Veterinary Leadership Applying Emotional Intelligence (Rob Best)

About our guest on Vet Life Reimagined: Rob Best is a certified expert in Neuroleadership, the science-based field centered around emotional intelligence. His work focuses on increasing the emotional and psychological safety within professional environments to help attract, retain, and develop talent. 

He has been a world explorer, trekking six of the seven continents and is the CEO of a global nonprofit supporting teenage entrepreneurs in over 30 countries. 

Rob holds two bachelor's degrees: Bussiness and Organizational Communication. He earned his CVvPM and is a licensed expert in body language, statement analysis, and deception detection. Rob has worked in the veterinary field for over 15 years and is here to share his knowledge and experience with us including practical tips you can start using today. 

In this episode:

• Your intentions are connected to your body language: be congruent and authentic
• Two elements of EQ are self-awareness & self-regulation
• Right to fight; left to love
• Impact at work no matter your level of veterinary leadership
• Surprising information about feedback

Resources
Rob's website Bestleadership
Rob on LinkedIn
Episode on YouTube

Book Recommendations Related to Today’s Conversation:

·       “You Say More than You Think” - Janine Drive

·       "Honest Answers" - Lena Sisco

·       “Emotional Intelligence” - Daniel Goleman

·       “Nonviolent Communication” - Marshall Rosenberg

·       "Radical Collaboration” - Jim Tamm & Ronald Luyet

·       “Dare to Lead” – Brene Brown

Transcript

Megan Sprinkle: [00:00:00] Welcome to Vet Life Reimagined, another unique episode for you, in that our guest is not a veterinary professional but has worked in the veterinary industry for over 15 years in a very unique way. It actually started with a challenge, but our guest, Rob Best, is a behavioral science expert focusing in leadership and positive impact.

Megan Sprinkle: He has been a mentee and friend of some of the big greats in these areas like Tom Drucker and Janine Driver, which has allowed him to work in multiple industries. But he started to bring his unique skills to veterinary medicine in 2009 and has loved it ever since. In this episode, we'll talk about what emotional intelligence really means and how we can learn practical tips to make sure our influence is positive.

Megan Sprinkle: We discuss how our body language gives us away, how we can learn to be more self aware and improve our self regulation and how you, no matter the level of your authority can make a positive impact in your work culture. Rob gives you tips on how to relieve stress quickly and how to feel more confident.

Megan Sprinkle: Such a [00:01:00] great conversation. So let's get to it with Rob Best.

Megan Sprinkle: You don't have the typical background of a lot of our guests that are on Vet Life Reimagined. And so what was your life and in your vision for yourself, your dreams before you stumbled into the veterinary industry?

Rob Best: You know, it's pretty interesting. I just came from a career fair for an intermediate school and I didn't know what to talk about. There was another table that was there for veterinary medicine. And I remember being their age and having no idea what I wanted to do. Got into high school, had no idea what I wanted to do.

Rob Best: Got into college, had no idea what I wanted to do. Right. I was good with a basketball though. So it paid for an education and I at least understood what good decision making was right through some good mentorship and, parenting. And, so I kept playing basketball. It got me through college. I kept playing after college [00:02:00] and still had no idea what I wanted to do.

Rob Best: I just knew that I didn't want to sit behind a desk. So at some point I met somebody who worked in the world of consulting and they offered me an opportunity to receive some mentorship and work on some projects that happened to relate to leadership and behavioral sciences and And the very first project happened to be in human medicine.

Rob Best: And I really enjoyed the process of learning how to help people have a positive influence on other individuals, on teams, and seeing organizational results. That came from that. So that was my entry into what a working world looked like for me. And just as I was getting my feet wet and starting to really understand what I was doing and beginning to do it somewhat, well, I met somebody who worked in the veterinary industry.

Rob Best: [00:03:00] And they said, you knowI think you might enjoy working in this field. Have you ever given it a thought? And this became a four year long conversation of which they offered me a job a couple of times and I said, no. And then they recognized how to reverse engineer. my thought process and instead of asking, they offered me a challenge and they said, you know, I don't, I don't think you could do, what you do successfully with a group of veterinary doctors in an animal hospital.

Rob Best: And now, so now it's a challenge. And I said, okay, well, Let's go for one year and see if this works. And that was 15 years ago. Here we are. 

Megan Sprinkle: No, that says a lot about you too that you're one of the ones that likes the challenge approach, which is, I think that can be good. It can be fun. what I love that you do, even when you first started and when you were seeing the impact of positive influence on an organization and how that was your [00:04:00] spark of, Oh, wow, this is cool. That. Can translate to so many different industries. Like you said, you started human medicine.

Megan Sprinkle: We're talking about veterinary medicine, but you also consult with very different organizations. You've mentioned working more on like a government. level as well. So what are some of your experiences, just kind of looking at the diversity of how a lot of the things that you talk about, leadership, positive impact, are influential and are so cross functionally relevant.

