Hire Hard, Manage Easy

• Ensure recruits meet with several people. The more eyes on a candidate, the better. Often, someone will catch something you may not—and having many people involved helps get the team invested in the success of your hire.
• Standardize and solicit feedback. For example, we use a standardized template to garner feedback on administrative recruits, project managers, and faculty. This way, we all are evaluating potential colleagues through the same structured approach.
• Ensure skills match the role. For example, an ethnographic study would benefit from someone skilled in qualitative methods. Similarly, a project manager experienced in clinical trials would be best suited for patient recruitment and managing investigators at several sites. Identifying what is clearly needed in the role is a key step in hiring.

Management guru Jim Collins writes: “The moment you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you’ve made a hiring mistake. The best people don’t need to be managed. Guided, taught, led—yes. But not tightly managed.”¹ True in management, and true in the world of healthcare. Hire Hard. In the long run, you will be able to manage easy.

Disclosures

Drs. Chopra and Saint are co-authors of the upcoming book, “Thirty Rules for Healthcare Leaders,” from which this article is adapted. Both authors have no other relevant conflicts of interest.