Veterinary Team Training

Managers: Stop Giving Terrible Feedback

Unfortunately the way most people provide feedback to each other is simply terrible. However, when managers provide terrible useless feedback to an employee it causes distrust, resentment, self-loathing and gossip. This podcast is for everyone who wants to improve their feedback skills.  Stop giving terrible feedback where your employee is left confused and angry. Learn the steps to productive healthy feedback.

Get Angry! It’s okay!

Anger is an important feeling, but did you know there's healthy versus unhealthy anger? Let's embrace anger in a healthy way. Healthy anger can help with burnout and other life challenges. Time to get angry!

 

Doctors & Techs: Just Get Along!

One point of contention I hear from many veterinary professionals is the divide between some doctors and techs. Let's talk about the key things to grow the relationship between any veterinary technician/nurse and doctor. 

Gen Z is So Lazy & Difficult to Manage - Or Are they?

I hear from so many managers "Gen Z is so lazy! They have no work ethic! They are the most difficult generation to manage!"

Is there any truth to these statements?
What do we need to do differently, if anything, to support Gen Zs? 

Tune in to hear my thoughts on the generational divide. You'll be surprised by the data which may have you changing how you speak about younger generations.

How Bad is that One Toxic Employee Really?

"One toxic person can't really be that bad, can they? After all, it's my highest grossing doctor. It's my best veterinary technician of 20 years. How can we run a hospital without a practice manager? I can't afford to get rid of them! Sure, they are cranky and negative, but they are a high performer!"

Too often I hear these statements from hospital leaders justifying why they retain one toxic employee.

Can one toxic person ruin your whole team? Let's talk about some interesting studies and what to do if you have that one negative team member.

Tips to Handle the Screaming Client

How should we manage the client that is screaming at us? What should we say? How should we act? I've been lecturing on managing difficult clients for almost 8 years now and wanted this podcast to include tips and tricks on how to deal with what I term the Exploding Bully client who is out of control. 

Stop Blaming & Start Fixing the Veterinary Profession

Stop blaming the profession for all its problems. It's time we all start figuring out what we each have the ability to fix and start fixing it. We ALL have influence over something in this profession; ourselves, our teams, and maybe even more. Complaining doesn't fix anything. Use that energy to fix what you have control over!

Short Staffed? Are You Utilizing Your Vet Techs?

Fact: If you are not fully utilizing your vet techs/nurses/assistants then you are contributing to them leaving the profession. 

Fact: If you are not fully utilizing your vet techs/nurses/assistants then your hospital is not as profitable as it could be.

Fact: If you are not fully utilizing your vet techs/nurses/assistants then your doctors are burning out at a higher rate.

I understand we are all short staffed, but the failure to utilize the team to their highest potential is adding to the shortage. It is a reason why people are turning OUT of the profession all together. 

Let's talk about the complex issues of utilization, define some misconceptions about the profession, talk about why rolling back licensure is not a solution (I'm looking at you Washington) and what effective utilization looks like. 

The Client is Not the Enemy

There are some really terrible clients who bully, berate, belittle and harass the veterinary team for unjustified reasons. However, most clients are normal, nice human beings who love their pets and want the best for them. Unfortunately, many veterinary professionals have lumped all clients into the "clients are bad" bucket when that is not true. 

This "clients are bad" mentality has resulted in many complaining about every little thing that a client does wrong. If a client asks about a charge on the bill, it leads to a vet tech complaining about that client for ten minutes. If a client asks to see a different doctor, they are labeled as difficult. 

We need to stop treating all clients as the enemy. When we learn to embrace clients as part of our team we suffer less frustration and therefore less burnout. I talk about my own change in perspective over my 25 year veterinary career in this podcast.

2023 is the Year of the Vet Tech & Vet Nurse

The year 2023 is the "Year of the Vet Tech & Vet Nurse!" No one has actually proclaimed it but it's great seeing actual movement on so many important issues in our profession. We still have a long way to go, but this podcast talks about some of the great changes and steps being made as well as calls to action everyone in the profession. It takes all of us to make changes and every one of us can make a difference.

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