181: The Associate Playbook: Hiring, Leading, and Retaining Top Talent

So what are we going to cover? What currently happens? Well, hiring associates is one of the hardest things that we do.

Most owners don't have a plan.

Most associates last one or two years and then they leave.

When that happens, we lose money, we lose momentum, we lose culture and morale in the office.

Patients and teams suffer from the turnover and it's just super expensive.

So what I'm hoping to discuss with you guys today is what is the system to fix that? How can we recruit with intention? How can we make sure we're hiring the right person? Most importantly, how can we onboard the person the right way? I was on a coaching call this morning and I was telling the story about my first 10 years of practice.

I could not find the right people, the right office managers, the right associates, the right treatment coordinators.

They would be with me for six months, for 12 months, and then I'd fire them because they obviously weren't the right person.

But then the more mature I became and the more I started to really learn about this stuff, the more I realized that I was the wrong person, that these were actually good people.

I was just onboarding them and mentoring them in the wrong way.

Or basically, I wasn't onboarding or mentoring them at all.

And when they failed miserably, it was their fault.

It wasn't my fault.

And since I've started to own that responsibility, it's amazing how turnover has decreased significantly.

So this is a hard job taking on this level of ownership and mentorship and onboarding.

But if you do it, I can guarantee that these relationships will most likely be more successful.

So here's six points to the life cycle.

Readiness, recruitment, hiring, onboarding, mentorship, and then long-term retention.

So from a readiness assessment, and these are really good questions that you need to ask yourself.

I don't have the answers for you.

I have the answers for me.

But I want you guys to make sure that you're asking these questions before you bring on an associate.

And I'm not going to go over all of them.

They're here listed for you.

But a couple big ones that you need to really think about.

So what are we going to cover? What currently happens? Well, hiring associates is one of the hardest things that we do.

Most owners don't have a plan.

Most associates last one or two years and then they leave.

When that happens, we lose money, we lose momentum, we lose culture and morale in the office.

Patients and teams suffer from the turnover and it's just super expensive.

So what I'm hoping to discuss with you guys today is what is the system to fix that? How can we recruit with intention? How can we make sure we're hiring the right person? Most importantly, how can we onboard the person the right way? I was on a coaching call this morning and I was telling the story about my first 10 years of practice.

I could not find the right people, the right office managers, the right associates, the right treatment coordinators.

They would be with me for six months, for 12 months, and then I'd fire them because they obviously weren't the right person.

But then the more mature I became and the more I started to really learn about this stuff, the more I realized that I was the wrong person, that these were actually good people.

I was just onboarding them and mentoring them in the wrong way.

Or basically, I wasn't onboarding or mentoring them at all.

And when they failed miserably, it was their fault.

It wasn't my fault.

And since I've started to own that responsibility, it's amazing how turnover has decreased significantly.

So this is a hard job taking on this level of ownership and mentorship and onboarding.

But if you do it, I can guarantee that these relationships will most likely be more successful.

So here's six points to the life cycle.

Readiness, recruitment, hiring, onboarding, mentorship, and then long-term retention.

So from a readiness assessment, and these are really good questions that you need to ask yourself.

I don't have the answers for you.

I have the answers for me.

But I want you guys to make sure that you're asking these questions before you bring on an associate.

And I'm not going to go over all of them.

They're here listed for you.

But a couple big ones that you need to really think about.