Over the last few episodes, we’ve talked about what it really means to build an empowered team inside your practice. This week, I want to get specific about setting your team up for success with Inspired Hygiene, long before a coach ever sets foot in your operatory.
I sat down with Driany Cruz, our Director of Client Care, who leads this process for every practice we work with. We walked through exactly what happens between the day a practice signs on and the day their coach arrives on-site, because that groundwork matters more than most people realize.
Here’s why we start by asking questions instead of walking in with answers. Every practice has a different history, culture, and set of challenges, and assuming we already know the answer does a disservice to your team. Driany’s process begins with listening, not prescribing.
The Hygiene Growth Roadmap plays a critical role here too, uncovering clinical and financial gaps before a single in-person visit ever happens. This diagnostic step gives us a clear, data-driven starting point, so coaching time is spent where it makes the biggest difference.
We also require every team member, not just hygienists, to complete the Perio Protocol Online Bootcamp before coaching begins. When the whole team calibrates around the same language and criteria, hygienists stop carrying the weight of change alone, and doctors and assistants become true partners in the shift toward diagnosis-driven care.
One detail Driany shared stuck with me: we pre-schedule coaching meetings from the very start, instead of leaving follow-up to chance. That single decision protects momentum and keeps teams from losing the progress they worked so hard to build.
Finally, the team kickoff meeting matters more than most practices expect. It’s where trust starts to form before the coach ever walks in the door, and where a team can ask questions and voice concerns in a low-pressure setting.
If you’ve ever wondered how much groundwork goes into setting your team up for success with a coaching engagement like ours, or you want your own team to feel more prepared going into one, this conversation is worth the listen.
Listen to the episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m-Vo8S6-QA
—Rachel
