How many times have you said, “We had such a great interview,” only to be thinking 60 days later, “How did we get this so wrong?”

Staffing is still the #1 issue in practices, but what if the sustainable fix isn’t another job post?
What if it’s understanding who you’re hiring (before you hire them) and knowing how to develop them once they’re on your team?

In this episode of Power Hour, Eugene Shatsman sits down with Kati Lechner, Senior Director of Learning at Wonderlic, who has spent 20 years in the science of selecting and developing great talent derived from evidence-based hiring.

And by the way, PowerPractice has established a partnership with Wonderlic to provide eye care practices with direct access to these assessment tools. If you’re interested in exploring how Wonderlic Select or Develop could support your hiring or team development strategy, you can reach out to PowerPractice and reference this episode to learn more about available options and next steps at https://powerpractice.com/hire-smarter/ 

What Evidence-Based Hiring Actually Means

Most practices hire based on:

A good vibe in the interview
A strong resume
A “gut feeling”

Kati explains why that approach fails, and what decades of industrial-organizational psychology research actually show predicts job success. You’ll learn why Wonderlic measures the following three
critical areas:

Cognitive ability
Personality tendencies
Occupational interests

And how this episode unpacks why combining all three dramatically reduces hiring mistakes, with personality tests simply not being enough anymore.

The Part Every Practice Owner Will Love

What happens when you test your existing team?

You gain:

A deeper understanding of why certain behaviors show up
Insight into what motivates each team member
Clarity on how to coach more effectively
A blueprint for reducing internal friction

Instead of guessing why someone resists change or avoids certain tasks, you see the behavioral drivers underneath it. Instead of managing outcomes only, you manage the tendencies behind them.

Kati shares how teams use this data to:

Reduce voluntary turnover
Improve engagement
Align responsibilities with natural strengths
Identify what’s missing before the next hire

If you’ve ever hired someone you were excited about, only to feel that doubt creep in 60 days later, this episode gives you something far more powerful than another interview question.

It gives you a new lens.

A way to move from gut-based hiring to evidence-based decisions. The real value in this episode doesn’t revolve around ‘better hiring.’

It’s clarity.

Clarity on how to coach the team you already have, and clarity on what’s missing before your next hire.
If staffing has felt like a revolving door, and turnover feels expensive and exhausting…
This episode will challenge you to stop guessing, and start building your team with insight.

• What Evidence-Based Hiring Really Means:You’ll understand how decades of research identify cognitive ability, personality, and occupational interests as the strongest predictors of job performance.
• Why Interviews Aren’t Enough: You’ll see why structured, science-backed assessment dramatically reduces the risk of hiring based on “good vibes.”
• Motivation Matters More Than You Think: You’ll learn how occupational interests reveal whether someone will be energized or drained by a role.
• How to Coach Smarter Using Behavioral Insights: You’ll discover how to use team assessment data to reduce friction, improve communication, and increase engagement.
• What Reduces Turnover Long-Term: You’ll hear how evidence-based hiring and structured development can significantly reduce voluntary turnover.

Connect with Kati Lechner

Kati Lechner is Senior Director of Learning at Wonderlic and a graduate student at Northwestern University studying Learning & Organizational Change with a focus on coaching and AI. With over 20 years of experience in talent selection and development, she specializes in translating industrial-organizational psychology research into practical tools that help organizations hire smarter and develop stronger teams.

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katilechner/ 
• Website: https://wonderlic.com/ 

Connect with Eugene Shatsman 

Eugene Shatsman is Host of Power Hour, Managing Partner of National Strategic Group, and a TEDx Speaker. A growth strategist and consultant to hundreds of optometric practices nationwide, Eugene specializes in scaling independent eye care businesses through structured strategy, marketing science, and operational clarity.

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eugeneshatsman/ 
• Website: eugeneshatsman.com