I remember sitting with a veterinary technician who had just told me she was leaving the practice. When I asked her why, she said it was because of the lead surgery tech.
“Is she mean to you?” I asked. “Does she boss you around? Micromanage you? Gossip? Bully? Harass? Tease? Talk politics? Listen to awful music?”
No, no, no. It was worse.
“She just keeps doing the same thing day after day.”
My technician explained that Sandy, the lead surgery tech, had been coming to the practice and doing the same thing, Groundhog Day style, for at least 25 years. Every day, she ran the same protocol and monitored patients the same way. Every day, she listened to the same radio station. Every day, she moved patients in and out of surgery using the same organizational system.
“I can’t be Sandy, and that’s the only future I see for myself. I’ve got to get out of here.”
Lessons from SEAL Training
One of the most useful stories I’ve heard came from a Navy SEAL named Marcus Luttrell. He talked about the grueling training program that every SEAL must go through, called BUD/S, and how the last week was by far the worst. The last phase, he explained, is known as Hell Week because of the constant stress, endless physical exertion and little sleep.
Marcus was surprised at how many trainees dropped out on the first day of Hell Week. He said the day was awful, but the candidates had experienced plenty of worse days up to that point. Why did so many quit then?
An instructor told him it wasn’t the difficulty of that particular day that made people quit. It was the knowledge that six more days like it were waiting for them. The sailors didn’t drop out because of what they did that day but because of the thought of what they would have to do in the future.
I had an epiphany when I heard the story. For years, I had struggled not with the burdens of today but with the knowledge that future burdens were coming. I’d seen people burn out or quit their jobs not because of what they experienced but because of how they perceived the future.
Luttrell’s story taught me the power of focusing on the now and not allowing future difficulties to climb on my shoulders before their time. His story also taught me that what people see in their future affects them just as much as what they encounter today, and thus, managing peoples’ perceptions of the future is essential.
Think about it. What burns people out more? Is it getting yelled at by a client, or is it going home believing that clients will yell at you for days and years to come? As leaders, we must be cognizant of what the people we support see when they look ahead.
Planning > Plans
For many of us, our happiness today depends deeply on what we perceive tomorrow to be like. The aspiring Navy SEAL wants out because he perceives six days of torture waiting for him. My technician wanted out because she perceived 30 years of stagnation and repetition.
I’ve always liked this Dwight D. Eisenhower quote: “Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” None of us can predict the future or control much of what goes on around us, yet the process of preparing and strategizing is often vital for success. Planning gives us a feeling of control, even if it’s just an illusion, and it helps us react intelligently when the world invariably changes around us.
If we want to keep team members engaged in our clinics for the long term, we must recognize that creating an encouraging, optimistic vision for the future matters. If we want to retain talent, we must make those talented people believe we have a plan for them and that they have space to grow inside our practices. It’s not enough for emerging leaders and high performers to have a good job now. We must show them a personal path. I call this sharing your crystal ball.
When we talk about retaining high-performing employees, ongoing professional development is unquestionably essential. While some people are quite happy to know that nothing more will be expected of them tomorrow, learners and growers want to believe that they will be professionally better or more valuable in the future. One of the most attractive parts of veterinary medicine is the potential to learn continually from your first day on the job until you retire. Unfortunately, a lot of veterinary practices struggle to make it happen.
The challenges I hear again and again from practices are:
- Telling team members what the future holds for them is impossible.
- Small clinics don’t have an endless path for upward movement.
Both challenges are real, but they can be navigated.
Sharing Your Crystal Ball
People love the idea of certainty in life. They want to know that tomorrow will be better than today and that they will be happier and make more money. Rationally, of course, they realize that nothing is guaranteed. Anyone who has lived through the pandemic, dealt with a significant illness, gotten a new boss they didn’t like, had a spouse relocate for work or generally been tossed a curveball in life should recognize that situations can change quickly regardless of what we have planned. Still, people want to plan, even if the uncertainty of the world makes the plan obsolete.
