Nov. 4, 2021 — Tom Bowen has been in the optical industry for nearly four decades. A founding principal of Williams Group, Practice Coach, Optometric Consulting Systems, and the Silvermark Agency, he is now the founder and CEO of Thrive Practice and Life Development, based in Roca, NE. To learn more about Thrive, head to this month's #EBConvo.
We checked in with Bowen to hear more insights, and here he shares part two on the paradigm shift from “hiring” to “recruiting” in landing and keeping great staff. To access part one, click here.
As we discussed last time, the question is a bit like a broken record that plays over and over in these times: “Tom, am I doing something wrong? Why am I having such a hard time keeping staff?! And what should I be doing differently?”
As we’ve well established the last year, the great challenge of the current new normal in small business is attracting and keeping great staff. And we’ve shared that the days of “hiring” for great help have likely forever yielded to the days of “recruiting” in their stead.
We’ve established that recruiting has become an ongoing effort (as in never not doing it sort of ongoing, rather than just posting jobs when we’re hiring) to establish and keep a pipeline that’s just always there (kind of like the Huskers of old with offensive and defensive linemen and kickers—we could sure use some of those these days!), and not so much a matter of looking for great people at a particular time.
We’ve also established that we’re in a time (and perhaps always should have been) that we hire for purpose before position. Without question, this is the paradigm shift of the new normal as it relates to your human capital.
And we pondered this paradigm-shifting question: What good is it to hire the most experienced and technically capable person in the world, the person who can land here and actually do the job tomorrow, only to have them buck our culture, stir the pot, and hop the next train a few weeks or months later?
Again, I submit this question has been pertinent for as long as I’ve been in this business, but it is particularly so today. Despite the temptations of convenience, today, more than ever, we want to deliberately recruit people who align with our culture and values, rather than seeking the experienced whiz kid that can clock in and go to it.
We all know the challenge of getting and keeping great people is nothing new for practice owners. Right, colleagues?
What seems the new part of the current new normal is the extremity of this challenge. And as you know, this is not just the case in private practice. It’s so in the restaurant/hospitality industry, manufacturing, travel, transit, banking—even the U.S. Postal Service!
Just about every industry is experiencing the same, and this is exactly why we need to give ourselves the advantage of recruiting being an all-the-time thing and not just “get busy looking when we need someone.” Chances are at that particular time (when we need someone), it will take a good bit longer to land the right person than once upon a time.
I was shocked to have one of our colleagues tell me last week that the associate he’s in the process of bringing in (who sounds to be a gem!) shared with him that where she’s been working as an employed optometrist (in an ophthalmology clinic), the practice owner would remind employees every day that they are expendable—literally tell them that. Can you imagine? Immediately, I thought, “Wow unless they’re paying astronomically high wages, that guy is in for a tidal-wave-like rude awakening.” And frankly, he deserves it. That will be a reap-what-you-sow thing.
So, as we think about attracting and keeping great, values-aligned people, I want to make this as clear as I possibly can, friends: The sun is definitely setting (in fact, it’s done set) on the model of being people’s “boss” and hiring into that model of employment.
There are just too many other options immediately available in this day for us to hope people will stay in a “you work for me” culture. If you think about it, they never worked for you. They worked for your patient. You just paid them to do that! The sun rising model, and moving rapidly in our new normal toward the high-noon model, is reflected in this quote from a colleague recently:
“What makes us unique is that my staff are THE best. They can handle any problem that walks through our door. They do it with kindness and caring and never make the patient feel like they are a burden. I treat my staff like they deserve to be treated. Like the amazing professionals they are, and I let them know I appreciate them.”
Yup, in this day and age, a colleague actually said that (in writing, I might add)!
Of course, we’ve long known people want to work where they feel appreciated in this way and treated accordingly. The difference in the current new normal is that people have moved from this being a preference, to this being a mandate, and incumbent on our practices to thrive in such a normal is rooting our entire team culture in this kind thinking.
Human resource is a verb in these times, not a noun (and should have been all along if you ask me), and I’ve learned for many colleagues, that’s a paradigm shift requiring three distinct things in chronology:
- A way of thinking
- Recruiting (formerly known as hiring) based on and making fully apparent this way of thinking
- Leveraging this thinking as the LEADER of your team, not the BOSS
As previously mentioned, No. 1 requires we abandon the old mentality that people “work for” a boss. They don’t. They work for your patients (which is exactly what we desire). They work for their families. They work for themselves. But they don’t work for you. Or won’t for long, anyway. Rather, they work with you. And as we’ve discussed many times with good old Marketing Rule No. 2, if we want someone to know something (like “this is how we think here”), we tell ’em!
Speaking of telling ’em, that’s No. 2 above. Recruiting is largely about clearly telling people what we value in being a team. I’m thrilled to share this example of how a client recently made the change from hiring (posting what the job is) to recruiting (communicating how the job is).
Here’s the post we ran (and they’re not necessarily even “hiring” right now): Our growing private practice is seeking accommodating individuals who value kindness and caring and love providing life-changing patient relationships. We value working in a family-owned small business culture with a CAN-DO spirit where we care about and enjoy our patients and one another. We thrive by caring and accomplishing together and we don’t do drama! If this is a culture where you would thrive, we’d love to talk with you about joining our team!
So, what we’re doing here, whether currently hiring or not, is recruiting people to a clearly defined and communicated set of values and establishing deliberate team alignment with those values in serving patients.
And I ask, colleagues, how can we not change lives with a team that thinks that way? But forming, recruiting to, and maintaining that team thinking takes time; so whether we’re hiring right now or not, let’s be recruiting!
As for No. 3 above, it’s very simple...People don’t want to be managed. They never have. Just ask them and see what they say. People want to be led. They always have, it’s just more urgent for us to realize it now.
Great leaders are focused above all on deliberately establishing a team’s vision, mission, and culture, and constantly striving to align the team accordingly. That’s the key to them staying.
Yes, we need to manage the operation (and we’ve written and will write countless volumes on doing so!), but before things like production and work schedules and compensation structure and job descriptions and inventory management and recall protocols and all the rest is the matter of how we think and work together.
This has always been the chronology of things, but in the past, we could get away with not living it out. Those days seem gone and possibly even long gone to me. At least, that is, if we want to maintain a team that powers the practice vision instead of just doing the work (or at least partially so) until they bounce.
It strikes me, colleagues, that there is a misconception out there in small business (and in big business) about culture.
It seems people tend to think our practice/business/team has a certain culture and it is what it is. I should preface my point by saying I’ve never bought into that now popular expression. Rather, I’ve observed it is what we make it. This is exactly the thinking we need to apply to culture.
Culture is the reason people stay or go, and if we want stay, we need a culture that smacks of stay. A culture that fosters my staying despite others trying to lure me away. We have a vastly better chance of having exactly that culture if we come together and define what we want that to be, clearly state that, then make a decision, and a commitment (two different steps) to align with that ongoingly.
We can’t control the labor markets, but we can control culture right now. This is how I observe great leaders think. If it’s time for a work culture that wins amidst today’s employee retention competition, then it is what we make it, friends. Let’s go there.
This seems a great place to transition from the concept of more deliberately establishing and building the practice/team culture (the reason people stay or go in the end) and steadily recruiting into that to some specific strategies for fostering that culture in our daily lives.
Next, let’s put some ink to a few specific strategies your colleagues have been employing with their teams to keep that culture apparent and thriving. I look forward to picking it up there with you next time!
If something here has struck a chord, shoot Bowen an email or give him a call: tbowen@mythrivecoaches.com or 402-794-4064.