Episode 23
Leading with Purpose: Culture, Hiring & Growth
Team culture can make or break an orthodontic practice. Practice Manager Laura Wilde opens up about what truly keeps teams thriving. From defining team values and reinforcing them relentlessly to rethinking orthodontic hiring with working interviews, Laura delivers real strategies. She tackles staff retention, toxic team members, and why transparent employee motivation through bonuses and shared production goals changes everything. If you lead a team, this conversation will shift how you show up every single day.
What You’ll Learn In This Episode:
- Defining and consistently revisiting team values at monthly meetings and morning huddles creates a culture of accountability and keeps orthodontic practice management focused on what matters most.
- Why orthodontic hiring should include a working interview where candidates spend half a day with your team, revealing the soft skills no resume or traditional interview can uncover.
- How sharing production numbers openly with your whole team strengthens employee motivation, builds trust, and connects every role, including back-office assistants, to the practice's shared goals.
Ready to transform your practice? Tune in to Practice Talk for expert insights and actionable strategies to elevate your orthodontic practice management. Subscribe now and never miss an episode at Practice Talk, where your voice has value, and your success is our priority!
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Introduction to team culture and Laura Wilde's role and thoughts about orthodontic practice management
07:55 Building team values: why nine core values outperform a single mission statement
13:18 Scheduling around the doctor's personality to elevate patient experience and grow the practice
17:29 Orthodontic hiring strategies: phone screens, in-person interviews, and working interviews
23:25 What do you do when an employee is not working out
29:10 Bonuses and why sharing production numbers with the whole team reduces entitlement and builds employee motivation
35:34 Shifting your practice management mindset: a manager's real job is solving problems, not avoiding them
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Toxic team members act like a cancer on team culture: the longer you wait to act, the more damage spreads to your strongest employees and your entire orthodontic practice management structure.
- Positive reinforcement must outweigh correction by at least five to one. Even managers committed to employee motivation often underestimate how much consistent, specific praise is needed to help staff feel genuinely valued.
- The working interview is the most powerful tool in orthodontic hiring: candidates who thrive will grab instruments and jump in. At the same time, poor fits reveal themselves within minutes, protecting your team's values before they are ever threatened.
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
Transcript
[00:00:16] Lacie Ellis: Welcome to Practice Talk, brought to you by people in practice, where we specialize in digital marketing, website development, SEO, and so much more. I'm excited for today's discussion as we dig into the topic of leading with purpose, culture, hiring, and growth with my guest, Laura. Laura is a speech language pathologist, turn practice manager of wild orthodontics, which she runs along with her husband.
[:[00:01:02] Once all the kids are in full-time school. Laura and Brian and their family love to mountain bike and hike and spend as much time as they can exploring nature and enjoying the Arizona sunshine. Welcome Laura.
[:[00:01:16] Lacie Ellis: Thank you for being here. I really appreciate it and I am particularly excited to chat with you today because I have had the privilege of working with you on your marketing strategies, um, for the practice.
[:[00:01:40] Laura Wilde: You're welcome.
[:[00:01:51] They help with the marketing. You're helping as managing the practice. You're owner, wife of the doctor, and all the other hat. [00:02:00] That you wear within that. And I'm wondering how do you prioritize your time and decide where to focus your day-to-day energy? Because this is not a new dynamic, you know, in ortho.
[:[00:02:13] Laura Wilde: yeah. And um, balancing and managing time that this many years in, I almost feel like that's a joke. Like that never happens. You kind of have to let that idea go because you'll drive yourself crazy. What I find is it's more like waves. Like there's waves when things at their office are super busy and I have to spend so much time there.
[:[00:02:53] And so, um, instead of worrying about. Oh this, this week I didn't spend as much time, um, [00:03:00] on the marketing as I should have. I kind of just have to say, okay, for this month, this is the wave we're riding 'cause I feel like this is the most important. And then this month, this is the wave we're riding. And then at the end of the day, just like give yourself a whole bunch of grace because you probably left something off and it's gonna be okay.
[:[00:03:39] And I think people can make themselves crazy and really burn out in these roles because it's just. It could eat you alive if you didn't. Just, like you said, you just kind of have to be the water and go with the waves and be like, we're just, we're, we're gonna do the best we can every day. Um, I think that is, that is the right [00:04:00] approach.
[:[00:04:20] So,
[:[00:04:53] So he kind of like forced me to realize like, okay, I have to, from this time to this time, is dedicated work time. [00:05:00] And then when we get home. That's the other problem is when your business partner lives with you, you can talk about it endlessly and if there's no boundaries in place, it will suck up every second you allow it to.