Sitting down with the people in our practices whom we want to develop and talking with them about what success looks like a year from now can be vital. We can be honest about the uncertainty of the world and still share our aspirations for the practice and individual. We can inquire about what excites them, what they love about their job and how they see their days unfolding six, 12 or 24 months from now.
Also, one of the best ways to coach someone is to explain what you think success for them in one year looks like. You can talk about the skills and behaviors you envision them having and how growth in those areas will benefit them.
Again, I call this sharing your crystal ball. Of course, crystal balls are hazy and often unreliable. Still, gazing together can give clarity, comfort and a feeling of control to those we want to develop and retain. It’s also an excellent exercise for setting expectations, building trust and laying out the development you want to see in a noncritical way. It’s not about making promises. Instead, it’s talking about what we would both like the future to be.
The Endless Path Inside the Tiny Practice
When I was in my 30s, success as a practice leader meant practice growth. My fixation was on making hospitals bigger — bigger buildings, more exam rooms, more veterinarians and a larger support staff. Only after I had preached the gospel of growth for several years did a quiet veterinarian tentatively raise her hand at one of my workshops on strategic planning.
“What if we don’t want to grow our practice?” she asked. “What if we have three doctors and like it that way?”
My response: “So you want to expand by opening more practices? You want to be a multipractice owner?”
It was here, in this workshop, that I got my worldview adjusted to see that bigger isn’t always better. I am still grateful to my co-lecturer for stepping in, asking great questions and saying: “For you, it sounds like the goal is to simplify and streamline what you are doing, increase your profitability, and make it so you don’t have to work so hard. Does that sound accurate?”
Many of us see practice success as becoming larger and professional success as moving up the corporate or specialty ladder (even if your hospital doesn’t have a corporate or specialty ladder). That is the thinking that dictates:
- Successful technicians should pursue specialty training, go to veterinary school or leave the floor to become a manager.
- Doctors who want to grow should become specialists, medical directors or practice owners.
- Practice owners should become multipractice owners.
And on and on.
Believe it or not, lots of excellent workers don’t want to be managers or specialists. They don’t want to “move up” and leave behind the reason they entered the profession. The key to retaining these people is to embrace the idea that you can grow people in ways that don’t involve taking them out of the things they love, starting a residency program or adding a wing to your hospital.
Development can be deeply rewarding when it simply involves helping set the vision for a practice, intentionally building its culture and growing the interpersonal skills that make our profession rewarding. Who wouldn’t see opportunities in a clinic where someone is invited to help set the course, define the team values and make meaningful improvements to how the practice operates? Who wouldn’t benefit or see value in personal growth centered on managing a new, exciting project?
Think of the skill-developing potential in:
- Getting team buy-in on a project you feel ownership of.
- Communicating more frequently and effectively with clients.
- Mentoring and coaching less experienced team members.
- Tracking and celebrating success.
The opportunities for such development and growth are endless, even in a clinic with no intention of expanding or taking people out of their current roles.
Professional development centered on communication, planning, culture, time management and project management can fit into any clinic for any team member who wants it. This approach makes development an engaging and expansive path, even in a tiny practice.
Remember that retention is about intentionality and giving thoughtful opportunities to those you want to keep with you. If you do it right, you can invest in leaders who can then pass that investment to others, building a culture of growth and development that simply needs to be modeled and stirred. It’s not about moving people up and out of roles they love. It’s about wading into what really matters in practice and finding ways to make people see growth in a new and sustainable way.
LOOKING INTO THE PAST
According to Learn Religions, “Crystal balls have been used for fortunetelling and clairvoyance since at least the first century. Their popularity has waxed and waned, but they continue to be popular tools for psychics, fortunetellers and mediums today.”
BE A BETTER LEADER
Dr. Andy Roark has partnered with VetFolio to release the Uncharted Leadership Essentials Certificate. The program provides training appropriate for anyone who leads or manages others. The topics covered include setting a team’s vision and values, building trust, achieving team buy-in, delivering feedback, understanding communication styles, setting priorities, delegating effectively and managing time. Learn more at bit.ly/Uncharted-VetFolio.