Top Five HR Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Monica Maxwell, SPHR, Chief Human Resources Officer
DoveLewis Annual Conference Speaker Notes
Human Resources is the number one area most practice managers spend their time. In this lecture,
Monica Maxwell will discuss the Top five mistakes she sees most commonly and how you can avoid
them in the future.
Tell strangers on a plane you are in management and chances are they wrinkle their nose a bit and make
a face. Try telling a stranger you’re in HR. They look at you like you announced you are an IRS auditor.
Why?
Well, to be frank, the general public has not necessarily had good experiences with management or HR.
This is why tv shows like The Office and movies like Office Space were so widely accepted; people could
relate to them. There are a lot of reasons for this, but the frank and bottom line is that managers are
humans. And they are also managing humans. Humans are complex. There isn’t really a course shows
exactly how to handle every human in every situation. Therein lies the problem.
So – that’s it then. No solution? Lecture over?
While humans are complex, there are HR mistakes that managers make that can cause the leading,
mentoring, and managing of humans to be all the more complex. And they are mistakes I hear all the
time from practice managers all over the country, and even from my own managers at Dove.
1. Hiring quickly, in desperation, or blindly: Hiring mistakes are one of the most common and
costly mistakes a manager can make. Hiring is an imperfect science, however the chances of
hiring the wrong person can be significantly reduced with a good process in place. But
sometimes life gets in the way of well-intentioned managers.
Managers are in a tough spot to hire. Often they are filling their own open shift or they are
personally asking their staff to pick up the slack. That’s a lot of pressure. This can result in
hiring too quickly, hiring whoever is interested, or hiring whoever their staff recommends. Not
onboarding the right person for the right job comes back later to result in turnovers or culture
issues.
Avoiding this starts with ensuring you have a strong process in place that you follow for each
hire that outlines what you are looking for. If possible, have a third party that is less emotionally
involved sit in on interviews. They can be your objective touchpoint.
2. Not dealing with employee issues as they arise: Managers are constantly in a balancing act.
Issues need to be addressed, but you have to pick your battles otherwise you are nitpicking.
One of the most common HR mistakes is not dealing with issues as they come up. What tends
to happen is that managers are making a mental note in their head and over time, get frustrated
with the employee for their transgressions. Of course the ending result to the employee is the
manager is “suddenly” upset about issues that, in the employee’s mind, have been previously
accepted. This usually causes the employee to feel resentful as they are blindsided by the
feedback. If this issue results in a termination, the lack of previous discussions also increases
the risk for a lawsuit.
Avoiding this starts with ensuring you have regular meetings with your employees so you are
able to bring up timely feedback about smaller issues before they become larger. Prioritize
what is important to you as a manager so when small things happen, you can determine if they
are “mentionable” offenses. Remember, avoiding smaller conversations now just leads to a
larger uncomfortable conversation later. Besides, you owe it to your staff to be honest.
3. Not documenting: You’ve heard it before – document, document, document. While it is not
new news, it is still a common HR mistake. A lot of times managers assume that they were clear
and that the issue will resolve itself. Of course, when things become more serious with that
employee issues can be compounded if you have nothing written to back it up. Worse is when
you terminate them and they sue you. If you have no documentation of past conversations, it
makes it more complicated to defend a wrongful termination suit.
Avoiding this takes some work – but it does not have to be all encompassing. If you have a
conversation with an employee, just quickly send yourself an email summarizing the situation.
This can be used in later reviews or, if needed, as evidence of documentation as it will be time
stamped. If you are having a formal conversation with your employee sending them an email
running through your discussion points is also a good idea. Give them a chance to respond and
ask questions about anything they may have heard differently.
4. Being on a different page then your clinic owner: Imagine you have a VTS CVT who the clients
love. He or she practices awesome medicine. He or she also throws temper tantrums, bullies
the other staff, and has a hard time taking direction. You have counseled this employee, written
them up, and when you are ready to pull the plug, the technician goes to the clinic owner and
the clinic owner reverses course. This is an all too common situation that plays out in clinics
every day and it results in not being on the same page with your clinic owner about what is and
is not acceptable behavior.
Avoiding this starts with making sure you are meeting with your clinic owner regularly. In those
meetings, you have time to discuss the bad behaving employee and get a good feel for your
clinic owner’s appetite for corrective action and termination. You should be honest with the
clinic owner about this employee’s affect on the staff, but you also have to understand their
political capital and make sure you are handling the situation strategically. If you go into it and
the clinic owner doesn’t have your back, your staff will view you as useless from a decision
making perspective.
Clinic owners: Be honest with your practice manager about where you stand with people so
they are not in a situation like this. While it is your clinic to run and you are the final decision
maker, you also want a practice manager than has the power to do the things you hired him or
her to do. This frees you up to do medicine.
5. Lack of training and development: In the busy world of veterinary medicine, days and weeks go
by and often managers can forget to actually manage. Training and developing your staff is
often listed by managers as a key priority, but it is often one that gets moved to the back burner.
Failing to train and develop your staff, however, gives them the indirect message that you are
not interested in them as a person, but rather your interest is simply in the work they perform
for you. This causes stagnation, frustration, and turnover.
Avoiding this is easier said than done. Training gets put on the back burner because it is time
consuming, but it is important. Set up a time to meet with your staff and ask them the
following:
Motivations
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Drainers
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Leadership
In your day-to-day job
Working with your team
Working with (or interacting with) your peers
In your day-to-day job
Working with your team
Working with (or interacting with) your peers
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What do I do that motivates you?
What do I do that drains you?
What can I do to make you more satisfied in your position?
From there work with them on a plan that will position them to spend more time in the
motivators category than the drainers category.
You also don’t have to do it alone. Someone on your staff is bound to love teaching. Task them
with brining training topics to monthly staff meetings (have monthly staff meetings).
You can also involve your local ER hospital and your vendors. Most offer CE opportunities to
you. Schedule a time for them to come to and do a lunch and learn. Even ask them to do a wet
lab.
Last, encourage your staff to spend time at CE. Portland has a lot of local opportunities. If you
do send your staff, make sure they come back and share what they have learned.