As the president of VHMA, I don’t have a private plane or even a fancy office. My office is far from oval-shaped; it resembles the administrative center of the hospital, filled with supplies and equipment for which we don’t have a better storage location. But that’s alright because the holiday season is here…
Like you, this month, we are ending a fiscal year and planning for the upcoming year simultaneously. It is my time to reflect on the highs and lows of 2024 and set realistic resolutions for myself and my team.
One resolution has been inspired by a VHMA regional meeting I attended in the past featuring Josh Vaisman, author of Lead to Thrive (an excellent resource written by a veterinary manager for veterinary managers)
Josh wrote, "Positive leaders cultivate a positive culture in their practices with intentionality and routine, avoiding culture by accident. Positive leaders understand their capacity for change and impact how they influence the wellbeing possibilities of the people they lead."
Wellbeing leadership, I have to say, is a great concept when put into practice. By definition, it refers to a leadership style where "prioritizing the mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing of employees is a primary focus, actively creating a work environment that supports and encourages employee satisfaction and overall wellbeing, considering it just as important as achieving business goals; essentially, leaders actively work to ensure their team feels supported and capable of thriving in their roles.”
Sounds good, right? And, for those of you saying, "OK, but where's the data to support all this," Josh has the answers. His book cites the following:
If you have a positive culture, you benefit from the following:
• 59% less turnover
• 10% higher client ratings
• 21% greater profitability.
• Increased engagement by upward 30% could result in 2.5 times more revenue.
Not yet convinced. There are even more reasons to create a positive work culture, according to Josh:
• Up to 86% more employee job satisfaction,
• 64% reduction in burnout among team members.
• Strong increases in standardized business performance
• Plus…Increased client spending, decreased employee absenteeism, improved creativity and innovation within the team.
I am not going to kid you; the pathway toward wellbeing leadership is a challenging one. Measuring wellbeing is hard because it is intangible. Wellbeing is subject to change since good days sometimes end up bad and vice versa. As managers, we are focused on having goals, outcomes, and benchmarks to help us manage our hospitals. This we know how to do. Assessing the culture is a bit vaguer.
Luckily, in "Lead to Thrive," Josh gave me the roadmap to help create a happy, engaged, resilient veterinary team. I latched on to his four P’s of positive leadership - so much so that I intend to use my downtime over the holidays to reflect on bringing them to fruition in my practice in 2025.
If you haven't read the book, those P's are:
Psychological Safety – creating a safe space for voice
Purpose – enabling meaningful work experiences
Path – celebrating and developing strengths
Partnership – cultivating inclusion and belonging
It sounds like the environment we all want to work in, right? So, while we examine the numbers, data, and KPIs we know so well, let’s also resolve to incorporate those Ps into our practices in 2025.
Happy Holidays to all!
Scott Zimmerman, BFA, CVPM
VHMA President
#PracticePulse