When you need to fill a position on your team, do you hire people who share your personality? The common tendency is for a dentist and/or the team member in charge of hiring to find candidates with similar personalities. While on the surface this may seem like an appropriate line of reasoning, it can create negative consequences.
Consider situations where a dentist starts off with a small team where each person works well independently. As the practice grows, the need arises for collaboration. But how well does collaboration work if you continue to hire people with strong independent spirits? Typically practice and team growth are stymied by the lack of communication and coordination.
What about situations where dentists and key team members are heavily goal driven. If you continue to hire those who focus too much on production numbers, will patient relationships suffer? Patients do not refer friends and family because you keep reaching your production goals.
The same can happen with the other extreme. If the dentist and key team members are too laid back—good idea people but poor implementers—you can soon have an entire team full of like-minded people. Then you waste too much time talking in circles and never accomplishing your goals.
Therefore, a more appropriate approach to hiring is to consider how a candidate’s personality and talent strengthen your weaknesses and help you balance patient care and effective business practices. You can never reach that balance with an office of clones. You need to hire strategically, with an objective sense of your strengths and weaknesses, to take your practice to the next level.