Coaching to Improve Performance

It is a moment that everyone dreads – the departure of a beloved and critical team member. Whether a spouse’s career takes them elsewhere, they retire, or they find a career elsewhere, it is always devastating to lose a team member who brings so much to the team. Replacing him or her seems like an impossible task, and yet it must be done. In this episode, Dr. Kuba and Bethany discuss the importance of a good onboarding program for new team members. Together they discuss specific ways to ensure that you are coaching your new team member into better performance. 

Previous Episodes Worth Revisiting: 

Peer Feedback Forms

How to Solicit Genuine Feedback from Employees 

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Transcript

before we start our episode today I wanted to let you know that it's March and in the spirit of this month Dr

0:10

Koopa and I have gone mad we have actually added a whole new section to

0:15

our monthly digest which you can get through becoming a subscriber we have

0:21

added a section called sweet Sally Solutions and this is meant for your

0:27

team to help you digest the digest so there's a whole section of tips and

0:33

actions for them to take you do not want to miss this this is a super practical

0:38

section of the digest I know it's going to be super helpful for everybody so don't hesitate click the Subscribe

0:45

button in the show notes below and become a member we can't wait to have you join hey friend hey um so I want to talk

0:54

about today W cuz I was asking you um the other day like what what's been

1:00

going on in your world what kind of things are you dealing with um and you

1:06

mentioned an example and I thought this was super helpful uh because I feel like I've come a long way I used to really

1:13

suck at this and um it's a reminder that

1:19

I have come a long way but it it's it's always a good REM like when you were talking about it I was like oo I need to remember that or I need to do this which

1:26

then begs the question the next step is like but when and how and that seems so

1:31

tedious and it's just easier not to do it and then you reminding me like the benefits of doing it so yeah you

1:37

mentioned um that you had a client where one of his key

1:43

employees moved MH and so now they have a replacement

1:48

employee and um two months in kind of the things that are happening

1:55

in that practice and what you advise them so I think there's a lot of important nuggets there um so I may have

2:01

you start with if you don't mind like when you said key employee what does that mean why were they key have they

2:08

just been there a long time what tasks were they doing like what made them key

2:13

that's a great starting point so I've actually got three different scenarios so the one I was talking to you about

2:19

she was key in that she was a very productive individual of the team and

2:26

front or back uh technically treatment coordinator so uh both I would say I

2:33

don't know she was seeing new patients she was treatment planning she was responsible for getting the patient to

2:38

move forward with their treatment she was making all the financial arrangements so when I say productive a

2:46

lot of the practice success ended up relying on her shoulders is the case

2:51

acceptance that is critical and most of usal struggle with that and just that

2:57

initial first patient impression she was really good at making that a positive

3:02

energetic type appointment lots of personal connection that was developed

3:08

there so she was just it was a a key role for the success of the practice but

3:13

also she was good at how long has she been in the role a few years okay so

3:18

three years or so so she knew the practice well she knew the patient gosh that is ooh my stomach's feeling queasy

3:25

just thinking about like the heartache for that duck that sucks it was It was a definite loss for the practice and a and

3:32

a hard skill set like you're looking for a very skilled person to fulfill that

3:38

role so very difficult person to lose the second scenario was one that had been with a practice for many many years

3:46

and she is just a gem of an employee she

3:53

was so familiar with all aspects of the practice through the years she had

3:59

become that person that she started as an RDA but then she could step in at the

4:04

front and she could do every single role at the front from insurance to check-in

4:10

to collections uh when the office manager went out on maternity leave she

4:17

stepped in and could fulfill every aspect of that role she's just smart a

4:22

go-getter where did she go what happened she her husband her his job got moved

4:28

okay so two moves yeah that sucks okay so we lost her and she was a really hard

4:35

one to lose because she was just the Jack of all trades like wherever she was

4:41

needed she could go she could be fulfilling a role at the front one day

4:47

and Doc's like hey I need to I need to get some sealants on this little kiddo can you come back and do these sealants

4:52

real fast absolutely she'd hop back do the sealants get back to her roll at the front very difficult position position

5:00

to to replace because she's skilled and longevity in the practice so that was a

5:07

another one that was lost stupid husband I know these dang husbands and their job

5:13

changes god um and then one um team member was actually it's Unique it's

5:21

different from these other two in that it's a critical role because it's a small startup practice and there's only