Rob Best: it's human behavior is human behavior. And, and I of course operate in the world of, of sanity. So I don't blur the lines. I'm not a psychologist or a psychotherapist. I'm not a mental health professional. I'm someone who has learned the neuroscience of human behavior specifically and how it's applied to the world of leadership and leadership development.

Rob Best: There was a very [00:05:00] unique moment where I also received an introduction. To a woman named Janine driver. She's a fascinating person to look up, especially women, any women leaders who have an interest in where some additional resources, Google Janine driver, and Janine is a former, operative with the ATF.

Rob Best: And she turned her ATF career as a secondary career into this world of body language, statement analysis, language theory, deception detection, and she became world renowned. Her first two books were both New York Times bestsellers. she's the person you would see on television. She became buddy buddy with Anderson Cooper and she was on NBC today and all these other programs, right?

Rob Best: See a regular on CNN and somebody introduced us. They thought that there was a possible chemistry and they were right. [00:06:00] So I, I became a student of Janine's and then a mentee of Janine's and then a friend and now a colleague. So from time to time I get to ride Janine's coattails and And gain access to her network and some of the work that she does.

Rob Best: And this includes people like another incredible woman leader named Lena Sisko, who's the former interrogator from Guantanamo Bay. she was the one who was interrogating the Taliban after 9-11. And this is a naval intelligence officer who was trained by the Marines by association with people like Janine and Lena.

Rob Best: Now we're talking about government intelligence and human influence, reading, and influencing human behavior at a very high level. So after becoming more of a friend and then a colleague with people like Janine and Lena, I was learning how to bridge these high level. [00:07:00] Human behaviors with influencing business leadership and in veterinary medicine, it simply made conversations a little easier for me because I was able to understand one, what was behind the behaviors and two, how to bridge what would be a teaching moment.

Rob Best: For leaders to understand a little bit more about themselves and what their behaviors might be telling and how to regulate behavior. So they have a positive influence on the individual or the team that they're responsible for. So through Lena and Janine and that world. It just opened doors for all sorts of other industries, you know, beginning with theirs and in government.

Rob Best: And then for me, it ends up translating into, gosh, transportation engineers or, office design companies or, architecture firms. and [00:08:00] then of course, when it comes to just one on one working with a leader, industries, are you a leader?

Rob Best: Are you an executive leader? Are you looking to grow your leadership capabilities? Now we can toss out any industry altogether and just. Discuss well, one on one, what are our behaviors, mean? how are we influencing? What can we do to be more intentional, et cetera. So that time period where I got to spend some quality time early on with Janine, was incredible.

Rob Best: And now I get to be her backup. You know, she has a TV gig and she's double booked. I get the call. So if people like the crime TV stuff, you know, tune into court TV at 8 PM Eastern from time to time. And you'll see me on there profiling criminals, or at least criminal suspects and celebrities who might be in the news from time to time.

Megan Sprinkle: And then you also work with veterinarians. I, again, I think these human skills, [00:09:00] the understanding body language and how that influences just the people around you, whether it's at work or at home, right? It applies because we're all humans. And I think that's really exciting. I want to go back to what you said.

Megan Sprinkle: You said someone. you weren't the one with the idea of coming into the vet industry. Someone came to you and tease the idea. So first of all, I'm going to call out that individual because how wonderful that they were able to see this opportunity for the vet industry. But do you mind sharing?

Megan Sprinkle: What was it specifically that they were interested? Like, what was the challenge? What were they trying to accomplish? 

Rob Best: Well, I'll, I'll say there, there's one layer here that, is worthy of, of disclosing which the person in veterinary medicine had a background in youth education. I happen to work in, a nonprofit area of my life as well with teenage entrepreneurs.

Rob Best: So the [00:10:00] original introduction was, Hey, you both support kids. And you might have some chemistry there. That's where our conversation began as it quickly evolved. The challenge was veterinary medicine is evolving and the business of veterinary medicine is becoming more mature. There might be an opportunity for the industry to begin recognizing people with business backgrounds, As a value add, if we can create opportunities for them to enter our industry in a successful manner.

Rob Best: So can someone with a business background and no veterinary knowledge or, or education into our industry in a way that allows them to learn the language, learn the culture, not just of a hospital, but really of the industry. And then also [00:11:00] become effective with their business leadership. And of course, everything from your academic basics, your spreadsheets and your PNLs and to the actual people leadership side, that was his original thinking.

Rob Best: he, for whatever reason thought I might be that test subject. If someone from the world of business can be effective in our industry without industry experience, I think. Let's test that theory. Let's record the experiences that occur. And if it works, maybe we can replicate this and create a model that invites people into our industry to help support the business side while we practice quality medicine.

Rob Best: So there, there was more of a full, chapter to that story, if you would. 

