How to Effectively Welcome a New Employee

First impressions are everything, especially when welcoming a new employee to the team. Just as the leadership team is hoping that they struck gold with their new employee, the new team member is also hoping they risked everything for the right practice. So, these first few days and weeks are critical for setting the right tone and creating a welcoming experience. In this episode, Dr. Kuba and Bethany discuss her second location and the four new team members that she is currently bringing on board. She and Bethany talk about various ways to make the new team members feel welcome while also setting clear role and culture expectations. This episode is a must listen for all practice owners, managers, and team leads! 

Previous Episodes Worth Revisiting: 

The Basics of Team Building 

Thoughts on Employee Retention 

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Transcript

Are you looking for a podcast where you can hear from real people regarding their real dental drama? If so, then
0:09
you've come to the right place. Join hosts Bethany Penny and Dr. Reena Kuba
0:14
as we dive into the solutions we've created and the mistakes we've made while managing dental drama.
0:22
Let's get started. Lady, I got to tell you, you know what I did yesterday? What? I printed the June Digest. Yes. It
0:30
is so good. I know. It is so good job. I know. I I was really I'm proud of every
0:35
month, but I love the cancellation focus and being able to tackle those cancellations in a strategic way. So,
0:41
it's it's a good episode for sure. I just loved how you had the um like all the verbiage, too. I think that's the
0:46
hardest part. Like, it's one thing to say, you know, for your cancellation list, you need to call these people or
0:51
you need to do this. And I know for me, I'm like, okay, but call and say what? Like, what's the right thing to say? And
0:57
you had all the verbiage points in there. Um, and then per usual, your team building ideas were fantastic. So, we
1:04
had some fun with those this time. Yes. So, good job. Um, so if you haven't uh subscribers, if you haven't printed
1:11
yours out yet and accessed it, don't forget to access. If you're not a subscriber, I don't know what you're
1:17
doing. Um, so I don't have any words on that. But, uh, anyway, um, today if we
1:24
could talk about Yes. um because I know I'm in the thick of it and uh so you know per usual this is all
1:31
about me. So my therapy and my coaching sessions here that I happen to share with everybody but this is all about me
1:37
and my needs. Public therapy. There you go. Public therapy. It's a new concept there. There you go. Kind of like this
1:43
idea. Is that what podcasts are? Yeah. Public. Isn't that what Instagram and social media is? Honestly, I don't know.
1:49
But this is so much deeper, I guess. So, um back to me. Yeah.
1:55
So, I guess I'm in the thick of it now because if if y'all have been listening
2:00
to the last couple of episodes, I'm embarking on this like satellite office out of nowhere. Like again, was not
2:07
planning anything. Um, and here we are. And I've had some uh new hires, but
2:15
they're not new to dentistry. There's several that have been practicing for over 25 years. practicing meaning uh
2:23
being a part of being in the dental field and so very well um qualified and
2:29
well-versed and trying to figure out how to onboard them a and honestly even do I hire them
2:38
as they're applying to the job posting or whatever. Do I even want you because are you an old dog that can or can't um
2:46
learn some tricks? I think for me the other benefit is um back to that same
2:51
old should I just pay somebody less and teach them or do I pay the big dollars and hope the
2:58
old dog can work in my market and you know all of those things and so and then
3:04
so I think that's the question anyway but then now with the satellite then how am I integrating my current team with
3:12
the new people and uh I don't think anybody so far that we've hired for the new office. There's nobody who's like
3:18
brand new to dental. Um, but I think just walking that fine line
3:24
of going, you know, I do want your ideas and I do want your systems and thoughts because clearly if you've had longevity
3:31
in the field for this long, you clearly should know be able to bring a lot of things to the table. Um, but is it going
3:38
to be a deterrent to the way we do it? Can you adapt? Can we adapt? So, I I
3:44
think I'm asking a lot of things packed into that one topic that I'm hoping you can help tease out and maybe make it um
3:51
applicable to everybody listening and not just like the fools like me who have decided to go started another practice
3:57
just why not why not um
4:02
it's you know when you said uh just kind of fell into it or whatever and had no
4:07
plan for it which is true but fast forward two years and if it's just like this amazing thing that I think it's
4:14
gonna be. You're gonna be like, "Oh, no. I planned that." It was, "No, no, I won't. I I stayed true to myself. I
4:20
didn't even plan my current one. I did not want one." Um, it's true. And here you are with two with almost two. Yeah.
