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Andy Roark DVM MS

The Quest for Veterinary Mentorship

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The Quest for Veterinary Mentorship

Originally Published: DVM Newsmagazine, July 1, 2012

 

 

Maybe it’s just part of my upbringing, but until about five years ago, the word mentor brought to my mind the original Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars or Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid. Mentorship seemed like an involved, antiquated process, and I never thought it would play a big role in my career as a veterinarian.

Today, however, I am blessed with amazing mentors. These people have changed my career and opened countless doors for me. They advise me on tough career decisions, direct me to resources and introduce me to other people who can help me accomplish my goals. They look over my shoulder during surgery and say things like, “I wouldn’t cut that,” or “Maybe we should talk about this,” or “That looks fantastic!” They consult with me in person or over the phone on tough medical cases and validate me when I need someone to tell me that I’m interpreting complex situations correctly. I have dozens of mentors now, and I can’t imagine pursuing my dreams without them.

Keys to a great mentorship

If you want a mentor, try these four steps to find and keep one:

1. Take the initiative. Waiting for a mentor to offer to invest time in your development is the fastest — and most common — way to fail in this endeavor. Establishing a mentor-mentee relationship is mostly driven by the mentee. If you’re not willing to expend the effort to find a mentor, then you won’t be willing to expend the effort to maintain a mentor-mentee relationship. Put simply, if you want mentorship, it’s up to you to find the right mentor and make the relationship happen.

2. Aim high. Don’t be afraid to approach great people. I find time and again that successful people are often people who received help along the way. Most are eager to pay it forward if the right opportunity presents itself. Identify people who can help you, be respectful of their time, and don’t be intimidated by their success or stature. The fact that you see great value in their advice and experience will mean a lot to them, and we all enjoy meeting others who share our interests.

3. Bring value to the relationship. The more you can offer a mentor, the better off you’ll be. Travel to them or to a conference they’re attending (see “Mentors galore” at right). Share information or contacts who might be beneficial to them. Publicly acknowledge the contributions they’ve made to your success. And, if all else fails, at least pick up the tab at lunch. The value of mentorship is enormous, and while you’ll probably never be able to repay your mentors, you should at least make an effort.

4. Have a goal or a project.I once met a mentor for breakfast. I asked him how I could take advantage of his knowledge and experience in the limited time we had together. He said, “Tell me what your goals are, and ask me specific questions.”

Most of us don’t have the luxury of spending lots of unstructured time with the best and brightest people we know. We need to have a clear understanding of where we want to go, so we can solicit useful advice in a limited amount of time. It’s also important to have an active project or plan. You’ll be able to discuss specific and real challenges you’re facing. For example, if your goal is to buy a veterinary hospital in the next three years, your project might be conducting demographic research in the areas that are of greatest interest. Approaching a potential mentor with this project underway would provide you with a topic of conversation, specific questions to ask, and the means to start a mentoring relationship.

It’s okay to be in the information-gathering phase of your plan when you approach a potential mentor, as long as you’re trying to make progress. Talking through a project helps you recognize where you need guidance. It also shows mentors how you think, what your priorities are, and what sorts of advice or resources they can share to help. Soliciting advice when you don’t have a plan or project can be difficult and frustrating for the mentor.

Final thought

Whether your interest is in surgery, exotic animals, practice management, public speaking or gourmet cooking, you can always benefit from a great mentor. If you know of someone who can help you, don’t be shy. Introduce yourself, explain what your goal is, and ask for advice. Who knows where the conversation (or the relationship) might go? You could end up with your own Mr. Miyagi.

Don’t Be A Facebook Failure

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Don’t Be A Facebook Failure

Originally Published: DVM Newsmagazine, May 1, 2010

 

 

For those of you who’ve been living under a technology-resistant rock, Facebook is the world’s largest social networking Web site. The service added a whopping 200 million new users last year, and if you’re a veterinarian under the age of 40 then you probably have a Facebook page. The site is changing the way that people communicate in this country — and in our profession — and its influence is always expanding.

Facebook offers both opportunities and risks for veterinarians. It can help expand your clientele and bond with them in a way that few even dreamed of 10 years ago. It can also spell the end of your personal privacy and unleash dramatic daily distractions that register on the Richter scale.

Below is my handy survival guide for making your way in the social media jungle. Don’t travel to the Internet without it.

Professional connections

Facebook has more than 350 million users, so networking is enormous. I keep up with at least half of my veterinary school class, dozens of student leaders in the Veterinary Business Management Association, specialists to whom I refer frequently, business consultants, other doctors at work, and a significant percentage of the faculty at my former College of Veterinary Medicine.

Because of Facebook and my ready access to all these people, I can ask and receive valuable answers to questions, drive great distances without having to pay for a hotel room, avoid eating alone at conferences, share opportunities, elicit sympathy when cases defeat me and smile when I see that others share my frustrations and insecurities. Just last week a Facebook friend and colleague from veterinary school contacted me before interviewing at the practice where I work. When it comes to staying in the loop and keeping connected, there really aren’t many opportunities greater than Facebook.

