Emotional Hiring Baggage

Take the Poll: Do you think it’s better to strengthen your strengths, or strengthen your weaknesses?

*Scroll down to the bottom to see what experts say about strengthening your strengths vs. strengthening your weaknesses. Find out why it matters to the success of your pharmacy after you hire.*

Now…read about a common mistake that pharmacy directors make when hiring a pharmacist.

Hiring based on emotions or your rapport with someone is a common mistake hiring managers make. You go through your screening process, but end up hiring someone you like rather than the most suitable person for the role. It is important to like whom you work with, but taking emotion out of the picture will allow you to make sound final decisions. Go through a set system that takes emotion out of the decision. Emotion can be triggered by your need to hire someone right away, or your hoping that a candidate you like will work out because you like him/her, and you hire them despite red flags showing up.

Try to involve other people and your pharmacy staff in the decision-making process at some point. They may be able to identify your blind spots preventing you from seeing the whole picture of the candidate. Use a set system and include your intuition to help you make a final decision.

One overlooked mistake is hiring someone who <span id=”more-1598″></span>is similar to you in the way they process the world. The problem is that you may actually be looking for them to fulfill a role that does not require the similar type of excellent that your role does.

Many times, the way someone processes the world is tied to the type of role they are well suited in. For example, someone who is introverted, structured & organized, systematic, analytical, detail-oriented will be more likely to be in the role of a bookkeeper than an entertainer (who may be more extraverted, sociable, and right-brained).

Pharmacists typically have a strong analytical and detail-oriented side to them, which makes them more prone to being accurate and perhaps enjoy reading journal articles. But they may not like counseling patients because they are an introvert. Even though they may appear sociable, their true preference is being an introvert. Others may thrive on counseling patients.

Each person has traits that allow them to be strong in other areas, whether they are traits that allow them to be a strong leader, the ability to make others feel comfortable and welcoming, or being a supportive type of person who doesn’t mind being conforming and likes to avoid confrontation.

Although some pharmacists can accomplish the analytical side of things, they would thrive even more if placed in a role (or add-on to their current role) that allows their creativity to come through, such as creating ways to improve patient satisfaction. Or engaging in a role that requires thinking outside the box. Maybe they would be better at re-designing pharmacy workflow to its optimal efficiency rather than analyzing journal articles, reviewing patient records, or making sure everything is entered in the computer exactly as requested.

When you hire pharmacists without conducting behavioral assessments, chances are that you are not utilizing their best talent, because you haven’t taken the time to truly understand their strengths and how they process the world.

Identify your team’s strengths and strengthen their strengths. It is more effective than identifying weaknesses and improving on their weaknesses. That is a concept explored in “Strengths Finder” by Tom Rath. The Strengths Finder assessment is something you can incorporate in your hiring process to understand someone’s true strengths, and identify ways to magnify those strengths.

Other assessment tools can help with determining work style preferences. Stay tuned–in a future article, you will find out how to move someone a seemingly low achiever to a high level of performance.

The time to start assessing and understanding your pharmacy staff’s strengths is during the hiring process, even before they start.