Is it actually true that “there are no good staff out there”? We have heard that statement from practically every practice owner at the start of our working together (more than 1,700 so far) over the last 30 years. Does that make it true?
The answer is “no, it is not true,” as evidenced by the fact that almost every one of our clients have ended up with a great team with our help. So, how can that be?
Some thoughts on the matter:
- I wrote an article called, “Hiring the Almost Perfect Staff Member” in which I pointed out that the day you are the perfect boss, is the day you will find the perfect staff member. (You might enjoy looking at that article after you finish this one.) Click here to go to Hiring The Almost Perfect Staff
- I would venture a guess that about 80% of the people you interview for your practice are either “good” or “great,” or have the potential to be. This number is probably the same percentage as the number of potentially “good” or “great” bosses.
- You can have great staff, but if you are not a great boss, you can destroy the “great” really fast. Earlier this lifetime, I was a paralegal and observed untrained bosses (lawyers don’t get trained as executives either) undermining some very good staff who developed bad attitudes towards their jobs as a result. As I was extremely management trained, this made me cringe and want to start a company that trains practitioners to be great bosses. (Chose healthcare, not lawyers – long story.)
- Examples of things that may not be being done well: Not enough praise for jobs done to your standards. Correcting the erring staff member in public where other staff or patients could hear (Rule: Correct in private, praise in public). No job descriptions and protocols detailed enough to be instructive. Not enough systems and structure in place. Not enough positiveness in leadership skills. No bonus system to encourage increasingly excellent skills and therefore production.
- Good and great traits for most people are learned skills. We are not born knowing how to market, schedule, hire, deal with people’s foibles, be a great boss, and so on.
- Therefore your skill in the management of your team members is going to dictate how well you train and encourage them.
If you would like to take your practice to a whole new level and improve your management skills (or know someone else who does), please call me and arrange a time to meet in person or online to discuss whether we could be of service to you.