5:27

two people on the team so you've got your kind of person at the front that's

5:32

got her domain and then you've got your One RDA and her domain and so when we

5:39

lost this particular team member finding a replacement was critical because it's

5:45

like you don't have any backups there's nobody to cover your mistakes so you've got to be good from day one you've got

5:52

to step in and kind of own this domain so all three of those to me are scenarios that the person was valuable

5:58

for different reasons so uh I guess pick one and go like the

6:04

one you mentioned to me like the one that now the treatment coordinator okay and

6:09

and so now they have a replacement there that's been there for two months so what

6:14

I guess my question would be what did they um what was the screening cuz again

6:19

it sounds like that's a unicorn right like it's somebody who clearly even if they found somebody else who had you

6:25

know 3 years or more of being a TC and another practice I assuming you can

6:31

afford said person and that they live in your you know near your office and that they can match the hours and yep all of

6:38

those mind-numbing Logistics so here they are in the office you've settled on

6:44

this person um how did they settle on that person like so it was we were it

6:50

was a rigorous screening process because we were look looking for a certain personality type that we knew could

6:56

connect with patients and parents so communication skills in this particular role are critical so we could tell in

7:04

some of our phone screenings if the person had how to me phone communication

7:10

is way more difficult than in-person communication so if you can have a good

7:16

presence over the phone and impress us over the phone then there's a pretty good chance that you can impress us in

7:21

person as well so communication was one of the key things that we were looking for in the phone screening process and

7:28

then experience we knew a new person stepping into that role it's too big of

7:33

a responsibility to put somebody that's new to the dental field in that role and expect them to be able to perform when

7:39

they're absorbing like Dental lingo and what does this even mean that was going

7:45

to be way too much so we needed experience and then we needed somebody that had really good communication

7:50

skills and ideally we wanted somebody that was a little bit more mature

7:55

because we have found that when you're talking big presentation you know a 23-year-old is

8:03

going to look at a $6,000 treatment plan way differently than somebody that's

8:09

been through life and finances and all of that so we also our preference was to

8:15

have somebody that maybe had a little bit more maturity to them so we did end up finding that candidate and and I

8:21

think she was the exact right choice but we're sitting here a couple months in and we want when somebody is coming in

8:29

to fulfill a very important role we want them to kind of get their feet wet we want them to get a feel we want them to

8:35

be able to get in their zone so to speak without a lot of like you're doing

8:41

that wrong you're doing that wrong nope we don't do it this way that there's got to be a little bit of a runway for them

8:47

to get their feet under them so that's really what we've done for a couple of months she was brought on she was

8:54

trained by um in this particular practice the doctor's wife has always has been the backup TC she's not in the

9:01

office on a regular basis but if the TC had to be out then the doctor's wife

9:06

could step in and fulfill that role so in this particular case the doctor's wife has kind of been demonstrating like

9:13

this is how we do it so good onboarding process and then turning her loose to go okay great you've you've got this you

9:19

know take it and run with it well in the take it and run with it process there's been like hey there's probably some

9:26

changes that need to be made you know we don't quite do the patient experience like this um we don't do a lot of

9:34

educating before the doctor comes in because then we're wasting time we educate after the doctor comes in

9:41

depending upon what he recommends and so just nuances like that that need to be

9:46

corrected but it's also like how do we how do we approach that with the

9:53

candidate so the doctor and I were just talking about this recently and it's like we've got to be clear we're doing

9:59

the the new employee no favors if we beat around the bush with the feedback

10:07

and I have found that most people most really qualified people that step into the role they want feedback they want to

10:13

know how they're doing I think often times from the owner side of things or from the manager side of things we're

10:19

like I bet she doesn't want to hear that this needs to change but I think we're wrong in that assumption so I'm going to

10:25

I'm going to say I I I agree with that but I think more than than anything like if it's me I'm

10:32

like this is uncomfortable yes and then am I clear on why what you just did was

10:40

not appropriate and can I articulate that appropriately without I think a lot

10:46

of times I'm like okay but if I say don't uh you know don't wait on or you need to wait on me to come to the check

10:52

before you educate but that may not be true in all cases so is it a blanket

10:58

enough state like do I have enough to go cuz then is it is it going to go in the opposite direction cuz now I'm going to walk in the room the patient you know