4:28
Yeah. Yeah. I Yeah. It's going to be good. It's going to be great. So I think
4:34
you bring up a very important topic and I do think it's applicable not only probably even more so applicable to
4:41
single offices but definitely applicable to your partic particular situation.
4:47
Bringing a new team member in is always like you know I equate it back to like
4:53
first dates where you think haven't been on one of those
4:58
in a while. Thank God. It's funny cuz my husband and I were just talking about um
5:04
a date that I went on in college. We were reminiscing on some high school people that we knew and ended up going
5:10
on this date with this guy in college that checked every
5:16
mark on my book, like everything. And so, but even like going into the date,
5:22
he hadn't been on my radar. He wasn't somebody that I was even thinking about.
5:28
I had to kind of remind myself who he was when he reached out for this date. And then once I remembered him, I was
5:35
like, "Oh yeah, this is actually this is a potential. Yeah, this is going to be good." But wasn't even like leading up
5:42
to the date wasn't even like excited or like energetic about it. Just kind of like, yeah, you know, it's a date. And
5:50
in the interview, I mean, in the interview, in the date, it felt like I don't know. it just wasn't we weren't
5:56
driving for whatever reason even though we had so many similar interests and all that and so it's funny my husband
6:02
brought this guy back up again I was like I had forgotten about him and I think about this with a lot of new
6:09
employees that are starting cuz they may check all the boxes and you're like how
6:15
can this person not work because she's got 25 years in the field she's great in
6:23
communication over the phone. She's loves pediatrics. She runs in similar circles. She's going
6:30
to be a great networker. All this kind of stuff. And then we just never know until they start. We never know how that
6:39
period of time is going to work with them and your team. So, it's really awkward for the new person that's
6:46
starting because they too are taking a leap of faith and going, I hope that I
6:51
can integrate with this team and work well with them. And the team is hoping
6:56
that this person is the answer to some of the problems that we're having, but there is no way to know it until they
7:02
come on board. I think there's things that as leaders in the practice that we
7:07
can do to make that to try to force some good connection in those early stages of
7:13
building a relationship with this new employee. But then also we beg the question like
7:18
at what point do we decide that it's we've given it all we've got and we just don't know anymore. So I think focusing
7:25
on that initial onboarding and figuring out how do we get them integrated with
7:30
our team members? How do we get our team members ready to receive them as an
7:36
employee? And then they're determining, are they going to be a good fit? But we also have to they have to have the right
7:42
mindset to go give them some time, give them some grace and all of that. So it
7:48
it's a very complicated, which is what I'm hoping that we could focus on that part of it for this episode. Um because
7:55
I think that's where I'll be honest, I've been so like it's summer uh schedule. So we are we've been busy at
8:02
the office. It's been nice to be busy with a mostly full schedule. Like it we haven't had this for like 2 months now.
8:09
Um so it's really nice, but we're focused on that. I'm focused on my kids getting out of school and like what are
8:14
we doing for child care and blah blah blah and then I'm focused on now this other practice that literally fell into
8:20
my lap like 6 weeks ago. So now I'm pausing and I'm going whoa wait a minute
8:25
here and all of these like in the interviewing process um you know you just never know who's
8:31
going to accept the job who's not who's going to show up to the interview who's not and like background checks and
8:37
employee what what do you call what you um referral reference checks like all of that you know and then even if all of
8:43
that checks out can we afford them can we not like whether it's a newer person older person like all of those steps and
8:49
now we are just about to where we've hired And I think the onboarding like they're all giving their two weeks
8:55
notice, whatever it is. So they're coming and all of a sudden I'm like, "Oh my god, I haven't even thought about how do I make sure this is a successful
9:03
uh integration." Yeah. And so I think that's what I came thinking today going, "Okay, we need to talk about this." And
9:09
you kind of mentioned you were having some, you know, it resonated with you because you'd had a couple of drama
9:15
episodes in with clients offices this week. So yeah. Um, and it was the theme
9:22
of, you know, the person that's been there forever and the newer person have
9:27
coming to heads or not communicating well or not that was in the office you in the office that I was with and even
9:34
you know um I was lucky enough to be in your practice this week and um one of
9:40
the new ladies that came on board you can just feel that it was her first day
9:45
you know being in the practice and there's just that little bit like nervous energy from everybody. Like
9:51
everybody's just a little nervous on that first day. Like, is is what we
9:56
thought we were getting? Is that is that what we're getting? Like we just don't know. And I'm sure she's thinking the same thing. And she is what I signed up
10:03
for what I what I agreed to sign up for. Mhm. Yeah. So, it's a very I think it's
10:08
very nerve-wracking. But I do think there's a few things that practice owners or leaders need to do to ensure
10:15
not to ensure to give the best chance of that integration going well. So I'm
10:22
going to throw out my first thing and then you stop me if I'm not hitting on some things that I think are important.