[:[00:05:28] Lacie Ellis: Yeah, I think, you know, working alongside with your spouse adds a really unique dynamic and it's really, like I said, common in the orthodontic space.
[:[00:05:57] There were times when [00:06:00] one particular doctor I worked for it would be all hours of the night. You know, it would be all, all hours where we would get messages and what happened with this patient and all of this. And we finally had to really set some firm boundaries being like, I need to be able to walk out the door.
[:[00:06:35] Laura Wilde: yeah,
[:[00:06:36] People just burn out faster because they don't have that to lean on. Um. You know, I know there's a lot of talk in the ortho space about culture and it's all, you know, this, this is another thing that comes in waves in ortho. I think a lot of these things do, but like this, how do we create a culture, uh, that people want to be here and they want to stay here, and that [00:07:00] our patients feel welcome and so.
[:[00:07:15] Laura Wilde: Yeah, man, this is like the piece that I am constantly thinking of that I will listen to endless books and all these things.
[:[00:07:46] Um, so we have 9, 9, 9 team culture, team values, that's what they're called, team values. So we came up with nine, like, what are our nine most important values? You know, things like. World class [00:08:00] ortho, um, you know, responsibility, like taking responsibility, being a first step problem solver. Like if a problem comes to you, even if you're not in charge of it, you're the one to make sure that it gets solved.
[:[00:08:32] And so, um, we've kind of taken to, once a month we are reviewing one of the values and we do it at our team training that month. We have a training. Every month we review it. We kind of talk about what it means, what it doesn't mean, and we allow each temp team member to point out someone else on the team that they saw displaying that value during the month.
[:[00:09:10] They have it downward for word, and they're like going out their way to fi It's, it's been, uh, and that's fun. I think just little things too of like making it a little more fun rather than. All the things you're not getting done. Focusing on finding other people on the team who are doing it and pointing it out.
[:[00:09:44] Becomes another thing on the list that's not as important as getting that retainer made or, you know, whatever the themes are. So yeah, just talking about it. I do think values in my experience, tend to, um, have less pushback than like a [00:10:00] single, um, what's the word when, um. Mission statement, like, we do have a mission statement, but I feel like that was just kind of like, people were like, oh, okay.
[:[00:10:24] Lacie Ellis: I love that. And so I, I worked in a practice once where it, it, it was like this whole.
[:[00:10:51] You know, all, all of these things. Well, it turned into, if you weren't a 10 every single day, that particular doctor would be like. I don't even [00:11:00] know if I want you here today if you're not at a level 10. So then everybody started lying and we were just a 10 every day, and I'm like, this really, uh, it didn't go the way that we planned.
[:[00:11:29] Otherwise, you do, you just get into these daily, you know, changing the ties and changing the wires and restocking the, uh, power chains or whatever it is that day. And I think we just need that constant reminder to like, I. Stop and think about the people who you're really impacting. And I think for me, that's when I think I made the biggest turning point working in an office and like really buying into the culture was when I decided [00:12:00] how can I be like the bright spot in these people's day today?
[:[00:12:28] And
[:[00:12:30] Lacie Ellis: it makes your job every day a lot more fun when you go into it with some intention and strategy. So.
[:[00:12:56] Number of patients in a day. Mm-hmm. To allow him more time because [00:13:00] he can't not continue to educate them on. That's just his personality. But what that allows you to do is charge a little bit more because the people are getting so much of the time from him and they absolutely love it. And just the number one comment we get constantly is just Dr.
[:[00:13:42] I mean, for some people who are more high energy and don't wanna talk, that might actually work really well and maybe work better. But for, I think it's like working around the doctor's personality and playing to his strengths, and then finding a way to make that work for the business side.
[:[00:13:59] I [00:14:00] think I've shared this, I think on the podcast once before, but, um, when my son was ready for his treatment, oh man, I was so excited. I'm like, we're going to like four different offices. We're gonna have all these, because I wanted to do all the, you know, like all the investigative, uh, journalism that I'm like, I wanna see how all these offices are doing this.
[:[00:14:28] Laura Wilde: yes.
[:[00:14:39] So, but um, we were down to like two practices and the one had. All the bells and whistles. They had an iPad station, they had a ice cream freezer for you to take ice cream when you leave. They were like super high tech, super high touch, very nice practice. The team was super nice, doctor was great. Um, and his [00:15:00] treatment fee and treatment plan was very, very similar to the other office that we were like vetting out.
