Hiring new physiotherapists is one of the most enjoyable processes you can go through as a business owner or manager. Although, that doesn’t mean the process doesn’t come without its challenges. There is an air of expectation and excitement surrounding their potential. You have scoured candidates, trolled linked in, posted on facebook and interviewed the best of the best. You put them all through the ringer and one came out. One.

It is how you deal with this single human being now that they are on board that will make or break your decision. Will they stay on your staff for the long-term or will you have to go through the whole process again in a few months?

You are going to need to take accountability and their result very personally. If you don’t you are lining yourself up for failure, and preventing them from reaching their true potential.

Here, we’re going over how to train new staff effectively to prevent turnover and produce real results. Hiring the right person and giving them the wrong training can be bad news for your clinic. So, let’s get started.

The excitement of a New Hire

Hiring new staff members really is that exciting. Or at least it should be. This is especially true when you are hiring for growth, rather than putting out fires!

Hiring for growth is a leap of faith. You have surplus initials, and your clinic is booked solid and cannot fit new clients in! This is the perfect scenario to bring on a new hire and go all in.

Get them to their potential fast and you have successfully grown your business by a full hire. If you are already covering your costs really well, and your business is already profitable, then these hires are your future.

These are your lifestyle protectors, these are your ticket to work-life balance!

But, this excitement shouldn’t over shadow the need to find someone that is right for the job. They need to fit culturally into your companies philosophy, as well as your own personality, along with that of your clinic.

Never let the excitement of the experience take over your gut feel. If their philosophy isn’t in line with yours, you probably won’t change it. But for now, let’s assume that you made a great choice. The right person, the right time, the right experience.

Below we’ll take you through a few mindset shifts to help you take on the responsibility of training a new hire to help them reach their full potential and set your clinic on the path towards exponential growth. Let’s roll!

First Impressions Count

Once you have accepted your new hire for the job, make sure that you give them a great first impression. Let them know that they will kill it in the training and you know that this job is perfect for them.

A little positive reinforcement goes a long way to set them up for success in your clinic.

Then make sure you get them onto any pre reading, and pre training you might have so they are super effective on their first day.

The types of things they can do before day one include;

• Exploring your Vision Mission and Values
• Key person information
• Clinic information
• Information for their induction and orientation day
• How they will get paid and when
• Prior learning about your PMS

When you encourage new hires to take the initiative to do some background work before their training starts, you’re letting them know that you trust them and that you’re relying on them.

Then, as they step into their new role, they can feel good about themselves, knowing they have your confidence.

In short, you don’t want your new hire to feel intimidated or unprepared. So, set them up for success and give them your absolute best.

Starting on the right foot with a good first impression will help the training process go smoothly and your new hire will be an impressive part of the team in no time.

Induction Day

Your staff member needs to feel completely part of the family from day one!

Be prepared, and make sure you cover all of these things in your training program from the very beginning;

Work place health and safety

• Opening and closing the clinic
• Receptionist introductions
• Other staff introductions
• Where is their workspace?
• What are your uniform requirements and regulations?
• Where is their cubicle and personal locker?
• Get Social and make their first day a big deal. Buy them lunch, have a team get together, and share the news on your social media platforms.

Your new hire shouldn’t feel like the odd one out, even if they are. They’ll already be nervous and unsure -- that’s natural.

But, if you do your part to make sure this new member of your team feels welcome, the more quickly they will start to mesh with your current staff and become an effective part of your team.

Never underestimate the power of belonging and how a strong work culture complete with friendly, encouraging staff can truly affect your new hire’s productivity and effectiveness right from the start.

First day, first client and first habits

On their very first day keep them in consultation with you, or your best staff member outside of their own initials. Ensure that you are talking them through the messaging of returns, repeat visits, language about rehab processes and your companies philosophy.

When they have their own clients, ensure you are available to have them talk you through the assessment, prior to performing the intervention. It is solely your responsibility to ensure they are not a complete moron! Many times, clinicians are great on paper, but it doesn’t convert to reality. Keep a close eye on them, regardless of their experience for the first few days, until you are completely comfortable with their expertise.

For the first 5-10 new patients, make it mandatory that they talk to you about what they found, and what they are going to do. This is your time to ensure that manual therapy is going to be used. At this point, you will also set the tone on rebooking. Ask them how often they think the client will need intervention.

