“Why We Hate Change in Employees & One Thing You Must Do NOW To Ensure Your Practice Survives Your Inevitable Absence”

The single biggest reason why we hate change in employees (why we hesitate to show ‘em the door) is the amount of training that is required to replace them.

It takes a tremendous amount of time (someone’s, and oftentimes, it can be yours), money and effort to train someone and get ‘em up to speed to do the job efficiently and reliably. And, so, too many times, we’re tempted to deal with the shortcomings of people we are already paying that “know the job.”

In fact, I know of at least a dozen doctors, right now, that are doing this very thing. Yet, they are frustrated, unhappy and ready to throw their hands in the air from the frustration of it all.

You know this is the case. Especially if…

… you have ever said, “I’d fire _____, but she knows the job and I know what I’ve got and know her shortcomings so I’ll just deal with it for the time being.” (Meanwhile, years go by and you’re still dealing with it.)

Or, “As soon as X happens, I’ll fire ______.” But, X never happens. Or, it takes so long, you’ve relegated yourself to just “living” with it. Like a bad marriage or something.

We then go about justifying why our thoughts are correct. Why delaying the inevitable and what is necessary is OK. Even though our thinking is severely flawed and blocks us from being more successful, we usually don’t see it. We are blind to what is keeping us from moving closer towards our goals. (Yet more proof that we are our own worst enemies when it comes to success behaviors.)

(What I do in this case is to simply create a crisis: fire whomever is not up to par and get to work replacing them. If you’re doing $60k or more a month in your practice, you should not be hiring and firing. The only person you should hire and fire is an office manager, who will quickly become your COO (Chief Operations Officer). If you are still hiring and firing your DAs, hygienists, etc., you’re costing yourself a ton of money and more importantly, time; of which we both have a limited amount left.)

But, this post isn’t about that – instead, it’s about the reason behind why we don’t like to replace folks who are just not pulling their weight. And, why that reason is far more important than you might realize.

I’ll tell you: The easiest thing in the world to solve this “training” issue, to get new employees up to speed faster and more efficiently with as little time as possible involved on your part is to…

Create a System

And, it starts with a Job Description, or, what’s expected of the employee, and then a “User Manual’ for that particular job. In other words, a detailed description showing how YOU want the job done, even how long each aspect will take. Written. Maybe even a few videos created

Doing this is what will separate an $80k a month practice from a $250k a month practice. Because, once you’re at a $1/4mil a month, you can’t afford to NOT have a system in place that accomplishes exactly that for every single position in your office…EVEN YOURS.

(I’ll challenge all you ‘hot shots’ out there – you know who you are – you’ve got a great income, a great practice(s), but what happens if you end up on your back for 6 months? Will YOUR team and other doctors on it know how to do YOUR job? I’ll bet not. So, if you need something to do, you’d better start writing down what it is you do, how it’s done, who your contacts are, what they are responsible for, etc. There is no detail too small to leave out.)