11:05

we're we're starting at a point where I'm like wait we're not teed up for me to come in well you're the one who said

11:12

don't XYZ so so have I made it clear in my and even just the thought of doing

11:17

that I'm like I'm already tired never mind I know we'll figure it out somebody somebody will tell her and and I it's

11:23

absolutely the wrong mindset which is why I wanted to talk about this because I think from my side I don't want to

11:29

feathers especially in somebody that's so new that we've already spent some time training and I think for me I'm

11:35

still trying to figure out your personality so how should I approach you

11:40

um yeah without offending you and it being a productive conversation I think there's also like

11:48

what is your ceiling like I don't want to insult you if I'm saying something so I think just the thought of all of that

11:55

makes me go never mind I'm just going to hide in my office and sweet Sally will

12:00

figure it out and which is a stupid thing to say like looking at it from that perspective going well how would sweet Sally figure it out then how would

12:07

she but I think for me because it's so uncomfortable and there's so much thought process that I was just like you know what I'll think about that I'm

12:13

going to get back to my clinical note okay now you need me over here now you need me over there by the time it's said and done you go home and you're like oh

12:20

yeah I was supposed to talk to Sweet Sally about this you know what I'll talk to about her tomorrow but when tomorrow am I doing this so I think that's why I

12:26

wanted to talk to you about this because when you mentioned that I was like it was a good reminder for me because we do we're in the same boat with one one of

12:33

our assistants that's been there two months now and um and I think for me I'm

12:39

like I'm still trying to figure out her ceiling because she's done well with a lot of things like we haven't had to go

12:44

back and say your x-rays stink or you put this in the sterilizer that you shouldn't have or you like we we haven't

12:50

had those issues um but she's going to have a ceiling and it's like am I doing

12:55

my due diligence to make sure that we are communicating with her and I'm betting the answer is no

13:03

because I'm sure I'm not doing my due diligence cuz I can't remember the last time I had a conversation with her so

13:08

then who is having the conversation with her is it my clinical team bleeds or

13:14

what and I'm I'm literally like Burying my head in the sand right now cuz I'm like somebody's got it yeah and that's

13:19

so when you said that that resonated with me cuz I'm like uh does somebody got it like I don't know um who's got it

13:26

yeah who's got it and what have they got like where are we with this and so I think that's where I was like okay going

13:32

back to like do we have a checklist or a system of you said the doctor's wife

13:38

kind of trained her but I don't have a doctor's wife in my practice so then who trained her you know like I think um I

13:47

don't think we've been super organized with it now we've gotten lucky because she seems to be a young lady that um we

13:54

could tell from the get-go was uh very much a team player just her

14:00

personality seems very calm she doesn't seem ruffled by a lot of things um so

14:06

we're like we and and just honestly just given her age she's the youngest one there so I think she already assumes

14:11

that the Big Sisters in the office are going to kind of tell her what to do and what not to do but honestly the one she

14:18

replaced was also the youngest one in the office and she did not like anybody telling her what she did wrong and uh

14:24

she did do no wrong right like um so I think in this case

14:29

we've gotten lucky but when you said that to me I was like oh man I I can't just I probably need to make sure that

14:37

there there's a a system for what we're doing and I I'm like I can't think of

14:42

our system right now other than I think she's still learning from just being

14:48

there and being thrown in yeah but how long how far is that going to take me I guess well and I would say that's step

14:55

number one when we're onboarding a new person is we've really got to have a

15:01

good onboarding system and so I feel like this is one of those areas where

15:07

offices don't have a good system I think back um as you were talking about onboarding when I was doing my master's

15:14

program here in Texas um my husband and I both worked at an insurance agency so

15:21

we were um Insurance Brokers is what we were called um and we learned something

15:26

new about you look at this it um I learned so much in that job I was in the

15:32

call center so I would take calls in when somebody had an accident they would call in and I was you were the bad guy

15:39

yeah I was taking all the detailed information but I think about that that

15:44

experience and we had a weeklong onboarding process where every day we were sitting

15:51

in this seminar and learning things about the business about the task

15:56

about and I use that as an example a lot because I'm like if an insurance call

16:03

center can have that type of in-depth onboarding process it's interesting to

16:08

me that in a medical environment or a dental environment that we don't have a

16:13

good onboard boarding process we're like hey Jump On In There watch us you'll figure it out to me I go with it needs