Megan Sprinkle: Yeah, no, that makes great sense. And you are a hundred percent accurate. It just continues to be more and more true today, the evolution of veterinary medicine, business models are [00:12:00] changing and evolving. Awareness of innovation and just change in general is all here.

Megan Sprinkle: And I think more and more people are embracing it, understanding whether they like it or not, I don't know, but they're embracing it because they know it's here. So, what did you find? I mean, if you were the business person, what were you finding out about veterinary medicine and that relationship between leadership business and the medical side of things?

Rob Best: I found a lot of things. First of all, it wasn't a one year entry for me. I fell in love with it within months, mostly because of the people, the animals are the easy part, Right.  I'm an avid amateur wildlife photographer. I've done that for decades and. I've always had animals in my life.

Rob Best: I was the person that gravitated to the animal instead of the other people. So, I had that part was already ingrained in me. It wasn't a necessary part of the conversation. The people part was [00:13:00] unknown and unexpected. passion and the desire that people have. In this industry is what really captivated me.

Rob Best: and that that was the first few months that were easy to lean into and fall in love with. Maybe after the first full year I began to understand a little about the industry, but it was two or three years before I could really speak with some sort of confidence that, okay, I'm starting to get it now, even at that point, it was like, I'm just really learning, however, my confidence was beginning to grow.

Rob Best: And one of the significant components that I recognized. That influenced me in addition to the people piece was the part that was lacking for people, which was the leadership. And this is from hospital leadership where we know the history of the model, right? The person who was there longest is the next person up.[00:14:00] 

Rob Best: And it's not true in all the hospitals today. But that's still the history. And so, we have people in leadership positions, whether they're leads, tech managers, CSR managers, or hospital managers or hospital administrators who grew up in the hospital. there's still a lack of consistency for, academic education in business and leadership or a formalized process to help develop their leadership talents of which they have.

Rob Best: They've got the talents, however, they haven't perhaps had access or haven't known where the access is for resources and developing those talents. And then the other piece of course, is the doctor. You're a doctor in a hospital, whether you like it or not, You are a leader comes with the territory and most doctors today understand that it doesn't mean that they've received the education or the development.

Rob Best: However, they understand that I'd say much better today than even just 10 years [00:15:00] ago. There, there's a better understanding that that's a, that that's reality. And it was a massive gap. Maybe the most challenging work that I did in those first couple of years was helping to bridge Doctors with leadership skills and capabilities so they can help positively influence the teams around them for the results they were most interested in gaining, whether it was a more proactive team or being able to go home on time at the end of the day or anything in between.

Rob Best: So that for me, and of course I'm biased because my work was in leadership. However, that was a really big gap that I recognized early on. 

Megan Sprinkle: And along with leadership, like you said, there's understanding body language and how things impact people. What are some of the top things that you could kind of bucket of like, these are the things that we worked on. So for [00:16:00] example, maybe emotional intelligence. So what are some things that you worked on that has a language behind it? And what does that look like for veterinary medicine? 

Rob Best: you're right.It's, it's, this was hard to summarize. I'll give context and then I'll, give a couple low hanging pieces of fruit to grab onto. And we can see where we go from there. And the context is this, on average, we miss 70 percent of the information that's available to us. Every day, just, us being human, we are missing 70 percent of the information available to us.

Rob Best: Okay. So let's, say we now know that statistic and some moments during some days, we can now become a little more aware what's around us and with the awareness of what's around us, we can also become more intentional with how we're responding to that environment, whether it's the temperature or the person or the dog next step is.

Rob Best: Think of a [00:17:00] tree, and the roots of this tree are equivalent to our intentions. The trunk of this tree is equivalent to our body language. Our intentions are always, 100 percent of the time, seen in our body language. It cannot be masked. The branches of the tree are equivalent to our thoughts. And the leaves are equivalent to our words.

Rob Best: And sometimes those leaves are big and bright and beautiful. And sometimes they fall to the ground and mean nothing. The thoughts can waver and go in different directions and sometimes multiple directions off of one line. But that trunk is what stays consistent and is always connected to our intentions.

Rob Best: So if we're aware of that environment, we're a little more aware of the temperature, the people, the pets, with this awareness, what are my intentions? Are my intentions to help this person feel more comfortable? [00:18:00] Is it to help this dog feel more fear free? Is it to lighten the temperature in the room for the group of people?

Rob Best: Whatever those intentions are, they're going to be seen in your body language, which will include if you feel really frustrated and you just don't want to be there and you're toughing your way through it, Go have a moment in the mirror and leave that moment in the mirror and go have a more authentic moment with your team.

Rob Best: If we're talking about somebody who's in leadership and it's your responsibility to have a positive influence in that environment. So step one, know that your intentions are directly connected to your body language and you can't fake it. The reason that's important is if you try to fake it and you don't release that someplace else, if the intentions aren't where they need to be as a leader, then what's gonna occur is you will use positive language.

