Cassie Kellner [00:00:01]:
Welcome to The Bloom Effect. I'm your host, Cassie Kellner, former chairside assistant turned team coach and founder of Everbloom. This podcast is all about the real stuff, honest convos, leadership lessons, and the heart behind thriving orthodontic teams. If you're ready to grow, lead and bloom, let's dive in.
Cassie Kellner [00:00:21]:
Welcome to The Bloom Effect. I'm your host, Cassie Kellner. And today's episode is going to be a little different, because before we dive in to today's episode, I have something super exciting that I want to share with everyone. I've been holding on to this for months, and here's the deal. Everbloom is officially expanding into the general dentistry world. Hooray. I wish I had, like, confetti to, you know, to. To throw up, but maybe I can have some background music. Listen, I know for years we. I have been an ortho nerd. I started in general dentistry, but that was for a very, very short. I mean, four years compared to the 22 in total. And we've always been orthodontic systems, orthodontic systems. And that's been our lane. I stay in my lane because it's what I know. But here's what happened over the past six months. I met wonderful, beautifully brilliant Mandy. Mandy. Mandy. Mandy. And we started at the end of 2025. We started quietly building and working with dental practices. And what I realized at Everbloom is that we. We had something here that we'd been building, and that general dentistry. Let's get real. Every business, but general dentistry also needed exactly what we've been building. And so we connected, and we were like, all right, let's make this work. And so today, I'm officially announcing that Everbloom has a dental division. And I want you to meet the person leading it. Mandy Madeline. Welcome to The Bloom Effect. I am so excited that you're here.
Mandy Madeline [00:02:29]:
Thank you, Cassie. Well, I am so excited that Everbloom has a dental division now and that we met. It's all happening and coming together, and I'm so excited for. For 2026, and all the practices were going to be able to transform.
Cassie Kellner [00:02:49]:
I know. Okay, so, Mandy, I always start with this podcast, and you could take this wherever you want to take it. And everyone's like, oh, my gosh, this is such a loaded question, but who is Mandy Madeline?
Mandy Madeline [00:03:04]:
Okay, well, we'll just keep it dental related.
Cassie Kellner [00:03:10]:
Okay.
Mandy Madeline [00:03:11]:
But I started my career as a dental assistant, have been in dentistry for over 18 years now, so started Chairside supporting patients, assisting Doctors and doing whatever it took to keep the day moving. And I lived the reality of, you know, what it looked like inside of a dental office. Packed schedules, constant interruptions, teams working incredibly hard without systems that didn't always support them. So as I. As I grew into different roles in the dental practice, I grew into some leadership and operational roles, moved into the administrative team, and really realized that burnout and dentistry isn't about people not caring or not working hard. It really came down to unclear processes and misaligned systems and lack of support for the team. And today, as operational leader and consultant, my focus is helping dental practices turn complexity into clarity. And I help build and implement systems and workflows that teams can actually use to feel less chaotic and. And feel confident and aligned and empowered in their roles in the dental practice.
Cassie Kellner [00:04:52]:
Okay, Mandy, you're a thousand percent speaking mainly, I feel like I could have said that verbatim. Like, that was so beautifully put. And we are both. Well, first of all, we're both coaching nerds. Like, let's just start there. Like, and. And teeth aside, we. We've been on plenty of zooms in the last six months, and we align so much on the processes and the burnout. And, you know, that happens in these practices that we see in real time as. And you are also a trainual certified partner. Right. And. And that is huge because then we get the insights scoop from Train for our clients. But, you know, I. There's something that you've said to me that I think is, I need people to, like, really take this in. So you said to me, and I. I wrote this down, busy is not the same as healthy. Okay? And that was like an aha moment for me where it's like, busy often hides in broken systems. Right? Everyone looks really busy and frantic. And like, we listen, we have a lot going on. But, like, there is no clarity. Things are very unclear. There's inefficiencies. And so just because you're busy doesn't mean you're healthy. You. Can you talk. Speak to that a little bit? Just from, like, can we just really nerd out here? Yeah.
