The 3 Leadership Habits That Made My Dental Teams Thrive (and How You Can Steal Them)"
IntroDuction:
Buying and running six dental practices taught me a lot—but nothing mattered more than the people I hired and how I led them. Whether you're managing one office or ten, your team's performance, loyalty, and culture ultimately depend on your leadership habits. In this blog, I’m sharing the three daily habits I practiced that helped me build high-functioning, high-trust teams—and how you can implement them, starting today.
Habit #1: Start Every Morning With Intention
Every day is a new beginning. If we look at our days as opportunities to start over and create something special, then that is usually exactly what happens! I love the quote by Peter Kell that he works from daily: “Something amazing is about to happen!” And it usually does! But, what about those days when you might wake up, and you’re not 100% sure why, but you’re cranky. What typically happens these days? You know it! The compressor breaks, the dental assistant calls in sick – AGAIN! It feels like you are being bombarded with bad juju. Well, that isn’t far from the truth. If you have studied manifestation principles at all, you know that what you think about is what becomes in your life. If you are focused on your “cranky” self, then cranky is precisely what you are going to get! If you concentrate on AMAZING, like I do (thank you, Peter Kell!), then AMAZING is what your life becomes. Your energy is 100% dictated by your emotions: Negative Nelly = Negative outcomes. Positive Emotions = Positive outcomes. Choose wisely!
📍Why it matters: Leading your team is less about reacting and more about setting the tone. I used 10 minutes each morning to visualize my Success and my team’s success and define what "winning" looks like to me today.
💡Try this: Before walking into your practice, ask:
Who needs my support today?
What can I celebrate?
How can I model calm, focus, and accountability?
Habit #2: Give Daily Feedback (Not Just During Reviews)
Our teams need to know that you have their backs, and you need to know they have yours. My dental assistant, Tamar, used to nudge me if I was being negative, getting impatient, or cranky. I appreciated this more than I can tell you, as I didn’t realize in those moments that I was being cranky. Once she nudged me, I could reflect, take a deep breath, and bring my better version forward. Like the old saying, “If you see something, say something!” If one of your team members goes out of their way to do something for you, then thank them right then and there. Don’t wait until the end of the day – they want to go home, and you’ll miss your opportunity to positively affect their day as much as they positively affected yours!
📍Why it matters: Waiting until the 6-month review to correct or praise behavior? Too late. Great leaders lead in real time. Small course corrections—or quick praise—build momentum, clarity, and confidence.
💡Try this: Pick one team member per day and share:
One thing they did well
One small improvement or challenge they could work on
You’ll build trust and get better results—faster.
Habit #3: Model the Culture You Preach
When I was in high school, I worked at the local Friendly’s Ice Cream store and restaurant. My father always told me, “If you aren’t ten minutes early, then you’re late!” At first, I didn’t understand what he meant. I reasoned with him and stated that if my shift at work starts at 7:00 a.m., then I will arrive there at 7:00 a.m. He would then explain to me that if I arrived at 7 am and had to jump right in, I wouldn’t have time to check in with my manager to ensure that we had everything we needed to make the shift work well. What if they were out of hamburgers, or a certain ice cream? Wouldn’t it be better to know that going into the day than having to disappoint a customer? Yes, Dad. You were right. It is always better to be early than late.
The same holds true for our practices. If we want our team to be “ready to go" for an 8 am start, then they need the opportunity to be in our practice about 15 minutes before to ensure everything is set up and they are ready for the morning huddle. And, what about you? Are you showing up at the last minute, or are you early and ready to go by the 8 am huddle? WE, as the leaders of our teams, need to show up early and be ready to go for whatever the start time is in YOUR practice!
📍Why it matters: You can’t ask your team to be on time, present, or coachable if you’re constantly distracted, running late, or dismissive. Leadership is a mirror.
💡Try this: Ask yourself weekly:
Am I showing up the way I want my team to?
Where am I slipping—and what do I need to shift?
Final Thoughts:
You don’t need to overhaul your whole practice to become a stronger leader. But if you commit to these three habits—daily intention, real-time feedback, and modeling your values—you’ll see your team start to shift. And when the team wins, so does the practice.
Want help building a team that runs like a high-performance machine?
Let’s talk. Schedule a free consultation with Hanlon Group, LLC →