I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time listening to owners and managers give me blow by blow accounts of the performance and behaviour of people who just aren’t the right people (either EVER or ANY MORE) – followed by a list of reasons as to why they cannot be trained or replaced.

Here’s how it goes:

1. X used to be good but has gone off the boil
2. Y was good at the interview but after that he never quite showed up
3. Z was never very good but we cannot afford to let her go because of the gap it would create

Followed by:

1. it’s going to be difficult to find a replacement around here;
2. we cannot let him go because after all these years it will cost too much money
3. she knows everyone in the village and so it could be damaging
4. I’m sure he is influencing other team members to think negatively about me/the practice

Ending with:

1. do you think you could fix this person?

So – to save you the time – the answer is “no” – I can’t fix those people – the people who say:

1. that will never work here
2. people around here don’t have email addresses
3. our patients will not like that
4. nobody around here is on Facebook
5. I’m not doing that – I don’t get paid to do that
6. it’s all very well in London but not here
7. we don’t have the time – we are busy enough already
8. I don’t do spreadsheets
9. these meetings are a waste of time

Here is my coaching – free of charge:

You have to hire epic people – that is what recruitment is about – and “yes” – I can help you with that.