10:28
So we do onboarding in most practices. Your your office over the years I feel
10:34
like has developed a clearer, cleaner onboarding program. Um, and I view
10:40
myself as a part of the onboarding program because when I once they've kind of made it through all of the ranks that
10:47
they need to get through and I'm having a conversation with them, I am talking
10:52
100% culture. This is the culture you're stepping into. These are the expectations. This won't fly in the
10:58
practice. This will fly in the practice. cuz I view my job in that onboarding pro
11:04
process to set the stage for what we expect of them from a culture standpoint. So, can you give even more?
11:10
Can you go into detail like give me an example or two of things like and you can use my office or you can use somebody else's office like what do you
11:16
tell them specifically? Because I think what we're trying to do kind of like you said it was like dating. I think for me
11:23
I equated to online dating and it's like you know you put forth this resume with these picture not resume a profile with
11:30
some pictures and then you know to me I always was like well I'm going to put some very I'm not going to put my dalled
11:36
up prom picture because I can't deliver that every day. You know what I mean? Like I'm going to put some very everyday
11:43
pictures so that hopefully when you see me live I either meet or exceed the
11:49
expectation. But I will be devastated if you're like, "Oh my god, like where is she?" Like who who are you, ma'am? Like
11:56
this is false representation. So I never want to be caught in that boat. Like even with this, like I don't want to
12:02
present my office like clearly I'm biased. There's things that I like about our office, but I think I've tried to
12:08
figure out like from my perspective and from a over the years kind of hearing
12:13
feedback about the office, what are the things that people are going to struggle with in my practice? And I'd rather
12:19
share that with you at the outset. And that way if you're kind of, you know,
12:24
you come to me two months in and you're like, well, this is really a struggle. Uh-huh. I told you it was going to be
12:30
like, and so how much of that, which way did you perceive that? Um, but I don't
12:35
want it to ever be like you were dishonest about that. No, I told you that was going to be a challenge in this practice. So, can you give us some very
12:42
specific examples like what would you say like this do this or this won't fly?
12:47
You mentioned that. Can you give me a So, I'll use your practice uh as an
12:52
example. It's been the the some of the freshest examples, but when I'm talking to candidates that are looking to work
12:59
for you, I let them know you are I know
13:04
you have experience in the field candidate. We'll call her Sally cuz we always do. So Sally, I know you've got
13:11
great experience in the field, but I do want to prepare you that the office that
13:16
you're stepping into is it it takes the
13:22
level that you probably are used to and it raises the bar way up. Like we're not
13:27
we're the high detail office. We are a system office. We like to create really
13:34
good systems. We dialogue a lot about those systems and then we like to execute those systems with consistency.