Mandy Madeline [00:06:25]:
And I think. I think what we ended up talking about, too, was handoffs and, you know, and. And how that can get chaotic and, and busy and just, you know, how many times, if you think about it and just. Just kind of sit during the day, how many times are you having to get up and go find someone because you're missing information or you weren't given information or, you know, what does that elegant handoff as I like to call it look like from the clinical team to the administration, you know, when you're passing that patient off from the clinical side to your admin team, what is that workflow and how does that go and is it chaotic? Yeah, the answer is yes. Yeah, right. If we don't have a system, we don't know who owns what, then yeah, it's probably chaotic. And you know, that's when busy can often look productive. But it can be a warning sign that busy teams are just compensating for broken systems and, and double checking and re explaining and, you know, chasing that information and trying to fix mistakes. So a healthy practice isn't just busy. It's intentional and clear and consistent. And when we can put those processes into play and actually know what the workflow looks like for some of these things, it, it completely changes the way that it looks and feels inside of the office.
Cassie Kellner [00:08:16]:
It transforms everything. And you know, as you and I were building behind the scenes, I love that you talk about what did you call it? An elegant handoff? What it. Is that what you called it? Yes. So I love that you talk about this because ortho is very different than general, right? Like our process from the new patient process is, is very different than a general dentistry kind of elegant handoff. And so I talk a lot and build a lot of, I mean, we can nerd out on, Trainual, but like the workflows that we can build in there, right, are just. Oo, let me tell you everyone, these workflows just like building out a flowchart is like, I mean, nerd alert, but it's real and the clarity that comes behind this. And so what you've done too is you also have, you have just built out so many beautiful and elegant frameworks and flowcharts for practices to go. Okay, this is where you're going to start and this is where we're going to end. And this is what it's going to look like from, from team to team, from team member to team member, and this complete handoff. And I think that the reason why your flows and your frameworks work is because, I mean, both of us, like, we've just been in the trenches, like we lived it. We're not talking about anything that we haven't already lived. I think that's the, I think that's the major difference for us is to go like, okay, I'm going to sit down with you as a coach. However, I exude empathy because I know exactly, exactly how you feel. I know what that burnout feels right. I used to joke, actually, with a colleague of mine when we were in practice together, we would do this thing. This is actually awful, but I don't think I've ever told anyone this. But we used to do this thing when we. I was in the clinic and she was at the front, and we had such a really great relationship. And we still do, by the way. And when things would get, like, really chaotic, we'd go into the bathroom and do a silent scream. We just look in the mirror and be like. Like, you know, and. And then we come out and be like, okay, let me start over. You know, that is the chaos, that is the burnout, that is the lack of system where I'm like, how come I'm the one grabbing this when so and so is over here in this chair and they are still slowly setting up whatever this procedure is, you know? Yeah.
Mandy Madeline [00:10:49]:
And that's when you can look back on those times and see. And then feel and empathize with those. Are going through it because you're like, I went through that. And I know what we did to fix it, because we couldn't. We couldn't do it another day. And so we started to work on what those problems were and started to solve them.
Cassie Kellner [00:11:11]:
Yeah, absolutely. So let's. This actually isn't even switching gears because I'm talking about silent screaming. So let's just talk about energy. Like, when things feel off in the practice, energy is real. And. Oh, I just talked about this with Stephanie Botts on a previous podcast. We talked about how our industries are predominantly female. And let me tell you, no one on. No one listening to this pod right now is shocked. We can exude some energy. Let me tell you. Good, bad, ugly, doesn't matter. Like, you can feel it. You can feel it. No one has to say anything. Like, you. You feel the people. I mean, I don't know how many practices I've gone into, and they're like, yeah, if so and so's energy is off first thing in the morning, no one talks to her. No one looks at her. They let her have her coffee and they, you know, move on. And. And so, like, that's energy. You just know. So when something feels off, do you have any tips on what people should really focus on instead? Well, it feels off.
Mandy Madeline [00:12:26]:
Yeah. I mean, I think when. When something feels wrong, most practices, you know, focus on people instead of the process. Right. And they assume someone isn't motivated or someone's not communicating well or someone needs more training. But a lot of Times more often than not. The issue is the expectations aren't documented. Like why is that person over there doing that?
Cassie Kellner [00:13:00]:
Right.
