The Aftermath of Compensation Reviews

After spending the entire month of February focusing on compensation reviews, Dr. Kuba and Bethany get together to discuss the aftermath. After being extra excited to jump into the reviews, Dr. Kuba experienced a bit of a disappointing let down after they were complete. She and Bethany dialogue about the real reactions to expect as well as how to mentally and emotionally prepare for these meetings. 

Previous Episodes Worth Revisiting: 

How to Conduct Compensation Reviews 

When Employees Feel Entitled 

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Transcript

[Music] before we start our episode today I wanted to let you know that it's

0:07

March and in the spirit of this month Dr Koopa and I have gone mad we have

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actually added a whole new section to our monthly digest which you can get

0:18

through becoming a subscriber we have added a section called sweet Sally

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Solutions and this is meant for your team to help you digest the digest so

0:31

there's a whole section of tips and actions for them to take you do not want

0:36

to miss this this is a super practical section of the digest I know it's going to be super helpful for everybody so

0:43

don't hesitate click the Subscribe button in the show notes below and become a member we can't wait to have

0:49

you join hey lady how are you doing hey good I can't complain okay well you're not

0:57

going to like me very much so I I wish you hadn't said you can't complain soz I'm about to give you something to complain about and that

1:03

would be me tell me I can complain here in the next two minutes um well you're just not going to like me very much you're going to have to be complaining

1:09

about me because I um I'm not countering you at all because obviously I do agree

1:15

with you but the look on your face you're like

1:20

yes ma'am go ahead um no buts no that's

1:26

allowed um well I don't know what to say um other than I obviously I believe in

1:33

compensation reviews cuz we they they've been so helpful in the office and I think we've done a few podcasts on the

1:39

importance of it and all of that and and I I do see the importance um however um

1:46

if I'm to play devil's advocate here for a moment I we just did ours and it made

1:52

me go God I really don't know that I loved that and I guess in my mind I was

1:59

all like God ho like comp reviews are so good and all this good information comes out of it and but when we were done I

2:06

was like I felt like a defeated deflated balloon and it took me a minute to kind

2:12

of go no no no it was good it was so again I'm not trying to counter you and

2:18

because it would be countering myself because I I do know overall it was good that we did them and it was they were

2:24

important but if I may just kind of I I guess what I want out of this podcast is to maybe an expectation or I love that

2:32

okay I think that's I think that's you're not going to kick me out of out of the booth here get out moving on yes

2:41

no I think it's good because there is an emotional aftermath that can happen with

2:47

compensation reviews particularly with the practice owner because I think you

2:53

you harness up so much emotional energy going into those I mean the amount of prep time that's gone into that the the

3:00

the stress and the dread of it and there can be this emotional either reaction to

3:06

it or even like an emotional let down to it like uh I put all this work in I wish

3:11

that I would have gotten X Y and Z out of it so that's exactly how I felt and I think I'd forgotten that well and I'll

3:18

tell you the two reasons that I can think of one because I was so gung-ho about um because we were putting stuff

3:24

together for the digest I was like this is great and look at all this great material and all this and so in my mind it was like raah this is the best thing

3:31

ever and then we did them and I was like and it it wasn't like I was run

3:36

over by a truck like it wasn't that bad but it was just kind of this I won't say icky feeling but it was just kind of

3:43

like is that what I wanted and needed out of this and so I was just surprised

3:49

at my own reaction because it was so like this is awesome and then I by the time we were done I was like was that

3:55

awesome and um so and I think the other uh you know moment that I'd kind of

4:01

forgotten about that came back full circle there's one team member that I

4:07

always skip her compensation review um and so that was my plan again this year

4:12

is just to skip it and let you handle that one and you said to me that last

4:17

year she was like oh is Kuba skipping mine again does she not like me why doesn't she want to be in here on mine

4:24

right and I was like what so should I talk a little bit about that so let me

4:30

first say that part of I think why you might have had the an emotional let down

4:37

too is most people don't go into these with a raw raw yes let's tackle so I

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think you started at a real high and then came back down to reality