16:20

to be a balance of both yes they've got to get in they've got to get their feet wet but also we've got to set clear

16:26

expectations about what do we want them to learn in this first week what do we

16:31

want them to learn in the second week how are they doing with progressing with those things from week one and week two

16:38

so you don't know this but um your kind of like your lead assistant she has that

16:45

document she's been using it for your new employee by the way oh thank goodness okay good good so she's got a

16:50

just a very clear onboarding plan now how detailed that plan is I think some

16:56

are better at executing that onboarding plan than others but you know just to kind of throw in that will be part of

17:03

the March digest so you need to if you want a good onboarding outline you need

17:09

to sign up for the digest because you'll have that available to you which is where for me I'm like why are we always Reinventing the wheel on this like why

17:16

have I not had a list yeah because I know at one point when we did have an office manager she had created the list

17:22

and I remember thinking it was a good one I guess the good news is we don't have that much turnover that we would

17:28

need that every time like the the one that's replaced now like the other one had been there for 2 years so like we haven't

17:34

done it in 2 years yeah um but good I'm glad that we did have a system and we're not Reinventing the wheel I just

17:40

forgotten it okay yeah but most offices don't have that most offices are let's

17:46

let's do a little bit of talking about the role let's throw her in let's kind of give her like daily oh oh we do the

17:52

x-rays this way or oh we do height and weight before we see them or whatever the case may be those little nuances

17:58

come up but a lot of times the big picture stuff doesn't come up so step number one is we've got to have a really

18:05

clear outline and in that outline it needs to force

18:11

conversations of feedback because to me it's one thing to be like you know 90

18:16

days in and you're like oh sweet Sally gosh Come On In now we've got all this feedback from the last 90 days and

18:22

Sally's like I would have loved to known about this two months ago when I was doing it wrong and so it can feel feel

18:29

like a tense conversation or the kind of conversation you want to avoid

18:35

because it's awkward we're like you've been doing stuff wrong and we're just now telling you about it so the onboarding process should force feedback

18:42

and they should know from the beginning by the way we're going to go through this onboarding process this is the

18:47

outline that we're going to follow you'll see at 30 days we'll have a review with you we we believe in very

18:54

clear feedback so you're going to get some really clear feedback from us we're telling her about that before or we sit down with her at 60 days we're going to

19:01

sit down and blah blah blah blah cuz then it's like now I've told you I've got to follow through cuz I committed to

19:06

you that I was going to give you feedback so it puts the pressure on me to hold me accountable but it also tells

19:12

sweet Sally like this is coming for you and then she's ready for that feedback when the time comes so the system has

19:19

got to be really clear I would say even like one thing that that I probably should have been doing um and and I

19:25

think I'll tell you why I don't think I have but it still doesn't make make it right but I think maybe when we hire we

19:30

should put in in our IND dentrix like Sally's 30 days check in with Sally

19:36

check in with Sally and like put those reminders on the schedule for you because a lot of times time flies we

19:42

don't we can't even remember how long that person's been there unless there a complete pain in the ass then you probably remember going God this

19:47

person's been driving me crazy which at that point too how are you getting that person out of the practice but typically

19:54

we hired you for a reason we went through a hiring thing and we don't want to you know unless you were the only

20:00

candidate right um I think the reason I haven't done that so far is cuz you come in every month yes and I'm just like hey

20:07

Bethany can you check in with Sally and see how things are going yeah which is good because you kind of do a big

20:13

picture but it's not good if we have specifics that we've not shared with you

20:20

so we we try to get better on going well Sally you know did this and this is why we didn't like it so I think the other

20:27

part of that is yeah maybe those 30 60 90day check-ins are good for bigger

20:32

picture stuff just to see like are you still aligning with our practice philosophy did you when this patient

20:38

said this and you saw that we handled it this way tell me your thoughts on that and like you know yes but I think it's

20:44

also important like to to as you're seeing mistakes yeah correcting them yes

20:50

then in the moment and setting the stage that that's going to happen yeah like Hey we're we want you to be successful

20:57

and we found that the best way to do that is in the moment if we see something that needs to be tweaked or

21:02

changed either right then or right after that patient appointment we'll have just like a quick 30 second conversation

21:08

those are never meant to be offensive those are just meant to be clear and I think tagging in your team and saying