Rob Best: You'll use positive words, but you will be incongruent with your behaviors, [00:19:00] and the average person may not know exactly what it is that's off, but something's gonna feel off, right? They're gonna, have what I like to call their, BS barometer will go off. Okay. And again, they won't know what it is, but they know something just doesn't feel right.

Rob Best: And sometimes it might be as simple as when someone says, you know, did you, did you have a great weekend? You know, tell me about your weekend. And you say, yeah, you know, the weekend was amazing. It was one of the best weekends I've had in a long time. My words are saying yes. And my body's saying, no, there's a lack of congruency and I might be completely unaware of it when in reality it was an awful weekend.

Rob Best: I needed one more day of rest. I don't want to be back in the hospital right now. I want to be here and support you, but I need one more day before I'm here. That's what my real intentions are trying to say. Yeah, everything is good, but it's not good. Right? Like I can't mask that. I can't fake it. So that's the first step.

Rob Best: Just be aware and be congruent. Understand that your intentions are connected. So [00:20:00] be cautious and be authentic. The next step is, yeah, along the lines of emotional intelligence, awareness is the first of those five components. We just addressed that being aware and more regulated with your behaviors. Well, that's the second part of emotional intelligence.

Rob Best: It's it's now that I'm self aware, how do I self regulate? Some of these easy body language opportunities to self regulate just keeping, mindfulness of start with our, our hands, some of us are more animated and we speak with our hands and some are not. Some of us fidget, some don't like we, we have a difference of baselines.

Rob Best: We're all just a little different However, beyond those initial norms, let's be aware of some specific movements that affect people around us. Again, especially if you are a person in leadership or if you are a doctor, because your behaviors are much more polarizing.

Rob Best: when we want to make a point, sometimes we get excited and, and we might say, okay, but wait, wait, wait, [00:21:00] listen to what comes next. This right here, this is my right hand. and this is something that you can remember. It's called right to fight, left to love, right to fight, left to love. When you get excited and you, you turn with your right hand, you lead with your right shoulder and you start pushing down.

Rob Best: This is very aggressive. Even if it's excited and you're smiling, this is, you can even feel like, look right in the camera. If you're looking at right, like even without words. You can feel the aggression here. Be cautious with these palms down gestures. The right hand, this is right to fight. It's very aggressive.

Rob Best: You see this a lot with people on TV when they're being, interrogated or when reporters are asking them tough questions. Look at the politicians that are coming up with all of these elections this year. Watch when they really get challenged at the podium, how many of them go right to fight when they really feel challenged.

Rob Best: They say, look, let me tell you what's what. Right? The left to love. This is the switch. Instead of going palms down, either right to fight aggressive, or maybe even when you get a [00:22:00] compliment, you say, Oh, stop it. You literally push the compliments away. Like, no, we want to reverse that. Give an open palm, right?

Rob Best: Invite compliments in and go full switch from right to fight to left to love. If we want to introduce information or invite information in a welcoming manner that is felt with total congruency. It's left to love. It's an open palm. That's inviting in and the love piece. This is my left side of the body.

Rob Best: We're literally leaning from our heart. intentions, body language are connected without knowing it. Our bodies will turn right when we're aggressive, they'll turn left when we are accepting something that might be in a, loving state of friendliness, if you will, so right to fight left to love.

Rob Best: Those are quick, easy wins for us. one more little one and then we can go wherever direction we'd like from here is, I mentioned when we get excited, if you want to know if someone is really excited versus they're pretending to be excited, [00:23:00] if they're standing up and anyone who's watching next time you stand up, you do this, you'll, you'll, feel it right away, a natural movement that most of us will do if we're capable of standing and, our feet are in good health, we rise up on our toes.

Rob Best: We get really excited. Like, oh my gosh, that was so cool. Did you see that? Right? And the one thing about body language is you can't unsee it. So this little moment right here, if this is all you take from today, right to fight left to love. And when somebody gets excited, I guarantee in the next 24 hours, you're going to see it.

Rob Best: And you're gonna say, oh my gosh, that guy robbed from Dr. Sprinkle’s. Like that's that thing they were talking about. You can't unsee it. It's so cool. I love that. I had heard about the palms up is more of a welcoming, trust move is the palms up, but I like the left hand too. Cause I always feel awkward, like what am I supposed to do like this?

Megan Sprinkle: So I like the [00:24:00] left hand. I like that a lot. And, and you're right. You can, even when somebody walks into a room, just like, You know, I'm going to more doctor's appointments right now. So, I mean, you can just tell if the doctor is coming in and she's, um, same doctor, but I've seen her multiple ways of where she's got 30 plus cases that day.

Megan Sprinkle: And so you can just feel her stress coming in. And I think what you said to you when we were chatting before was that self regulation aspect of. Emotional intelligence is actually the hardest part for people to usually get and which is interesting because I've also heard people talk about how many people have lack of self awareness.

