728: How to Fail Hiring an Associate – Bob Spiel

Most associateships — 75% of them — are doomed to fail. If you want to be part of the 25%, don't miss this episode! Kirk Behrendt brings back Bob Spiel, founder of Dentist Partner Pros, to share his expertise in building successful associate relationships, no matter what stage of your dental career. Are you ready to commit? To learn how not to fail when hiring an associate, listen to Episode 728 of The Best Practices Show!

Learn More About Bob:

• Send Bob’s business partner an email: [email protected] 
• Learn more about Dentist Partner Pros: https://dentistpartnerpros.com
• Request your free report, Gaining a Wingman: 7 Signs an Associate Should Be in Your Future: https://report.dentistpartnerpros.com

More Helpful Links for a Better Practice & a Better Life:

• Subscribe to The Best Practices Show: https://the-best-practices-show.captivate.fm/listen
• Join The Best Practices Association: https://www.actdental.com/bpa
• Join ACT’s To The Top Study Club: https://www.actdental.com/ttt
• See the ACT Dental/BPA Live Event Schedule: https://www.actdental.com/event
• Get The Best Practices Magazine for free: https://www.actdental.com/magazine
• Please leave us a review on the podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-best-practices-show-with-kirk-behrendt/id1223838218

Episode Resources:

• Watch the video version of Episode 728: https://www.youtube.com/@actdental/videos
• Read Flip Your Focus by Bob Spiel: https://bookshop.org/p/books/flip-your-focus-igniting-people-profits-and-performance-through-upside-down-bob-spiel/11933736?ean=9781544765419

Main Takeaways:

• Understand why the majority of associateships fail.
• Before anything, be ready to commit to an associateship.
• Be clear about what you and your team want in an associate.
• Clearly communicate onboarding, mentoring, and salary expectations.
• Set aside formal time to give and receive feedback from your associates.
• Synergy is your goal. Don't view your associates as a threat or competition.

Snippets:

0:00 Introduction.

2:34 Why this is a problem in dentistry.

5:24 Why 75% of associateships fail.

9:53 Are you ready for an associate?

14:55 Clarify your givens/wants and get your team’s input.

18:39 Be clear to get buy-in.

21:22 Create synergy, not competition.

22:15 Be clear about mentoring expectations.

23:05 Great associates are out there.

25:31 Onboarding, explained.

28:23 Be clear about compensation expectations.

31:27 Set aside time for feedback.

33:12 Final thoughts and how to get in touch with Bob.

Bob Spiel Bio:

Bob Spiel’s passion is building high-performance teams who deliver exceptional service while doing more, in less time, with less stress. His firms, Spiel Consulting and Dentist Partner Pros, transform general and specialty dental practices by building leaders at all levels, with a special focus on building leaders among owners and associate dentists.

Bob had over 25 years of business experience before getting into dentistry, including being a hospital and surgical center CEO, as well as an operations director for two mid-cap firms. This taught Bob to see each need in a dental practice with a “systems orientation”. Using this approach over the past 10 years, his firms have achieved a remarkable 90% success rate in searching for, hiring, and retaining associate dentists compared to the dismal 75% failure rate the dental industry has as a track record. He sees this as the number-one threat to the continuation of private practice dentistry and aims to change that.

Bob is a faculty member for Dr. Gordon Christensen, where he teaches a breakthrough course on leadership each fall called Igniting the Leader in You. He is also the author of Flip Your Focus: Igniting People, Profits and Performance through Upside-down Leadership.