21:13

it's most likely probably not going to be me it'll be one of your teammates so that way she doesn't think the team is picking on her like we're trying to look

21:20

out for your success so that you can stay a team ex um and so I think those

21:27

are again that's where I think for me where I'm like um so the other day for example we had um one

21:34

where you know it was a 2-year-old four front teeth rotted out first mold like B the typical pattern of baby bottle Decay

21:42

and so this kid was going to need IV sedation and whatever and as I'm trying to treatment plan it you know the mom

21:47

and the baby are in the room baby's still crying cuz we just finished the exam mom's trying to ask me questions I

21:53

can't think because the baby screaming we're all like trapped in this little room and my thought is get this family

21:58

out out of here assistant like what are you doing so I'm like why don't you let them go play I think once baby gets out

22:04

of this exam room and is in the game room they may calm down so why don't you escort them there Mom don't leave we're

22:09

going to finish having this conversation with you about our plan but let's just get babies calm I know it's you're

22:15

having a tough time wrangling baby right now yeah so that's my hint like move on like so we can keep going so assistant

22:22

comes back and she goes okay so is this going to be a same day and I thought what on God's green earth would make you

22:28

think that I would be able to do this IV case same day like what that was a weird comment and then I thought about it and

22:35

I was like you know what actually she did that to me two days ago there was another kid that wasn't an IV case but

22:40

the kid was clearly struggling like the whole appointment was a struggle bus appointment and we had to do I don't

22:46

know a couple of fillings or a crown or whatever okay is this going to be same day and that was my first time yeah

22:51

where I was like what would make you think that I could get this done same day right but then I was like okay don't

22:58

be a bee like she's new to the practice she doesn't know like she doesn't hasn't

23:04

put two and two together yet she's not a sistered us and op like honestly I still think it was a dumb comment but I'm just

23:10

kind of like okay I I don't know what else who else has said what to her maybe there were others that she didn't think

23:16

could be same day and then were like same day and she's like what you're going to do same day so who knows but to

23:21

me at that point because I knew I probably wouldn't say it super nice like

23:27

my thing would come out and be like well why would you think that would be the same day like I I knew that that's how I would approach it um so I was like okay

23:35

punt you shouldn't be the one to talk about that but before I forgot I emailed my team lead and was like hey she asked

23:43

me this on this patient and this patient so the team lead could know so when she goes back and looks at it herself would

23:49

be like that's weird why would she think this in any case but I was like somebody coach her on this so she kind of has a

23:56

better idea cuz what I what I would hate to do is if the mom then is like oh yeah can we get this done today yeah I think

24:01

well maybe let me go ask oh honey youve just set the expectation completely the wrong way why would you do that yeah um

24:09

and even like we had one the other day that was there was a lot of confusion where initially the mom said yes she

24:14

wanted same day so the front who went over the estimate with her announced

24:19

that on our headsets okay we do want same day so now the assistant is getting the room ready the patient sitting out in the front and it wasn't until the mom

24:28

I can't remember oh she went to sign the consent and something about the consent form I guess made her go wait a minute

24:33

do I really want to do this today I still don't have the answer to that but there was so much confusion in the back

24:39

because now we still had X number more patients to see we're thinking assistant

24:44

you know Amy is going to now be with the same day and now we're trying to figure out who's going to see the rest of these

24:50

patients and all of that and and it turns out that in the end we weren't doing same day all of that to say if

24:57

this assistant is now going forward with like we might do same day and she's communicating that to her teammates and

25:03

the teammates are now confused like it just we needed to have a conversation about it yeah and so reminding my

25:10

clinical team so somebody needs to have the conversation yeah either that's going to be me when I can get my brain

25:16

around how I'm going to word why the hell would you think that you know like I need a minute to think about how to rephrase this or I could just punt it to

25:22

somebody where they could sit and have more time with her another day and say tell me why you thought it was same day

25:27

here's how we do same day so like I sent an email to be the reminder to finish up on that point so I guess that's my point

25:34

here if you don't have time or you don't know how to do it properly or whatever like try to think of ways you could come

25:40

back and say hey Sally we're going to talk about you know a couple of these patients you two please have your questions ready you know in these last

25:47

three days where we've been super busy I want you to go through the schedule and see if there were patients that you were

25:53

confused on or that we could have communicated better with you bring yours we're going to bring ours yes yes where

