Sam Wageman, President and CEO

Conflict in the workplace isn’t usually considered good thing, but at Fusion Medical Staffing “constructive conflict” — combined with trust and communication — provides a cornerstone for positive relationships and successful careers.

“Conflict is not comfortable until you work on it,” explains Fusion President and CEO Sam Wageman. Used properly, he says it is a strong training tool and motivator. “It’s making sure people are being held accountable and knowing it’s not an accusation, it’s just trying to get better. They (staff) understand it is for positive intent.”

In some workplaces, troubles go unaddressed because staff and management want to keep the peace. At Fusion, however, management strives for transparency and everything is openly discussed for the positive intent of the company, even uncomfortable issues.

Leadership at Fusion is refreshingly forthright with employees on goals and the long-term vision of the company.

Fusion is rife with successful recruiters, due in part to its Omaha, Neb., location; the city is also home to larger medical staffing firms and some strong talent has migrated to the five-year-old firm. However, newcomers to the industry who display the company’s core values—driven, humble and positive attitude— are also on board and provided with specific, targeted training. Every day they are coached on specific ways to improve.

“We provide very open, one-on-one training that can be done while they are actually on the phone working, and it’s coming from some of the best top salespeople in the industry in the last 10 years,” Wageman says. He and Co-founder and COO Scott Wehner were top salespeople for their prior employers, and join others to step in and provide employee-to-employee training at Fusion.