Summary: <p>One of the things that makes a good dental practice a great dental practice is having the right team. I always say there is nothing that trumps organizational health. In any business, having a great group of people around the table is the ultimate game changer. My guest today is Dr. Ken Allen from <a href="http://www.caringsmilesdental.com/">Caring Smiles</a> in Fort Collins, CO. Ken is a good friend of mine, a client, and now a teacher. He has done an incredible job of finding the right people and building an amazing team, and that is what we are going to talk about today. </p><br> <p>Ken shares how he started out by purchasing a small practice with a wonderful philosophy that resonated with him. He also got extremely lucky with his first hire by just taking the recommendation of a previous coworker. When it was time to hire a second person, Ken put an ad in the paper and interviewed all the applicants. It didn’t take long for Ken to realize that a pre-screening process was necessary. By his third hire, he began to hone the process. He now has some great techniques and advice that he shares in this episode.</p><br> <p> </p><br> <p><strong>You can find Dr. Ken Allen here:</strong></p><br> <p><a href="http://www.caringsmilesdental.com/">Caring Smiles</a></p><br> <p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/DrKenAllen">Dr. Ken Allen facebook</a></p><br> <p><a href="https://twitter.com/caring_smiles">@Caring_Smiles Twitter</a></p><br> <p> </p><br> <p> <strong>Show Notes</strong></p><br> <p>[01:53] Ken has a practice in Fort Collins and has been there 17 years. When he started his practice it was a one care operation that was open two short days a week.<br> [02:29] Ken purchased the practice because the dentist had a wonderful philosophy or caring for his patients and treating them like friends. That is the kind of practice that Ken wanted to have.</p><br> <p>[02:43] It was a small start, but over the last 17 years things have grown and grown. <br> [03:19] When hiring, everyone can get lucky once. A friends recommendation ended up being his one and only first employee.<br> [04:20] When things started to grow, Ken needed an assistant. He put an ad in the paper and interviews all 45 applicants. It was so tedious. <br> [05:13] Interviewing seemed like a long process because he didn't prescreen the interviewees.<br> [05:39] In 2003, Ken needed a receptionist. He came up with ideas to screen applicants before the interviews.</p><br> <p>[06:34] How time needs to be put into the hiring process. Team members are an extension of the practice and hiring needs to be done right. <br> [07:04] Ken spent a long time crafting his ad so that it was completely in line with his practice vision. Dentists sometimes miss the vision in their ads. <br> [07:51] He created a concise ad that focused on people skills, caring, and empathy.</p><br> <p>[08:28] The key was "dental assisting experience is helpful, but not mandatory". Sometimes it takes longer to untrain bad habits than to train a new person.</p><br> <p>[09:59] Writing the ad is critical to the quality and number of responses. Make sure the traits and characteristics are included along with job description and must haves.<br> [10:48] Then they rented a room and contacted the applicants and held a mandatory group interview for 150 applicants. <br> [12:01] They also paid attention to how applicants answered the phone when the team calls them. It was critical to have the entire team there to interact with candidates.<br> [13:05] Some people refused to write their names on the name tags. <br> [13:46] They started at 7:00 and started sharing information. Ken also shared his philosophy. It needs to be match for the employer and the employee.</p><br> <p>[15:55] The importance of having core values that line up. <br> [16:15] Everyone is asked to feel free to take notes. Sometimes it takes two or three of these group interviews to find the right person. If yo</p>
