Team Culture

It finally happened. The veterinarian shortage and veterinary technician shortage that they’ve always talked about for the last 20 years. If you look in today’s clinical practice it is almost impossible to find staff. The classified ads are full and the world during COVID has seemed to expedite this market. Yes, it is truly a buyer’s market if you’re looking for a job.

A few months ago, our family had a slight scare as there was a potential COVID exposure at our daughter’s daycare. As a family, we decided it would be best to keep her home during the month while vaccinations were just beginning to be dispensed. As far as making this work, it was a bit of a scheduling challenge. Fortunately, both my wife and I have bosses who were quite understanding and very gracious in allowing us to make this happen. We were both able to alter our schedules so that one of us was home all day during the course of the week. This essentially meant much longer shifts when we were at work, some as long as 10 to 12 hour days but it was worth it. The time that we each had with our young daughter was a gift. We were able to keep her safe and at the same time get to enjoy some everyday family time with her. This was time I had missed out on during her first year while I was working… and I loved it.

It got me to thinking how in today’s veterinary market can employers become a more attractive option for potential employees? For full disclosure, I am not a business owner. These ideas are just some things I’m spit-balling as potential options that some employers and employees may find to be mutually attractive and beneficial.

1. Time off and scheduling

From my own experience, a slight rearrangement of scheduling and a cut back on some days working was a wonderful relief. I was still able to maintain what would be considered a full-time working status. Veterinarians and technicians are often known for being workaholics. We have that personality and drive. Our focus is to help our patients and help our fellow team members. At times this can become a bit of a detriment as both people I’ve known (and myself) have worked 50-60 hour weeks, skipped vacations, and missed out on important things – at a detriment to our general well health and being. Instead, try having a look at a three or four-day workweek schedule. Though the days may be longer, the days off are so worth it.

2. Dollar dollar bills y’all

For ages, jobs have often been defined by how much you make. Don’t get me wrong; money is good but it can only motivate people so far. Eventually, they reach the threshold where their well-being is no longer worth it. In today’s society, many people worry about what the future will hold. As it is for many technicians in a clinic, their average career span seems to only be around five years before they move on to a different job in a different field altogether. This is largely a result of clinic life no longer being financially feasible for them to do a job they love while having their spirits and bodies broken by the day-to-day grind.

For veterinarians, gone are the days where you might work for somebody for 5 to 10 years before you get to become a practice owner yourself. Selling a practice was often a means of funding your retirement. To be brutally honest, people these days are horrible with money and the whole idea of saving up is lost on many. Why don’t we look at ways of providing different financial incentives? I’m talking about pensions, 401(k)s, and RRSPs that employees can contribute to but also the employers match to a certain percentage. Every little bit helps and makes the long-term job satisfaction a bit better in my opinion.

One other financially incentive idea is profit-sharing. There are different ways this is figured out and distributed but if everyone gets a little extra slice of the pie, the staff may feel a lot better knowing that their hard work will be rewarded. Ultimately, they may be a lot more inclined to put in some extra effort without any begrudging.

3. Moving on up! To the east side?

Nope, just within the business. Some staff members are content with their role in the clinic but others want more. We should embrace both groups as they are important pieces of the team. Technicians may want to specialize. Vet assistants may want to take on more responsibilities or even consider going back to school for a technician or doctor program. Client care representatives may want to move into a management role. Nobody can work forever so it benefits us to train someone to help out when someone retires or is out sick – especially if for a prolonged time. If there are ways to move up and expand a skill set, employers should identify those staff members and provide them with the tools to become a more integral part of the clinic. This can improve job satisfaction as well as better financial well-being for both the employee and the clinic.

4. Clean house

Many clinics have that one employee… you know the one who has been there X number of years and is the best technician, receptionist, or manager you’ve ever had. Except that employee drives the rest of the staff crazy and creates a toxic work environment. It may be hard to swallow, but it’s time they move on. I know we’re talking about adding employees but it’ll be much easier to hire if you have a happier atmosphere and the worker who dragged down morale is gone.

The last 20 months have been exhausting yet rewarding. Think about how many pets and families we’ve been able to help! Now we need rest and hope that relief is on the way. While we may ask clients for their patience, it will likely come down to appropriate staffing in the clinic to alleviate the stress. Owners (whether private or corporate) have the power to transform the profession moving forward and make the job more variably rewarding than cuddling kittens and puppies though that is an awesome perk of the job!

If the past year has taught us anything, it is how quickly life can change. The veterinary industry is working through many challenges, including increased demand and a decreased workforce. My hospital is no exception. Since the end of last summer, we have been working with a skeleton crew when several of our team members left to either stay home with their children or take other positions. Those of us still working have been growing weary under the weight of our increased workload.

When work increases and team capacity decreases, we may begin thinking of ourselves as victims. I experienced an episode of this on Thursday. I was the only scheduled doctor with surgeries and also a spattering of client appointments. As I slogged through the pile of records that I had leftover from earlier in the week, attended to my surgeries, and answered the myriad of questions that my team brought to me, I started to feel overwhelmed. I am usually excited by a good challenge, but my brain goes into victim mode when I start to feel overwhelmed with stress. As I begin to feel like a victim, I become short with my team and reclusive. I want to crawl into a hole to protect myself from one more question. I get snappy and impatient. Finally, my brain tells me that it is all too much, and I start to indulge in my victim story. I begin to think, “Why do I have to do everything? Maybe I should just quit. Why won’t they leave me alone?”

I have coached others and had coaching on this exact subject, but my brain still gets away from me sometimes. So, when I find myself thinking that I am a victim of my circumstances, I have to ask myself one key question to help bring me out of my victim thinking. How do you want to show up today?