13:41
So inconsistency or just kind of flying by the seat of your pants doesn't work well. We've
13:47
spent a lot of time developing systems that we do intend to be followed. And I'm sure you're going to have great
13:52
ideas. We'll talk about those, but we want you to test out our systems first
13:58
so that you can get fully integrated in that way. Also, you're stepping into an office that really, really values good
14:05
communication, particularly good communication with the patients. So, and
14:10
parents. So, if you're really good at assisting, but you're not good at
14:15
communication, you're going to have to come in and be prepared to invest a lot of time into becoming a better
14:22
communicator. Because you can't just be a good assistant in this office. You have to also be a really good
14:28
communicator and value that process. Also, don't expect to get here, learn
14:36
your role, and stay the same. If you're a person that likes just the same, wake
14:43
up every day, do the same thing, do the same job. Like, you're not going to experience that here. And particularly,
14:49
I say Dr. Kuba is always exposing herself to all kinds of education and information and courses and reading
14:56
articles and she's constantly looking for ways to implement good ideas into
15:01
her practice. So, if you're somebody that's like, "No, this is just the way I do things and I'm not willing to to
15:07
change that, this is not going to be a good fit for you because you've got to be willing to kind of grow." But are
15:13
there people that would say, "No, I don't like to learn new things." Oh, yeah. There are people that will say
15:18
that or at least weed themselves out. I guess they won't show up for the interview. Okay, they will weed
15:23
themselves out. What I love about setting that up in the interview process
15:28
is we've had situations where somebody that we hired for your team did not work
15:35
out or we were feeling like they wouldn't work out. And in my conversation with them, I'm like, you
15:41
remember back to that phone call that we had? You remember how I said you've got
15:46
to do this, you've got to be this, you know, you got to be willing to change, you got to be willing to grow, all of that. Um, this is what I'm talking
15:52
about. And right now, you're you're you're just wanting to stick with this system that you created, but we have
15:59
this system that we've asked you to follow. So, I've been able to bring up that conversation.
16:05
So even if that wasn't clear in the interview process, in the onboarding process, it has to be part of what you
16:12
do to get this person acclimated with your culture. So there can be all the hiring paperwork that you're filling
16:18
out. There there can be the office walkthrough of let me show you where everything is. This is where you put your purse. This is where you blah blah
16:25
blah. There going to be all that. And that's a part of the onboarding process. But to me, we also need to be having a
16:31
conversation about these. This is what our culture is. This is what makes us who we are and we the doctor has
16:38
determined that you you're the right fit for this culture. So we need to have culture conversations and you I am able
16:47
to clearly articulate what those culture items are for candidates, but we've talked about culture a lot. I'll
16:53
reference those in the show notes for today's episode. But culture, if you can't clearly articulate what your
16:59
culture is and what your expectations are of people on your team, then that's a problem cuz then you're just throwing
17:05
shots in the dark hoping that the person that you hired fits in, but you can't even articulate what does fitting in
17:12
mean on your team. So I think establish your culture and what are the qualities
17:17
that make an employee successful or unsuccessful that needs to be communicated in the early days. even something as little as
17:24
which I never thought about this before and then I guess honestly even if I did I would have shied away from saying it
17:31
because I didn't want to turn somebody off but even things like now what I will
17:36
say I'm like you know things like not being on time that doesn't fly in our office like if you consider 7:06 is just
17:43
1 minute late you're actually 6 minutes late cuz starts at 7:05 so you should have been here at 7:00 those are things
17:49
that are very important to our office and if that's something you're going to struggle with I wouldn't even bother bother proceeding with this interview process because I understand you are the
17:56
dentric guru and the verbiage guru and you can you know prep the stainless steel crown if you wanted to you know
18:03
what I mean like but that doesn't matter because we're not going to get along as a team and as a culture if you're not
18:09
here on time we value that we value you know that we're setting up for tomorrow
18:15
before you leave today right and I can understand the pros and cons of doing it not doing it doesn't really matter here
18:22
we do it and we're not going to be open to negotiating that. So, and so I'll
18:27
give some real examples like that so they can start going okay like there is
18:34
you know whether you consider it militant or whether you consider it you know too highrung or too anal. Yeah, I
18:41
guess we are but this is what works for us. Um and why not set that early on?
18:47
Yeah. And I used to shy away from it. And then we end up wasting a lot of time because somebody comes on and then I'm
18:52
putting around. Well, yeah. I mean, it is important to be on time, but no, you're right. It was just a minute late. And then the rest of the team is like,
18:58
what do you mean? I'm just like, I don't want to seem like a hard ass about one minute. Well, it's not. And I've just
19:04
come along. I've I've progressed a lot to now where I just say it. And I'm like, well, this is what's going to make
19:09
you unsuccessful is if you can't meet these basic things cuz this is what's important to the rest of us. And for
19:15
that employee to know that early on so that she or he doesn't make that mistake because then they're have then they're
19:21
coming back. They're digging themselves out of a hole that they've created with the team because that wasn't clearly
19:27
spoken. And so you are even though it may seem militant or too hardcore or
19:32
whatever, but that person can then decide, can I deliver on that? And if not, I know I'm not going to fit in with
19:39
this group. So then if they're wanting to start on the right foot, they're abiding by some of those um expectations
19:46
that you set. I don't I don't mean to get us off track here, but I think it does it is important to to discuss here,
19:51
but if somebody's going, "Well, this is the person. There's only two candidates that have applied for this position and
19:56
I'm desperate in need for a front desk, a RDA, whatever it is."