Client connections

Associates, wouldn’t it be great if your new clients thought about you every time they checked their Facebook page? They would see the profile picture of you holding a big fish you caught, or wearing a lobster costume from Halloween or throwing ping-pong balls. They would know what was on your mind: that you’re not impressed with the new flavor of microwaveable Hot Pockets, or that you’re a total failure at yoga or that you’re now in a relationship. They would see your photos, the images of you that your friends post (even the ones you don’t recall being taken), and all the comments from your old college friends. Wait … maybe that wouldn’t be so great.

As social media continues to increase its influence and scope, we can all expect to see more of our clients online. Pet owners are increasingly cavalier about asking their veterinarian to be their Facebook friend. From their perspective, this type of access makes a lot of sense. What could be better than posting an insightful and probing question like “My dog is acting funny. What should I do?” directly on the page of one’s own veterinarian? When your clients invite you to be a friend, you should probably have your answer ready. Your main options are:

  • Go for it (with extreme caution). Bring some or all of your clients into your life and build that relationship, but don’t ever forget that they’re always watching. Consider organizing them into a select “client” group so you can control what they see on your page, and take this as an opportunity to bond your clients to you for life.
  • Offer a polite “thanks, but no thanks.” If the client is one you know well and don’t want to risk offending, you can let her know that you are flattered by the invitation but that you use Facebook exclusively for close friends and family. Just remember that anyone can see how many friends you have, and it can be hard to explain why 500 other people fall into the “close friends and family” category. If you don’t recognize the person’s name, or recognize it as a client with whom you don’t have a solid relationship, then simply ignoring the request may be the best course.
  • Create a second identity. I have a friend with separate personal and professional Facebook pages. He uses his professional page to stay in touch with clients. He keeps his personal life personal. The downsides to this approach are that you must be vigilant to prevent your personal life from creeping (or being carried by others) onto your professional page, and if your professional page only has a few friends, your clients may wonder if you’re a loser. You will also have to generate regular content to keep people from forgetting you or wondering why they ever “friended” you in the first place.
  • Default to hospital policy (or propose one). Your hospital may not allow doctors to have clients as social networking contacts. Most hospitals don’t have guidelines, but other industries are writing social media policies. Sometimes, a reason to say “no” that appears out of your control is a real blessing.

Team member connections

Unlike with clients, this needs to be an all-or-none decision. Few choices have the potential to generate as much drama in your professional life as making Facebook mistakes with staff. Before you make the important decision about whether to connect with staff members, consider the following:

  • Staff members will be able to write whatever they want on your page.
  • They will see the comments and photos that your friends put on your page, quite possibly before you do.
  • They will read deeply into your posts. If you write that you had a hard day at work, you should be prepared to explain why. Staff members will ask or, if you’re unlucky, they’ll assume they know what — or who — darkened your day.

Finally, including some staff members while excluding others is a big mistake. You don’t have to invite the entire staff, but if they ask, you should be consistent and always either say “yes” or “I’m sorry but I don’t friend staff members.”

If you want to keep your personal life personal, the best thing to do is say “no” to all current staff members. This is fair and easy to explain. If you are going to accept staff, prepare yourself to learn a lot about them (possibly more than you want to know), and consider adding them all to a staff “group” so that you can control privacy. Finally, once you’ve added staff members as friends, never forget that they’re watching.

Facebook is the 800-pound gorilla of marketing, networking and communication in our society today. It’s becoming a part of veterinary medicine because our clients are making it so. The approach to Facebook that’s right for you will be based on your personality, your goals and priorities, your privacy concerns and your level of energy and interest. Whether you jump in and participate actively in all that Facebook has to offer or observe the Facebook universe passively from the sidelines, some forethought on your part and a healthy dose of discretion will help to protect the fragile balance between your personal and professional identities.

So I’m a Doctor… Now What?

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Nineteen months ago, I started my first job as a veterinarian. It’s a position where I split time between a large general practice, an emergency hospital and a one doctor start-up practice. This is the time I’d thought I’d unleash all of the great ideas I had in veterinary school about how things should be done in private practice.

As you can imagine, that’s not exactly how it turned out.

After I graduated from veterinary school, I amassed a modest amount of medical knowledge, endless enthusiasm and a desire to use my soft skills and business acumen to be immediately successful. I hit the ground running and unleashed cutting-edge management techniques on the unwary support staff. I printed off checklists, called for meetings and wrote almost weekly proposals to my bosses (a project known to my employers as “the Roark Report”).

Overall, this approach was almost a complete flop. While I was quite possibly the most prolific proposal writer ever produced by an accredited veterinary program, my ideas consistently fell flat. When they didn’t fall flat, they ticked people off. It was certainly not the entrepreneurial explosion that I had hoped for.