4:48

and there was no way we were going to meet that high like it's not meant to be a high correct okay correct so I just

4:54

wanted to mention that because most people aren't like yeah let's tackle this and I think you were yeah which you

5:00

normally aren't yeah normally I'm not normally you're like uh do we have to and I feel like I'm like dragging you to

5:07

the compensation reviews and then it turns out better than you expected so it might have been the inverse happened

5:14

this time that you walked in after all this energy and time and thought that you've put into these you know through

5:19

the podcast and subscription and all that that you were starting higher than you typically do okay that makes me feel

5:26

better yeah that makes me feel better because yeah I just think was done with it and I was like oh God

5:32

like we just like went Rah R Rah like do these reviews and I was like that was

5:38

not really that much fun and I mean again it wasn't awful so if

5:43

we could just kind of get into some of the things that maybe I experience and just so that people who do these

5:49

reviews do know that they are important but then maybe not have I guess I just

5:54

want to talk about different things that can happen afterwards and so I don't want our listeners to be left like on

6:00

this Cliffhanger going okay I did them but now what yeah and so I wanted to talk through kind of some of the now

6:06

what possibilities and also for people to set their expectations

6:12

appropriately which when you talk I guess yeah well and when you talk through some of these examples I think

6:19

it will help people to set their expectations appropriately okay that's true and I think well I'm going to go

6:24

back and say even like when we talk about personalities and knowing your team y um so this is the first time

6:30

you've done this or you don't really know your team very well because they're new or whatever like this might just be

6:37

just be ready for you know kind of any any response is fair game and any

6:42

feeling you have is fair game and take that and kind of go with it I guess um

6:49

so uh I may just start with the one that I always avoid I think that' be a good one and I avoid it not because I don't

6:56

like her at all but she is my smart arest most strategic person on the team

7:04

and so I will say like even when we have like production goals or new patient goals or whatever it is the rest of the

7:10

team is like yeah we'd love to do that but most are not driven by it like

7:17

they're going to do a great job regardless of if there was a goal to hit or not or conversely I guess do a crappy

7:23

job if they you like the the it's not a huge sway one way or the other this

7:30

one's different she watches all the numbers she's very strategic even down to where we had at one point we had a

7:37

bonus system where it was like if it was a two doctor day so there was myself and an associate there then the production

7:43

goal was higher and then if it was a one doctor day the production goal was lower

7:49

which you know makes common sense like whatever well if it was a day like say in February or April where it's

7:55

typically slow in our office she would like be like oh Kuba you stay home and I'm like what and she's like no no no

8:01

I'm moving the Kuba only patients you don't need to come in and I was like why is she suddenly like micromanaging my

8:07

schedule she's never done that before and you were the one who pointed out and you're like well because she knows if there's two doctors there's no prayer of

8:13

hitting gold that day because it's the day in February it's not that busy um so she's trying to be as strategic as she

8:20

can um which you know props to you you know like anything there it's it there

8:27

can be some pluses to it and then other times you're like girl get off my back

8:33

you know what I mean but other times you're like I'm glad somebody's paying attention and somebody's trying to hit these goals and somebody's trying to

8:39

work in patience and stuff like that so it's you know like everything else there's a plus and minus to it so anyway

8:45

so she's my person who is very um she's not words of affirmation

8:51

at all you know she couldn't care less about words of affirmation she's more like um you know she's driven by the

8:58

production and and she's anyway so for me I've always been like I don't like

9:04

that because I'm a mcely mcferson and so to me where I'm sitting there going you

9:10

know we have this benefit and we offer 401K match and we offer blah blah blah where in my opinion I don't think I I

9:17

mean unless you're corporate that's separate but if you're a private mom and pop like me like a small office you really can't afford to do a lot of that

9:24

and we've done everything we can to try to make that happen which means I go home with this smaller paycheck which

9:30

I'm okay with because I'd rather have team members with the longevity and all of that so whatever anyway in my mind

9:38

she's one that I know sitting there and me going hey look what we were able to

9:44

add this year and her typical response would be something like oh well yeah my

9:51

friend's office offers that or oh yeah you know you had said we were going to get that two years ago and so like I