20:02
What how do you answer that? which I have, you know, it es and flows on that
20:09
as far as how many candidates are available, how many are not, but I have always said it is worth the wait. And I
20:17
know that sounds easier said than done, but to me, the amount of damage that the wrong employee can create on your team
20:26
is not worth it. I mean, I've had people that have gone without a front desk person for a while cuz they couldn't
20:33
find the right person and I was there going, "Don't settle. Don't settle. Just wait it out. There will be somebody."
20:40
Because I see the result of a bad fit on a team. And it's not just they can
20:46
interrupt and disturb patient care things, you know, making p patients
20:52
upset and all that. They can disturb your team dynamics. I can't tell you how many times I have a conversation with a
20:58
team member that's like, "By the way, if this person doesn't find her way out way
21:04
out real quickly, you're going to lose this one and this one." And I'm like, that that's an example of
21:10
an employee that does not fit. We were desperate, hired somebody, and now we're going to lose two. We're going to keep
21:16
the bad one. We were going to lose our two good ones. And now what do we do?
21:21
So, it's just not worth. And I know that sounds impossible, but to me, there's plenty of we're we're crossraining our
21:29
clinical people to help out at the front for a while or vice versa. We're helping our sweet sally at the front to at least
21:35
flip chairs and run sterilization in the back. Um, we're looking at third-party
21:40
companies and going, "Okay, how can I supplement while I don't have a body in the chair? Is there somebody that I could at least outsource to answer my
21:47
phones?" And buy yourself time to find the right person. So I would say my my
21:53
response would be the same like you know where I start going you know well yeah Bethany as a consultant that's pie in
21:58
the sky just wait but what do you want me to do day by day and I would still echo everything you just said because to
22:05
me unless you doc are willing to change like suddenly if you're okay if everybody starts coming in whenever they
22:11
want to if that's the case then yeah this person's the right one to bring on but if you have worked hard to establish
22:16
a culture you and this is the only candidate you're going to have to figure out how to make it work without that
22:22
candidate or that position because to your point, you're about to undermine
22:28
and deter everything you've already built. So unless you are pie in the sky and you're like, well, I want this and I
22:34
want that and I want that and you're the ridiculous one. But if you found people and you know that that's what works for
22:40
you, you might be like, "Yeah, I'm the only one on this street. There's 20 practices and I'm the only one who
22:46
insists my employees get here by 7:00 a.m." That's okay. But that might mean you have to be the one to
22:54
eb and flow in a different way. Those other people might be okay with onboarding somebody every 60 days or
23:00
every you know what I mean? Or they're okay with their patients getting mad because they couldn't start them on time. Or they're okay with telling their
23:07
patients, "Well, we can't do your treatment today because I didn't have my assistant show up because they're the ones who didn't create and set and stick
23:15
to their culture." So, I guess it's unless you were
23:20
very realist
23:27
and go, am I okay? Are my patients always late? And maybe they don't care. Are my patients like all retired and
23:33
they don't care about the time of their appointment and they'll be okay? You know, but if you're I I think you just
23:40
need to think about why you set that culture to begin with. Is that a you problem? Is that a no this is what works
23:47
for us and who is us well for the existing five team members I have and myself okay then you got to wait yeah
23:54
you got to wait because you can't let that person come in and disrupt everything um it's just not worth it it's not it's
24:02
not wait for the right fit and it that when I say the right fit that doesn't mean the perfect fit so I still think
24:10
somebody can be right for the job and still have a few things that you know when I go back to that date example.