Mandy Madeline [00:13:01]:
Workflows aren't clear and success isn't defined. So then what practices can focus on instead is clarity. And what does done look like for each role? And where do things break down most often? Where are we coming into roadblocks? Let's start recognizing those. And what decisions are people making repeatedly that could be standardized. And when you start to fix the system, then the people can thrive.
Cassie Kellner [00:13:46]:
Okay, so you just said this and like, let's just pause for a second because everything you just said is what you do for dental practices. Literally for Pam, it's like your entire process. And I think people are really going to get tired this year of you and I talking about clarity because it's real. And, and that's the whole Everbloom kind of premise. This is why I named Everbloom. Everbloom is I saw something that said when a flower doesn't bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower. And I was like, oh my, like incredible. I mean, just like I was like, oh my gosh. And that was it. And you just explained that just now, you know, like the energy is off because there isn't true expectation. There isn't clarity. And we do not know what's happening. And if we do know sometimes, sometimes, listen, we have a lot, a lot of part timers in these industries that something will be announced and we're like, we're doing it this way. And then someone will come in and, and maybe they're exhausted and maybe they're having a bad day or maybe no one communicated to them and they're like, yeah, no, I'm not doing it that way. Boom. Immediate breakdown. Like that's when the toxicity starts hitting. And they're like, no, no, no. We worked through this entire process. Where are we going? Back to where we were. Right? Clarity. Announcing it, making sure that it is a written process. Making sure. Listen, if people out there, if you are recreating processes, if you can get a two minute video in, let me tell you, in today's society, I'm not even talking about workplace. I'm talking like we live in a scroll, scroll world. And you know, I get a lot of, a lot of times they're like, listen, I really want to do this, but my older team members, like, I don't think they're going to be on board. I'm like, really? Because no one has a faster scroll free. Yeah. Roadblock. No one has A faster scroll finger than my mother, who's a boomer. Like, listen, that girl is. She knows, she knows how to work Facebook. And if she knows how to work Facebook, then she can figure anything out. And so like there's the roadblock and also the excuses and lack of clarity and you know, and it all comes back to what do you want your practice energy to look like? Mm, it gets just real, you know. Yeah. Okay. Clearly you and I are very passionate about systems and playbooks and this is like a normal conversation that we would have even outside of this podcast.
Cassie Kellner [00:16:21]:
Hey Bloomers, I've got something big to share. Our May Ortho Society meeting fell to 95% in just 72 hours. That level of demand, man, told us everything we needed to know. So we're opening a second highly curated and geographically exclusive cohort. Join us June 4th and 5th at the Paradise Point Resort and Spa in San Diego, California. For the Ortho Society, a hands-on implementation experience limited to 20 hand-selected orthodontic practices. I'm co-hosting with Lindsay Quinn, founder of Heartwise Collective. Together with we bring 40 plus years of orthodontic and practice management experience and we build systems alongside you. Day one, team growth plans, clear pathways for long-term success, plus your digital workflows, AI systems, CEO dashboards, and a 12-month operational roadmap. Day two, peer collaboration, problem solving, and real-time implementation. Think study club vibes. This is real work built in real time, and you leave ready to execute. Applications are open, spots are limited. Link in the show notes. I'll see you in San Diego.
Cassie Kellner [00:17:36]:
Let's talk about onboarding processes because that's what you are going to do for Everbloom clients in the general dentistry world, right is is build these out and have been doing for dental practices in the last half of 2025 with us. And I can't even tell you how excited we are that we're creating this wonderful partnership. Let's talk about onboarding and what that looks like. And you know, a lot of times people are like, well I actually got a dm. I don't think I told you this. I got a DM from someone who's like, I really want to use this Trainual, but how do I keep my team accountable? Like how do I, how do, how do I make sure that they're using this and doing it? You know. And my answer to her was the, the framework that Trainual has created. I mean I, I can't even like, there's the reporting, there's the analytics, there's the, you know, you can track your team members and see what they've completed and what they haven't. The quiz aspect and taking assessments, you know, I mean, there's so much that keeps your team accountable in 2026 as opposed to giving them a paper process. Let's get real, right? It's, it's almost impossible.
Mandy Madeline [00:18:56]:
Or giving them eight hours of something to look through that doesn't pertain to their role or responsibilities whatsoever. And, and you know, you're able to create these training paths and tracks that fit each department in your office, that they're going to walk away with information that they need after they're onboarded, not just a bunch of information that is overload and now they can't even retain what they're supposed to know.
