Wyatt Earp, Wyatt Earp, brave, courageous and bold.  Long live his fame and long live his glory and long may his story be told. From TV Series Wyatt Earp (1955-1961)


It has long been my contention that the best way to manage is: hire the right people and help/let them do their jobs. Of course, this begs the question, “How do you know if you’re hiring the right people?”


As we’ve discussed in previous posts: you need to know what your practice’s core values and vision statement are. If you don’t know where you’re going, you won’t know the type of people you’re going to need to get you there. For example, if your company motto is, “The best team wins”, you’d be better off hiring people who are good at working on adversarial cross-functional teams. Collegial cross-functional teams will lack the competitive spirit to succeed in that business model.


Let’s assume for a moment that a major part of your core values is, “We are brave, courageous, and bold.” In other words, you want to hire Wyatt Earp. A rather skeletal outline of a job interview might have the following question:

  • What do you know about our core principles and vision statement? (This is a good question to ask in a phone interview, so that you know before the candidate wastes your time if they cared enough to find out about your practice before the interview.)[I know – if I bring that sentence in, you can have it shortened by Tuesday.]
    • I know that you are looking for people who are brave, courageous, and bold. (BTW: there are some redundancies in this statement.)
  • What do you think it means to be courageous? (Best you know what you think it means so that you can judge their answer against your yardstick)
  • Can you tell me about an experience you’ve had at work when you were scared or anxious about a situation and called up the courage to deal with it effectively?
  • Tell me what you think it means to be ‘bold’. (You may not want someone who believes this means to be aggressive.)

(Always be sure to give them time to answer the question. If they get a little nervous, just tell them to take their time, it’s okay.)

You get the idea, I’m sure. You need to have a yardstick, and if you don’t, you have no metrics for measuring the qualifications of a candidate.

We’ve all hired people that we felt were the right fit, only to find out that they weren’t.  How do you deal with that? You need to ask yourself, “Is this employee worth developing?” If the answer is no, they are un-redeemable for your purposes, then you’re not doing anyone any favors by delaying the inevitable. This is why many businesses start their new hire with a 90-day probationary period. The hire understands that they are in a period where they need to prove themselves before they are considered permanent, get a permanent pay-level, benefits, etc.

As a manager, you have a responsibility to develop your people. That’s why it’s important to determine if an employee is somebody that can be developed. Many employees really try, but for any number of reasons, they just don’t fit. Again, the sooner you determine this, the better.

Employees that believe they are valued and appreciated are most likely to make a considerable contribution to your practice and become a pleasant, permanent member of your team. Time and again, studies have shown that, while money, of course is important, employees will not stay where they are not appreciated. Making an effort to develop and train your employees will eliminate a lot of potential heartburn in your practice.

In summary:

  • Have concrete core values and mission statement that you can use to determine what candidates would be the best fit for your practice.
  • Use these to develop questions that will measure the metrics that match your practice’s needs.
  • Once hired, let them do their jobs and you work to develop them; helping them to reach their potential.
  • If they are not working out, determine if they can be developed. If not, don’t delay separation.

 

Here’s wishing us all a Happy & Prosperous 2014!