I spent last weekend in beautiful New Zealand – presenting my Mastermind and Marketing Bootcamps – as well as speaking at the New Zealand Physiotherapy Association Business Symposium.
It seems that regardless of where I go in the world – all health business owners have the same issues and problems.
One of the recurring issues for all of us continues to be how owners can most accurately predict if a new therapist will work out for us.
You all know the situation – the applicants CV seemed great – they interviewed incredibly well – but less than a month into their employment with us – it is clear they are not going to work out and we have to let them go and start the process again.
What a waste of our valuable time and energy.
If only there was a way to predict that a new therapist will be a success in our business – before we actually hired them.
Well – here are three suggestions that may help in your quest for great team members:
1. Employ on people skills – not on their technical ability.
As much as this upsets the technical educators out there- I am much more interested in how the applicant related to and got on with the admin team when they arrived for the interview – than the number of courses they have done.
2. Look for applicants who come from a family who had their own small business.
This is an interesting observation – however a large number of small business owners – who expect their team to sell products and services – have found their most successful employees are those who have “small business” in their blood.
These new team members grew up around parents who understood sales, marketing, customer service and other business related topics – these conversations around the dinner table are invaluable in shaping the mindset of our future team members.
3. Employ the therapist that lives closest to your clinic
One of the global trends we are seeing – possible related to Gen Y characteristics – is an increase on the team members interest in work life balance.
Many new team members are unlikely to stay on our team very long – if they have to spend hours each day getting too and from your clinic.
Regardless of how keen the potential therapist appears, how desperate they are to work in your organization, and how strongly they believe that the 70 min commute each way will not worry them – in 99% of cases – they won’t last.
Extra Hiring Tip
One way many sharp thinking businesses are selecting team members – is to not actually employ them at all for the first stage of the application.
Instead – the applicant is asked to take part in a small project or group initiative – where the new team member gets to mix with some of your current team for this short term project.
At the end of this short “internship” you then decide if this new team member is going to fit your organization and be a valuable team member.
This model – is becoming more and more common in many businesses – so the owner does not have to take a big ” all or none” risk on the new team member.
Worth a shot – don’t you think.
I hope this helps you in your health business.