On Recruiting

How to Recruit

(This tutorial is subject to change as I learn more tricks or I gain more experience)

I don’t know how to recruit.  Well, maybe I am learning.  See one, do one, teach one.  So you are getting a tutorial on recruitment by someone who recruited one person once.  {edited: By the time I finished writing this, I had already learned 3 ways I had screwed up on properly recruiting all of you LOL, sorry}

Rule #1: Don’t be scared

Rule #1.  I think the number one rule is, don’t be scared.  I don’t mean that as a passive statement, “just simply don’t have that emotion”.  I mean, do the things necessary to mitigate your fear.  Talk it over with others in the chat room.  It’s why its there.  Know that no one else is experienced with recruiting either.  Practice chatting about what you understand about “the movement”, and what you don’t understand.  The more naturally comfortable you are with the subject matter, the more recruiting will be just chatting about this group you are in, and why its important work that we do.  Also remember, this is your movement.  There is 100% space for you having a say in where this all goes.  And, thus, if you just chat with new people about why you are part of it, it falls into place.

Rule #2: Hear about them

Rule #2.  You joined this movement because doing so filled a want/need for you.  And, you are likely a fast-responder.  You saw/heard something, and you had a lower threshold compelling you to act than others.  That’s why you are here and those other people are not yet here.  So, describing your movement to them may not be enough to move them past their threshold.  That’s OK.  Describing why you find it important is the proper place to start.  But, in time, we will be representing ourselves and those not as vocal as us.  That means we will need to know what other people are concerned about.  Recruiting is both bringing in more people, but also informing yourself about what others need.  Make the space to deliberately listen to people.  Ask them what their concerns are.  What is the most harmful things that has happened to them, their practices, their patients?  What is the greatest accomplishment they or their practice/patients/family have made despite these harrowing odds?  Listen and reflect.  How is what we are doing going to help them?  Are we really addressing their concerns well?  Are we missing the boat on something?  When they think you have heard their concerns sufficiently, reflect back what you heard, and address whether our representation is doing them service or not.  If it has not come up yet, ask them what they would want from government to resolve this crisis in family medicine?

Rule #3: Record data

Rule #3.  Data.  Record data.  Take notes after your interaction.  Gather contact information.  You know what politicians do after they are out for an afternoon of shaking hands and kissing babies?  They take notes.  They are recording the social structures that they witnessed.  It is not necessary for you to do this.  I merely am illustrating that recording data is absolutely a necessary step, else you have wasted your audience’s and your time when you can’t remember any details 24 hours later.  Capture name, cell number, clinic location, and their 3 concerns.

I have heard that a good question to engage a person’s concerns is to ask “If you were elected mayor right now, what would be the first three things you would do?”.  I don’t know if this question is terribly applicable to physicians.  Many would say “I’d quit”.  I think a more pertinent adaptation to this question would be “If you were suddenly MOH, what would be the first three things you would do?”

Rule #4: Who else?

Rule #4.  Who’s next?  If things have gone well, and you aren’t fully exhausted and fed up with recruiting, ask them “Who else do you think would be interested in this?”.  If it hasn’t gone well, they will not have any suggestions, so save yourself the discomfort.  If it has gone well, they will be likely to point you either towards someone who has already voiced concerns loudly.  That will likely be an easy recruitment.  Or, they might point you towards a person they have most respect for.  They might point you towards who they would be naturally willing to defer decisions to, the clinic’s organic leader.

Rule #5: Follow Up

Rule #5.  Follow up.  This person is one of your contacts.  They aren’t going to appreciate being shuffled off to someone unknown to them.  Chat them up on text, or email, or facebook etc.  If they are really enthusiastic and might want right into the signal group, then contact them with me (as we get bigger I may change this protocol, to delegate and keep my sanity).  If they want to slowly get involved, invite them to the Aberta Physicians for Comprehensive Care” facebook page.  There they will likely get a frequent serving of our propaganda.  It’s the easiest pool of doctors to access at this point.

Tips

·       Organic Leaders are hard to recruit.  They naturally are more cautious than others, they measure their steps more closely, they weigh their actions/decisions with more deliberation.  Other people pick up on this and commonly defer their decision-making processes to them.  It’s a type of cognitive short-hand: “I like the way this person makes decisions, I will save some mental energy and follow their lead”.  When a person like this joins a movement, they bring significant credibility and social assets, the very currency of grassroots change.  However, they will be skeptical of all things.  They will not be swayed by your story.  Your best strategy is to a) recognize early whether this person is likely an organic leader in their circle, b) switch quickly to asking them what they need, and be prepared to listen intensely.  I have read about this phenomenon, but I don’t know whether I have been in the situation of recruiting an organic leader until this very morning (Sun Nov 5th).  This person did not like how our twitter account is anonymous, and took issue with it.  It was feeling like it might become a confrontation in the DMs.  But, I recognized his name and asked in some of my other groups what opinions were of him.  Everyone who knew him had huge respect for him.  I dwelled on this for a couple of hours, luckily I had not responded to his challenges yet.  Then it clicked.  I might be dealing with an organic leader.  Instead of defending myself, I responded with asking him what he thought of the healthcare crisis, and what he would do if he were part of this group.  At this point we are probably 3-4 pages of text into a conversation.  Will he join?  I don’t know.  It will take significant time to happen though.  And the power and influence he brings will be tangible.

·        Be comfortable.  If you can, have fun.  I don’t know if this is a tip in as much as it is a reassurance.  There is a good chance each of us will look foolish at some point recruiting.  Its beneath us.  Its not professional.  But, I am hoping you might find a few interactions that leave you really feeling good that you are doing this.  When I get excited, I start to stutter.  Probably a fair amount.  And, I know I was stuttering when I visited a neighbouring clinic Friday afternoon.  But, the docs there that received me (on a cold call nonetheless) we so warm and enthusiastic, that I don’t think they even heard my stutter.  You might find most docs, especially now, are much more likely to receive you enthusiastically than your instincts are telling you.

I hope this helps.  Again, I don’t know how to recruit.  If you have experience and want to add to/change this guide, please let me know.