[:[00:15:25] Like, explain to me why. And he was like, mom, I just felt safe there.
[:[00:15:30] Lacie Ellis: And there was something within the level of, um, engagement that he felt and the level of care. And kids can feel that. I mean, he was what, a 12 year, 13-year-old boy, and he could feel the difference of, it was a happier environment and he got.
[:[00:16:11] So
[:[00:16:12] Lacie Ellis: I think that's why culture keeps coming back around, you know?
[:[00:16:36] Even if they're just passing, they smile and say hi. I mean, yeah, the whole team is so important in that 'cause it does, it really helps them feel, especially some of the kids are super nervous, so that could be really important for them.
[:[00:16:54] So what do you look for when you're bringing somebody new onto the team and how do you, um, go about kind of finding [00:17:00] the right fit for your practice? Hiring is a big hot button topic right now, so,
[:[00:17:16] They have to know how, what to do. They have to know what they're doing. But I, yeah, it is definitely, the personality is like the most important and it really comes down to like, um. Oh, because everyone can kind of put a good front on for like the 10 minute interview if you're doing a 10 minute interview.
[:[00:17:52] And then if we get that far and we like 'em, we actually have 'em come and hang out with the team for like half a day because. I, I [00:18:00] probably, I don't know, at least four or five times when we've done that. Oh, all of a sudden you're like, whoa, this is not a good fit. Within the first 10 minutes she was pulling out her phone and following, and versus like the ones who worked well, it's, you know, oh, within the first 20 minutes they were like grabbing tools and helping pass things and asking questions and, and so, um, it's not always possible.
[:[00:18:49] That's really valuable. Yeah, I think it just comes down to, because those are the soft skills that uhhuh, you cannot train. Like no matter what you do. There's just some people [00:19:00] who are just not, you know, that being positive, being friendly, being a good communicator, uh, being willing to help out. It just, that's, I voice it a lot of time trying to work with people to train that better.
[:[00:19:35] It's not, we're not gonna, um, do offer full-time employment. It's just not a good fit. And just cut it then, because you will never. Train it out of them and it will continue to be a problem forever. So just, just move on quickly. As soon as you realize it's not working,
[:[00:19:57] That is exactly the office that I worked in the [00:20:00] longest and the first ortho office I worked in, that is exactly how he did it. Um, he literally, day one of me going in there, he was like, sit down, let me show you how you pass an instrument. Let's see how this feels for you. And I was just like, so overwhelmed, but I was having so.
[:[00:20:29] You'd be a great fit. And I was like, ah, I don't think so. But I felt like I kind of owed it to her to like show up and be like, okay, let's see what this is about. And by the end of it, I put in my two weeks at the photography studio and was just all in. And I think it was that. Moment for me when it clicked like, I wanna be part of this.
[:[00:21:12] And I was like, yeah, I'm, I'm in. And I don't think you get that when you just sit in a room with somebody and ask them like. How would you handle this tricky situation? And you're like I,
[:[00:21:34] Mm-hmm. That I've just really come to see, like those interviews are not. They're not actually that valuable. You really have to spend like multiple hours with someone before you can see it's gonna go and getting the feedback from your team, that is really valuable also.
[:[00:21:54] Like just, yeah, people, you see a different side of somebody when they're [00:22:00] like interacting and working and like, are they gonna fit into this or not? I just, I think that's like the smart play. I know it takes a lot more time and energy to do interviewing that way, but I think you find better people and.
[:[00:22:38] And if those are the values of your practice, you better hire somebody who can. Portray that right from the beginning. Yeah. So then on the, on the flip side of that, I know you were saying once, you know, like especially if they're in that probationary period, if you know that they're not gonna work out, like cut those ties soon.
[:[00:23:18] Um, so how do you, how do you kind of deal with that when it's down the road a little bit further and somebody's not a good fit?
[:[00:23:35] And then all your team members who are awesome are just feeling frustration of either having to pick up the slack for that person and not getting recognized or just like, oh, constantly having to deal with this negative person. I, yeah, the really, it's. In my experience, the negative people, it's like worse than any other issue they be struggling with.
[:[00:24:20] And it was exactly that reason. 'cause she was the TC and she was the one who knew like all the inner workings, everything. And you know, I was a little bit afraid, mostly my husband was just like terrified. Like, oh, you know, we can't do this. And I just, it finally got so bad that, you know, working through these 30 day improvement plans and nothing was changing.
