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Have you hired an associate before and they didn’t work out? Like you would love to be hiring an associate soon, or maybe you have hired one and you would love them to be more ramped up faster. And be in be humming, smoothly humming along in, in the practice and really helping you see more patients and bring in more money into the practice.
So we’re going to be getting into three keys to successful onboarding of an associate
We help visionary holistic health practitioners with growing successful multi six and seven figure practices the introverted way. And you’re, I’m your host of your ChiroSecure show today.
So let’s talk about the successful onboarding of a new associate that can really support your practice and where you don’t feel like you need to be micromanaging them as much or where you don’t feel like you need to look over their shoulders or where instead that they actually are doing well as quickly as possible.
So there are three phases of onboarding that are helpful to know about and keep in mind as you onboard a new associate. I would say a common mistake a lot of chiropractors have and other holistic health practitioners have with this is to just mainly think of, okay, it’s essentially, somebody’s hired and then I’m just going to train them, get them started.
And then that’s mainly about it. Whereas if we look at onboarding instead as more of a three phase thing to think about, then you’re actually going to put things in place that will be more supportive for a new associate. Because the most challenging thing for a new associate is… Being thrown in to a new environment and then whether it’s expected to start seeing patients or even sometimes expected to be bringing in some patients too and then also be on the same page clinically and also how they communicate.
Have you ever had associates before, or you’ve heard of these stories of how associates didn’t work out because it was like they weren’t actually, like, all these people tend to. Are asking for you. They still want to see you. They they don’t necessarily get all, jump up and down to to be seeing your associates.
And then you your associate isn’t that busy and then they start feeling like I’m twitting only my thumbs and then they start feeling like maybe I need to. Find another job or, something. So being understanding these three phases will really help. So the first phase is before day one.
So this is where even before they start, but once you have them hired, what are you doing? So what types of things to be considering here would be, are you already starting to get them on board with the culture of your practice more? So even before day one, are they starting to understand that more?
Are they getting excited about it more? Can they actually share even on what the first week in the practice, can they actually share what your vision is or your mission is for their practice? And that might sound really boring to you. Maybe you might even think I haven’t thought about what my vision is for a while because that just sounds like textbook kind of stuff to think about.
But it is what are you, what is, And what do you stand for with your practice? Is that something that an associate could clearly communicate as far as the differentiating factor of your practice to other people? So that those, these are some of the things to start thinking about. Also, what if you had things moving in the direction of where the associate gets, is able to get busy sooner rather than later because one of the biggest challenges that I hear from docs, chiropractors, and other holistic health practitioners is that in hiring somebody and then they aren’t busy and then now you have the added overhead, but then.
your associates not at capacity quickly enough. And so it could affect your bandwidth and cashflow. But whereas instead, if you got them busier sooner, that means that more patients are helped. That means more money is coming in the door without you having to be seeing patients yourself. So then the what can you do even before they?
Start to be on the road to that. So we have a a checklist. We have a pre day one and then also 90 day checklist onboarding that we end up giving our clients when they work with us on this. and the, in our Introverted Visionaries six and seven figure systems. And one of the things about it is that you, have you thought about having them write up a, whether it’s their bio, Or do a video of themselves and introducing themselves to the practice, what they’re passionate about, and what kinds of areas of focus they might help with treating.
And then And also, is that shared with your patient base even before they start on day one? Certainly after they’re hired, but before they start on day one. And so this way, and are you also talking about it within the practice too? So that people are starting to get excited about this.
you to you have, versus later on, and where you don’t have as much time once they’re already started. So what are the things that you’re doing before Day 1? And I just shared with you a couple of things on that checklist that you could start with already right away.
Then the next phase is the first 90 days. So the first 90 days are so important when onboarding a new associate because they are getting used to the environment. They are learning a lot. They are also assessing out what it’s like to work there and they will also pick up on different kinds of things that the practice or you typically do.
Culture wise, whether they, you say it or you don’t, right? So what kinds of things do you have in place in the first 90 days that support their success? I know when I first hired my first person, I I, I just thought they would know stuff and then I didn’t really have good things prepared for training, right?
And so what ended up happening was that it was a bit of a flop. I learned along the way, Oh, I guess I need to be more organized with what I train them on and having, what are the milestones? What is one thing that you can consider is what are the milestones each month for the first 90 days?