Megan Sprinkle: So thinking about, oh, goodness, it gets harder and self regulation. But it is really, really important. So, those little memory tricks that can kind of help us, because I think too, and correct me if I'm wrong, but sometimes if we physically do something, it can [00:25:00] help us, get more in the mindset.

Megan Sprinkle: So for example, what I think about is, um, and this works for women or men, I think, but they often say it with women. If you're trying to boost up your confidence, like right before a meeting or an interview, go into the bathroom and do the superwoman pose, right? So there's something about that physical movement that kind of naturally helps us Get congruent with also the intentions. Is that also something you see? Is that something that we can start practicing as well the reason why I wanted to talk about this is it's hard when you're in the middle of a really stressful environment sometimes to. Get congruent to get that right intention that you really want.

Rob Best: You really want to express caring concern for the client, the pet, but you've got a lot going on. and so how can we help ourselves kind of release? Cause you talked about that to find a way to release it. [00:26:00] Well, what about if that's hard? What about if it's hard to find a place to release? Like what are some of these things that we can do that kind of help help with 

Rob Best: So happy you ask that because it is hard, there's ebbs and flows in life that are inevitable. And some days are just hard. We get it. And, and I, I start with let's give ourselves a little grace, just, just begin there, give ourselves a little grace. I said earlier, we, we miss 70 percent of the information that's available to us on average every day.

Rob Best: Right. So in terms of self awareness and self regulation. The moment that a leader might come to me and say, you know, I'm a pretty self aware person. That's a red flag for me. That tells me that you're probably not a self aware person. The self aware person understands that there are blind spots everywhere.

Rob Best: And my attempt at being self aware is going to grow by stating, yeah, I have blind spots. And I'm seeking feedback. That's a self aware leader. So let's just start with [00:27:00] give ourselves some grace. We're missing 70 percent of information daily. So it's, okay. The second piece, people don't need us to be perfect.

Rob Best: They need us to be authentic. So when we're walking into that exam room and we're emotionally spent. It's okay. You don't need to be perfect for that client. You simply need to be authentic when we walk into that, meeting at the end of the day with that employee who really needs some quality coaching.

Rob Best: We know they mean well, however. They need some coaching. If they're really going to step up tomorrow and I'm drained, how am I going to gather the energy necessary to have this coaching conversation that's going to benefit us both and the hospital? But where am I going to dig up this right again? That employee doesn't need you to be perfect.

Rob Best: He or she needs you to be authentic. And one of the best places we can begin with our [00:28:00] authenticity is by simply stating our intentions. So even if the intentions aren't aligned perfectly with how we feel, that's okay. Right? Like emotions are emotions. They come and go. The intention becomes something we can state.

Rob Best: So when I'm walking into that exam room and I'm mentally spent, I can share with the client. I am so happy that I get to sit down in this room with you for the next few minutes and your puppy and not have the noise of everything else. I'm so happy to just be here with one person and one dog. this is a great place for me to be for the next 10 minutes or the next five minutes.

Rob Best: That's great. You're stating where you're at. My intention is this, In our interaction and i'm going to ask you some questions. I hope to find whatever it is. We need to help Bentley feel better today. I hope to find whatever it is we need to [00:29:00] help, Preston and you go home happy and healthy, right?

Rob Best: We're stating the intention. We're not ignoring the fact that we're tired or completely depleted. However, we're still putting on the table what our intentions are and that's okay. so give yourself some grace. It's okay to lack a little bit of awareness. We all lack it. And the regulation part, just start by stating those intentions up front and, for the people in positions of leadership, you know, where the, environment is appropriate, you can also state what you're feeling, what the emotions are, you know, I'm really excited to be here.

Rob Best: it's been a long day. It's the end of my day. I'm a little tired and I'm so happy to see your puppy. Puppy is what exactly what I needed at the end of my day, right? state your intentions. You can also share those, emotions. You're going to sit down to the sensitive conversation with your, [00:30:00] with your employee and your intentions that you state.

Rob Best: You know, this is going to be a conversation that, I believe will benefit both of us and the hospital. And I'm, my purpose for this is to really help support you in these next steps. and I've got to say, and this can go either way. And you can, you can use both. I'm really excited to have the conversation because I see the positive outcomes that are going to come of it, or I'm really uncertain about this conversation.

Rob Best: Because I'm seeing positive outcomes and yet I'm not sure if you're going to see them as quickly. And so I'm a little nervous because I don't want this to be a negative experience for you. I really want this to be a positive and supporting experience, You can state those emotions along with your intentions and then navigate the conversation.

Rob Best: Oftentimes what's going to occur, especially if there's a little uncertainty with your approach and you disclose that, what oftentimes occurs is the other person. Or [00:31:00] small group of people, perhaps they end up extending additional grace and understanding for the conversation that's to come, whether it's an exam or a coaching conversation, that's where I'd begin.

