Demanding perfection can be a fool’s pursuit

Seeking an additional dental professional for hire is not an easy process, but what makes it even more challenging is integrating a new team member to join a team of very long-term employees.  It’s the equivalent of becoming a part of a tight, close knit family or joining a sorority and having to watch your p’s and q’s to simply gain acceptance.  Breaking through and being welcomed unconditionally can be a struggle for the candidates vying for a spot within a group that has moved together (with locked elbows) for years.

It’s interesting how critical and analytical a group can get when it comes to admitting a new team member to a long tenured team. “She doesn’t laugh at our jokes” says one. “She doesn’t want to eat lunch with us.” Says another. “I don’t think she gets us.”

The truth is, she will have some hills to climb since she doesn’t have the track record that the rest of you have accumulated over time.  It will be another learning curve for her until she understands the little innuendos that have floated around the office for years.  She won’t know that doctor absolutely despises mayonnaise and that Mary at the front desk lost her husband recently, so we are all careful as to not bring up anything that might remind her of his passing.

Understandably this new hire has her work cut out for her.  Not only will she need to learn new systems and new protocols, but she will also need to relate to the “lay of the land” and be adept at navigating through the little “teases” and inside jokes. These added “skills” are typically what come when one joins a practice of long-standing employees.  I find this interesting and these dynamics are only present in practices with extended team longevity.  It’s an additional component that does not exist in practices with less team commitment and short-term employees, but it’s an important segment for the team to learn to overcome for if they can’t get past these out of the ordinary requirements they will find it extremely difficult to ever bring in new team members.

It’s fascinating to me in that they will sacrifice the extra help in lieu of chugging that much harder to make it through each day.  Come on team members, give that well-trained, kind, considerate, hard-working and very worthy job candidate a chance.  Remember, at one time you were the new kid on the block and also had to learn the “inner circle” back stories too.