24:16
They there might be one or two things that they didn't check the box on, but ultimately
24:22
culturally they're going to fit with your team. They're going to represent you well. And yeah, he or she may not
24:28
have enough years of experience. Or he or she may be brand new to the field and
24:34
you're like, "Oh my gosh, I'm going to have to invest so much training into this person." Yep. Yep. That's a box
24:41
they didn't check, but they checked everything else. And so that when we say right fit, that doesn't mean perfect
24:47
fit. They may not be 10 out of 10. That's a good point as well. Um, okay. So, back to then like any tips you So, I
24:55
guess the the first tip is setting a realistic expectation. I think um for us
25:01
we usually do like you're there to screen the person initially
25:07
and we make them come in and see how we do things. And so I think with this particular with the second sat with the
25:14
satellite location, the people that were applying and we were considering hiring
25:20
and they were considering us and going well maybe you know I've been in the field for 20 years maybe it's time for
25:25
me to get out of the field but you know I I I I'm trying this out whatever it
25:32
was and I'm just like okay I think for me most important needs to be
25:37
um can can they integrate with our culture and our team. So I met with a
25:44
couple of them, you spoke with a couple of them and then I made them come to the office and I think for me the the key
25:51
was I didn't barely acknowledge them. Like I said hello the day they were in the office but I didn't really engage
25:58
after that because I wanted them to I wanted to see how they engaged with my
26:03
team and how my team engaged with them. Yeah. And uh at the end of that, every
26:09
person on my team was like, "No, we liked this person." Yeah. So to me, that spoke volumes because again, I'm like, I
26:16
could get along with the person, but if they're not a good fit and the team is like going, "Uh, I didn't like this." We
26:24
we weren't going to move forward. Um, so now, so I I guess that would be tip number one is are you setting a
26:29
realistic expectation? Two, whose opinion matters? and and for us it's for
26:36
me it's you Bethy's opinion matters and also my team's opinion matters and
26:41
watching each other interact. So I guess for another office I would say if you're
26:46
looking at hiring an RDA and she's older than the rest of your
26:51
team cuz we see that a lot and you're like uh is this person going to integrate well? Are they going to seem like the mama hen when the team doesn't
26:58
want that or is it vice versa? Do you have a bunch of older team members and now this young one comes in and are they
27:03
going to take her seriously? Are they not? Are they going to give him a hard time? Like what's going to happen here? So to me, I guess that would be making
27:11
sure we've got the opportunity for them to interact in some useful way and
27:17
forcing some of that interaction. So, if you've got a team that's more introverted and you know they're not
27:23
going to naturally if this person comes in for a working interview or even if it's after they're hired and this this
27:30
new employee comes in, if your team's not naturally social, you might have to force some of that social interaction.
27:38
So, it could be that you set um you know on day one uh you schedule a slightly
27:44
longer lunch and you go we have a welcome lunch to welcome our new employee and then you've at least set
27:50
the time aside and then depending upon how introverted or awkward your team can be and there's plenty of teams out there
27:56
that they're just awkward individuals that practice owner may have to come up with discussion questions.
28:03
May I even interject here too? I I think the only thing that makes me go, uh-oh, did you do a welcome lunch for every
28:09
other person before this person? Cuz then is that per they're going to be like, why does this one get a lunch? So, I think even before doing that, I would
28:16
ask my team and say, hey guys, come here. You know, we want to interview this one and and I'm very uh transparent
28:23
with my thoughts with the team. I'm like, you know, I really like this person because on paper, they have experience with this. They I love the
28:31
way she answered my questions when I was initially screening her. She really stood out. I think I'm concerned about
28:37
will we be able to afford her and I'm concerned because she doesn't seem super well-versed in sedation or she didn't
28:44
know anything about laser dentistry or whatever it is. So, these are my pros and cons for her. Um, I'm going to bring
28:50
her in. I know you guys, you know, historically y'all haven't, you know, everybody's kind of quiet and nobody
28:56
really um asked too many questions, but I want to make sure that, you know, there's only so many questions I can
29:02
ask. You guys are the ones who have to get along with her. How do you guys want to get to know her? Do you want me to bring in lunch? Do you want me to um
29:11
have her just sit at the front desk for an hour? Who's going to conduct the questions? Do we want to sit and come up
29:16
with a list of questions ourselves first? And then that way if they're all like, "Yeah, bring in lunch. We'll talk." Okay, y'all are good with that.