Without abandoning my commitment to the soft skills and my deep passion for the business side of our profession, I was forced to step back and look closely at what other doctors were doing successfully. It was my great fortune to be surrounded by a lot of successful general practitioners who had widely varying styles and approaches. I set out to adapt my strengths and interests to the techniques that they were using effectively. In the end, three specific themes seemed to correlate very strongly with success. The more I focused on these areas, the greater my happiness and productivity became. We’ll start with the most important:

1. Communication

I have always viewed myself as good communicator, but I made a mistake early on in this vital area. I explained things well to clients, but tried to be the person that I thought my clients wanted me to be: extra polite, almost overly sensitive and always extremely tactful. Because of this approach, I don’t think my clients saw me as genuine, and it hurt my chances at building trust.

A few months into my career, a pair of very difficult clients helped me realize that if I do my best to educate and advocate for what’s best for the pet, it’s up to the clients to decide if they like me or not. I can’t be all things to all people, so I decided I might as well just be myself and be comfortable with it.

This epiphany, probably more than anything else, made me happier in practice. I still explain those medical conditions, but my explanations come with a southern drawl and colorful candor. Amazingly, I seem a lot more popular these days than I ever did when I was trying to come across as “Dr. Perfect.”

Clients have real relationships with me now and because of the trust these clients put in me, I am more confident, more relaxed, and I don’t feel the need to “sell myself” for the first five minutes of every visit. I can focus more of my time and effort on educating the clients and providing the best treatment for the pet. I’ve also found that strong relationships and good communication mean better compliance, and that opens the door to offering great medicine. (Note: I believe that great medicine results in a healthy patient, a happy client, a feeling of satisfaction and the ability to make student loan payments.)

2. Efficiency

In my experience, a focus on communication has been critical to building the tiny client base that I currently enjoy. Sacrificing quality time with the client and patient to stay on schedule is obviously not a good idea. However, running behind all the time has proven to be a poor choice too. The answer is to balance these two evils. I learned how my hospital works, and how I should work within it.

Every hospital has a different system for providing medical care. For example, at the emergency hospital where I spend half my time, there are often a dozen technicians and assistants working in and around our treatment room. The most efficient way to get a dog taken care of here is to get him/her out of the exam room and into the treatment room where the technicians can go to work like a NASCAR pit crew.

At the one-doctor practice where I spend the rest of my time, the only people in the hospital are myself and a technician… And she comes into the exam room with me. If we take a pet from the exam room into the treatment room, we are the only two people there. We had to walk 30 extra feet, and now we have a second area to clean up. Providing services in the examination room makes significantly more sense.

These two hospitals showcase radically different, equally effective, systems for providing care. To be successful in either one, you have to gain an understanding of the system and build a strategy for working efficiently within that system. The development of this stratagem ultimately allowed me to maintain my relationships with clients, stay on schedule, keep better records, make management happy and live a (slightly) lower-stress lifestyle in the workplace.

3. Complete Care

Since my first day in practice, I wrestled with the desire to increase my ACT (average client transaction) while protecting my integrity and the trusting relationships that I have built with my clients. How do I offer our full range of services without looking (and feeling) like a used-car salesman?

When I started my job, I noticed that my boss never talked about ACT. He talked about “completeness of care.” It was probably six months before I understood why this was his focus.

Complete care is all about doing a good physical examination and work up, and then educating clients on what you found, your judgment on the best course of action and why. I feel like, if that is my approach, then I am being entirely honest with clients. It also lets your clients choose their own course of action. The client and I are a team in the care of this pet. When the client makes informed decisions, then I am building this trusting relationship, practicing great medicine and going home feeling satisfied. My ACT benefits from this approach too.

I definitely did not come out of veterinary school at the top of my game, and I really had no idea how to put my interests and skills to work for me in private practice. I know I made as many mistakes as anyone (maybe more – enthusiasm can be dangerous that way), but I have since settled into a personally, professionally and financially rewarding career thanks largely to a focus on communication, efficiency and complete care. If my experience can help even a single associate veterinarian or new graduate be happier and more productive, then this column will be worth the effort (and far more valuable than any edition of “The Roark Report”).

Dr. Roark is an associate veterinarian in Leesburg, Va.

Business Education in Veterinary Schools: The Potential Role of the Veterinary Business Management Association

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Business Education in Veterinary Schools: The Potential Role of the Veterinary Business Management Association

Original Publication: Journal of Veterinary Medical Education 34(5) 2007

Dr. Nina Kieves and Dr. Tonya Sparks did an outstanding job here, and really carried this article. I was lucky to be invited to work with such amazing people back in ’07.

Just as a side note, the word “Potential” was inserted into the title by an insistent peer reviewer on the final draft. I have always felt like that unjustly robbed the article of some of the weight it deserves, and some of the credit that the VBMA should receive for its efforts. I sometimes regret not pushing back harder on this particular point. Still, it was wonderful to get something like this out into the academic literature.

You can view the pdf version online at:

– AWR