9:58

view that as a negative attitude as a no

10:04

gratitude more more more I need more and never whatever I do is never enough

10:09

that's not how she means it and it took me a while to because I'm such a feely it took me a while to go that's not

10:15

where she's coming from she's just a strategic person yeah and she feels like she's stating obvious facts like it's

10:22

not like arguing with you about the value of those she's just like yeah but

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and you're coming at it from I'm so proud of all these things and she's coming at it from a very factual and

10:34

strategic yes I'm that's great but how how far else can I push this how much

10:41

more can I get and that doesn't jive well with the feelings you're bringing into right because to me I'm like okay

10:47

nothing I do is ever good enough like forget it forget it I'm taking this back I'm taking this back CU you're not going

10:52

to be happy anyway and and so I've come a long way like honestly even just hearing you say that I'm like yeah it

10:58

makes me angry all over again like this person's never going to be happy and then I've got to remember the positives

11:04

and remember not to take it personally um but for somebody like me that's very difficult not to take it personally um

11:12

so how I handled that then was I'm just going to skip these meetings because I

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just know that I'm going to be pissed when I leave and she's not been grateful

11:22

in my opinion yeah and um you know whatever strategic thing she comes back with I don't want to be defensive or

11:30

tacky or mean about it so I would just let you handle it because you always have the right way to counter her um and

11:38

so this year again that was going to be my plan and and so but you said well last year she was kind of asking where

11:44

you were and I'm like oh honey is this a good thing for either one of us to be there you know um but then I was like

11:51

okay put your big girl panties on and just expect manage my expectation which

11:56

is what you said a few minutes ago like just get ready we know I know she's going to have those questions and I know I'm going to not feel great after hers

12:04

and I even made hers go first which normally I wait till the end so that I can get out of there and and leave on a

12:10

high note but I was like no get hers over with and um so that's what we did

12:15

this year and to me this is a very real example of something that a practice

12:22

owner or manager needs to be prepared for no matter the compensation package

12:27

that you've put together there's a lot of I just have such a heart for the

12:32

practice owners because I know when they've put together a really competitive

12:38

package it's costing them something they're sacrificing something to make

12:43

that possible and so I totally feel it from your side because there's a lot of

12:49

emotion like you could take all that away and make a lot more money on any given year and you choose

12:56

instead to make it a career type practice where people can stay and all

13:02

of their needs are provided for so I understand the emotion of it

13:08

but ultimately we can't bring the expectation in that we're going to show

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these numbers we're going to show this package and the team memb is going to be like oh thank

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you probably not going to happen every once in a while it does but a lot of

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times it does not happen that way so I think that's one one area that we really got to make

13:32

ourselves aware of being aware of our own emotions and our own expectations when we step into those meetings and

13:39

that can be hard because I find myself going what are you thinking like for the person like as they're however they're

13:45

responding like I'm going my my my programmed nature because I'm a people

13:51

pleaser is oh you're disappointed it wasn't enough it wasn't what you're thinking now you're going to leave and I

13:58

did you feel pressure that yes and I I very much feel like well maybe we could have all been flying under the radar and

14:03

no news is good news and bury my head and everybody's fine but now I chose to have this compensation revie bring it to

14:09

a head and go hey here's what I do for you and now you didn't say anything so that clearly means that you're not happy

14:15

with what I'm doing and I think um you know I've had to come a long way from that to go okay that's not what they're

14:22

thinking quit putting ideas in their head um or words in their mouth that they didn't say and even if she's asking

14:28

for more I don't think she's trying to squeeze you like a lemon and I think that's how I felt for a long time yeah

14:35

she's being a strategic career person that's wanting to see how much more she

14:41

can get out of this job that she puts time and and energy into and there's

14:46

nothing wrong with that it just happens to come to head in these

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compensation and you say there's nothing wrong with that and I agree and that's why I'm so glad you're there to be the

14:57

buffer because list listening to how you handle some of the way you ask these questions I'm like oh yeah yeah yeah

