Creating Synergy Between Leaders and Managers

Every veterinary practice relies on people — from head technicians and practice managers to medical directors and hospital owners — to lead and manage others. The relationship between leaders and managers is the backbone of a hospital’s success and sustainability.

“Creating synergy between leaders and managers isn’t about titles,” said Dr. Adam Christman, chief veterinary officer at MJH Life Sciences. “It’s about trust, communication, and a shared vision. In the veterinary profession, where every decision impacts patient care and team dynamics, alignment is essential.”

Although distinct in their functions, leadership and management teams must work together to foster clinical excellence, operational efficiency, and strategic growth. However, in the daily rush of patient care and client demands, the required skills in each role are often overlooked.

Leaders Versus Managers

Though the terms are often used interchangeably, leaders and managers embody distinct roles and functions within a veterinary practice.

Leaders primarily focus on:

• Inspiring and guiding the team toward a shared vision
• Setting clinical care standards
• Overseeing the implementation of best practices
• Ensuring high-quality patient care

A manager’s role is more structured and task-oriented, often including:

• Ensuring that day-to-day operations run smoothly
• Adhering to established procedures
• Managing schedules, resources, and facilities to meet organizational goals

While leaders drive change and inspire, managers maintain stability and ensure efficiency, highlighting the complementary nature of their roles in achieving organizational success.

6 Necessary Skills

A common problem with promoting someone to a leadership or managerial position is the assumption that excellent performance in a current role (for example, the person is an outstanding CSR or a detail-oriented technician) automatically translates to success in a leadership or managerial position. However, managers and leaders need specific and diverse skills to guide their teams and organizations effectively. Some of those skills are outlined below.

1. Communication

Managers and leaders must convey ideas clearly, listen actively, provide feedback, and foster open dialogue within their teams. Strong communication skills help build trust, resolve conflicts, and ensure alignment with organizational goals.

Training tips:

• Role-play difficult conversations, such as addressing performance issues, delivering constructive feedback, or communicating with emotional pet owners.
• Learn about the team’s communication styles. Have fun with it, and ensure the team knows the preferences of their colleagues.

2. Emotional Intelligence

This skill involves managing one’s emotions as well as recognizing and influencing the emotions of others. High emotional intelligence fosters strong relationships, positive work environments, and better-managed stress and conflict.

Training tips:

• Conduct self-awareness and reflection exercises. Consider DISC or MBTI workshops [bit.ly/4ruBR4L].
• Create active-listening training opportunities. Participants practice active listening in pairs or groups. One person shares a challenge they faced, while the other listens without interrupting, then paraphrases the key points and emotions they heard.

3. Decision-Making

Leaders and managers need to make informed and timely decisions. This requires thinking critically, analyzing data, weighing options, and considering how their decisions might affect the organization, team, clients, and patients.

Training tips:

• Hold debriefing sessions. Whether a situation was good or bad, sit down and dissect it, weighing the pros and cons of what took place and discussing alternative solutions.
• Use a decision-making matrix to help manage time and improve decision-making skills. Find the Eisenhower Matrix at bit.ly/decision-making-matrix.

4. Conflict Resolution

Employ active listening, empathy, and collaborative problem-solving strategies so that you can constructively address disputes, fostering a positive and cohesive work environment. Mastering conflict resolution improves team dynamics and enhances overall productivity and morale.

Training tips:

• Understand the conflict styles of yourself and your team, and how those styles work together to solve — or exacerbate — a conflict.
• Conduct collaborative problem-solving workshops. Teams work through real or hypothetical workplace conflicts using structured conflict-resolution techniques, such as identifying root causes, brainstorming solutions, and implementing compromise strategies.

5. Strategic Thinking

Leaders and managers must be able to think long term, anticipate future challenges, identify growth opportunities, and optimize workflows. Strategic thinking involves setting clear goals, developing plans to achieve them, and adapting to changing circumstances.

Training tips:

• Conduct a SWOT analysis. Work in teams to identify internal and external factors affecting the business, then develop strategic action plans to leverage strengths and opportunities while addressing weaknesses and threats.
• Create a business simulation. Navigate real-world challenges, such as financial budgeting, staffing shortages, or expanding services. Then, create multiple strategic responses based on potential future scenarios and assess the risks and rewards of each decision.
• Practice appreciative inquiry, a strengths-based approach to organizational change that focuses on identifying and amplifying what’s working well to inspire innovation and positive transformation.

6. Adaptability

Adapting to change, remaining flexible, and delegating are essential. Leaders and managers must welcome new ideas, adjust their approach, and help their teams adapt in today’s evolving business environment.

Training tips:

• Stress management training will teach you mindfulness, resilience-building, and coping strategies to better handle workplace pressures.
• Time management training will help you prioritize and delegate, and it will provide productivity tools to improve efficiency and reduce burnout.
• Change management training will provide strategies to navigate, communicate, and implement organizational changes smoothly while supporting team adaptation.

