The Explorer Winter 2018 Explorer_Fall_2018 | Page 7

By Teresa Chien, Executive Director
At LADS, we have long known the
wonderful benefits of collaboration and
how it can elevate the services we provide
for our members. It is a wonderful way
for organizations to pool resources
together and achieve something greater
than they would have on their own. “The
sum of the whole is greater than the sum
of each part,” as the cliché goes.
However, through several pilot (and
sometimes exhaustive) attempts over the
past years, I’ve learned the difference
between simple versus easy. As simple a
solution collaboration may be, it is not
so very easy to execute. In this respect,
2018 has stood out for me in recent
LADS history due to the various
collaborations that actually worked well.
Though LADS did not set out to seek
more collaboration, our willingness to
pursue opportunities, no matter what
form, allowed us to enlarge existing
programs or provide unplanned services
to our member dentists.
1) The launch of TDSC (The Dentists
Supply Comply) has been exciting for
us. We love that organized dentistry
could be saving you five figures
annually in dental supplies! That’s
why we’ve been working with TDSC
to expose you as much as possible to
the immediate cost-savings of this
unique benefit. Perhaps you’ve seen
the ads and articles in some of LADS
various publications and social
media? We’re even offering a little
extra to LADS members only.
Between now and November 30,
LADS members will earn an entry
for a free one-year ADA
membership (a value of $1,638) for
every purchase made on TDSC!
That means, one lucky LADS
member will not only save on their
dental supplies this year, but will also
Los Angeles Dental Society Explorer
save on membership dues next year!
Such a great deal would not have
been possible without support from
TDSC.
2) Summers might appear quiet to
LADS members, but it’s a time of
increased activity for dentists of the
future. Our Pre-Dental Prep
program gets the spotlight, and this
year was the most successful
implementation thanks to a symbiotic
partnership with the Korean
American Dental Association
(KADA). Our two societies combined
resources and were honest about each
other’s strengths. What resulted was
the largest group of young students
to-date, a more diverse and
geographically broad collection of
volunteer dentists for students to
shadow, more avenues of exposure,
and a full suite of dental school tours.
The collaboration produced a 90%
satisfaction rate with students
voluntarily providing video
testimonials of their experience.
3) Despite the changing of leaders each
year, the one thing that all LADS
volunteers have in common is the
desire to keep LADS relevant, viable
and useful to its members. To do so,
they hold strategic planning/review
days each year to make sure the long-
term plans of the Society are on track
or make decisions if pivoting needs to
occur. It can be a costly process for a
small organization, but this year,
thanks to the combined participation
of the Southern California society
components, LADS was able to
minimize strategic planning costs
while brainstorming additional ways
for neighboring components to
collaborate further. LADS thanks
San Fernando Valley Dental
Society, Harbor Dental Society,
Tri-County, Kern County Dental
Society, and especially Orange
County Dental Society for
spearheading this large endeavor.
4) Like our pre-dental students, summers
are dedicated to our new dentists,
whether they are recent graduates or
have been practicing for a few years.
We know that the first step in any
profession can sometimes be the most
difficult, so we try to make it easier to
navigate with our Stage One Dental
Career Workshop. The dental
recruiting company, Swiss Monkey,
was initially brought in to provide
resume consultations at last year’s
workshop. The initial short-term
collaboration worked so well that we
collaborated again this past August on
a pop-up career and networking fair
downtown. Early career support is a
critical need for our new dentists,
so LADS and Swiss Monkey will be
continuing the collaboration by
working on a dedicated job board
accessible through the LADS
website with an expected launch
date by the end of the year.
Although unplanned, the opportunities
presented from this year have proven
that a) clear and aligned objectives, b)
an honest assessment of competencies
and resources, c) strong effective
leadership, and d) co-design/co-
planning make successful collaboration
possible. Knowing these key elements
and seeing the positive impact they
make for you, our members, I hope to
attract more collaborators and improve
our existing programs in the coming
years. If you’ve got a potential
collaborator in mind, I’d love to hear
from you! 䡲