15:03

yeah that wasn't an inflammatory question you're just asking I wonder if some of it too just based off of one

15:10

being a woman two from a culture standpoint where you you just kind of defer to the person in charge like at

15:18

least from from my cultural standpoint that that's often the thing so I think that for me too some of it was just kind

15:25

of going okay but from this person's culture there's nothing wrong with asking you should ask but in my culture

15:30

we would have never asked that's that's not a respectful thing to do um so I

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think it took me a minute to get over that as well and and not that I'm over it honestly it's still very odd and

15:42

awkward to me but it's still I recognize now where that's coming from and that

15:48

has helped a lot for me not abandoning the practice all together the practice

15:54

of doing compensation reviews alog together because I didn't like how I it felt afterwards right right and I think

16:01

it goes back to setting your expectations accordingly like you

16:07

knowing that that's how this one person is in the reviews again you know yes ducking out

16:14

of that from time to time to kind of go I don't think I can handle that appropriately but then also when you

16:20

stepped into this one making sure that you know that you're not going to get sunshine and rainbows from this person

16:27

you're not going to get I so appreciate this package and wow I'm so excited

16:32

looking at these numbers and the growth that I've had just knowing to set based on the employees that you're going to be

16:38

meeting with set your expectations accordingly and don't hope for an outcome that they can't produce because

16:46

that's that's where it becomes unfair and also we shouldn't necessarily be

16:52

stepping into that for affirmation we're stepping into those meetings to have a

16:58

very very logical practical here's your growth here was last year here was this

17:04

year we are happy with that from a leadership standpoint that's what we were

17:10

wanting we've achieved our goals for you are you achieving your goals how do you

17:16

feel about these so it's it's meant to be very numbers and factual and not

17:21

feeling to be perfectly honest and that I think that was my number one thing was I was so pleased with all the things we

17:27

were able to offer I think I was look for that affirmation and going okay like

17:32

I've got a cool practice right like are you happy working here and then my expectation was they're like yeah this

17:37

is great and then to not get that and I was like they hate me I hate them I you

17:43

know it was just like this is like Focus here like get get your head back in the game and so what you just said where you

17:50

said their growth and so can we be a little more specific about that like one thing that you point out to them is

17:57

saying well this is what you made made last year this is what you made this year and there's some people that stayed exactly the same but you were able to

18:04

kind of point out and and and I want to say 100% of the time it was they worked Less hours yep things like that so I

18:11

think um when you were able to say well you know if you if you work a normal set

18:17

of hours oh yes you know Sally you had your me surgery remember you were out for four weeks for that and whatever it

18:24

is and then you're able to you know and truly I don't think this year we had

18:29

anybody who was like less than last year but if they are well isn't that a great

18:34

point to to talk and part of me went maybe this isn't a great Point did I just point out to them they did worse

18:40

this year than they did last year and they wouldn't have noticed that but then I'm like but they may have noticed that

18:46

I don't know what they notice and don't notice but I think any person wants to be on a track of progressing and so even

18:54

if I am the one who pointed that out and they were clueless about it it's still like at some point it's going

19:01

to hit them yes and and don't they want to grow as a person as an employee and

19:06

honestly if if the answer to that is no then do I want them on my team right I

19:12

don't know I I've got to think about that but we so moving on to a different employee I've got another employee that

19:17

she she very much seems like the type who does not pay attention to her pay stub does not pay attention to like

19:24

she's just this like beautiful soul who comes into work to give her best like

19:29

that's just she just radiates joy and um just very very

19:36

emotionally intelligent for her age and so I think with her like it's it's

19:42

really funny watching her in these and she's another one because because she's so positive and joyful I think last year

19:49

the year before she caught me off guard because I was waiting for Sunshine and rainbows even in that meeting yeah

19:55

because that's how she is generally and she was very quiet and was like uh-huh uh-huh oh okay uh-huh and that was that

20:02

and I was like oh my God what did we just do there like she you know and it

20:07

it took me a minute to go I don't know that she really cares or really understands these numbers as long as

20:12

she's happy with the work that she's doing and she's able to meet the needs of these patients and these patients

