Hiring Your First A-Player Employee For Your Chiro Practice

Running a practice is hard. If you're drowning, it's probably because you wear too many hats. You just have too many roles in your practice.

It's one thing when you started the practice wearing all of these hats, but if you've been in practice for a while and you're still wearing all the hats, we have got to buy back your time. And the way that we buy back your time is with a team.

But if you've had bad experiences with team members, you might be stuck in a rut of hiring B-players. You see, hiring an A-player is transformational to your practice, and we've got to shift your focus to knowing how to attract and hire A-players.

So today, I'm going to show you exactly how to do that.

Defining A B-Player

First, I want to define what a B-player is because if you understand what they are, you can spot them from a mile away and know that they aren’t going to help you progress your practice.

But I've got to give you a disclaimer before I go on because whether it's an A-player or a B-player, if you don't hire, onboard, train, and support that team member properly, you can actually turn an A-player off and they're going to leave your practice pretty quickly.

So, I've got to make sure that your leadership is skyrocketing in its skill and development. That's why we have a leadership key to help support you, the Six Key Systems, in putting in the data-driven operating system, which is life-changing for our practices.

Now, let's talk about a B-player. A B-player is someone who shows up on time and does their work but doesn't look to go that extra mile. They're not looking at the other team members like hey, how can I support you in the success of your role?

They're selfish-minded and narrow-minded. They’re just completing the specific tasks that you told them to do. And if you didn't show them, there's no curiosity about what else they could do in their role.

They don’t think about how else they can produce the product they were hired to produce. They don’t think, how can I support this organization to grow and reach higher levels? They're just there to get their work done.

The second thing is they don't approach their work curiously. They don't look at the data. They don't ask how they can support the systems they’re involved in, whether upstream or downstream.

The next thing that a B-player does is they don't applaud the success of other team members. In fact, when they see the success of another team member, they actually feel smaller. They feel like they're not as good. They compare themselves.

And that is not the mindset that you want for an employee. You want them to think abundantly. You want them to think supportively.

Another thing that a B-player does is they get really caught up in just the tactics. They have a really difficult time shifting to thinking strategically. Like, I understand how to schedule an appointment, and I understand how to answer a phone. But what could I do strategically to help increase my effectiveness in scheduling appointments?

An A-player would approach this by saying, "Okay, I understand my tactics. But I want to get into the strategy. What's the game plan? What types of patients should I be putting where on the schedule?

Strategic thinking is the definition of an A-player. B-players get stuck on the tactics day after day after day. And that's going to keep your practice very small.

Shifting from a B-player to an A-player is where I want you to attract those mindset team members, which means you must have that mindset.

I don't want you getting caught up in the tactics. I don't want you getting caught up on the success of others, making you feel small. I want you to be a part of a community where you feel empowered, and others’ success shows you the way.

That’s because success can be patterned. Success is mirrored. And that's what the Data-Driven Practice is all about.

• I want you to see team members that problem-solve.

• They easily switch to the strategic mind. 

• They champion their other team members.

Now, before I go into the step of attracting A-players into your life, and if you want a guide to help you understand the data you should be tracking in your practice, come join our free Facebook group, “The Data Driven Practice.”

When you join the group, you automatically get our guide to help you know what data to track in your practice to help A-players shine, and B-players go work for somebody else!

How A-Players Will Change Your Life

When I started putting these systems into my practice, I had to pay a little more. But the output and the outcome were night and day different.

When an A-player came into our practice, we sat down with them and showed them the system they would own and become the driver of. When they understood that system, we went through the process of defining the product of that system.

For example, there are actually two front desk systems: a front desk new patient system and a front desk established patient system.

The product of the front desk established patient system is a patient who shows up for their appointments, maintains agreements, whether that's their appointment frequency or payment agreements, and refers their family and friends. That's the product we want to create at the front desk.

Now, with that lens, that A-player is looking at all the tactics of how to produce that. But they're also very excited about the strategy.

How should they talk to these patients? What are we doing upstream to help shape them into this type of patient?

When you have a team member who's a system driver, who understands the product of the system, and who shows up to work to produce more of that product, that's a very different mindset than a B-player.

This team member also shows up to daily huddles with energy and excitement to support the team. They come to the team meeting ready to report their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) around the product they're responsible for. They are the very value that they're delivering for the practice. A-players get this.

They're there to win. They love to win, which then leads to how they show up for what we call performance reviews. Performance reviews are done every 90 days in the first year of their employment and every six months after that.

There's a document that they get to fill out, and it understands their thought process and mindset in approaching their role in your practice. Are they happy to produce the product that they're doing? Do they feel challenged? Do they feel satisfied with their work?

A-players will always seek to find joy in their work. So if they're not finding joy in their work, they might be looking elsewhere at other areas to work. According to a study done by Gallup, 81% of employees would rather have joy in their work over a raise in their paycheck.

They just wanted to work with a team that they were connected with - a better culture and a better boss that they could connect with, to challenge and develop them into better team members.

So, if you want to truly give back to your team and grow your practice, just focus on developing A-players, and you will find more joy in your work.

How To Attract A-Players

So, if A-players are so great, how in the world do I attract them? This is the mistake most of you are making, and it has to do with your ads in attracting A-players.

You're just posting your hourly rate. You're not creating an ad that defines the value the position will receive for being a part of your team.

Think about this for a second: when you get a job offer, it's not just the hourly rate they're excited about. It's understanding what PTO you pay in the practice. What benefits do they get working for you?

Think about all the amazing health care you're providing for these employees that you're not even recognizing that value often. You're just giving it away without them understanding the value of receiving it.

Think about the personal development you’ll give them in training, helping them develop their skills. And then, of course, the hourly rate.

When you put all these things together and apply a value number to each one over a year, you now are providing way more value than just the hourly rate.

You can also put in there a value of a bonus system that they can qualify for in working with your practice. That’s because A-players don't want to be tied to just one number. They want to know that the more value they bring to your practice, the more value they're going to receive in exchange.

And developing you as a boss and CEO of your practice, you've got to get great at building these job offers. These offers should be so enticing that they attract the A-players, who will not only work with you but also contribute significantly to your success. Trust me, when they win, you win.

And, most importantly, your patients win. When you have a team of A-players, the quality of care we provide improves, we get more growth within the practice, and you, as the leader, deal with fewer headaches.

It's achieving the practice of your dreams, which you've always desired but weren't sure how to bring to fruition. That's precisely what the data-driven practice is all about. Want to learn more about how to build the practice of your dreams? Join us on Facebook. See you there!