29:22
Y'all are going to use that time to ask questions. Okay, then we'll call it a welcome lunch. Yeah. Um because I would
29:27
just be afraid of going, wait a minute, if the two two hires prior like nobody
29:32
gave me a welcome lunch. It's so true and it will come up. So to me, getting your team buy in into that. And
29:40
honestly, if they're super introverted, they may not say yes to that. They may go, "Oh gosh,
29:47
let's not do that. Okay, what would be an alternative? What's another way for for y'all? I want y'all to have a chance
29:52
to really get to know her and um help her be successful that she's going to
29:58
need you guys in this process. So, incorporating them and if it's not lunch, finding something that they're
30:04
comfortable with uh where they can get to know this person because that is the most awkward thing. It's like it would
30:12
be the equivalent to showing up to somebody's house party um that you were
30:19
invited to and they all know each other.
30:24
They're all longtime BFF and you didn't get to know this person until dental school and so you know none of the high
30:32
school and college buddies that are there but she wanted you there at the house and you show up alone. You know
30:38
one person, but you don't know anybody else in that house. And then you're having to figure out how to talk. And
30:44
this is why I don't go. I don't socialize. I'm too old for that nonsense. I'm like, uh-uh. I'm not going. It's too awkward. Not doing it.
30:50
But that's what our new employees are walking into. Like they are walking into that environment. They know nobody or
30:57
even if they've been into the office and chatted with people in the interview process, they still are walking into a
31:03
group of people people that are fully connected to one another. and they are not. And so I think
31:10
establishing some time for this person to get to know the team is important. So that also makes me think and I I think
31:16
we've done this in the past, but it hadn't occurred to me recently and maybe
31:21
it would be a good idea for this this secondary office, but maybe we do kind of connect people and say, "Here's your
31:27
buddy. If you have a question, you're asking this if you're doing that." So like that was going to be my third tip, by the way. Okay, very good. you're on
31:33
it because I think the hardest part is first of all you're stepping into a group of people you don't know but you
31:38
also don't know who who do I go to like who is my point person so I really like
31:44
when there's a buddy assigned from day one and that buddy knows who they are
31:50
like they know that they're the buddy and they know what their responsibilities are now ideally this is
31:57
somebody in their position so if you're bringing on a hygienist it may be your current hygienist That's like the buddy
32:03
for the week. Unless your hygienist is
32:09
super introverted, really is going to make this super awkward, isn't going to seem available
32:16
for that new hygienist, then don't pick that person. You can pick somebody else. Okay, so two questions with that. Number
32:21
one, what if you only have one hygienist? And second, what if it's the opposite? What if the hygienist is like,
32:26
"Here's another one coming on my turf." Mhm. And you're like, uh-uh, I'm not going to pair them cuz she's going to
32:31
set you up for failure. Y um part of me goes, then why do you have somebody like
32:38
that on your team? Mhm. But how do you how can you get them to
32:44
be more inviting and less threatened, I guess, is the word. Yes. Well, and to me
32:49
that comes first from picking the right person. So, and again, you may may only have two options on your team. It's leg
32:56
it's either like evil or the lesser of two evils and both are bad options. And so this may not be possible for people
33:03
in that situation. But usually there's somebody that's like she may not be a
33:08
hygienist. It may be sweet sally at the front but she is the sweetest pie loves
33:14
everybody just oozes sweetness. And you're like okay great. She's going to be our point. She's going to be our buddy. And at least if she doesn't know
33:21
the answer, she can get she can navigate the team to get this person the right
33:26
answer. So pick the right person first of all, but then also I think really making sure that buddy knows how
33:33
valuable they are in the process of onboarding this team member. Um let
33:38
letting them think about how awkward it's probably going to be for this new lady joining our team to integrate. You
33:45
know, um we've got a tougher team. we're we're all kind of introverted, but you you're going to help her feel welcome.