20:18

love her like that's her love language that's what's filling her Bowl now of course like if we showed her numbers and

20:25

was like you went downhill I'm sure she'd be like huh but I don't know that it would really make that much of a

20:30

difference to her strategic wise or you know goal planning wise I think she's

20:37

just one of these happy people that floats through life because she's happy and she's going to figure she I don't

20:43

see her not being happy right with whatever circumstance she's hit with um

20:49

but that was another one for me to go I was expecting her to be like oh cool oh yeah and she's just very much uhhuh

20:55

uhhuh uhhuh and I to where now I'm like does she even understand what we're showing her or telling her the impact of

21:02

this or how she can affect and and I don't have an answer to that yeah but again the point being just managing my

21:08

expectations because years prior I thought I had upset her yeah and I think

21:15

that's just her not wanting to look dumb in front of us honestly if I look back at it now I don't think she wants to

21:21

look dumb in front of us and didn't want to ask or question anything so she just nods her head and says uh-huh because

21:29

some people just aren't they struggle with numbers or they're not that's not

21:35

like you said that's not their primary motivation they care more about the office culture and performance how are

21:41

they doing are they liked and appreciated on the team and so it doesn't mean that we eliminate them from

21:47

this compensation review it just may mean that again we're not

21:52

expecting anything out of them it's still good information to have and for

21:57

this particular and because it's such a commonplace occurrence in the practice that every year we sit down and do

22:04

this while we may not get anything out of her in that meeting in that

22:10

compensation review it sets the tone that we're always willing to talk about this and

22:17

that we want to help you achieve your financial goals to the point that earlier well last year not in 2025

22:25

earlier in 2024 she approached me and and said hey I do need to you know some

22:32

life circumstances have changed I really need to be able to earn some more can I work some more hours and here's my plan

22:38

for that I think I could do this this and this and it it does make you wonder

22:44

would there have been a comfort level without those compensation reviews I

22:49

don't think there would be I don't think there would be either but because we're so open and transparent and making sure

22:56

what we always say to everybody in those compensation reviews is hey looking at this you've achieved what we wanted

23:03

which was Financial growth for the for you this year but are you achieving what you want to achieve are there any goals

23:10

that you want to talk about and so like this lady hasn't ever said anything in

23:16

the compensation reviews related to that but the lines of communication are open

23:21

and now she feels comfortable bringing stuff like that up so even if you don't get an immediate tangible result in the

23:27

meeting or right after the meeting it creates a comfort level that I think is really important I think the other thing

23:34

that if nothing else like even if they're not thinking strategy like you've got some that have strategy then

23:39

you've got others that they're like okay I'm just coming to work like I don't know what you're talking about right now honestly that would be me if I was one

23:46

of the employees because I'm not driven by the numbers and by my growth I'm more

23:51

going to be the feeler just like them going well do I enjoy coming here that's my barometer of am I that's my gauge of

23:58

do I want to keep working here or not um do I have more positive happy days than

24:05

I have negative tough days am I liked here am I appreciated here um so so a

24:12

compensation review if that if if I was on the others chair if you will going through this I think I too would be like

24:18

uh-huh uhhuh okay good I mean I I'm glad I got some benefits great but that's not why I'm here um but I think even for

24:27

people like that it's still good for them to see and hear that we are strategic like we're not just cuz I

24:34

think day by day we're we're not like going okay well the strategy for now is this you know it's like we're focused on

24:40

patient care but when they see this they see that we are working on other things more globally for the health of the

24:46

practice which means job security Y and so I think if nothing else everybody

24:52

gets a Vibe and sense of that yes and again that's one of those things that there's not necessarily anything

24:59

Feelgood about that it's very factual in nature but in again in every single

25:05

review we were able to say cuz you and I focus a lot on creating a really um

25:12

robust and rewarding bonus program because we realize how

25:18

intricately that's tied to not only pay but also to the practice success those

25:25

go hand in hand and so we were able to say hey look at last year's

25:30

bonus when we did this La last year Dr Coop and I weren't

25:36

satisfied with those amounts so we played around with it and this is what

25:41

we came up with for one goal more bonus money and look we are so glad that that

25:47

strategy worked and here you can see the new bonus numbers so even taking strategy Beyond like practice strategy