[:[00:25:04] Yeah. And the people who are around you. We'll help you pick up the slack 'cause they're like so glad that this person is gone, that they're just like, ah, it, it, I can't explain it. The day after when we all went into the office, I could just feel the whole team was just like relief. It was just relief.
[:[00:25:24] Laura Wilde: And so even though it is a little bit chaotic and you're trying to hire and you're trying to pick up all the other pieces. Oh, I mean, if you could, if. And we learned a big lesson from that, both me and my husband. And, you know, he was like, yeah, we should have, we should have let her go when we first saw the problem.
[:[00:25:57] You will just like kill yourself trying [00:26:00] to change it and it won't change and the whole team suffers and it is cancerous. So. You know, you can try the verbal warnings and the written warnings and the 30 day improvement plans, but I mean, if you know from the beginning, just do it much quicker than you think you want to.
[:[00:26:46] And when they were finally gone. Even the doctor was like, man, I should have done that sooner. You know, there's always this feeling of I wish I would've done that sooner. And I do think I worked in a lot of practices where the [00:27:00] mentality is we are always hiring. So there is never this feeling of like, oh, all of a sudden we're hiring and it's gonna like, people are gonna wonder who's getting the ax or something like that, because.
[:[00:27:25] Absolutely. And those things just come out of nowhere and we're all human and we have to just deal with it. So. Um, absolutely.
[:[00:27:44] It's like you find a good person, you, like you said, you make room for them because inevitably somebody has a baby, someone's husband gets a new job, someone like, you know, their kid has needs to homeschool anyway, it just happens. So yeah, it's good to be. When you find a really good person, [00:28:00] it's absolutely worth the expense to be a little overstaffed for a short period.
[:[00:28:04] Lacie Ellis: absolutely. So let's talk a little bit about team motivation. 'cause this is another thing that comes up in, uh, this cyclical world of ortho that we live in where I get asked. From time to time, like, should, should I be doing a bonus structure, incentives or, you know, something to help my team feel or stay motivated?
[:[00:28:29] Laura Wilde: Yeah. Yeah. We, um, yeah, same thing. We've gone through all the cycles of like, is this making a difference? Do they care about this? Um, I kind of mentioned that. Tiny ones we'll do for the value, the team value. And we do, we don't do it every month.
[:[00:29:05] And then once she hit that number, it was kind of like all the effort went away. So it really, I, what I've learned is it really depends on the personality of your tc. If you have a hungry, eager person, just straight up bonus works pretty well. 'cause they're just like eager to do it. Um, we've also done different structures where we did it based on conversion or.
[:[00:29:46] And, um, I will say that increased her, um, motivation incredibly. And so. I have come to the point where I'm like, if it, if there's anyone in your office that you can bonus and it makes sense and there's like a [00:30:00] identifiable, simple, identifiable, simple metric that they do have a decent amount of control over, you should bonus 'em, even if it's a small amount because the motivation is just so strong.
[:[00:30:35] But you might have a really good month, and then they're like a really bad month. And so we do, but based on the quarter, like an average, you know, um, and so we'll do it for the quarter and if we hit a, you know, an average. Monthly production for the quarter, they're all, we're gonna take everyone to go get massages.
[:[00:31:13] And so if they all feel like they're all part of it, and there's a little bit of a side tangent, but I think for a while we didn't discuss the, the production numbers with the whole team. We would only discuss it with the TC and I, I think I had a misguided perception that if we discussed that with them, that they would.
[:[00:31:52] Um, the we're, and everyone starts kind of like hustling a little bit more and like working together. And I think that has helped Mo and because they [00:32:00] now have this incentive tied to like, Hey, we all wanna go do something fun, like, you know, whatever it is, go do a paint the wine and painting or what one of those things where you guys can go do something fun and, you know, because for the assistants, they're not quite as directly, um, tied to like.
[:[00:32:37] Lacie Ellis: I think you said it perfectly when you're like, it really depends on your team, you know? Mm-hmm. There are some teams where these structures work really, really well and people feel seen and valued, and this little extra thing is, is seen as gratitude and a gift, and then there are some teams where it is becomes expected and part of their salary.
[:[00:33:19] And not, you can't just, it's not something you can just count on. We have to earn it, you know? Mm-hmm. Like we earn this thing together and I think when we stay on that side of incentives and bonuses, it is a lot more effective. Um. Because when you get into that other side, you can't, you, it's almost impossible to come back for from that, you know?