What are the milestones each week? By the end of each week, they will have had been able to do X, Y, Z. Do you have that clearly laid out? And then, how are you… communicating with each other. So many times, especially if you have a busy practice and you’re busy seeing patients, maybe you already have a pretty full load.
It can be the easiest thing to have training with your associate and communication with your associate fall to the wayside because you’re so busy and you feel like you don’t have time. But the challenge of that is that if you end up Not paying attention to these things early on, then there’s more possibility for things falling through the cracks and then you are actually needing to.
To take care of them anyway, and when stuff goes wrong, whereas if you were more proactive in how you’re communicating with your new hire, for example, what’s the rhythm? So there’s, there are rhythms of both with the training and learning side of things. And then your communication with the, with your new hire on that.
There’s also rhythm of them being able to have that time with you to discuss their progress. And also, do you have certain things that they understand to be a good measure of their success, and sometimes it could be easy to think that of course, they would know what the measure of success is to see more patients or to bring more patients in, but what is, have you actually defined that?
How many how many referrals? Could they be involved with inspiring a week or meaning that are they asking for referrals? For example, if you do feel like that’s something you would like your associate to be doing, or if you do feel like it’s important for your associate to retain patients.
Then what do you feel is reasonable? How many visits before, before people drop off care do you feel is reasonable for them to be at at least an average of, so that it’s acceptable to you and with your standards within the practice and where people don’t just disappear and then they don’t really get fully taken care of with their treatments.
And so do you, are you clear with what? What you would like either the minimum to be or and then do they have a good way of reporting that back to you and tracking it, for example, or have you having someone on your team, your staff tracking it, but then you get these updates and then you also go over it with your associate too.
Having those things in place can be really helpful. And then in the first 90 days, definitely helping your new associate. Get situated more with their, the culture and the environment and then the relationships with the people who work there, whether it’s you or with other people on your staff is really key as well.
And and then the. Because the, and then the af the third phase of onboarding is after 90 days. So typically the most time spent with an associate for really a way to, to onboard an associate. And to where you are able to Get them off to a good start and which they’re also, it’ll help, also help increase the likelihood of retention to, of your associates so that they don’t end up, leaving and having turnabout.
Is there satisfaction, right? With, and with how much of a contribution they’re making and how they’re getting things. And we’re actually going to talk a little bit about the three keys to success that are really. Important. So I talked about three phases of onboarding. We’ll be talking about three keys to success coming up.
One thing I do want to mention about the after the 90 days is that many times it’s common to then feel like, Oh, good. I’ve got my associate trained to a point where they can be more off on their own and then you get busy and then only if stuff comes up that you aren’t happy about. Then you end up having something to say to your associates, right?
But you might not actually have a, an ongoing rhythm of communication. Do you have an ongoing rhythm of communication? Do you, with them, and do you also have certain things that you are continuing to train them on or help them with? After the first 90 days, for example, I would say one of the biggest complaints I hear from chiropractors and other holistic health practitioners when they hire an associate is that they are like.
Feeling like the associate may not be retaining patients as well, or maybe there’s something going on with the communication and that the practice owner is feeling like they are still better than the associate with things like that, with retention or with communication, and then feeling frustrated about it.
So how, and also with attracting new patients for the practices that are expecting their associate to be attracting new patients also. And so then what do you have in place after the 90 days that is doable for you? Everything doesn’t have to be done by you, but but it’s still helpful for you to have some involvement with your associate to really support them through success and their happiness in working there.
So let’s talk about the. Three keys to three key areas of success. So there are three key areas of success in onboarding your associate. And the first area has to do with the people feeling connected. And by the way, the reason this is important and why we’re talking about it is that there could be up to, so there’s some studies done on this.
There could be up to 20 percent turnover in the first 45 days and up to 50 percent turnover in the first 18 months. If you think about that, like, when there’s turnover, what does that mean for you? That means that you might feel like you need to start all over again. And then hire someone new. That could also mean that you’ve become jaded.
And so those are, both of those scenarios aren’t really good things. And then all of a sudden, during that time when you’re in between of perhaps finding a new person, then when there’s turnover, then your patients aren’t being served as well. And money’s not coming in aside from. from you seeing patients yourself then.