Megan Sprinkle: Yeah. Oh goodness. When you were talking about that, I also see on a much bigger scale, how helpful that would be if a leader starts with my intention is truly to. Build more community or that I care about you, even though I'm a little bit nervous about sharing this information or something like that.

Megan Sprinkle: there is a little bit of humanizing it, but not in a negative way. It is more. And I, I opened instead of closed when I hear that. And so Honestly, even in our, I think of our personal relationships too. I think we forget that sometimes we get a little, I hate to say lazy, but you know, we're, we're tired and we know them, they love us.

Megan Sprinkle: Right. And we just start saying stuff, but I think it's really helpful to, may be reminding ourselves, [00:32:00] but also, you know, letting other people know, genuinely, this is where I want this to go. Like, this is what my intentions are for this. Yeah. May not be an easy conversation. Maybe it's a great conversation.

Megan Sprinkle: I don't know, to be so transparent with that, it helps because other things about humans is if you don't give us the whole piece of information or the whole story, we naturally will fill in the gaps and we rarely bring in the happy rainbows and butterflies to fill in the gaps. We usually go to the worst case scenario when we fill in the gaps.

Megan Sprinkle: So it's really better to. Go ahead and say your intentions instead of us assuming them, which again, more often than not, they're usually in the negative direction. So again, I just see how helpful that can be from any type of leadership, big, small, if you're one on one with a client or, you know, leading an entire large veterinary organization.

Rob Best: you know, you're spot on. And I've got to [00:33:00] say, and I don't, I didn't say at the beginning. So I'm gonna say now, thank you also, by the way, for, having me on and having this conversation. I knew when we first got a chance to meet that the conversation would flow well and easy, and I was excited and here we are.

Rob Best: And it's, and it's exactly unfolding in that way. And I cannot extend enough appreciation for how spot on you are. You know, our, brains have five very specific, neurologic necessities when it comes to social environments. And one of those necessities is certainty. when we, get a present that might be wrapped, some of us might grab that present.

Rob Best: What do we do? We shake it maybe. Right. As long as it's not, you know, something barking or meowing, you know, we'll grab it, we'll shake it because our brains initial thought is, well, what is it? Our brains crave certainty. And when we don't have it, that's exactly what happens. What you say, our brains [00:34:00] fill gaps.

Rob Best: And they fill the gaps with that reptilian part of the brain, which is rooted in survival. why does that translate into some of the more worst case scenarios? Well, because that's what the survival brain is doing. It's trying to protect us. So what is the worst so that we can back away and create some safe distance?

Rob Best: that's not a learned behavior. It's simply the way we're wired. So from a leadership perspective, if we can understand that we can nurture our team's need for levels of certainty. Through our transparent communication, hence self disclose, right? This is our Brene Brown moment of the day from dare to lead, you know, self disclose, be vulnerable, put that vulnerability on display as a leader.

Rob Best: And you'll be. Hopefully not overly amazed. Hopefully there'll be some, some warm expectations and the positive responses you get from your [00:35:00] team.

Megan Sprinkle:  And you have been in the veterinary industry 15 plus years. So of all of your veterinary experience, is there a particular story that stands out to you that kind of demonstrates some of what we've talked about when it comes to leadership, success, trying new things, anything like that?

Rob Best: You know, yeah, there's one that stands out to me, which is a mistake that I made, and I was giving a communications talk for a small group, it was a variety, this was one of the, the larger companies, and it was a mix from, field executives, To high ranking, large animal hospital administrators to medical directors.

Rob Best: And then we had a mix of licensed techs, veterinary assistants, CSRs, front office managers, like it was a wide array, wide mix of people. And in these conversations, we would go on a few tangents. One [00:36:00] of them led down this. Discovery conversation about the reception area of the future. And we were becoming a little more radical with the ideas.

Rob Best: One of them being, which I shared, I see an animal hospital future with reception areas. They have no desk. You know, desks are there for administrative work. Give me one reason why administrative work is necessary in the sight of clients. Clients don't need to see that, right? The reception area is for a client to be welcomed into the hospital, to have a safe space for them to maybe wait until an exam room is ready, and then to be escorted or guided into the exam room with their pet.

Rob Best: that's the reception area. And the way I articulated it, I was really excited because I thought, wow, that would be so cool if the reception area was someplace [00:37:00] else for the admin work to be done and the reception area for clients was just dedicated to clients and pets, Eliminating, physical obstacles, open space, of course, a cat area here, a dog area there, maybe a bird area there.

Rob Best: Like this would be so cool. I was really excited about it. The mistake I made was this. I lost the self-awareness. In the room for my level of influence, I'm already in a position of leadership by the perception from the room. I'm now the person standing at the front of the room, which elevates my perceived position of leadership.