My attitude is my responsibility and requires constant work on self-improvement. I have the power to change the way that I choose to think about everything. Self-development is the key to controlling ourselves when we start to feel overwhelmed and victimized. Your subconscious mind will direct you if you ignore training it to behave. I mean that if we don’t practice positive thinking, our brains will not learn to change from negativity to positivity.

Decide who you want to be, and practice being that person each day — keeping in mind that we all need to experience failure to learn lessons. If you strive to take one small step towards your ideal self daily and visualize the person you want to be, you can snap out of your thinking as soon as you realize that you are in victim mode.

Have some “power thoughts” at your disposal to use in times of extreme stress. For example, thinking things like, “You got this,” “All things will pass,” “You are a rock star,” or anything that helps you to drop the victim statements. Taking control of your brain requires you to teach it new and powerful thoughts. It may feel strange when you start to use these thoughts — they will feel inauthentic and cliche, but once your brain starts to believe them, it will be easier to get out of “poor me” and into solution mode.

When you feel like a victim, remember to work to change your thinking and be the person you want to be.

– Dr. Julie Cappel

“There’s nothing more daring than showing up, putting ourselves out there, and letting ourselves be seen.” – Brené Brown

As we tentatively re-open our doors to clients, sweep the dust from our exam tables, and consider showing close friends our unmasked faces again, normalcy seems to be creeping back into our lives. Time only flows one direction, however, and we will never go back to working exactly as we did before the pandemic. I think that’s a good thing.

At the April Uncharted Conference we had some wonderful discussions about what we are planning to “hold on to” as the pandemic winds down. I’ve been thinking about that conversation, and today I wanted to share the Top 5 Things I want Veterinary Medicine to keep. Here goes:

1. Better Delegation – Many of us have struggled our entire lives to let other people “take work off of our plates.” The pandemic pushed us until we had no other choice. Let’s keep this skill and grow it! Delegation is key to happier, healthier doctors, leaders, managers and practices.
2. Knowledge that we can’t see all the pets – The flood of pandemic puppies and kittens may have finally hammered home the truth that people can only work beyond their capacity for so many days before the wheels fall off. Many of us were finally forced to set actual personal boundaries for ourselves and our staff. We took lunch breaks, insisted on going home, and protected our family time. This is a good thing for everyone (including the patients and clients).
3. Remote Work – I know it wasn’t a majority of clinics, but many took the leap and figured out how to work with employees outside the building. Whether this was a “home day” for practice owners or managers, or a virtual CSR who helped handle the phones from 100 miles away, our profession moved into a new era of getting things done.
4. Exams Beyond the Exam Room – Veterinary clinics that have long been held back by building size and a lack of examination rooms saw there may be solutions that don’t require a construction crew. It’s hard to explain how big this discovery is, and how shackled some practices have been by the belief that an empty exam room was required to serve clients.
5. Curbside has upsides – Some clients really like being curbside, and some practices really like doing it. Now is the time to survey clients to determine how to make this service part of our long term strategy. Just think of how curbside can increase our practice flexibility and efficiency when we refine it to become part of our normal workflow! Everything is more attractive when it’s not required.

What do you think? Are there things you will be keeping after the pandemic has faded into memory?

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the DrAndyRoark.com editorial team.

Maybe this will age me. That’s OK. As an aging Gen X’er, I am reminded often of the “Choose Your Own Story” books. For those who don’t remember, with these stories, every choice the reader made, they were instructed to skip to a section in the book that either gave you another choice or you had to read what fate your choices had sealed.  

I remember often being unhappy with my end result and flipping the pages back to try and find the ending that was least traumatic. Often it was the ending I felt my character deserved. Although these books may bring nostalgia to some, my thoughts often go back to them whenever I am faced with a difficult choice. I can definitely say that I’ve made several wrong choices in life and in my career. Those choices often felt so permanent. But ultimately I always had the power to reflect and decide if this was the story I felt that I deserved.

As I began my journey as a kennel assistant, more moons ago then I would like to admit, I realized all my choices pushed me closer to the chapter I felt was next. As an assistant, I remember stumbling when I had to decide if I wanted to be a licensed veterinary technician. It meant making choices to work hard, study my butt off and put substantial effort into doing what I felt made the most impact when working with my patients. What made the most impact towards having a career that I wanted. No one else got to choose my journey. It was mine. There were times I failed and times I struggled. But every thought, every small expenditure of energy brought me closer to what I believed was MY story. 

As an LVT, I realized those choices didn’t stop. Every action I took either brought me to a place where I could give up and accept this as my story. Or I could keep flipping back the pages to see if there was another choice. When I was toxic, I could read back to see what I could do differently.  When I found myself in clinics that didn’t appreciate me, I chose to focus my energy on changing my path. Sometimes it meant making tough decisions and stepping away from comfort to take a plunge into the unknown. 

As a practice manager, my job is to encourage others to choose their story. To give them the options to decide what this path of veterinary medicine means to them. I cannot write their story. Perhaps their time at my clinic is just the beginning. Maybe it’s not where they see their vet med story ending. My goal is to give my team the tools, resources and freedom to make their way through the pages. My story hasn’t ended, but it’s shown me that the greatest thing someone can do is encourage others to find their best ending. 

So often we are caught up in our bubble of our current clinic, our coworkers, our friends and family that we forget we have those choices and can make choices for our happiness at any time. We choose what we love about this profession. We choose where we work. We choose who surrounds us and what we give energy. Now is the time to remember that we can always choose our happiness. Remember vet med is your story. You create your journey. Not your coworkers. Not your manager. But you. 

If you find yourself questioning your happiness, flip back through the chapters. Yell “Plot twist” when things go wrong. Don’t allow villains to shape your future. Above all, never give up and never stop looking for the ending you deserve. 

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the DrAndyRoark.com editorial team.