26:00

it feels collaborative like hey we've got certainly a list of feedback that we need to give our new team member but

26:07

also to encourage her to bring her questions to the conversation as well so that it feels like Hey we're we this is

26:14

all in an effort to help the person be successful and that needs to be the tone of it it doesn't need to be a hazing

26:21

type feeling where hey you're new to the team we're going to beat you up get ready for it that doesn't need to be the

26:27

tone at all that team member needs to know this is we're working together to help you get as successful as we can get

26:34

you as fast as we can get you and I do think you can set that tone appropriately in these conversations

26:41

part of it of course is having the good laid out plan but part of it is how are we bringing up these Corrections who's

26:48

bringing them up is the right person bringing them up like you were saying you knowing in yourself this is not

26:53

going to come up this is not going to come out the right way so let me pause on that and who can I tag in that would

27:00

bring it up in the right way I think also making sure that whoever is delivering the feedback is

27:07

clear I feel like sometimes when we give often times when we give feedback in

27:13

order to make it feel like it's not a stinging feedback we soften it beyond

27:20

the point of recognition so then it's like we might

27:25

be fluffing them up so much with oh you do this a well you do this so well you do this so well you need to change this

27:31

one little thing you know I get why you do it this way but we really need you to

27:37

do this instead you get that and then we Mo move move right back me that sounds you're like you're describing me well I

27:44

mean I wasn't didn't think I was describing you but there we're not yes we can encourage

27:52

them I want these to be encouraging meetings but sometimes we can be so overly encouraging sugar coat yes so get

28:00

to the point H have clear examples that you can provide um sometimes even same

28:06

day examples like if you know hey I'm having a conversation with Sally at the end of the day um and these have she's

28:13

been asking this same day question which is odd let me see if she asks that at an

28:19

odd spot today so that the example that I give is the freshest Poss possible

28:24

example that I can give so that she's like oh I see what you mean CU I did ask that today on Little Johnny so making

28:33

sure you're coming in with clear examples because sometimes we're either too sugar COA or we're saying

28:40

conceptually you need to do better at this big yeah and she's like I don't even know what they're talking about

28:45

what does that even mean and we're shying away from the examples cuz we're like oh that's going to be too too

28:52

direct and we're not direct enough I think having the examples is so critical because does I think for the most part

28:59

we every time I've done it that way it doesn't seem like an attack because it's

29:05

relatively objective but then I start seeing like all the subjective like

29:10

clearly this is what I thought but you thought about it different and often times they're not wrong and I'm like oh

29:17

I could see why you said that because of XYZ so it's I opening for both parties

29:23

honestly a lot of times um and so I think just getting used to getting

29:30

comfortable yes with doing that or just knowing that that's what's got to happen if you want this to be a

29:36

successful onboarding and retention of this employee and I like to that you

29:42

mentioned the collaboration in that conversation because when we come to these scheduled meetings whether that's

29:49

once a week whether that's every 30 days so we've got the daily feedback that they're getting like during patient care

29:56

but then we've got these kind of moments where we sit down and process the feedback a little bit more deeply I

30:02

think when we have a collaboration type feel you know hey this is we actually

30:07

only offer same day under these criterias I noticed today that you were

30:13

wondering if we would do same day on Little Johnny tell me your thought process on that why why did you think he

30:18

was a good candidate for um and it's done in a it's not done in a why did you

30:24

even think that was a good it's done in a I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on I feel like I can always learn

30:29

something new from your observations you know you mentioned that he might be a good day a good candidate for same day

30:34

what was your thought process on that so when we can have more of a collaborative type conversation this feedback is

30:40

usually well received when it doesn't feel like we're attacking them it feels fair that we are giving the benefit of

30:47

the doubt in situations and when it feels like it's a dialogue rather than a come here sit down I'm going to throw a

30:54

bunch of things that you're doing wrong now go fix them well that's not going to be received well and that can be

30:59

defeating so be clear but also be collaborative in the conversation and it should always be shrouded in respect and

31:07

what I like about that ISC I think for me when you take the time to do that

31:13

you're you're helping them form a thought process rather than just following a

31:19

checklist and following the checklist is important too but what I always say you

31:24

know in my office I'm like 80 the checklist will get you 80% there but what about the 20% that

31:31

doesn't line up with that because a lot of times what happens in these conversations is when I'm like oh well why did you this well because you said