When leaders and managers lack the necessary skills, the organization can face adverse outcomes. Poor decision-making and ineffective communication can decrease team productivity and morale, as employees may feel unsupported and unclear about their roles and responsibilities. Conflict and misunderstandings may become more frequent, leading to a toxic work environment.

Additionally, the inability to strategically plan and adapt to change can hinder the growth and competitiveness of an organization.

Ultimately, the lack of skilled leadership and management can result in high employee turnover, decreased efficiency, and lower overall organizational performance.

Balancing the Roles

Balancing the roles of leader and manager means effectively integrating the visionary and inspiring aspects of leadership with the structured, operational aspects of management. It involves delineating responsibilities, fostering collaboration, and ensuring the roles complement each other to achieve the practice’s goals.

“My best tip is to encourage transparency and consistency,” Dr. Christman said. “The worst situations I’ve seen stem from misalignment in expectations — when leaders dictate, and managers execute without true buy-in. Synergy happens when both sides recognize their roles as partners, not competitors.”

When there is a lack of balance or synergy, the practice may have ambitious goals but struggle to implement them effectively. Stagnation, missed growth opportunities, and difficulty adapting to change can occur if there is too much focus on day-to-day management without leadership. A misbalance in these roles can also impact the practice’s financial health.

Enhance managerial and leadership skills and achieve balance with these nine tips:

1. Cultivate Collaboration

Foster open communication between the practice leader, manager, and team to discuss issues and plan how to achieve goals. Neither role should ignore the importance of feedback from the team, and both roles should be accessible to each other and the team.

2. Leverage Each Role’s Strengths

Each manager and leader brings different strengths and expertise to the table. For example, the leader might identify an opportunity for a new service while the manager assesses the operational feasibility and trains the team on the standard operating procedures for the new service. Dr. Julia Book, the owner of Bloomsburg Veterinary Hospital in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, sees it as understanding the personality types of those on the management team.

“It’s important to help the team appreciate their differences and see that as a strength and not a barrier,” Dr. Book said. “When I understand that someone has a different personality type than me, I can appreciate that she can be better than me at doing something. That’s how you play to people’s strengths.”

3. Support Professional Development

Provide ample training on leadership and management topics such as communication, conflict resolution, decision-making, finance, human resources, operations, and strategic planning. Also, offer opportunities for mentorship and coaching tailored to a person’s professional growth and challenges.

4. Empower the Team

Provide leaders and managers with the authority and autonomy needed to implement strategies, solve problems, and drive initiatives forward.

5. Review Performance Metrics

Regularly measure clinical outcomes and operational efficiency. Establish clear, measurable expectations and goals aligned with the practice’s strategic objectives. This step identifies areas for improvement.

6. Cultivate Future Leaders and Managers

Recognize and develop potential leaders by providing opportunities to take on leadership roles in projects or initiatives and outlining the skills and experience needed to move into leadership and management positions.

7. Invest in the Right Tools

Spend money on the technology and resources that facilitate efficient management and decision-making.

8. Lead by Example

Never underestimate the power of a practice’s culture and the influence of your role. Dr. Book summed up what she learned in her 30-plus years as a practice leader:

• Recognize people’s strengths.
• Express enthusiasm for the process even if you don’t feel it.
• Be a bridge builder.
• Don’t micromanage people. Give them room to breathe, work, and sort things out for themselves, even if it means they make a few mistakes.
• Don’t freak out when team members make mistakes. That’s how you build confident leaders who can think outside the box.
• If people have differences, sit down with them and be a mediator. Let them talk it out.
• Own your mistakes.
• Apologize when you need to.

Synergy in a busy veterinary practice means all the individual parts work together as efficiently as possible to the benefit of the patients, clients, practice, and community.

9. Ensure Everyone Is on the Same Page

The entire team must be on the same page. Dr. Stuart Dalton, who owns White Bear Animal Hospital in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, noted that such a thing doesn’t happen by accident. “It must be an intentional goal of management, and it must be nurtured to allow it to grow and evolve with the practice,” he said.

To get team buy-in, Dr. Dalton said management must:

• Maintain an open mind regarding employee suggestions.
• Be able to convincingly argue why certain changes will or won’t be made.
• Empower all team members to use their skills to the greatest extent possible.

“When you get synergy right, things just tend to flow,” Dr. Dalton said.

QUOTABLE

Author and leadership expert Stephen Covey once said, “Leadership works on the system; management works in the system.” Covey argued that improving systems without first clarifying direction leads to efficiency but not progress.

MORE CE OPPORTUNITIES

Today’s Veterinary Business provides veterinary professionals with free, online, RACE-approved CE on practice management topics. Check out previous articles at go.navc.com/CE-TVB.