By Allison McCarthy, Principal
13 ideas for getting your internal team connected and supportive of your physician recruitment agenda:
“Without continual growth, words like improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” – Ben Franklin
1. Ask More Questions – We’ve all been there. Conducting the ill-prepared search, the ever-shifting priorities of senior leadership, the lackluster practice response – resulting in ongoing challenges that create feelings of powerlessness when it comes to your physician recruitment. Take down 5-6 situations that frequently plague you and develop a set of questions for each scenario. Armed with pointed queries we can disagree with critical voices in a more subtle and face-saving way.
2. Anticipate the Need – When I ask for recruitment priorities, I often get a list of the year’s urgent searches. These searches typically make a practice accessible, replace a departing physician or improve on-call support. The need is immediate. What gets left out is the strategic recruitment needs, such as backfilling retirements, fill newly constructed beds or replace a less than productive physician. Recruitment planning efforts need to cover both the urgent and the strategic. Only by looking forward will we build an adequate pipeline of candidates for today and beyond.
3. Build your team – Consider the snowman approach. You start by packing individual snowflakes together and then get the ball rolling until you have the right size foundation needed to build upon. The same gradual process holds true for building your own internal team. We take a few champions and nudge and nurture them to generate enthusiasm. The energy spreads and builds on itself until it’s the size needed to earn results. Do you still have lingering individual snowflakes? Is the snowball formed? Are you ready to grow it into something larger?
4. Tap your internal resources – Don’t rely on the broad brushstroke approach of physician sourcing. Instead try cultivating your existing internal connections as assets in and of themselves. Continuously soliciting the masses to generate recruitment prospects is one approach. But also consider internal stakeholder groups – within easy reach – as potential referral sources. Pharmaceutical reps and medical device vendors armed with the right information can become active recruitment messengers. Your employees have wide networks of family and friends with far reaching potential. Your medical staff may be program alums or members of specialty networks – these connections can be hugely resourceful if effectively leveraged.
5. Practice yoga – I try to include yoga into my exercise routine. It’s not only good for the body but it’s also good for the brain. The practice teaches me to take a deep breath when faced with challenges, disappointments or unmet expectations. This gives me the opportunity to step away and observe rather than just react. Good recruiters learn to be yogis. When more is added to our plates, the site visit falls apart, or the candidate takes another offer, it can be easy to get frustrated, overwhelmed or even angry. Keep in mind that emotional reactions only serve to create relationship barriers our internal team and ourselves. Next time you experience overwhelming feelings of disappointment or frustration, step away from the situation, breathe and take a personal moment.
6. Better versus best – “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good,” cautions us not to miss an opportunity by focusing on the ideal. The Medical Director may not telephone a physician candidate within 24 hours. Your compensation package may not be the top of the market. It’s not about being perfect; – it’s about being getting better.
7. Go beyond social to community – Social media has taken the world by storm. However valuable, these networking tools only live up to their potential if they actually create a community of followers. People are attracted to FaceBook or LinkedIn for the people, businesses, and interaction found in those communities. We win recruits by offering a community of colleagues to join. What type of community does your medical staff represent? Are they just social or truly engaged with one another? Aim to leverage your social media accounts by creating a compelling online community that others will want to join and interact with.
8. Integrate the newcomer – The recruitment process doesn’t end after the deal has been inked, although countless organizations act like it does. An effective onboarding effort consists of making the necessary introductions and orchestrating connections. Launching a new physician into practice should be more like franchising a new business with a robust set of strategies, tactics and review systems to ensure that the new practitioner not only survives, but thrives.
9. Shore up your foundation – Distracted by the uncertain health care future, it can be easy for organizations to lose sight of the value of an in-house recruitment function. Our obligation is to continuously remind them of the benefits. Reminding your stakeholders about the contributions of in-house recruitment initiatives can help solidify your foundation as an integral partner. Don’t be bashful.
10. Stop being surprised – Incessant change is and will continue to be the “new normal”. I have found the harder I try to control it, the less I enjoy my work. Working with people is just messy, sometimes uncomfortable and often disruptive. But it beats working with machines, widgets or anything else without a pulse.
11. Learn the Positive No – We’re “can do” people – our natural enthusiasm makes us a perfect fit for the physician recruitment role. But that same spirit also gets us into trouble. It’s easier to say “yes, I can” than struggle with disappointing someone with a no. Yet being so agreeable can hinder our focus, detract from our priorities and diminish our success. Rather than giving an enthusiastic “yes”, we may need to take a stand for our current commitments by saying “no” to something new.
12. Celebrate big – Nothing builds engagement like celebrating success. Each new recruit offers an opportunity to acknowledge the internal team’s talent, passion and commitment. Whether it’s a public thank you extended during a meeting, a box of bagels sent to the office, or a team lunch; a public gesture is your chance to celebrate the effort and accomplishment.
13. Intend to grow – The best way to thrive is to grow your way through it. Growth requires hitting the waves head on. If you don’t intentionally decide to grow, you almost certainly won’t. Set a goal. Start a to-do list. In the words of Ben Franklin, “Without continual growth, words like improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.”