33:52
So, making sure they understand the value of that and then also what specifically they're supposed to do cuz
33:58
I think the buddy should have multiple times during the day for that first week or two that they're seeking out the
34:04
person and going, "How you doing? You need anything? Any questions?" So, multiple times a day they're seeking the
34:10
person out. And then for the new employee to know who their buddy is. Also, it doesn't have to be the same
34:17
buddy. If there's multiple people on the team, you can transition the buddy each week. You can say, "Hey, your buddy this
34:23
week is so and so. Next week, I'll tell you who it is, and then next week is I like that because then she's getting to
34:29
know individually team members in a different way." That's a really good idea. I like that. Yeah, I love the
34:36
buddy system. So, our um subscribers actually have an onboarding document uh
34:42
from November's uh digest and we laid out a whole
34:48
onboarding. It's week by week. There's a document that needs to be filled out and
34:54
it says on there who's the buddy for the week which and I know I know that document's more about like actually how
35:00
to like task oriented like how do you test and what they know and how do you know whether it's time to add more to
35:07
their plate or take away from their plate. So, it's phenomenal. But I think for this, just from a culture
35:13
standpoint, we just need to make sure we're also doing that like we're checking in on their progress as far as
35:19
assimilating towards the actual technical aspects of the job. But I think also um not forgetting Yes. the
35:28
the um you know the touchyfey making sure that we've we're integrating
35:33
the right person. Yes. So that was our third tip. The fourth one would is what
35:39
I would say you got to have scheduled touchbased meetings. So 30 60 90 days
35:46
because in those 30 60 90day meetings and I like for there to either be a
35:52
manager or a team lead or the doctor himself or herself in those meetings
35:57
that is the chance for the employee to share their feedback on how's it going.
36:04
So, also in that same onboarding document, it has the 30-day agenda team,
36:10
you know, one-on-one agenda, 60-day, 90-day, but it is requesting her
36:15
feedback or his feedback on how's it going, you know, what can we do to support you better. Um, a lot of times
36:22
new employees, especially if they've got a lot of experience, they want to share their ideas and it's just not quite the
36:30
spot yet for that team member to share his or her ideas. And so those meetings
36:35
become we're soliciting your ideas in this controlled meeting. Um, so I think
36:42
that's the other component is to give them an outlet for giving you feedback.
36:49
Okay. I feel like this is just the tip of the iceberg. I feel like I have a lot more questions for you about my own
36:54
personal situation, but um I think this is a good starting point. Yeah. I think the important note is you spent all this
37:02
time waiting for the right candidate. Don't blow it. Like don't blow it. Just
37:08
like that that honeymoon phase. I say this all the time when I'm um sitting with practice owners. They're like, I
37:14
don't know what happened. Like she was so great. I'm like, you were in the honeymoon phase. And then that wears off
37:20
and you see what you actually have. And so we don't want there to be that aha
37:25
moment like you tricked me into, you know, either way for you. Yes. into
37:31
hire, you know, you tricked me into hiring you and then the other person's like you tricked me. This is not the environment that I was expecting. Yeah.
37:38
But to me, if we put our work in in that honeymoon phase and we're intentional about it and we lay out really clear
37:46
expectations and have good communication and incorporate them onto the team fully
37:51
integrated with the team members, it's a good investment. Okay. Can I give us a teaser then cuz I know what I want to
37:56
talk about already next week. Yes. Cuz I want this to go into Okay. How do you know is what you just said like at the
38:02
honeymoon period like how long is that? Is that 90, 60, whatever? I think me personally, I find our spot is kind of
38:10
around 60ish where we're really kind of uncovering, you know, whether this is the right fit
38:16
or not. And then I feel like if we can get past it that point, then the next is kind of like 12 to 15 months where the
38:24
person's like, "Oh, I've been here. I'm here." And then it's like you see just kind of a different side starts coming
38:30
out. Um, but so my question for you now, and I know we're run out of time now, so I'm teeing it up for next time we talk.
38:37
I want to know, how do we know it's time to part ways? I'm like giving it enough
38:43
time cuz you don't want to just be like, "Oh, it's been 3 days. Bye, get out of here." Or at month five, are you like,
38:50
"hm, have I been too lenient? Have I not?" So anyway, can we talk about that next? That's a good tea for next week.
38:57
Yep. Okay, let's do it. Thank you, ma'am. All righty. Thanks for joining the conversation today. We hope that you
39:04
are comforted in knowing that you are not alone, but we also hope that you're walking away with some really great tips
39:11
and tricks to try in your practice. We value your feedback, so please take a
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