Rob Best: And I'm speaking with a high level of excitement and confidence, which is polarizing my field of perceived leadership. So at this moment, my influence is very high and I lost all self-awareness. Hence, I also [00:38:00] lost my ability to self-regulate because I just went down this route. When we broke for a restroom break, I learned that one of the client service representatives who was in the meeting, she was off on the side crying and I didn't know why.

Rob Best: What I later learned was she believed that the veterinary industry and that company specifically Was going to begin eliminating CSR positions because they're no longer necessary for welcoming clients, which was the most favorite part of her job. And she loved what she saw in her career for many years, being a CSR who gets to welcome clients and their pets.

Rob Best: And I, for that moment, flipped her world upside down because she thought her dream was being removed from her simply because I got excited on a topic and lost my own self [00:39:00] awareness. So, hindsight for leaders, be aware of the level of influence you have. Your words and your behaviors affect people. the moment we forget that can be the moment that we cause unintentional harm.

Rob Best: That's one that stands out for sure. 

Megan Sprinkle: Yeah, I bet. Well, and I think that also goes to show the communication aspect of it too, is we may think that we know a lot about our particular area, no matter how many years we've been in it. There are so many people involved, though, that have different thoughts and perspectives that it is very valuable to.

Megan Sprinkle: Get that perspective. And when you first talked about it, I was like, wow, that does sound very interesting. But you're right. Like, do we also lose a piece of what is special by doing that? and I love that you, you didn't mention your role with supporting young entrepreneurs. And I think that's [00:40:00] also something to think about when it comes to change or entrepreneurship or innovation I'm one of those that I get excited about new ideas and I'm one of them.

Megan Sprinkle: Sometimes I'll go off on ideas. But we also have to come back and say, you know, change can be really good for those of us who like innovation and change. But what is it maybe that makes us special? Like, what is it that it keeps us unique? And I think the way to understand that is often to talk to everybody in the hospital to kind of understand that perspective and bring everybody along with us.

Megan Sprinkle: So, You know, expressing our intention, but also making sure that we take that time to listen to everybody else's perspective to so everybody gets to come along as well. 

Rob Best: Yep. Again, your wise, perhaps even beyond your, leadership influence today. Because when we think about how to help people feel like they are valued. Like their voice matters when you're in a position of leadership [00:41:00] again, here's some of the low hanging fruit things we can apply today and you'll see positive effects. If you host a hospital meeting in the next couple of weeks, make one commitment. If you don't already do this, make one commitment. This is for every hospital manager.

Rob Best: department manager who might lead a portion of the meeting, every doctor who attends the meeting. When you introduce a topic, whether it's a change or not, just a topic that you introduce. And part of the introduction includes you need to share some information before you share whatever your thoughts or perspectives are, or whatever the information may be.

Rob Best: Ask for feedback from the rest of the team first, and just pause and wait. Hear their voices. Maybe it will influence what you say next. Maybe not. Either way, that's not the purpose. The purpose is hear their voices. Give them a platform [00:42:00] and encourage them. It doesn't mean all of them are going to speak up.

Rob Best: Some may, some may not. It's okay if they don't. Don't force them, but give them the opportunity. Just ask for feedback first. Then interject whatever the information is, whether it's leading to a new protocol in the hospital, a new standard operating procedure, it's we're preparing for our next AAHA inspection, whatever it happens to be, lean in with asking your team's feedback first.

Rob Best: Hear their voices, help them feel the value that you know they bring to the hospital. 

Megan Sprinkle: And I think it comes right back to also it helps with our self-awareness too is getting that feedback, we don't always get it. We miss 70 percent of the information and sometimes we need people to help us know the pieces that we are missing.

Megan Sprinkle: And so Sometimes people do voluntarily give you that feedback and may not always be welcomed at the time, so it's probably better to go ahead and be interested in the feedback [00:43:00] and ask for it so that you can one, go back to that self awareness. But again, also, that's also a listening piece.

Megan Sprinkle: It's also an inclusive piece to bring everybody along with you. So there's a lot of good pieces to feedback. And I have learned over time because I have, I've been a person that. Maybe to a fault has been interested in feedback and wanting to know, am I doing this right? Am I doing this a good job?

Megan Sprinkle: You know, but there are some people that have a negative connotation with the word feedback, and I hope that we can change that. It's not a negative thing. It does not mean feedback does not equate to reprimand. It is really information. Feedback should be information. There's the, the saying feedback is a gift.

Megan Sprinkle: it's not always the nicest to hear gift, if it requires, us to work on certain things, but, but man, I would much rather, this is what I've always said. I would much rather learn it as soon as possible than for somebody to tell me a year later. Oh yeah. You're, you're like, you've been this for a year.

Megan Sprinkle: It's like. [00:44:00] Well, why didn't you tell me that I could have worked? I think that's a, it's always been a helpful piece to maybe another actionable thing that people can work on to kind of close some of these, these things we've talked about. 

