How to hire anyone

Recently, I was on a scheduled call with a ClearPath Member from the Dallas area.

He’d recently had an opening come up in his office for a new associate and hopefully, if it’s the right person, a future partner.

We went over some pretty valuable stuff – like what to do to find an associate, and, even more important, taking the critical, in fact, the most important step of memorializing (writing down) what he envisions that new person doing and being.

Not just the first day.

But, the 30th day.

The 60th day.

The 90th day.

120th, 1 year, 2 years and even TEN YEARS out.

You see, this is where most in Jeff’s situation fail.

They leave out this step of creating in their head and writing it down on paper, the “perfect” vision or “ideal scene” as my friend and Member Dr. Sean Tarpenning calls it.

In fact, any time I add to my team – whether it’s a new doctor or a staff member, my COO, Helene and I, go through this exercise.

First, we identity the “who.”

Then, she writes out a job description.

Then, she writes out daily tasks (this is NOT the same as a job description).

Then, she writes down (this is where most blow it) what we see as that person’s future and how they will fit in to our culture and where our business is going.

We create, in our mind’s eye first, then document, what our office looks like with that new person integrated and being successful. And, not upsetting the balance that exists now that she has worked damn hard to achieve.

Here’s the thing…

If you can’t see this, you’ll never achieve it. (N. Hill – “What the mind can conceive, one can achieve.” Or something like that – lol)

Heck, before Sean’s superstar office manager/COO joined his practice, which has gone from low six figures to nipping at the heals of 7 figures EACH MONTH, he wrote out a 2-page, single-spaced description of what he envisioned as the perfect person to take on the role.

Everyone told him he was crazy. That such a person didn’t exist.

Sean ignored their ignorance. You see, he understands that if you write your message down, your “ideal scene,” and share it with the world, it can’t help but happen.

What we think about comes about.

A short time later, guess what?

Along comes Steph. And, Sean recognized what he’d written down, and, BAM! He hired her. The rest for Sean and his team of docs and staff, is history.

Anyway, this is a far longer email than I had expected to write and I need to get back to Jeff, my Dallas Member –

You see, before Jeff and I even talked, he had done a giant mind map to create his ideal scene. We also talked about how losing a team member – whether a doctor, superstar DA or hygienist – is really not a negative.

It’s an opportunity!

…to re-group, re-define and review the position vacated. Oftentimes, if you do the exercise above, you might find you don’t even need to fill it!

Anyway – as a result of Jeff’s planning/THINKING, he’s well on his way to attract the ideal future associate/partner doctor to his opportunity.

(Oh, and we did talk about the best places to attract future docs from – I’ll be covering that in my upcoming Associate/Partner Doctor Recruiting System.)

Use this strategy the next time you are looking to hire. And remember, don’t hire someone just to fill a spot!

PS. Don’t dismiss this as some unsustainable strategy – it’s the real deal. It works.