Are Your Employees Treading Water?
Ah, yes, March, the harbinger of spring. A most appropriate month for today’s topic in this year of leadership development blogs. We started the year with a blog about the infamous “bad apple” employee; next, we tackled how to avoid hiring a “bad apple” employee; and now, after following our effective Concepts Hiring System, we move into March with a new employee.
Thanks to engaging hiring strategies, our new employee is excited, energetic, a little nervous, and eager to learn. She is in the spring of her tenure with you, your team, and your practice: new, fresh, ready to grow and bloom into that gold-star employee. This wonderful new employee is one that your patients adore; projects a welcoming and caring image of your practice; gladly takes on responsibilities and challenges; embraces and promotes teamwork; and stays. Too good to be true? Perhaps, perhaps not. That is up to you, her leader.
As emphasized in last month’s article, such gold-star employees rarely walk into your door fully formed. It is your leadership skills and your operating systems that transform them into ideal employees. Right here, at this point right after hiring a new employee, is when so many leaders (and not just in dentistry!) make two key mistakes:
First, they fail to provide the new employee with a clear set of expectations.
Second, they fail to implement a systematic training process for the new employee.
Omitting these two critical mistakes, right out of the gate, can lead to failure. The leader is at fault more than the new employees, but that is rarely how it is perceived.
If the employees do not understand the expectations of their leader (you) in order to do their job well and act appropriately act while doing it, the new employees have little chance of being successful. They feel adrift in a huge ocean of choices and are forced to guess and hope that what they are doing and how they are doing it is what is expected. Understandably, this “poking and hoping” approach results in mistakes, frustration, and embarrassment which, over time, snuffs out the initial energy, enthusiasm, and eagerness of your new employee. You then describe this employee as: “Apathetic,” “going through the motions,” “disengaged,” “weak-link,” “lazy,” or “a bad apple.”
So, let’s stop right here and discuss how to avoid the first of these two mistakes: failing to communicate clear expectations. If you read last month’s blog, you already know the importance of relating core expectations before you hire anyone. Not only are you searching for the right employee fit for your practice, but that candidate is searching for the right workplace fit for herself. Mistakes can be made on both sides and often are, but you can reduce this likelihood by presenting your primary core expectations long before anyone signs on the dotted line. All you need to do is give the prospective employee three documents before your interview:
Your practice’s mission statement;
The Team Commitments (behavior and conduct); and
A team-oriented, detailed job description.
Then, when you interview them, you point-blank ask if they read these documents. (If they didn’t, minimize the interview because you already know your decision.) Stress the importance of these documents and ask if they could work within the prospective employee’s parameters. This only takes two minutes, max, of your time. Of course, you must have these documents prepared and up-to-date before the interviewing process begins.
The Practice’s Mission Statement
Let’s spend a few minutes on these three documents because they are what your operational systems are designed to accomplish and a critical part of your training process. Some dentists get flat-faced when the topic of a business mission statement comes up because they think it is too soft, stupid, or meaningless. Why? Because they don’t understand how to use it or the meaning it holds to others working in the business. They assume employees know what the ultimate goal is, because, to the owner it is so obvious. To others, however, it is often not. Having and using an effective mission statement can change your work culture and your success level, if you don’t believe it, read Jim Collin’s book, Good to Great.
Your mission statement needs to be no more than three sentences, intrinsic, motivating and always something to strive toward. According to Jim Collins, your mission statement is your big, hairy, audacious goal (BHAG). It is based upon the leader’s (your) intrinsic reasons for being a dentist and establishing a practice. The leadership skills that make this purpose statement powerful and meaningful are simple: you must make sure it is read at the beginning of every team meeting and annual retreat; referenced when making decisions; resolving disputes; and addressing employee questions and requests. Ask someone to read it at the beginning of every Morning Huddle. Hang it on the wall where your Morning Huddle is held for easy reference. When a meeting gets off track, ask everyone how the current conversation enhances the accomplishment of the practice’s mission statement. If it doesn’t, redirecting the conversation is readily accepted. Assure it is on the first page of your employee handbook and the #1 responsibility in your job descriptions. Make it the core of everything your practice does.
One thing it is not designed to be is a marketing tool. It is not designed to impress others. It is designed to shape your work culture and transform your employees into team members. Dentistry is a team sport, if you and your employees don’t have a common goal to work together to accomplish, you don’t have a team. You simply have a group of people playing different games on different playing fields. A sure-fire recipe for frustration, inefficiencies, and patient discontent.
the Team Commitments
The second document that outlines the team’s expectations at the practice is related to employee behavior. If we look at dentistry as a team sport, these are equivalent to the rules of your game. I like to recommend ten team commitments, which always encourage: respect; honesty; integrity; punctuality; pride in their work; positive attitudes; and preventing workplace drama. Upon hire, each employee signs a document agreeing to follow your purpose statement and team commitments. These behavioral expectations are set by the leader to establish the foundation for a healthy work culture, which is “the single greatest advantage of any company” (The Advantage, Patrick Lencioni). A great work culture is so powerful because advancing technology can be bought by any business; price advantages can be duplicated, and the education of dentists and the practice of dentistry are standardized. The work culture of a business, however, is rarely easy to duplicate, buy, or standardize. It is unique to every business and your single most competitive advantage or weakness. Setting the cultural foundation of the organization; following it; expecting it and constantly improving upon it may be the most important responsibility of any leader. Your Team Commitments are where this starts.
Team-Oriented Job Description
The third document, a customized, team-oriented job description lists the primary responsibilities and tasks of a specific job position. It must include adherence to your purpose statement, your Team Commitments and always helping others. It should be specific to your practice and not a generic, generalized outline of the duties of an assistant, or hygienist, associate, or business employee. This job description should always include the key responsibilities of the role.
Don’t assume the people you hire know these types of responsibilities are as critical to their job security as cleaning instruments, taking x-rays, or answering the phone. You can get this document started by asking each role to list their duties in daily, weekly, monthly and annual categories. Then you utilize your leadership skills by making sure cultural responsibilities are included, such as quality customer service; a professional appearance; effective communication; participation; a positive attitude; teamwork; continuous learning; and more, as determined by you.
When I hire or help others hire, I want to make sure this new employee, who I spent time and energy selecting, is successful. I certainly don’t want have to hire – or have one of my clients have to hire - anyone else again in six months or a year or even two. I definitely don’t want anyone to have to work with a “bad-apple” employee. I bet you feel the same way.
Employees are successful when they feel accomplished, vital, proud of their work, leader, and workplace. Following an effective, tried-and-tested Concepts Hiring System requires you to prepare your team; develop all of your hiring documentation ahead of time; and use the documents at the appropriate time during the hiring process. This will get your new “spring chick” employee off to a great start, but there is more, much more. The process of developing a gold-star team player starts with smart hiring followed by systematic training, which is where next month’s leadership article will take us. Until then, happy spring!
