One of the toughest things we face as Private Practice owners is finding great ROCK STAR STAFF to help us to grow the business and provide REALLY GOOD CARE AND SERVICE. After all this it’s your name and reputation on the line and you want to know that this new staff member will handle your patients the same way you would and get the same outcomes you would.
I hear this question and problem a lot – “How do I find really good staff”, or “it is so difficult to find really good staff”. Well there are some simple steps that you can take to ensure that every hire you bring in is one who will help your practice grow and be capable in their role.
- SET YOUR EXPECTATIONS AND KNOW WHAT YOU NEED AND WANT BEFORE YOU HIRE.
What is your ideal employee for the spot you are hiring for? I have always found two rules related to this to be true. 1.) when I put it in writing it seems to appear, 2.) when we identify what it is that we want exactly we don’t talk ourselves into something that is not the ideal thing for us.
So, what goes on this list? Don’t leave anything out. This will basically be your check list to make sure that you don’t forget to assess a quality of this future employee. This checklist becomes part of your hiring process. In order to be hired, you must meet EVERYTHING ON THE CHECKLIST!!! This checklist might include things like can they follow directions, punctual for appointments, talks to patients with respect and gets them to schedule appointments, can handle difficult patients who want to discharge themselves early, and the list can go on and on. When you have your list you then set up scenarios to access each of the criteria on your checklist. Take for example, the criteria first thing listed: can they follow directions? Well, this starts with having them do something specific when they respond to the job listing. What I have found works well is putting a statement in the job posting that tells them exactly how I want them to respond. Something like: “respond to this listing with a cover letter that is addressed to (your name). In the cover letter tell me three reasons why you think you would be an excellent candidate for this position”. The purpose in this requirement is twofold: it tells you how they think they would fit in and why, and more importantly it tells you right away whether they are able to follow directions. After all, who wants an employee who can’t follow directions from the get-go? And you go from there, checking off all the things on your checklist.
- YOUR HIRING PROCESS SHOULD INCLUDE A “WORKING INTERVIEW”.
The biggest mistake that we make when hiring our staff is that we hire someone because they said they could do it. Has that ever happened to you? This person was the lead therapist or office manager at another practice and your so excited to hire them only to find out that they can’t get a single thing done at all. So, the best way to filter that out is to find tasks that you can “test” them on during the interview process. So, for a front office person, can they answer the phone? Tell them how you want the phone answered and what you want them to do with it after they answer it (usually that would be to get the caller’s name and what they are calling in for) and then have them put the caller on hold and give you a report. You will be amazed the number of people who have front office experience but can’t do this one simple task with success. Have them do this for an hour or so and see how they respond as they progress. Do they get better at it or do they start to fall apart? Here is the trick; test them at the busiest times of the day in the front office – do you really want someone who gets all flustered when it gets busy? Do they get more comfortable or do they get sloppy? If it is a PT you are hiring, test them on whatever is important to you. If you want them to be able to mobilize a shoulder have them mobilize a patient’s shoulder. Set up the scenario beforehand with the patient that has them assess the prospective therapist’s ability to mobilize their shoulder, after all the patient knows how you do it and can compare for you. If the prospective PT is timid and not confident, don’t you want to know that now before you hire them. The list of things you can test them on is endless but test for what you want them to be able to do when they start working for you.
- START TRAINING IMMEDIATELY AFTER YOU HIRE THEM.
Yes, we want the new staff member to start producing but we want them to learn how to start producing the way we want things done in our practice, not the way it used to be in the practice / place they used to work. So, on day one, first thing, set aside time to start to train them on things. Yes, you want them to know policy and procedure, but you want them to know how and why things are done the way they should be done. Have them mirror a task and then have them do it. For a therapist, have them mirror an evaluation for example. This way they can see how an evaluation is done in your office. As you go through, explain to them what you are doing and why you are doing it. Not, okay I’m going to check ROM now, but I start off an evaluation by walking them through the gym and giving them an idea of where things are, almost like a tour. I make sure to ask them what their goal is for physical therapy, that kind of stuff. Then I make sure that the new PT (regardless of how much experience they have before coming to work for us) knows what to include in their eval and why. If you don’t train them, you will get what they did at the last place and all that will do is create confusion and problems. In my practice we believe that each of our staff are salespeople, they are selling PT appointments, selling a full plan of care, selling not cancelling appointments, selling a HEP, etc. So, on day one we start by teaching them how to be a salesperson. This is a very specific program that we learned through Measurable Solutions and has made all the difference in the world for us getting all our staff up and running and getting the end result of therapy = A SUCCESSFUL DISCHARGE (a patient that completed their full plan of care and got the results of therapy they were looking for).
I wanted to share my recent White Board Wednesday on FINDING ROCKSTAR STAFF with you. Click the link to watch the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WeTYYT3XnU&t=32s I would love to hear your thoughts so please leave a comment after you watch.
For more information on how to improve your practice, reduce cancellations / no shows / early discharges, and find out all the latest and most effective ways to get new patients, check out our FREE webinar series: www.PTwebinars.net
