A common complaint in equine veterinary practices is inconsistent and infrequent communication and clarity. Doctors sometimes act like silos, and the practice team struggles to know how to operate effectively, because information critical to smooth functioning and excellent customer service is not shared with the team. We’re not alone in this challenge – According to Gallup’s recent State of the American Workplace report, only 13% of U.S. workers strongly agree that their organization’s leadership communicates effectively. In many cases, what employees are saying is that they want to be heard. Only three in 10 U.S. employees strongly agree that they feel their opinions matter in the workplace.
Increasing the amount of positive feedback, as well as the number of conversations empowers employees, strengthening engagement, and psychological safety. Every practice team member can have more productive conversations when they are actively listening, understanding and clarifying questions, giving feedback that both challenges and supports them, and establishes accountability and a plan of action. This is a key part of building a better organizational culture.
Culture is created through the actions and behaviors of leaders, what they pay attention to, what they reward what they punish, and their allocation of attention and resources. This complex interplay results in company culture. Frequent, clear, transparent, and inclusive communication between everyone on the team is one of the key ingredients in creating a collaborative culture.
There are many programs available such as Slack or Zoom that can foster more connection. Weekly staff meetings create a team atmosphere and are more effective when they are short and have a set agenda. Brief training videos work well in this setting. Sharing a quick story about a recent case that illustrates the values of the practice keeps the work personal and purposeful for the team. Weaving in the mission, vision, and values of the practice at every opportunity helps to keep them fundamental to the organization’s identity.
In a healthy culture where people feel they belong, everyone shares the same values. Leaders understand, articulate, and live the practice’s values authentically. They create a safe and inclusive environment where everyone’s contribution matters. By listening to everyone on the team, trust and engagement increase. By creating conditions where everyone feels included, safe to learn, safe to contribute, and safe to challenge the status quo —all without fear of being embarrassed, marginalized, or punished—in some way, team members thrive.
Leaders set clear goals and expectations for every role in the practice, acknowledge imperfection, and learn from mistakes. They create workplace policies that make their staff feel valued and appreciated, and they model self-compassion, kindness, respect, honesty, and mutual trust.
Work by Amy Edmondson has shown that leaders are vulnerable to forgetting the crucial practice of asking questions as they become more successful and experienced. But when leaders show interest in what others are seeing and thinking by asking questions, it prompts people in their organizations to do the same. In the process, this helps create a psychologically safe culture. High achievers in particular frequently fail to consider others’ perspectives or the problems and solutions they see. Because leaders often do not want to be seen as incompetent or weak, they may avoid asking a question. And because veterinarians are by nature problem-solvers, they may not recognize the value of asking questions and seeking others’ input. Once they recognize the value in others’ ideas, leaders can be role models to encourage team members to ask questions too.
Good team leaders develop strong relationships because they are crucial to building effective teams and fostering professional development. By showing confidence in the team members and generously sharing experiences, knowledge, and skills, team leaders can have a marked influence on the future success of their colleagues. And because all people bring different perspectives, an environment where psychological safety is present is essential for a high-functioning team.
The basis for psychological safety includes a workplace where candor is accepted, mistakes are forgiven, questions are seen as a strength rather than a weakness, and questioning the status quo occurs without fear. Globally, only 47% of all employees feel that their workplaces are psychologically safe. Psychological safety is the responsibility of practice leaders. To increase it, leaders must be approachable and accessible, seek insights and ideas from their team, recognize the importance of a learning mindset, admit their faults, be inclusive in decision-making, and model asking for help and taking interpersonal risks.
Leaders should check in with each employee individually on a regular basis, recognize small successes, show appreciation and empathy, celebrate together with food, remember team members’ birthdays or other important milestones, and give recognition for employees’ contributions.
As a mentor, acknowledging your own areas of weakness can provide a strong model of human imperfection paired with expertise and success. Your example can help a mentee build resilience and prevent impostor syndrome. When a mentor describes one or two difficult chapters in their professional life, the relationship has more impact and value. The mentor should also be sure to teach the mentee how to work through a problem, not simply provide the answer. Ask questions like “What do you see as the options?” or “What do you think you should do?”
As veterinary education becomes increasingly competency based, adopting a new way of providing feedback makes sense. Entrustment scales help create paths to success by using language that encourages rather than punishes. Ask the mentee what steps they will take to achieve competence and how you can help them. Make sure to have regular check-ins to ask, “How’s it going?”
In summary, a good team leader encourages and demonstrates confidence in the team members, recognizing each team member as an individual with a full life and values them as a person, ensuring a positive, safe, and supportive professional environment for the team, and owning their own struggles, ignorance, or fears. They are liberal with feedback, given in the way that the team member prefers. In addition, they encourage independent action, are willing to invest time with the team members when requested, provide opportunities for professional development for each team member, and are generous with credit for good work and patient with inquiries.
An important note about CFPs is that they don’t have much expertise in student loan repayment strategies, so seeking additional guidance on managing those loans specifically may be beneficial. The VIN Foundation has several student loan resources on it’s website and there are also recent American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) proceedings that cover this topic.
The practice’s financial strategies are also key to supporting strong profitability and providing competitive compensation for all staff. Equine veterinarians are known for allowing large accounts receivable balances and relaxed billing practices, which often result in missed charges.
These issues reduce business income generation and decrease available funds to support salary and wage increases.
Establish and regularly update financial policies that require payment at the time of service and communicate this clearly to clients before care is provided. Mobile technology has made billing and collection processes at each appointment much easier and quicker than in the past. Laptops with Wi-Fi access to medical records make preparing the bill at the time of appointment straightforward and payment can be collected through a variety of mobile platforms that integrate with your accounting systems.
Additionally, it’s important for practices to focus on charging a fair and adequate amount for the time practitioners spend on care and patient assessment. The old model, which charged our expertise in exchange for high medication and supply charges, is no longer sustainable, especially with competition from internet pharmacies. It is common in non-equine large animal practice to charge clients by time. This is a reasonable option to consider implementing some equine practices.
It is increasingly common for practices to pass along at least a large portion of the emergency response (ER) fee charged to clients directly to the practitioner This approach increases practitioner compensation, values their work on emergency calls, and can improve morale around handling those cases. While there is a minor administrative cost to the practice, it is well worth the doctor’s goodwill it generates.
About the Author
Amy L. Grice | VMD, MBA
Dr. Grice was an ambulatory equine practitioner in the Hudson Valley of New York for over 25 years, serving as the managing partner of the thirteen-doctor equine referral hospital in Rhinebeck, NY. At the end of 2014, she retired from clinical practice to concentrate on veterinary business consulting, and moved her residence to Virginia City, MT. Dr. Grice received her BA in Biology from Wellesley College in Massachusetts and completed her veterinary education at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine in 1990. She earned her MBA with a concentration in Ethical Leadership from Marist College School of Management in 2014. Dr. Grice is a member of the American Association of Equine Practitioners, where she served on the Board of Directors from 2015-2018, and as treasurer from 2021-2023. She also serves as a member of the AVMA Economic Strategy Committee from 2018 – present. Dr. Grice is a frequent speaker at educational seminars for veterinarians across the country, as well as the founder of Decade One, which leads networking groups for equine veterinarians early in their careers. In addition, she consults with a diverse range of veterinary businesses and collaborates with industry partners to bring business education to veterinarians. Dr. Grice aids with transitions of ownership, strategic planning, financial projections, and other solutions for private practitioners.