[:[00:33:38] Laura Wilde: I know. So that's Yeah. Like, yes, like our previous TC who would just hit a certain number. Yeah. So yeah, I really was like dependent on the person, and I think, again. I think that's where the, discussing the production numbers with them, um, helps a lot because instead of just saying, oh, we hit this number of starts, where's that money that you owe me?
[:[00:34:18] And so being a little more transparent as much as you can, um, I think helps alleviate that a little bit. But yeah, it is very. Again, if you hire the right people Yeah. That problem can be alleviated, so.
[:[00:34:43] Just any advice or thoughts or any, you know, just anything else you wanted to share with somebody who might be sitting in your chair, um, kind of up against some of the same challenges you are.
[:[00:35:11] And, um, and then all the problems start coming in. And then you, then you swing the other way and you're like really jaded and you're like, it doesn't matter what I do, I don't appreciate it. I think it's just kind of a natural progression. Progression of a manager and a practice owner is like, you kind of have to find your way a little bit.
[:[00:35:49] That problem took over. So much of my time, but it's like that's actually your job is to deal with the problems. So shifting my perspective on dealing with problems helped a lot [00:36:00] because I just realized, oh no, I should expect these problems to probably take up at least half of my time because. That is my job as the manager.
[:[00:36:09] Lacie Ellis: and in our, in our, one of our calls before, I'm like, I, I, I learned that a manager is in, like, your job is that your hair is literally on fire and you have to, and act like nothing is wrong. Like my job is to be like, we've got this, no big deal. But you're literally burning around you like, the house is burning down, but we're fine.
[:[00:36:29] Laura Wilde: Yeah. And so if you kind of like. Know that rather than seeing it as like a thing that took you off your day, it's like, oh no, that, that is my day. That's like the purpose of me is to deal with those things. And then also, um, you know, just like kind of back to the positivity thing and how much you have to, uh, reinforce it.
[:[00:37:14] You know, anyway, she sent like a letter and it was like, oh, this is my two weeks notice. And I'm like, what's going on? Um, and we had a talk. We talked it through and it was really comes, it really came down to like one thing I said because of, and now, you know, it was something she had done that was not, that she shouldn't have done and it was, but we had to have kind of like a disciplinary moment and that one thing just.
[:[00:38:01] So is that not helping you feel valued? You know, not trying to argue with her, but just pointing out and it, it just kind of was like a, a reminder to me. That you know, that 10 to one ratio or the five to one ratio that they talked about in marriage or with kids, it's the same. It's ex like if you can think of dealing with your team members like to dealing with your children, it's like exactly the same.
[:[00:38:37] It just wasn't enough to help this person, like. Realize that she was valued. And so, you know, again, it, you can't, everyone's going to be mad about something sometimes, and usually they react because they feel guilty and they're gonna put it on you again, just like children. But if you can take that less personally and just say, okay, I'm just gonna try to go over the top with recognizing all the good things they're [00:39:00] doing.
[:[00:39:18] Do that way more than you think you need to, just like the values talk about it way more than you think you need to, and I think things will go much better.
[:[00:39:42] I know those moments when I'm starting to feel like, oh, am I, is what I'm doing appreciated? And, um, it's just this internal thing that I think we all deal with is like being human is this need to, I think we want to fill a need for somebody and fill a space and [00:40:00] feel. Maybe not even so much valued, but like needed.
[:[00:40:26] And to me that is a. I think we need to remind our teams more of that too. Mm-hmm. Um, because it just gets so easy to get bogged down in some of these other things. And when you really step back and think like, we are blessed to be able to do this thing that, like not a lot of people get to say that they like truly are changing somebody's life by giving them more confidence and helping.
[:[00:41:09] But like big picture, especially when I worked in the office was like. Watching these kids just bloom who were so shy before. Mm-hmm. And they wouldn't smile 'cause they hated their teeth. And then you'd see them kind of grow and bloom into this and that. That to me is like the gift of what we get to do.
[:[00:41:28] Laura Wilde: yeah. Yeah.
[:[00:41:56] So thank you for being here. I really appreciate your time.
[:[00:42:00] Lacie Ellis: Yes. So our goal with this podcast is to give you truly tangible items that you can use in your day-to-day life in the office, and to elevate the voices of people that actually work in an office and sit in the same chair that you sit in every day.
[:[00:42:29] Until next time, thank you for joining us on Practice Talk where your voice has value.
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