31:38

that the criteria was this this this and I'm like yep in this one it is but

31:44

there's actually an additional point over here and they're like well that's not fair like I went through the criteria yeah but I'm also looking for

31:51

somebody who can think yeah and so common sense would tell you that even though those criteria are met this is

31:58

going to be an outlying factor and so if you don't spend time helping your employees critically think you're always

32:04

going to end up frustrated at some point I think we talked about a colleague of mine uh a

32:11

few episodes ago that I don't think she's ever trained her staff to critically think right and she's burnt

32:18

out because all the thought comes through her yeah and now where she's getting hit by life and she doesn't have

32:25

a support system because she's never she's always been the one to swoop in with the answer and I'm like yeah I mean

32:32

not everybody's going to be suited to to answering this all the time but if

32:37

you've never the these conversations allow you to see how the person thinks

32:43

and they can see how you think and that can go a long way and and and even you realizing and going oh gosh that's how

32:49

that person thinks well that person's never going to be the one to talk about you that's her ceiling on this where

32:57

else is she going to do well or okay I like the way she thinks that does kind

33:03

of make sense why you suggested that even though it wasn't accurate in this case but I like that you were thinking

33:09

that hm maybe this is the person that I can tag in for these types of things because she has shown the ability to

33:15

think so it's really Illuminating on a lot of those things that if you don't take the time to have these corrected

33:20

conversations like the first thing is yeah you're going to have an employee that has no feedback is going to get frustrated when they're hit with it at

33:26

the six-month mark and go why has nobody told me this um but it's also you've not

33:32

been able to test the limits of their ceiling yes yeah yeah exactly you do not

33:38

have a perspective on this person other than what you just see in the direct patient care but you haven't gotten into

33:44

their head and seen their thought process or their ceiling to your point so these conversations can be very

33:51

Illuminating for the new employee because they're getting feedback they're understanding your mindset on things

33:56

which helps them to calibrate more quickly and also you're figuring out how

34:02

how much they can accelerate or where they might be a good fit based on their thought process so to me these are

34:08

win-win conversations that we genuinely avoid because we're

34:14

uncomfortable with them I just don't think they have to be uncomfortable I think if we set the stage that this is a

34:20

normal part of our onboarding process then the employee is prepared for it we're holding ourselves accountable and

34:26

then when we get into the convers ations when they're very clear but they're also

34:31

collaborative and respectful they can be even far more Illuminating to both sides of the the party and the the other thing

34:39

I would say on that is okay let's say it is uncomfortable and you do it and sweet Sally has a meltdown or is very

34:46

defensive or is very not open wouldn't you rather know that at the two-month Mark and be like bye honey like this is

34:52

not going to work long term 100% I'm not going to Tippy Toe in my own house around you

34:58

um so if you can't take feedback then bye yeah you know and yes that's

35:04

heartbreaking scary because you're like well I picked you for a reason there were only two candidates that applied or

35:10

whatever but but would you ra I would rather have the weed weeded out sooner than ruining my garden for longer um if

35:18

feedback is going to be difficult at two months in when the employee should be expecting feedback then it's going to be

35:24

insanely difficult at 2 3 4 years in so absolutely cut the weed early and I'm

35:30

just thinking about ones in my recent onee history I think those were things

35:35

that that's exactly what I was doing I was codling people along because I didn't want to have those conversations

35:42

I assumed that their longevity in the practices that they were in would get them there

35:50

faster um and and so I should have looking back

35:56

on it they should have been gone gone at month two yeah and saved us the heartache of one you know lasting 11

36:02

months and how awful that 11 months was and then the other one two years and um

36:09

so I I just think like that that I should have heed this advice although I

36:14

don't think I had this advice now I do but like at the two-month Mark when we're struggling to get you to not be

36:21

defensive got rid of you a two months yeah that's a problem well I will say

36:26

it's an important topic we're going to have resources in the digest to help you build an onboarding plan feedback forms

36:34

all of that so this is a starting point but there needs to be some homework done

36:39

to get prepared for these conversations so thanks love it thanks for chatting with me about it today thanks for

36:45

joining the conversation today we hope that you are comforted in knowing that you are not alone but we also hope that

36:52

you're walking away with some really great tips and tricks to try in your practice

36:58

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cover as always please know that we are rooting for you today as you manage your

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dental drama