able to figure that part out, that's where you can come in. [Dr.

Well, when I ran my company and I had this coach, I learned things and it was like eye opening to know what I didn't know. Right. But it was kind of nice to not drive the bus, to be the guy who ran the company and also had to get everybody using these tools, because ultimately they had to believe in me- Uh-huh. As much as they believed in tools, And if they didn't believe in either, they believed in none of it. Right. So- It's

kind of funny, right? It's like, they have to believe in you to believe in themselves.

Yeah. Well, or to believe in the system because it was based, I'm the system. Right. If I was trying to, and so even when, after I learned all this and I I used the tools based on what I learned, I found that it was very hard. I still did well with it, but once I was had an implementer who taught me, but it's so much easier to have somebody else that is in your employ to drive the bus for on a quarterly basis to help folks through like, to strategically plan with the group, because it means that they see you fighting alongside them, instead of leading them constantly every day, day in, day out. So as a leader having having a coach, it it is it's such a relief to have somebody else in there, to help you out. But if you you know, that's just one way of doing it.

You had some great pointers there, Jeff. I can also see how some of our listeners can benefit from US World. It's, again, I'll be bluntly honest. I remember when I first looked it up, I thought it was some kind of a software system that I'm not familiar with. I wanted to know more. But, you know, upon talking with you, I realized it's not so much it's a system, but we're not talking about a computer system or a software system. We're talking about system, that can be put in place with an entrepreneur in their entrepreneurial venture and how they can succeed and do better.

The folks who like US, they embrace change. And they're often as leaders, when I look at them and I'm introduced to a new group, they're often really willing to be open and honest with themselves and the folks around them. And if they have that, if they're growth oriented and willing to be open and honest, this system can get them what they want in their business. I have a client who just reported a 76 top 76% top line growth year over year. The year before it was 50%, and that's what he wanted. I had a client last year who basically wanted to get to an exit and put his company in automatic mode so that he could walk away as an owner and not be so stuck in the business. I got him that. So every it's hard to say exactly what it's gonna get you because everybody wants something different, but it builds that system for you because sometimes you just don't know what you don't know.

And they're tailored to the individual needs. So it's not like a cookie cutter template that applies to everyone. That's where you come in, right, where they have to talk to you, and

you

can identify exactly what it is that your client is looking for.

Yeah. So, there's there there's the tools and how it's how it's built. See that you can pick up parts of it, and use parts of it, and you'll probably see some benefit to it, but it's really the real art to it is getting it all working, and it takes about a couple years to really get it rolling for most companies, some a little more, some a little less. So you can just take up, like, you know, take some tidbits for what I said from core values and take that on. You'll see some benefits. That level 10 meeting, if you look it up, you'll see something great, there if you just try to execute those level 10 meetings. Or set rocks for your leaders, set those 90 day business objectives. What are the big things that we need to do? There's a even hacking away at that, you do better than not doing it at all, I have found.

And that's true for all the tools with the OS. But, to to learn more, I a lot of US implement like, there's there's a community of US Implementers, and on the usworldwide.com website, there's a directory. You can check out the different implementers. When you're discerning whether or not to use this, another way, other than the book or reaching out to an implementer, you might go to an EOS talk, But it's a great way to sort of understand, what EOS is. Because in now in those EOS talks, if you ever get one of those with an em EOS implementer, they give you a workbook, and they help you work work through, how you can use the tools. And they ask this really important question at the end, just spoiler alert. They'll say, Hey, which tool, now that you've got this review, which tool would you walk away with and use next? And that question often resonates deeply with folks because they realize there's something that they could they could use and they've just been trained on. So I recommend, if you're not sure how to, you know, what to do next, attend an EOS talk, because that would, definitely help you sort of figure it out.

Awesome. So I've got that coming up

on it. Yeah. I mean, this would be a great place for you to put in your plug in. I mean, if somebody is interested in attending, how would they find out more about this, you know, your social media handle or, you know, your website?

Well, I would say go to to look at any of the tools and get a basic understanding, I would check out, www.eosworldwide.com. Another great way to go is to, read the book Traction, although it reads like a textbook. So if you like that sort of thing, I think it'll give you all the all the tools, but how you execute on those tools and, you know, benefiting from the experience of using those tools would require you to reach out to an EOS implementer. To anybody listening who's wanted to talk to me, you can reach out to me directly. I'm happy to direct you or answer any questions you might have. I love talking about this stuff, and, I'm happy to hear from you.

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being on our episode today, Jeff. It was a pleasure. Thanks for listening today. Be sure to subscribe to Beyond by Wings on your favorite podcast platform. For more information, you can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, or reach out to us on our website. You can also shoot us an email at info atepandassociates.com.