25:54

and going we've got strategy we're thinking about your pay probably more than you are yeah and are trying to make

26:01

this a a success for you and again sometimes that can we walk a fine line

26:07

of let's not let's not overly brag about that like we're looking

26:12

for accolades or appreciation it shouldn't be set up to be like tell me

26:18

how much you love me or tell me how much you appreciate that I do that which is why I kind of jump in in these

26:25

conversations and I go over the data because I'm going to approach it very just matter of factly this is what we

26:32

did here's a comparison to last year here's this and so it's more it's not feely at all I'm I'm not usually a fely

26:40

communicator and so the way that we set this up I think works really well because the factual person the data

26:47

person is going over the facts and going over the data and then I can say things so that they know the strategy is there

26:55

like the bonus change whereas if it's it's you who's more feeling you might

27:01

communicate with more like hey we want to make sure you know that we do this and we do that and you're looking for

27:08

something maybe even without even knowing it or the the employee may feel

27:13

pressured then because the boss is saying this rather than this neutral consultant so I think also setting your

27:20

expectations clearly so that you're communicating in ways that the employee doesn't feel obligated to compliment but

27:28

then also you are throwing in the strategy so that the employee picks up

27:33

on that well and I think that is very valuable if you didn't have an increase

27:38

you know what I mean like if the employees going wait a minute we bonus more last year than this year and so what happened here but it at at least if

27:45

you were the one to point out and say we are noticing this trend and this is the

27:50

strategy so this is how we're planning on tweaking the strategy or maybe you know whatever happened this year the

27:57

cost of supplies and the tariffs and everything has like put this over the edge like but we are thinking about it

28:03

we are watching it and this is a number that we weren't particularly happy with so we're going to work here what are your thoughts on how we can get this

28:09

bonus number up like what how what are your thoughts on how we can increase new patients this month and it becomes a

28:16

strategic conversation that they're also brought into yes um so I think that's the other benefit even if the number

28:22

isn't what you you or they had hoped to see well now it's a conversation it's just it don't make it my problem problem

28:29

if you didn't get the compensation you wanted well what are we doing to fix that correct did we come in and work the

28:36

number of hours we should have okay let's assume the answer to that is yes okay well did we get on the phone and try to schedule re overdo recare

28:42

patients did we go out and Market did we like what are we doing to get this number up and I think that's what we've

28:49

talked about before is the benefit of the compensation uh reviews it's interesting

28:54

when you when so thinking of an example that's not tied to your

29:01

team it's it gives us a factual ground to talk about if somebody went backwards

29:08

in pay or didn't uh grow in their compensation there are times that they

29:15

have chosen flexibility over

29:21

compensation so this goes back to setting expectations appropriately we need to be prepared for that to be an

29:26

uncomfortable part of the conversation when we're comparing to last year and they actually went down in

29:33

compensation we need to know that there's nothing fun about that but we've

29:39

got to be able to bring to light why which is where those hours worked come

29:44

into play and so being able to prepare for that to go okay so let's look

29:49

through your numbers here's last year here's this year now we always like to see Financial growth for our employees

29:56

but I also know that this year flexibility was your top priority you made that clear multiple times that you

30:03

had to be gone you know two days a week to go pick up your kids due to some Child Care changes and I know that was

30:10

your top priority what are your thoughts now looking at the numbers so it's a way

30:16

of being like hey you made less and it's your fault but you're prefacing that

30:22

correctly to go it not like hey you worked less so that's why your compensation's less but flexibility was

30:27

more more important to you this year than compensation was are you planning

30:32

on that being the case this year do you see the same flexibility constraints that you you know have for this year or

30:38

is compensation more your focus this year so it can even refocus somebody that's maybe gone backwards in

30:44

compensation as well yeah that's very true um one other example that's not

30:49

quite uh maybe it is I don't know but something you had mentioned about somebody and one of your clients and a