Cassie Kellner [00:19:30]:
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, think about it, right? I mean, if we create clinical processes, we don't need the financial team to understand how to do this very detailed clinical process from, from start to finish. We do need them to understand that this is a clinical process that we do. However, they don't need to know the, the fine details of how to get this done. And the same thing goes from a clinical team member to a financial team member. And so let's talk about onboarding and, and how to keep these alive even after we've put them into play.
Mandy Madeline [00:20:10]:
Keeping them alive. You know, these playbooks should be a living, living training tool in your office and something that leadership is referring back to all the time. Right. I mean, this is our living, breathing playbook that this is how we operate and you know, when we want to know what does great look like here and how do I do it? And that I would say talking about it being a living organism in the practice, the biggest thing is leadership and that it is being brought to morning huddles or when we have a new system that's going to be implemented, that's where it gets implemented. It's not just an email that's sent out. We're using these tools so that we're keeping them alive. And again, you have ways to hold your team accountable, to make sure that everyone's gone through the material and read what they need to know so that their day looks like success. And those are so important.
Cassie Kellner [00:21:32]:
Yeah. You know, I onboarded a team, a team in Seattle last summer and when I got done, you know, we, we built out their playbook. We did all of our team trainings and the last team training that I did with them, the office manager cried and I got off that call and I was just, I sat in my office in silence. Like this is fun work for me. I really enjoy this. I like nerding out and getting into the process and building this out for people. However I know this sounds, this is so dramatic, Mandy. But it was truly life changing for her and, and she emailed me after and so did the orthodontist and they were like, oh my gosh. I, I, she's like, I can onboard without that level of stress. That is like, where do we even begin? I've lost these team members and now I have to over and start reinventing all over again. First of all, it's so time consuming. It's super costly and she had a foundation and that's what we're doing. We're just building foundations. And again, you're right. It is living people who set it and forget it. Your practice is forever evolving. So does your playbook has to follow that, you know, and that's why I appoint trainual champions where they can go in and we assign things to people and there's a whole framework that goes in behind the scenes to make sure that you're not incredibly overwhelmed, that you're just getting, you know, little updates here or there that says, hey, is this process still current? If not, let's change it, you know.
Mandy Madeline [00:23:14]:
Yeah. Assigning people to, to that content that, you know, this is what they do. Let's say we have a surgical coordinator in the office and we have certain processes around how we handle our sedation drugs and our implants and our surgeries and oh, okay, well then our surgical assistant or surgical lead is probably the best person to be over that content and that material to keep it up to date. And that's the great thing about doing this is it doesn't all have to be on one person. Right. It doesn't mean that the office manager has to keep everything up to date. And it's another thing that's going to fall on her plate and just more overwhelm and again cause burnout, you know. No, it doesn't have to be that way. That's why we have all these great team members that do what they do. And all that content relates to somebody and what their role and responsibility is. And, and it empowers those team members to be responsible for that information because, you know, they, they want it to be up to date because they're passionate about that stuff. That's what they do. And they want to make sure that everyone's following what's supposed to be done. So it's, it's also empowering to the team to involve them.
Cassie Kellner [00:24:36]:
Yes. Oh my gosh. I mean, when they have buy in, things actually happen. Right. When you're just constantly telling them what to do and then they lose it. There's no way, like, who can follow that? I can't. You know, it would be impossible. So obviously, you know, as a fellow certified trainual partner, which is very exciting by the way. Most practices struggle when they try to build systems. And this is what we do. Right. From an ortho dental perspective, what's happening? What tips do you have for people who are really struggling to build out the, the system or the process?
Mandy Madeline [00:25:24]:
Yeah, well, I mean, I think a lot of times people don't know where to start. Right? Yeah, they're, they're like, what do we do? How do we do this?
Cassie Kellner [00:25:33]:
Tell me everything.
