How to Find Great Employees – and Deal with the Not-So-Great Ones

Your team is the heart of your business, so making sure everyone’s aligned with your vision and your standards is key. But what if you’re struggling to get the right people in the right seats?

Whether you’re missing some top-tier talent or dealing with team members who aren’t invested in your mission, it can be a real headache when your team isn’t right.

Usually, problems with a dental team break down into one of two categories…

1. I need to add more high-quality talent to my team, but I can’t find any.

2. Some members of my team aren’t performing as they should be, but I don’t know what to do about it.

If these sound like problems in your business, keep reading to discover some solutions that could help you or press play to hear our CEO, Eric Roman, share his thoughts.

How to find great employees

It’s typical that when you go to hire new talent, there’s none to be found. But your business can’t operate at its best without a full team, so what options are there?

Let’s look at this problem in a different way. Say you’re a 3-Michelin-star chef looking for the perfect, high-quality ingredients. You could face one of three problems.

1. You’re shopping in the wrong place

2. You’re shopping in the right place, but nobody’s selling to you

3. It’s not possible for you to buy Michelin-star ingredients

For number one, the solution is obvious – look elsewhere! There is talent, you’re just not looking in the right place.

With number two, it’s a little bit tricker. You need to work out what the other people in your industry are offering and why others are going to them instead of you.

And, if you still just can’t find great employees? Then something needs to change. That may mean your expectations, what you’re offering, or your vision.

There is one more option…grow your own ingredients. Training your employees to fill those high-quality slots is a long-term strategy, but it gives you more control over the end product.

Attracting high-quality employees

Finding great talent is one thing – them wanting to work with you is another. There are three ways you can attract employees to your business. The first is to change your compensation.

Compensation across the country is increasing as minimum wage increases set off a chain reaction across the whole system. You either keep up or lose out.

The second thing you can do to be more attractive to employees is to invest in your business. Investing time, money, and effort into your culture, vision, or overall health of your work environment can help make your business be a place everyone wants to work!

The third thing you can do is to take a look at your hiring system. Maybe you need a more effective and efficient hiring system to help you find and manage your talent better.

Unfortunately, a lot of talent is leaving the dental industry right now. But there is still great talent waiting to be found! If you’re not finding it, someone else is. At joyFULL People, we help you invest in your system so you can hire more high-quality employees, turn entry-level talent into exceptional team members, and achieve your vision.

What happens when team members aren’t aligned with your vision…

Now let’s look at the second problem – the not-so-great employees. Not every member of your team will always be aligned with your vision. When this happens, you have to make a choice: tolerate them or replace them.

If you choose to keep these employees in your team, you’re choosing to tolerate any problems they bring into your team. This can create friction, which could eventually be passed on to your customers in some way, shape, or form and decrease the value of your service or the quality of the product you provide.

Friction within your team may also lead to you losing great talent. When people aren’t a great fit for a company, it can make other people’s roles more challenging, affect how happy they are, and put increased pressure on the team in general.

The challenge with replacing employees

So what can you do? One solution is to replace these team members, but then you’re faced with the challenge of finding great talent to fill that spot.

If your team is spread too thin, you may not have enough people to serve your customers to the highest possible level and still end up putting pressure on your team.

There’s no easy path, so carefully consider which one you want to take. Ask yourself, what type of company do you want to create? What sort of experience do you want to create? Keep your vision in mind and let that guide you.

You could also talk to your team and see what they’re comfortable with. Everyone may be prepared to pull together while you find a replacement.

Stop waiting to fish until you’re hungry

Both of these problems could be solved much easier if businesses already had a better hiring process in place. If you’re left scrambling to fill a hole in your team, you might make a less-than-optimal decision that could lead to more problems in the long run.

In other words, if you only ever fish when you’re hungry, you’re going to be desperate to eat whatever comes along first – even if it’s no good for you.

But if you keep a line out, baited, and ready for that next great fish to come along, you’re going to be spoilt for choice when it’s time to eat!

So, whether you’re looking to find great employees or need a new process (just in case), consider what a brilliant hiring system could do for your business in the long run.

Are you wondering how you can get the right people in the right seats to reduce your headaches? Join us in the joyFULL People Signature Program today: www.joyfullpeople.com.