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June 10, 2008

By Shannon Griffin, DMD

Hiring is the most important thing you do, once you have your vision. Getting the right people on the bus and in the right seats, to borrow from the "Good to Great" book and concepts by Jim Collins, is of highest priority for you to make your vision a reality. However, dentists often feel overwhelmed or frustrated with the interviewing and hiring process. Personnel issues aren't at the forefront of most dental schools' curricula, so many dentists take a stab in the dark when it comes to managing these systems. Here are tried and true techniques to consider so you can proceed with confidence, focus, and direction — leading your new hires to do the same!

Ask the same questions of each candidate and take notes

I urge you to have five basic questions and ask all of your interviewees the same five questions. This evens the playing field and makes it easier for you to base your opinion of the best candidate on factors that are evenly weighed among other candidates.

As the interview begins, tell the candidate you're going to take notes. That way you can refer back to the details of those notes when you have a choice to make.

So, where do you get these five basic questions? From a book? From an HR professional? From your retired associate predecessor? Maybe so. Maybe not. The important thing is that they truly reflect you, your leadership style, and the practice, and that they set the stage for what's most important. Try to compose your own "broad spectrum questions" on five different topics. The questions will tell the candidate much about you and vice versa. It will spark invaluable discussion so you can be clear about expectations.

To get you thinking about your questions, I'll share the ones we use in our practice.

1. What do you bring to our team? (This question allows me to think about the candidate in terms of the practice.)
2. What have you enjoyed in your previous positions? (This question allows me to think about the candidate in terms of the industry.)
3. What does teamwork mean to you, and how do you make it happen? (This question allows me to think about the candidate in terms of other key players on my team, while also instilling the expectation of a team spirit and strong communication with coworkers.)
4. If you were a patient in our practice, what would make you want to stay in our practice and what would stand out to you about the team? (Watching the candidate think creatively about what she can bring to the patients allows her to start basing her success not only on what I think or what the team thinks, but also on the patients' perspective.)
5. Is dentistry a career or a job for you? (In our practice, we do things as a team that involves travel, such as continuing education. It's important for me to get a sense of the candidate's willingness to partake in those things. I'm able to communicate our dedication to invest in the careers of our team members, while also gauging the candidate's availability to travel to events, etc.)

Be prepared for the wandering response

If the candidate babbles on in a direction your question didn't intend, what do you do? It's proven beneficial for me to have a list of specific things I want to assess. For example, if the candidate tells me about past experiences and what she brings to the practice but never points out specific details, I'll need to prompt for those and bring the wandering response back into focus for both the candidate and myself. For example, I have a list of experience recommendations that I keep in my hands when I'm taking notes. That way I'm prompted to determine the candidate's experience and comfort level if she'll be using the same spreadsheet software, dental software, or other clinical technologies we have in place.

Listen for the meat of the information

Interviews can be a glorified first impression, or they can allow you to truly dig in and get to the heart of the candidate's ability to fit into your team. Some dentists have a difficult time getting to that "meat" or deeper discussion. So, they'll have a new team member hired and in training before they discover their true reaction to the candidate's potential within the practice. This is a big mistake for all involved. Getting to the heart of the matter, whether in interviewing or in any communication endeavor, comes down to open-ended questions and listening. Ask open-ended questions that don't lead the candidate into a "yes," a "no," or a clear "right answer." Ask questions and then be quiet and listen. Take notes! Don't insert your reaction. Just nod and use passive listening to prod the candidate along, but do not interject until the candidate's thought is complete.

Work as a team to screen people prior to the doctor's interview

We prescreen candidates by sending out an ad or a bid for applications. When candidates call, we can sense phone skills. They're invited in to fill out an application, so we may then screen handwriting. Team members make notes during calls and personal application pick-up interactions about their first impressions. If their resume or CV and their handwritten application are accompanied by positive initial contact notes from our team members, they're invited back to meet with my associate and me for a 20-minute interview and a tour of the practice. That's when we ask the five questions and take notes. After that interview, we send potential candidates to lunch alone with our team. Yes, we send them to lunch without the doctors. This way candidates get a sense of their coworkers and we all have a part in selecting the candidate together.

Make room for yourself but stay on track

Even when you do everything to hire right, there can still be a misfit. Personnel issues are the most challenging aspect of running the practice, according to most of our Jameson clients. So don't grow so disheartened by these issues that you give up. Some dentists give up by just stopping all effective communication and hoping it will work out with current team members. Others give up by delegating hiring and firing to another team member. Others give up by going through the motions without infusing any personal passion or clear communication into the process, only to end up with turnover, compromised team dynamics, and less than ideal productivity.

Sure, it can be tough. But you deserve the best. So get a coach for the communication skills. Spend some time mastering your five questions and rethinking your vision so they are an accurate and even passionate reflection of where you want the practice to go. Make room for yourself, admitting that it won't work every time and that you'll always be a manager as well as a dentist. But don't allow that to become an excuse for anything less than your ideal practice. Stay on track and hold yourself and your team members accountable for your plans. Work together and communicate ... and you'll get there!

Shannon Griffin, DMD, is a practicing dentist in Edmond, Okla., and a coach for Jameson Management, Inc. She also writes for numerous dental publications and holds faculty positions to share her dental practice management expertise with dental students. Dr. Griffin may be reached toll-free at (877) 369-5558 or on the Web at www.jamesonmanagement.com.

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