Mandy Madeline [00:25:34]:
And they think like, we have to do everything at once and everything's going to be perfect before we start. And, and it really, it doesn't have to be that way. You know, the, the progress really beats the perfection. So, you know, the, the most successful teams really start with some of those higher impact workflows. So our new patient intake and our new patient workflow, our scheduling, our treatment presentation, some of those billing workflows, what happens when an emergency happens, how do we handle those? And, and then really build momentum from there. Right? So get some of those core workflows in place and that really gets that momentum going to, to, to keep going and, and build things out. And another challenge is consistency. And systems will only work again when leadership reinforces them. So if leaders are bypassing the playbook, then the team will too. So systems succeed when they're modeled, not just assigned. So I would say that is, you know, one of the biggest things when, when practices are struggling when building these systems because the systems will succeed when they're modeled, not just aligned. So you know, that's, that's huge when starting to build out these playbooks, is, is really getting the team on board. And it always starts with leadership and getting that buy in.
Cassie Kellner [00:27:33]:
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, at the end of the day, buy in's everything. You can invest in all of these systems, but you have to involve your team. I mean, I, I talk about this way too much, but you know, people are like, well, you know, they're not listening, they're not doing this. It's like, well, did they have a say?
Mandy Madeline [00:27:52]:
Right? Are you just telling them what to do?
Cassie Kellner [00:27:55]:
And they're like, how? No. And also like sit down as a team and Go, hey, this is the process we're really struggling with. Knows it. There's no secret. Let's build it out together, right? Grab the, the individuals that you need to make that process work that are all involved and guess what? It's going to work because they're all going to have buy in and they're all going to build it together. I mean that's, that's the difference and that's what we do. When we build these out with teams, it's not just our workflows. You know, we have templates but then we move those templates around, we delete, we erase, we start, we, you know, we build and we fill in the gap. And so, you know, it's just, it's been really cool to watch things kind of transform. So as we, as you step into this new role and we partner together, what excites you most about Everblooms dental at being Everbloom's dental coach?
Mandy Madeline [00:28:54]:
Well, I, I'm so excited for the opportunity to help the practices that Everbloom is working with and help them grow because growth is exciting and it can also magnify inefficiencies and those misalignments and you know what? Systems aren't in place, which is exciting to me because those are the things that I'm passionate about. I'm passionate about solving those problems problems and helping practices scale in a way that, that feels sustainable and really intentional. So that's exciting. And being part of Everbloom's dental division allows me to support practices not just in growth strategy, but building those operational foundations that makes that growth feel possible and enjoyable for the team.
Cassie Kellner [00:29:59]:
Yeah. Mandy, I am so excited, I'm so excited that we are finally announcing this. It's been announced but now you're on the pod and we're shouting from the rooftops. I'm thrilled that you're here and you're filling in the gaps that I certainly cannot take on. Let's be very real, you know, you have built such a beautiful workflows and frameworks and sops behind the scenes for these practices and I'm really, really excited to see how this grows in 2026. I really, truly, I'm so excited to have you be a part of this team. And here we go.
Mandy Madeline [00:30:41]:
We're going.
Cassie Kellner [00:30:42]:
It's happening.
Mandy Madeline [00:30:42]:
So excited it's happening and thank you. I'm really grateful for this opportunity and that we ran into each other and really it was because of Trainual. At the end of the day it was Trainual. You know, the Trainual booth that brought us together. I'm like, wait, these are my people over here, so go talk to them. And this is, you know, how it all happened.
Cassie Kellner [00:31:07]:
Full circle. Here we are. Full circle moment. Mandy, thank you for joining me today. Truly, truly. If anyone wants to connect with Mandy, they can go to the Everbloom website, DiscoverEverbloom.com and learn everything there is to know about her and connect with her and, and you can see how you can work with her and schedule a strategy call. Here we go. General Division.
Mandy Madeline [00:31:32]:
Thanks, Cassie.
Cassie Kellner [00:31:34]:
Thank you for joining me on The Bloom Effect, where we keep it real, keep it growing, and always keep it team first. If today's episode sparked something for you, an idea, a shift, or just a reminder that you're not alone, take a second and share it with your team or a fellow ortho leader. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss a convo. And if you're loving the show, leave a review. It helps more practices find us and join the movement. And if you're ready to bring this kind of energy into your practice, visit DiscoverEverbloom.com to learn more about working together. Until next time, keep leading with heart, keep building with intention, and keep blooming right where you're planted.