Long story short, what might be obvious to you might not be obvious to someone new to your clinic. So, make sure you’re going above and beyond to explain every little step to your new hire.

Again, it’s your responsibility to make sure they understand your standards and protocols. Even if it feels like you’re over-explaining things, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Sitting down and setting goals

In their first week, it is important to get them to set some goals. Write them down, email them to them and cover the most basic of human performance at Physio Inq.

1. What are their clinical goals over the next 3, 6, 12 months?
2. What are their caseload goals over the same period?
3. How are they going to gain more knowledge of Physio?
4. Where do they want to be in 12, 24, 36 months

Set goals early and show them you care about their journey and their future. The day to day actions are what drives the long term goals and outcomes, so keep bringing it back to the simple things. The habits.

Then, once you set these goals, let them know how they will be assessed and why they’re important to overall success at your clinic.

Perhaps you’ll sit down with them for progress reports or you’ll offer checkpoints along the way.

Regardless, these are clear, actionable goals that help your new hire stay on track to encourage effectiveness in the workplace.

Clinical Effectiveness Training

During the new hire training period, it is so vital to have a very detailed set of training modules surrounding clinical effectiveness. once you create them all, you can use them for all of your hires, and slowly improve them over time.

The types of things you should be training on a weekly basis for the first 6 months include such items as;

• Massage Techniques
• Effective Exercise Prescription
• Effective Language to communicate diagnosis and treatment plans
• How to manage a busy clinical caseload
• Professional letter and note writing

These modules are just some examples of modules we use at Physio Inq to get everyone singing from the same song sheet. It really depends on your own style and time, for what you want to focus on first!

Make sure your delivery method is on point. Is it face to face, on line or both? Make it user friendly.

Overall, clinical effectiveness training is so important because you’re dealing with your client’s health and well-being. And as we all know, that is definitely not something to take lightly.

As physiotherapists, we have a duty of care and strict requirements. So, if you do anything well in the new hire training process, make sure it’s these clinical standards with clear, well understood, and effectively executed guidelines.

Even if some of the other stuff takes a bit longer, this is where you should be putting your focus.

What is a ‘People Plan’ and how can it set your business apart from the competition?

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Expectations and Time Frames

Expect to get a new grad or near new private practitioner to a pretty good level of competency within 6 months. It really does take that long. Early on, make sure you go overboard with help and never take your eye off the ball. Regularly review their cases and ensure that they are consistent, confident and communicate well.

For senior physiotherapists, on the other hand, they really should hit the ground running and get to a decent level of caseload within 6 weeks.

It is of course great for you to be aware of what your expectations on Client Visit Averages are. Whatever you set as a benchmark, communicate it to your staff and reward for good performance.

In short, you can’t expect what you don’t communicate. So, be clear about your expectations and tell your new hires how these standards can be met.

Plus, when you set these expectations, you can then trust yourself when you may have to explain that your new hire isn’t meeting the mark.

As the saying goes, communication is key, so by understanding the average time frame you can expect a new hire to learn the ropes and by expressing your personal expectations and needs, you’ll be clear on when it might be time to pull the plug.

Enjoy the process

Now, all of these steps seem like a lot of work (and it is) but you’ll, most importantly, want to do your best to enjoy connecting with new people.

Enjoy the diversity of different personalities, different perspectives and different approaches to the same problems. Perhaps a new hire will see something from a perspective you’ve never considered. So, be open to learning new things as well.

Encourage them to be involved in all things social at your practice and bring them whole heartedly into the family that you work with!

Turn Key Business

There’s a reason why managing people and onboarding new hires requires specific training and skills. Not everyone is cut out to teach, lead and effectively train people.

If it’s not for you, make sure one of your Senior Therapists can take on the challenge or you might consider outsourcing your training program to make it the best it can be.

At Physio Inq, we have all of the training already done. All you have to do as a business owner is plug and play, and guide your new hires along the journey!

Coming up with all of the training, inductions and compliance modules literally take years. So, as a Physio Inq franchisee, you can have confidence in the tried and true effectiveness of our formulated training program.

If you want to chat to me about how to use Physio Inq’s systems for your benefit, in your business, give us a call on 1300 731 733 today, or email franchising@physioinq.com.au for more info.

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