30:56

team member asking for a compensation review and I thought that was just an interesting conversation do you mind

31:01

sharing that real quick I think that's a good a good one to talk about as well so this particular employee asked for a

31:07

performance review so that my client and I provided that performance feedback

31:13

areas for growth all that what she didn't ask for was a compensation review

31:19

um but in her mind when she asked for a performance review she thought that that would come with a compensation review

31:26

I.E she wanted a raise yeah okay so she wanted you to say oh you're doing

31:31

probably from her viewpoint it was like oh they think I'm just doing this well look at what all I am doing let me make

31:37

them look at that and then they're going to say oh I should raise you and then y'all didn't do that and then she was like actually is yeah it w it it was

31:46

extreme dissatisfaction on her part because she didn't get what she wanted out of that meeting so it's back to

31:53

again setting your expectations funny enough that that theme is what's kind of the underlying theme of

32:00

her dissatisfaction took me and my Cent by surprise cuz we were like but wait

32:06

she asked for a performance review and that's what we gave her and this is where Clarity to me is so important

32:13

because first of all the employees needed to ask can I have a compensation

32:18

review or hey can I have a performance review and in that would we talk about compensation so again Clarity from the

32:25

employees part is important here but but also my client came into this meeting he

32:32

brought this lady on to his team um his practices young and she was at the very

32:39

tippy top of his price range and he felt like he had very clear conversations

32:44

with her about the fact that she was coming in at the very tippy top of his price range now she doesn't remember the

32:52

conversations going that way which is typical that happens time passes and we think we were really clear about

32:58

something most of the time we were not clear about those things so she made it

33:04

clear that she was dissatisfied to my client he and I got together and we're like okay well we didn't realize that

33:10

she wanted a compensation revie you and he was surprised he said I made it clear that I was bringing her in at the tippy

33:16

top of my price range and it would take a while to get to a raise because I'm a young practice

33:22

Etc and so he's like I'm surprised that she's you know forgetting that piece of

33:28

information what do we do with this she's a valuable employee I definitely don't want to lose her but I also don't

33:34

want her to be disatisfied like I feel like I'm in between a rock and a hard place so he and I got together figured

33:40

out what we could do from a budget standpoint which is important we need to figure out what we can do from a a

33:46

budget standpoint which we did but I told him I want to be very clear cuz she's

33:54

not only at the tippy top of your price range but from a Universal standard and

33:59

what I would say if somebody was hiring a business team member in this area

34:04

she's at the tippy top of what I would recommend for any practice so I said I

34:10

know that's uncomfortable but that's a part of the conversation that we need to have I.E like if she's thinking I'm

34:16

worth so much more okay well you could leave this practice go somewhere else and it's highly unlikely you're going to

34:22

get paid more correct unless you move towns or something like that correct and

34:28

she may or may not know that she most don't that's the thing is most don't

34:33

know they just think they're going to keep continuing to climb financially year after year the longer that they're

34:39

in the field but every position has a ceiling every position does well what we

34:45

talked about in a podcast not too long ago where it was just like but what are you just because you're doing the same

34:50

job year after year but you want to get paid more it's a very touchy and

34:58

topic anyway sorry yes um so we were able to Circle back the my client

35:04

figured out the amount of raise that he could afford which was a stretch for him but he's like I want to keep her and I

35:10

don't want her to feel like she's not valued she's very much valued so he you

35:15

know we had a compensation review with her we talked about what she's making from a whole compensation standpoint we

35:20

talked about how bonus was meant to be a supplement to that um there was some

35:26

things that were preventing her from hitting that bonus category we talked about strategy how can we fix that

35:31

because that was meant to be part of your compensation so anyway we had that whole conversation and then I was able to say

35:39

I got to talk about some things that I think are really important to establish in this conversation and I was just very

35:47

blunt and said I want to make sure that leaving this conversation were all on

35:52

the same page you obviously received an increase congratulations we want want you to feel

35:58

good about that however I will say from my Consulting perspective and I'm the one coaching

