We touched on the "why" of this topic briefly back in May of this year (click here to read!), but it always seems to come back up. Let's be honest: it's easy to toss out advice on getting rid of bad apples quickly while picking new ones off the tree, but it rarely works like this in the real world. Hiring good people, retaining great employees, and firing those that don't fit in (for whatever reason) are all difficult things to do and that is unlikely to change any time soon. Remember back when you only got job applications through the classified ads in newspapers or by peer referral? Yeah, those days are long gone. Now, you post a job online and get instantly flooded with a ton of resumes. This would be great if you could verify they were actually accurate!
Being "slow to hire and quick to fire" is essential to building the right team and is crucial to ensuring your patients get the best care possible and, in turn, your practice succeeds. If you agree that this approach is best, your next question is probably, "How do I implement it?" While there may be no obvious answers here, what we hope to touch on today are three practical ways you can begin moving toward this approach in your practice. Here are three steps: Set the job description and expectations. Get your hands dirty. Monitor and, f necessary, pull the plug. Let's dive on in... Set the job description and expectations. This step is really 85% of the battle. Hiring well is the name of the game. But you aren't just hiring a front desk person. You are hiring a medical receptionist that will be required to:
Ok, so you already write job descriptions like that, but what will enable you to hire slow and fire fast is adding the element of accountability. (We discussed this in detail in our recent piece on staff management.) There is a huge difference in an employee "understanding" what will be required of them on the job and "accepting responsibility" for performing the job. This is what you are looking for when you hire! You want to bring on employees that attack their job description, propose new ideas as to how to complete their tasks, and are a great fit with the existing team. No, you can't know all three of things by the end of a job interview, but you can have a pretty good idea of whether or not a potential employee will be a good fit by going with your gut and seeing how they respond to both the job description and accountability measures you have put in place. You must have goals and clear expectations in place when the employee starts. Once you have those, there are two ways to ensure you are both on the same page. It all starts with you, the doctor, getting involved in the hiring and training of your employees. Get your hands dirty No one should take the hiring process more seriously than the owner(s) of the practice. Many small business owners delegate hiring to management or make the hires only to watch new employees deteriorate right before their eyes while never intervening. Why? Because hiring is hard! But avoiding hiring your new employees only guarantees that you will never get any better at it. You will make hiring mistakes. The goal is to limit the effect those mistakes have on the overall health of your practice and learn from each one of them. One of the most common (and unhealthy) practices is the hiring of employees based solely on their resume. A piece of paper should be considered when determining who gets in the door for the interview, but the remainder of the process should be all about you, the interviewee, and their ability to perform the job description and meet your expectations. There are a million "cute" questions you can ask a potential employee, but does it really matter where they want to be in their career five years from now? You need someone who can perform the task at hand today, tomorrow, and for the next year. Focus on whether or not the person in front of you can do that. Hire employees based on their resume, their references, and your gut after having a conversation with them based on what you need in your practice. Perhaps the biggest mistake made in the hiring process is sticking with bad hires too long. If necessary, you have to pull the plug. Monitor and, if necessary, pull the plug You aren't done once the employee is hired. Now that you are highly involved in the hiring process, it is time to get to know your new employee within the walls of your practice. Watching your new employees closely for a period of 60-90 days to see how they pick up your system, how they perform their job description, and how they fit in with the team is highly recommended. As you continually meet with them during these initial months, you will have a very good understanding of how they are performing and feeling as a new employee of your practice. You never want an employee who comes to work every day just for a check. Everyone involved will be miserable if that's what ends up happening. Inevitably, you will hire someone who underperforms or wreaks havoc on your team. If this happens, you will have a perfectly good reason to dismiss them from your practice based on their understanding of your expectations. You should never fire an employee for the sake of firing an employee, but letting someone go after they have failed to hit realistic standards is absolutely OK. If you see the writing on the wall early on, it is likely best to part ways sooner rather than later. Conclusion The ultimate goal of the "hire slow and fire fast" concept is to hire quality employees that will dedicate themselves to your practice and patients. This will not happen without you being a key player in the process. As the owner of the practice, every decision falls on your shoulders. That not only includes the great hires, but also the bad ones and how you handle them. We hope this piece gives you at least one idea on how you can improve your hiring process at your practice. If you have any questions or comments, please reply to this email and let us know!
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AuthorThe staff and doctors at VisionAmerica are committed to providing relevant information for you, your patients and your practice. We hope you find the information in our blog post helpful. Archives
August 2019
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