So turnover, it can be pretty costly and not so fun to have to go through. So that’s why this is important to think about is the three keys to, to actually successful onboarding and associate being happy. And one of them has to do with people. How are they welcomed into the team and what is your team dynamics and how can you really foster the relationships because, it’s interesting.
I was thinking about this because I had worked for. Clinics before and in the past and I think about what was it that made me want to stay at those places? And one of the, was it always the money? No. The number one reason that I chose to stay at a place was because I liked the people.
And so what
Of things are you doing to really have, have fun together and then have a good working relationship as a team. The second thing is the is the culture. So one thing that can help is in terms of someone being sticking with you and in your practice and really being supportive and excited about your practice and is that sense of meaning.
So they have the sense of meaning where it’s beyond just okay, I’m coming in, get a paycheck and seeing patients, get a paycheck. That’s like Maslow’s lowest hierarchy of meaning of having meaning Not necessarily having meaning, but just like basic survival needs met. But then if we really want to strive for clinics to be a place that people would look forward to working at what is that kind of culture that you instill within the practice that they observe is the culture, the experience is the culture, and how are you providing leadership for that kind of what the culture is like in the practice?
And then the third key area to success in onboarding has to do with milestones. So this is more in the way of the sense of succeeding. The sooner your new associate feels like they’re, they have a sense of doing well and they’re contributing to your, the practice they’re helping patients they’re feeling fulfilled, that sense of satisfaction, it is really helpful too.
So how have you helped with breaking down milestones and what are best milestones to put in place that’s reasonable? And, one thing I brought up earlier about the measure of success. There, there’s the actual measure of successes in numbers, and there’s also the measure of success in what, how they are being right with your patients and that kind of thing that isn’t describable with that’s not measured just by numbers.
And one hot tip also, when it comes to things like milestones or numbers, it’s. It’s not just about you saying to your associate like, oh I’d like you to be seeing x patients a week, I’d like for you to be asking for X number of or inspiring X number of referrals a week or that you are having X number of average visit, patient visit average number, right?
It’s not necessarily just about you setting the guidelines. This is what a, what definition of success is. It’s about how can you involve your associate to also, be setting intentions and and milestones. So they really feel like they’re part of it. And you are collaboratively coming up with that.
You’re collaboratively coming up with solutions. So these are some key areas that will help you with successfully onboarding an associate. The one, people feeling connected, two the sense of meaning and belonging with the culture, and then three milestones that are where people feel a sense of contribution and satisfaction and a sense of succeeding as you onboard a a new associate.
If you would like Especially if you would like to be having an associate onboarded a part and part of it also, and having an associate start stay so that they’re not having that you don’t, you’re not experiencing a lot of turnover. Part of it is also in the hiring side of things. How are you hiring your associate?
What’s your screening process for that? Do you have a good screening process in place? It actually starts there. Because if you hire an associate that wasn’t really quite the right fit for the practice, all this work that you do to onboard someone Perhaps maybe hiring out of desperation because you really needed somebody yesterday.
It may still result in as not of a good situation as you would like. So if you would like a half your hiring time free toolkit, you’re welcome to go to halfyourhiringtime. com forward slash toolkit. So halfyourhiringtime. com forward slash toolkit, and it will give you things like the if you were to do a quick phone screen interview what would the questions be to ask?
What are some interview questions that you would likely have never have asked before? People before or read in a book before that are really essential to ask that comes from my years of experience. I actually have another business that in terms of that was in a recruiting world where companies would hire us to find the right hires for them.
Like I have two businesses and that’s one of them and so this comes from that and that experience over 20 years of experience with it that you I am certain that many of you have never seen any of those interview questions and that could be super beneficial. And then also, like. Reference check questions.
So we’ve actually asked these kinds of questions of references and they say to us Oh, wow, that’s like i’ve never thought about that before. That’s a great question. I should be asking my people So so yeah So you’re welcome to get that toolkit and i’m also including a free masterclass that can help you with this further too.
So so Enjoy have that Experience of wanting to have your practice grow more and have an associate to help you and get, really get to this next level in your practice where you’re helping more people and having more money coming in the door, even when you’re not the one seeing patients, more, more patient more patients.
Till next time,
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