Chris (00:04.75)
What’s up everyone? Welcome back to the No BS Dental Growth Podcast. If you’re a dentist focused on growth, but constantly dealing with team turnover, burnout or disengagement, this episode is for you. Today we’re going to talk about something that directly impacts profitability, patient experience, culture and long-term growth, but almost never gets treated like a growth strategy. That’s recognition.
And no, I’m not talking about Google reviews, smile makeovers or patient shout outs on social media. I’m talking about your staff, your team, because here’s the uncomfortable truth. Your patients are not the only ones who need recognition. Your team does too, and maybe more. And if you ignore that, you don’t lose, just lose morale, you’re gonna lose people. And when you lose people, growth gets harder.
more expensive and more chaotic. So let’s get into it. Dental practices are really good at celebrating patient wins. They are things like new patient milestones, smile transformations, big cases, five star reviews, and all of that is absolutely great. But behind every one of those wins is a human being on your team who made it happen. Someone answered the phone, someone handled objections,
Someone stayed late, somebody came early, somebody covered for a teammate, someone deescalated a frustrated patient. And most of the time, nothing gets said. It’s just expected. And that’s the gap. I’m guilty here too. This happens to me all the time and I have to kind of slap myself in the face. And over time, that gap that we just talked about turns into disengagement.
Now here’s something most practice owners don’t want to hear, but they really do need to. People don’t usually quit because of money. It’s true. They quit because they feel invisible. No appreciation. They feel replaceable. They feel like no one notices the effort, especially the effort that doesn’t show up on a production report, a spreadsheet, something like that. Because docs, you can be very analytical.
Chris (02:29.922)
You like numbers, you like to look at spreadsheets, things like that. So the problem is when this happens, performance drops. It does. I mean, the employee probably doesn’t even realize it, but it drops long before the resignation email ever shows up. So let’s talk about why recognition matters so much in a dental practice specifically. And quite frankly, this applies to just about any small business, but dentistry is high stress.
Your team deals with pain, anxiety, schedules falling apart all the time, insurance issues, emotional patients, constant interruptions, docs falling behind, scheduling, it just goes on and on, right? There’s a lot. If the only feedback your staff gets is when something goes wrong, you’re training them to associate work with negativity. Recognition changes that equation.
It really does create psychological safety, if you will. It tells your team, I see you, what you do matters. And when people feel seen, they stay longer, they perform better and they care more. Now let’s talk about what recognition actually looks like because this isn’t about pizza parties or cheesy plaques or Starbucks gift cards. This is about consistent and meaningful acknowledgement.
First, shout outs during staff meetings. This is one of the simplest and most effective things you can do, but it has to be specific, not vague praise like, great job, everyone. Call out real moments, give examples, someone who handled a difficult patient calmly, someone who improved their phone skills, someone who and saved a case, even somebody who helped a teammate without being asked.
especially the little wins, not just the big ones. The big wins usually get noticed right away anyway, but the little wins are what matters. It’s the small everyday wins that actually make the practice run. And those are the ones that usually get ignored. Second, public recognition. This could be a quick shout out during a huddle, a message in Slack, whatever internal chat you guys use.
Chris (04:53.258)
a mention in a weekly team email, a social media post out to the public, something like that. It doesn’t have to be allowed. It doesn’t have to be loud or obnoxious. just needs to. It should be visible. When one person gets recognized, everyone else sees that behaviors and see that they’re valued. That’s culture being reinforced in real time. The third thing here is consistency.
Recognition only works if it’s consistent. If you only recognize people when morale is low or when someone’s about to quit, your team knows that. It feels reactive, not proactive. Recognition should be built into how the practice operates, not used as a panic button. Now let’s talk about the advantages of doing this well. First is retention. When people feel appreciated, they stay with you long.
Lower turnover then means less hiring stress, lower training costs and more consistency for patients. And consistency builds trust. Second, performance. People repeat behaviors that get acknowledged. So if you want better phone calls, recognize great calls. If you want better follow up, recognize the follow up. If you want teamwork, recognize the teamwork. Culture follows what you
and reinforce. Third, leadership leverage. When recognition becomes part of the culture, motivation doesn’t rely on you alone. The team starts supporting the team. That’s how leadership scales. Now, let’s talk about the downside of not doing this because it’s real and it’s expensive. When people don’t feel recognized, they disengage very quietly. They stop getting kind of going the extra mile, if you will.
They do the minimum. They emotionally check out long before they leave. And when they finally do leave, it feels sudden, but it was not. You just didn’t see it coming. And here’s the kicker. High turnover kills growth. New staff don’t convert as well on phones. New staff struggle with systems and new staff slow everything down because they make mistakes. I don’t care how good they are.
Chris (07:18.402)
So when a practice says marketing isn’t working like it used to, there’s sometimes a real issue is instability behind the scenes. Growth doesn’t happen in chaos. Growth happens when teams are stable, confident, and supported. Recognition is one of the cheapest, fastest ways to create that stability. So here’s what I recommend you do. Make recognition intentional. Build it into staff meetings.
Build it into communications. Publicize it. Recognize big wins, but especially the little ones. And don’t outsource culture to chance. Because when you invest in your team, they invest back into your patients. And when your team sticks around, your practice grows. It’s not gut feeling, it’s science, it’s data. Not just in revenue, but in reputation, experience, and sanity. Okay.
That’s it for today’s episode of the No BS Dental Growth podcast. If this episode hit home, maybe just a little, do me a favor and share it with another practice owner. Maybe they’re struggling with turnover, burnout, or just team engagement, or even another business owner for that matter. And if you’re getting value from this show, please make sure you subscribe, leave a quick review and download the episodes that you find helpful. That actually does help more dentists find the podcast, which helps me out a little bit. So until next time, keep growing smart.
Take care of your people and I’ll see you on the next episode.
