Working in teams can be tough! Shannon Johnson knows the ins and outs of working in a team but also working in a practice alone! In Dental Fuel Episode 11, Shannon talks about some team mistakes that are commonly made and how she has come to appreciate team members in her practice of dentistry.
Shannon Johnson grew up in a small coal mining town in eastern Kentucky. She graduated from the University of Louisville School of Dentistry in 2002 and completed her Advanced Education in General Dentistry Certificate at the University of Florida in St. Petersburg in 2003. Ever passionate about providing the very best care for her patients, Dr. Johnson is an avid continuous learner attending countless hours of continuing education each year from the profession’s best and brightest.
An educator at heart, Dr. Johnson has taught at both the University of Florida and the University of Louisville. She is an associate faculty member at the Dawson Academy where Dr. Johnson dedicates time to helping dentists around the world master the skills necessary to predictably restore simple to complex cases with outcomes that are both beautiful and functional. She is the current President of the Dawson Association for Complete Dentistry and leads two Dawson Academy Study Clubs.
In her free time, Dr. Johnson enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter playing board games, visiting theme parks, attending various comic conventions, crafting, and scuba diving.
🎙️ Listen to Dental Fuel Episode 11 on Apple Podcasts
Dental Fuel Episode 11: Team Mistake Transcript
Dr. Tanya Sue Maestas
What does your team look like now?
Dr. Shannon Johnson
My team is fascinating because it’s me myself and I.
Dr. Tanya Sue Maestas
Ah, beautiful team!
Dr. Shannon Johnson
Not always but while there are pros and cons to that, right, so going through the pandemic without having a large team was like huge, right? I mean great.
Because I watch all of my colleagues struggling with like hygienists and things like that now, I do have an assortment of assistants whenever I’m doing larger cases or need help where you know they will come in and help me but really it is me myself, and I, yeah. So then you also start to realize that I hate talking on the phone.
Dr. Tanya Sue Maestas
Do you set up all your appointments and everything?
Dr. Shannon Johnson
I do everything really literally so like, I tend to do a lot with text or you can actually online schedule with me, and then I’ll confirm it right and things like that. So it’s amazing how that can help.
But it’s it’s kind of cool because I call all my patients, right? Like I have a conversation with them. So it’s even like a pre-pre-screening, so I get to know them what their needs are.
I can schedule appropriately. I know if it’s going to be a limited exam. Because we have to be problem-focused on something I know if they’re going to need a ton of work. I know if they’ve been regular in their care.
So yeah, and then on my own, which is really interesting too, because hygienists are amazing support folks, right I love my hygienists. And so I’m on my side in my mind thinking really, a hygienist might even do this better, but patients really connect to the time that they have with me so then my patient acceptance is like really, really high you know and they like it. Go figure, right.
Dr. Tanya Sue Maestas
It’s a great way to watch a patient’s perio status as well.
Dr. Shannon Johnson
Oh, it’s huge. And I’m I do salivary diagnostics and things like that and, you know, use adjunct therapies to help and so I have a lot of folks who came to me with significant period that we’ve stabilized so teeth that other folks are like, yeah, these need to go. And I’m like, do we really want to do that? I’m not so sure, you know, placing implants and folks with poor periodontal health, those implants don’t last as long right.
And I know we were talking about this on another case that had come through right this was all chatting and it’s kind of like, all right, implants. Do they last forever? No, they have a high survival rate, but the success rate is actually considerably less when you start looking at studies.
So yeah, you might have an implant in there, but it might be pussy and oozy. Yeah. And all those like good things, you know, pussy is not good. But, you know, like, if you can keep a natural tooth and you can help people get to health. What better, outcome could have?
Dr. Tanya Sue Maestas
You are your own assistant as well?
Dr. Shannon Johnson
I am. Some days I’d like to fire myself. So I use a dry shield. Which is amazing. I use rubber dam, which is amazing, right? I mean, a lot of people don’t want to do it or deal with it, but it really it elevates your dentistry it keeps your patients safer and you deliver better care.
So that’s a whole nother podcasts in itself.
Dr. Tanya Sue Maestas
Oh I know I can talk about rubber dam all day. It protects the airway and keeps the tongue out of the way. I mean, dry shields are great as well too but. Man that rubber dam and I just hated it in dental school, did everything I could to not use it.
Dr. Shannon Johnson
Which is where people leave and then they’re like oh, I can just use cotton rolls.
Dr. Tanya Sue Maestas
Exactly. And honestly, I don’t know. I wish people would have been more forceful on me in dental school but now I use it and I love it. I don’t see myself doing it any other way my system slowly just won’t do well.
Dr. Shannon Johnson
That’s the thing. I mean, the procedures go so much more smoothly. And it’s just better. And so rely on that. It’s been really interesting because we were talking about like operating procedures and becoming more efficient, like, I now really understand, like, really, really understand what my assistants have to go through.
You know, setting up and so it’s like a lot of thought processes have to go into it. So like my documentation of like your standard operating procedures, clinical operating procedures have definitely improved for the day, when I might have more than one chair if I elected to buy the practice that I’m in now when he’s ready to sell or if I do a scratch start and take my patients that I’ve built and then you know go to the place that I then create.
Dr. Tanya Sue Maestas
I want to circle back on that thought here in a little bit. But when you were in your own practice in Florida, you had a team there.
Dr. Shannon Johnson
I did, we had four chairs. I had a front office person, one hygienist, and one dental assistant.
Dr. Tanya Sue Maestas
What mistakes did you make with your team?
Dr. Shannon Johnson
Making sure everybody was on the same page. You know, I think not having a clear vision initially just kind of stumbling through things. They didn’t really know who I was initially and I did buy my practice younger.
And it was a transition where there was no transition. Literally, like we signed the papers. The doctor was gone.
I was in the next day like we weren’t there together, at all, ever. That could be good or bad. But, you know, the staff really didn’t know so they were told like the day after, or the day that we signed the paper. So like the next day, like here’s the new boss. So I think setting up like your vision ahead of time where you want the practice to be was huge, and then making sure that the people who are on the team were ready and that took me a little bit to really establish and define.
And I actually took my team out at that point and we went out sailing and I took them to a little island where I had lunch and we had made these little beads together and I literally like gave them my vision I drew a line in the sand and I said I need for you to follow me but if you can’t, it’s okay. This is where I’m going and I need you to believe in it. I need you to support it. And we can separate now or you can come along this journey with me.
And then I just went over then said on the other side of the sand and waited for people to come. And they like picked up the little words that resonated with them and we created necklace and thankfully they came with me that we had a really great time.
But I was like what if it none of them come? It was also interesting because, I was younger at that point. So I came in and you know folks were like, when’s the doctor going to come in? And I’m like, I am the Doctor. Like, come on. Everybody can relate to that when you’re young for sure.
Like so. You over that part because everybody in the office was much older than me. So yeah, I would say that was probably some of the biggest issues.
Dr. Tanya Sue Maestas
What would you do differently if you were to build a team now or if you are to in the next few years?
Dr. Shannon Johnson
Yeah. So I’m really crystal clear on my vision. And I think having everything written down
The expectations of those job positions, and then just creating a culture of – I wouldn’t expect them to do anything I wouldn’t do for myself.
Again, one of my mentors, he said, you know, you set the new standard when you walk by a mistake. So I think you have to be very disciplined in yourself to make sure you don’t allow things like if you say yeah, that impression is good enough. New standard, right?
Like you don’t want to do that. So you have to hold yourself to your vision and your team but do it in a positive way.
So for me, yeah, just having things more clearly defined, and then having more discipline within myself, which definitely has improved.
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