Each morning when Dr. Julie Schell arrives at work she checks on her patients – making sure to rub the tummy of an energetic pup who is in for day surgery, or scratching the ear of a meowing cat that stayed overnight.
At the same time, she makes a point of greeting each staff member at the Bow Bottom Veterinary Hospital with a warm hello and a friendly smile.
Her partners, Dr. Brent Humphrey and Dr. Scott Kelman, do the same.
For the vets, paying attention to the animals is instinctive. Paying equal attention to the staff, however, has become a learned practice the past two years, a new way of doing business.
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| Mike Dempster photo, Business Edge |
| Dr. Julie Schell checks out Yoshiko at Bow Bottom Vet Hospital. |
“I’ve learned you get the best results from your staff if you treat them as being a very important part of the business, that basically you couldn’t be there without them,” Schell says.
The morning ritual is just one component of a strategy that has tightened the lines of communication between the six staff members and three vets in the southeast Calgary animal hospital.
The program was conceived with a business coach, and the partners admit they struggled with its implementation for more than half a year. Now ingrained in their routine, it’s paying dividends in a team that is more focused, creative and fulfilled.
“It’s been nothing but positive,” Humphrey says. “I wish I’d done this 15, 20 years ago. If we can be open and caring amongst ourselves, then it just transfers over to our clients and makes working with them that much easier.”
In addition to the morning greeting, the partners say some specific practices have developed better communication. They include:
* Each vet is responsible for individual staff members and holds a quick 15-minute meeting with each person every week. Staff are asked three questions: What’s going well? What’s not going well? And how can we change and improve things? * The office has adopted a one-minute-manager style of communication. If someone in the hospital thinks another person – including the doctors – has done or said something that’s bothersome, the parties take a private moment to discuss and resolve the issue, instead of letting it fester.
* Each Wednesday, barring an emergency, the hospital closes its doors for a one-hour meeting. All staff members then discuss client issues and any suggestions that have been posted on a bulletin board.
* On Tuesdays, the partners meet with their business coach to discuss the hospital’s imminent expansion plans, as well as issues that have arisen with staff. Notes are compared and ideas studied about how to more effectively train, motivate and best utilize the employees’ varied skills in different areas of the hospital.
Humphrey, a veterinarian since 1982, credits business coaching for creating the improved office practices.
“What I like about it is, it gives a third-party perspective on our business that was outside the day-to-day operation,” Humphrey says.
“The coach has kept us focused as business people . . . because as veterinarians we get engrossed in our job of taking care of pets and communicating with our clients, and though not intentionally, it’s easy to neglect the game plan, business projections and short- and long-term goals.”
Like many busy professionals, Humphrey has always tried to stay abreast of current trends. For years he has attended seminars, returning with good ideas to help his employees and clients.
“If I brought a great idea back that would help our clients and their pets, then we got on it right away because I was trained to help animals,” he says. “But I wasn’t trained to help staff. I could never do the follow-through. I came out of the blocks six million times and didn’t even get over the first hurdle a lot of times.”
Schell graduated in 2002 and became a partner in the business last fall. She says it helps to have three owners committed to a shared business vision, and though she spent eight years in post-secondary education, she, too, acknowledges that her business training was minimal.
Asked how she would have fared if she stepped into her own practice, she’s blunt: “I would have failed.”
While her post-secondary training targeted the sciences, she relishes entrepreneurism and the environment she and her partners are creating.
In a sense, she’s receiving a new education. From a communication perspective she’s been enlightened. Naturally outgoing, she believed that after graduation she would have to shift her focus to become businesslike and adopt a strictly authoritative role.
A quick study, Schell learned it is more important to be a good communicator – and that even bosses are fallible, and need to be held accountable.
She says the one- minute-manager style of communication and the weekly strategy meetings prevent problems from boiling over and have built a heightened sense of trust and camaraderie.
In a busy office, she says, sometimes things are said that are wrong, or perceived to be wrong, and need to be rectified.
And if a staff member feels one of the doctors has been out of line, the doctor is quietly asked to explain what he or she meant – or accept responsibility and apologize.
“If we haven’t done the right thing, we’ll know about it,” Schell says, noting that it’s often the little things that can disrupt an entire office that depends on one another.
“For example, if we (the vets) don’t file our reports on time, it can cause havoc for everyone, starting with the receptionist who has got a call from a client and wants to know what’s wrong with Fluffy. It’s important for all of us to be accountable.”
She stresses that a more open style of communication doesn’t mean the partners have relinquished their power. At the end of the day you still have to be a leader and have authority, Schell summarizes.
“But if staff don’t feel confident to come to you when there’s a big problem, or even a little problem, then I don’t think you can effectively manage a business.”
That’s why she and her partners work hard – doggedly you might say – to communicate with staff and their furry patients.
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