Best Practices

When hiring, let culture trump experience … usually

Certain positions pose an exception to the rule.

By Maureen Waddle

We’ve all been there. One of your most experienced technicians moves away, leaving you with a major void in your clinical team. Because you only interview applicants who are certified by JCAHPO [Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology] and have at least five years of experience in eye care, you are happy that the interview process appears to go smoothly, and are thrilled when your finalist hits the ground running. Nine months later, however, everyone in the practice is frustrated because the new person is not a team player. While technically sound, he has an “attitude” and is not a good fit for the team.

What to do? Should you have frank talks with this person in hopes of turning him around? The odds are against him making an attitude adjustment, and by keeping him on board you risk losing valuable team members who cannot work with this person. Or do you terminate the unfit personality and restart the hiring process? I have often heard hiring managers say, “If only I had paid attention to the red flags during the recruitment and hiring process. I was just so anxious to fill the void.”

WHEN EXPERIENCE IS NUMBER ONE

In recent years, we have seen practices put more emphasis on creating their culture by making good hires based on matching core values and then training the person, rather than making experience the primary hiring driver. Personal experience and observation of successful practices have led me to agree with this approach. I usually advocate making core values and personality the most important criteria for candidate selection, and then encouraging strong training programs.

This is why a practice I work with was surprised when I suggested that it hire the more experienced person (with a CPA) for its newly created CFO position, rather than the person whose experience level was more limited but culturally was a perfect fit. This was not my standard recommendation, but it was the right decision for this specific case. While a practice should never hire anyone whose personality would be a detriment to the organization, regardless of the person’s experience level, situations exist in which experience might trump personality (provided the core value match is still good). A few examples:

• A high-level, newly created position. This was the circumstance with the CFO position. Rapid growth had resulted in large accounting expenses because financial analyses and many budgeting responsibilities had to be outsourced to a CPA firm. Along with controlling these outsourced expenses, the CEO and owners needed more timely reports; additional customized analyses; improvements in their banking relationships; and oversight of accounts payable. However, they’d never had a CFO position and it was difficult to understand its intricacies and what was required for success in that role. They needed an experienced individual with a proven track record who knew what that title entailed and who could create protocols and processes that would endure beyond that individual’s tenure. The CEO did not have the time to develop an inexperienced person, nor the knowledge. Experience was critical.

• High level of technical expertise and efficiency required (ideally the person does not deal directly with customers). An IT network administrator jumps to mind in this circumstance. Even though the personality has to be affable enough to deal with internal customers, it is far more important that this person keep the systems protected, computers operational and problems to a minimum. This ability comes with experience (and experienced people, frankly, have learned to improve their communication style in order to achieve success).

• Current gap in knowledge base. If you are planning to hire for core value and personality — and provide on-the-job training — the knowledge base must be in the practice to provide that training. Ironically, a common error I see in some larger practices is naming someone who is homegrown, has a wonderful personality and is an excellent team member — as director of human resources — without any training. With the growing complexity of federal and state regulations — to say nothing of legal issues, taxes and penalties — associated with human resources, experience can protect the organization from lawsuits, costly labor law mistakes and tax penalties. A director of human resources does much more than conflict management.

While I am a firm believer that culture trumps experience when building your team, some situations require that experience is made top priority. Understand what type of hire you are about to make — a culture hire or an experience hire — and adjust your selection process accordingly. OM

Maureen Waddle is a senior consultant with BSM Consulting, an internationally recognized health care consulting firm headquartered in Incline Village, Nev. and Scottsdale, Ariz. For more information about the author, BSM Consulting, or content/resources discussed in this article, please visit www.BSMconsulting.com.