You can’t lead in the dark.
Pause for a moment and think of a few of your favorite leaders. What characteristics did they have? How did they communicate? How did they get people to follow them?
Leaders can’t lead in the dark.
Leadership is visible.
Leadership is taking calculated risks and sharing those results to the team.
Leadership is carrying weight and giving out praise.
Leadership is creating a vision and executing it through people.
Leadership is not a big business concept…leadership is required in every business.
Now, let’s take a moment and think about our own leadership abilities. Are we managing the day to day processes or are we leading? There are many articles and blogs on the differences between management and leadership, so I will stay away from that comparison chart. We know leadership is different than management and critical to success, but how do we apply that to an Animal Hospital?
Empowerment. Leading an Animal Hospital is empowering your people through communication, through standard operating procedures, through quality standards, through delegation, and through promotion. You have to be the leader by being visible, competent, directional, firm in your beliefs, and humble. Empower People to complete tasks to make the VISION reality.
Nuts and bolts.
Set Standards and hold people to those standards. Be fair and consistent with your regulation. Don’t break the rules for some. Have respect of people and the rules you create.
Elevate people in public and coach privately. Many people get embarrassed by public criticism, including me. I see it very often in the clinics I have visited where someone coaches a person in public, in front of a peer, or worse, in front of a client.
Promote outstanding performers through meaningful rewards. Talk to your team individually…what motivates them? How would they like to be rewarded? Make rewards personal because you now know what gets them excited.
Delegate. Delegate. Delegate.
Communicate with your staff regularly - let them know what you envision for the clinic. Allow their input and thank them for wanting to be part of this “living” clinic. A living clinic is one that changes with time adapting to the environment, molding to what the community and clients need.
Have regular team meetings with guest speakers who are masters of their subject. Leadership is creating leaders.
People, especially Millennials, like to be “promoted” in title. At our clinic, we would have titles such as Senior Technician and Senior Boarding Specialist for those who proved to us that they could help (remember…delegate!) coach newer or less experienced employees.
All of these above mentioned actions create dedication. Dedication to you, the clinic and the customers. You will retain your best talent by leading and showing them what leadership is truly about. There is an old quote, “People don’t leave companies. They leave managers.” My clinic didn’t pay the most, but we had the best talent.
I believe in action items. So you have homework. Tonight, I want you to think about what type of leader you want to be. Visualize your clinic, your team, and yourself in a leadership run environment, versus the daily rut and management of processes. Finally, take those thoughts, put them on paper, and create a dynamic plan that will be shared with the team. Dare to take the risk of being humble.
Mark Pollack
CEO/ Senior Consultant
The Vet Doctors, LLC.
Prescribing Business Solutions
www.thevetdoctors.com
(904) 304-6154