36:04

your boss on this that you're at a level where until you take on a management

36:11

role I don't see a lot of room for growth from an hourly pay standpoint so

36:17

I want you to know that you're already kind of at the top he's bumped you up I

36:22

want to make sure you know that until that management role comes into play I don't see a lot of room for growth and I

36:29

don't want that to indicate to you that you're not valued yeah in other words you need to pick up some more skill sets here you can't keep doing the same thing

36:36

you're doing and expect just to get raised just because you're doing that um

36:42

and I to did take it a step further to let her know hey when you are wanting to

36:49

assume some management roles when this doctor's ready because it's still a young practice he doesn't even have that

36:54

many team members to manage right now so it's going to take him a while to get to a point where he needs that and could

37:00

benefit from that so but once you're in that role just so you know there's also a

37:07

ceiling to that and I want to be very clear with you what that ceiling is the r the typical ranges that I see because

37:15

I realized that her pay was intricately tied to how she felt valued and I didn't

37:22

want to cross that line again I didn't want there to be confusion on oh been a

37:27

manager now for 2 years and I'm not getting any more increases I wanted to be clear with her

37:33

so all of that's connected to expectations we were trying to set for her clear expectations going forward

37:41

from a dollar amount standpoint from the fact that her value is not always going to be tied to an increase her value

37:48

could also be tied to affirmations and other ways that we're trying to show appreciation it can't always be I didn't

37:55

get a raise and therefore I'm devalued so I think that's another important part of this conversation and I think that

38:01

going back to the first employee I talked about that's come a long way in that because she has kind of capped out

38:08

on the hourly and yet she's a very driven person and so I think she also

38:14

realizes though a lot of the other benefits that she gets um and it's not tied to

38:21

compensation I think for a long time it was tied to competition for her as well and then it took some of her also realiz

38:27

okay I mean yeah you could get paid maybe two bucks more per hour somewhere else but what you're giving up is this

38:36

this this this this this this and is that worth it to you and and we you know we try all the little things that we try

38:41

to make it as great a workplace so she does know that she is valued um you know other other things

38:50

that I adjust or let her not get away with is not the right word but things we

38:56

modify and you know then then I got to be careful cuz somebody else is like oh well you favor her and I'm like I mean I kind of do she does all this with a

39:02

practice and you know I've got to um so it's it's a sticky place to be for sure it's not fun but uh I guess the point

39:10

being set expectations yeah and um the comp set your own expectations too like

39:16

get yourself in the right head space and and you know it is one of those things

39:22

these working relationships are relationships no matter how deep that relationship may go or how surface level

39:28

it stays you you are collaborating with this person on a daily basis and you

39:34

mentioned love language earlier people receive appreciation in different ways and so if we come into these and we are

39:41

able to put out on the table the ways that we are trying to show our appreciation for this

39:46

employee it may help them like like with this young lady that I was mentioning like she didn't realize the ways that

39:54

the doctor was trying to show appreciation and and value to her and so

39:59

sometimes we need those clarifying conversations if the employee is expecting oh well the only way that you

40:04

show your appreciation and values just by all these increases and we have to come in and go oh but I'm really trying

40:10

to show that I value value you in this way this way this way those are good clarifying conversations and that can be

40:18

part of what we need to be mentally prepared for when stepping into these if we know we've got an employee that's

40:23

going to push back and question but why can't I get a raise and then we need to go in with these are all the ways I'm

40:29

trying to show you that I do appreciate you U so being prepared U both

40:34

emotionally and then with your data as well okay well thank you for not punching me in the face for seemingly uh

40:42

arguing with you because that's not what I meant to do but I just I'm glad you pointed out to my expectation was wrong

40:48

going in you're right I I did reverse I was like super excited and I've never been super excited and I kind of forgot

40:54

that yeah yeah well just got to temper yourself back down now get get yourself

41:01

all back down in the negative for next year I'm down I'll be skipping them again next

41:07

year thanks for joining the conversation today we hope that you are comforted and

41:13

knowing that you are not alone but we also hope that you're walking away with some really great tips and tricks to try

41:20

in your practice we value your feedback so please take a few moments to rate and

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

41:46

dental drama