Authentic Leadership
What happens when friend and former colleague of Jason DeFranco comes for a visit? We get the scoop on who Jason was before Team Solutions. Spoiler Alert: He's exactly the same.
As we embark on the journey of our President and Co-Founder’s plan to become CEO we wanted to take a step back and gain insight into who he was before Team Solutions Dental.
Before co-founding Team Solutions Dental Jason worked for National Dentex Corp alongside his longtime friend and colleague Dean Riberio. Recently, Dean visited Team Solutions in his role as an Account Manager for Kulzer, where he had the opportunity to reconnect with Jason and share some stories and experiences he had with Jason DeFranco prior to opening Team Solutions Dental.
At National Dentex Corp, Jason began as Laboratory Production Manager where he was promoted 5 times within 8 years. This promotional fast track ultimately earned Jason the title of Executive Director of Operations. They had a number of labs that were not operating as well as other labs within the organization and, over the course of time, these labs were assigned to Jason and Dean..
Jason would enter, firm the ship and take care of it.
Dean and Jason worked together for roughly 8 years, and stayed close even after their professional paths branched off. When we asked Dean to talk about Jason, he spoke highly of him with admiration and respect.
“I remember a particular time when we acquired a lab. That laboratory was an interesting acquisition, it had a strong reputation as a good mid-sized dental lab at the time. And unbeknownst to me, I was on site day two after we acquired them where we quickly realized that they never previously told the employees that they sold to us. They struggled with abandonment, lack of trust and transparency. We were literally the ones who took the brunt of that. Jason came into that deal with a lot of sensitivity and disdain from the employee's perspective …oh no, this big bad company is the owner now and things are gonna change immediately for the worse. And so he overcame that, and that lab went on to be a successful lab.”
Jason showed the employees that he's not asking anything of them that he wasn't willing to do himself and, as a result, gained the trust they needed to turn that lab into a successful one.
“I think it's very important when people - especially when it's a new relationship and trust that you're forming - that they see that you’re willing to do everything you’re asking of them. That includes getting your hands dirty, if necessary.”
Hearing this story, it comes as no surprise that this is how Team Solutions Dental is run daily, with their very own President being hands on on the lab floor with the technicians doing the work, training, teaching, supporting, and helping to solve problems with the team.
Although it wasn't the most ideal situation Jason was thrusted into, he was very successful at it. Experiences like these - where tough situations arise and you must persevere - are where the Team Member Values come from. TSD’s value “Find a way, face the challenge”, encourages its team to constantly seek out innovative ways to overcome any challenge that may present itself.
Receiving visitors at Team Solutions Dental never fails to validate how different we are from other dental laboratories. We strongly believe and work hard to show the industry and our customers that we are more than a lab.
Dean remarks how rare Team Solutions is. Labs this organized and as committed to employee development, being surrounded by the latest and greatest technology and making those continuous investments in individuals and equipment, paint a very bright future for the laboratory.
“You only have to visit a small handful of labs to realize what truly is unique and special about this lab, beyond the equipment, it’s the way they're engaging each of you, embracing each of you and I think on a human level legitimately interested in seeing you become the best version of yourself on a daily basis. And most business operations are not as deeply committed.”
Dean also credits Jason for surrounding himself with a bunch of bright people, like Co-Founder Chad Holman, “to a degree, seeing each of them succeed to this level is almost a proud papa moment for me. Not to date myself or age myself, but it's really personally rewarding.”
Since the beginning of his career, Jason has been committed to developing and growing not only the dental laboratories he’s served, but the employees within them.. We invite you to join us in following Jason’s progress now as he takes on the role of developing into the Chief Executive Officer of Team Solutions Dental as well as his plan to develop his employees to grow right alongside him.