Rob Best: It is it's a tough topic. It really is a tough topic. yes, feedback is a gift We get it. So let's start here for a moment when I say this those who are unaware of this you're going to get it the moment you hear it If you've ever been in a position of leadership where it was your responsibility to give feedback, especially if this was a coaching conversation or maybe a performance review with detailing a behavior that needs to change, you're going to understand this.

Rob Best: The moment I say it, the levels of anxiety. For a feedback conversation are higher for the giver than the receiver, For the listeners, we'll say one more time in a feedback conversation. The anxiety is higher for the giver than the [00:45:00] receiver. We know the feedback we're about to give someone, and if there's a chance, it might be Not received well, at least initially what it does to us creates levels of anxiety and maybe some stress that makes it even more difficult to lean into the conversation.

Rob Best: what do we do about that? Like, how do we get into these conversations without finding the need to hire a consultant that needs to come in to help us? Facilitate this. Well, start here. You want to create a culture of requesting feedback. So, Dr. Sprinkle, something you literally just mentioned that you do frequently, the leadership in the hospital needs to adopt that action with a consistency and over a period of time.

Rob Best: And if you do it well over the course of maybe three plus months, you'll start seeing some shifts six [00:46:00] plus months. You might start seeing some new regularity with a new behavior. After nine plus months of leaders in the hospital requesting feedback, You'll start seeing a more, specific cultural shift to people being more accepting of feedback conversations.

Rob Best: And again, the idea is creating a culture of requesting feedback. And, and it's not just walking around, the treatment area, asking someone for feedback. No, you build it into the, into the system. you don't give an annual performance review. Every 90 days you have a sit down where you can just check in.

Rob Best: Okay. if your team is small enough and you have the capacity every 30 days, you have a 30-minute sit down with somebody. At the very least, whoever manages a department will sit down every 30 days with each person on their team just to check in where both are asking for feedback.

Rob Best: there are processes. It's, it is a, bigger conversation in general to, to build it [00:47:00] culturally. However, the first few steps are pretty basic. If you're the leader, which includes all doctors, start asking for feedback, do it regular, do it often and do it over a consistent period of time. I think it can be really powerful to again.

Megan Sprinkle: Like you said, it often starts with the behavior of the leader and it can trickle down. Once people see the leadership doing something, it becomes easier to adopt and implement into the culture. So back to the impact that people can have technically it can be negative, but man, when you work on it and yeah.

Megan Sprinkle: your positive impact can have such huge ripple effects on the entire team, the entire culture, all the clients, like clients will feel it. And I think that's, what's really special about what you do is you help implement that you help people understand that, it sounds simple like behavior, but it really is so powerful and [00:48:00] impactful. So thank you so much. 

Rob Best: Uh, thank you. It's, you're right. It sounds simple. and then what happens? Emotions. Yeah. And then the humanity thing comes in. The reality of, the way we're wired occurs and, It's part of the beauty, it really is part of the beauty. And for those moments where, again, the leaders and the doctors might feel like, gosh, it does sound easy.

Rob Best: And the reality is it's not. And. I literally don't know the first step right now. I'll Dr. Sprinkle, I'll go back to something you mentioned earlier, that first step can literally be going back to the mirror and yes, give yourself a power pose. Sometimes it might sound silly. Sometimes it might feel silly, but when you, when you get in there and you give yourself that Superman or Wonder Woman, you know, for, 10, 15, 20, 30 seconds.[00:49:00] 

Rob Best: And you really look at yourself with this power pose. Yes, it does. It has a neurologic shift that can boost your confidence in ways that when you, when you walk into the next room, that room will feel the difference of what becomes a new chosen attitude. it's a nice thought to say we should just choose to be positive.

Rob Best: Life still happens. there's a necessity for us to find opportunities to reset. And there's a variety of things we can do that actually give neuro resets. Like how can I reset my brain? Because it's all over the place right now. You've ever heard of the term shake it off, right? We know the term shake it off.

Rob Best: Like there's songs about it. and I mentioned Janine driver. here's a good story about Janine driver. That'll, that'll drive this home and a pun intended. and try this at home. if you're confident enough, do it around people. If not, just go someplace where nobody sees you, but it's this.

Rob Best: One of the many ways we can literally create a [00:50:00] neurologic reset to give our brain more of a, okay, let's start from the baseline and regrow my confidence and get to my power pose and right.

Rob Best: So when we feel stressed, when we feel anxious, when we feel uncertain, if we have a particular emotion that might be growing a little too much and we want to re establish, you know, a good baseline of, okay, we're good. We're calm. We're present, et cetera. Wherever you are comfortable doing it, whether it's in front of other people, or you go in the bathroom or the exam room where nobody's at shake it off, literally go someplace and shake it off.

Rob Best: Jeanine driver, one of the world's leading experts in the science of body language. She was leaving a grocery store with her husband. They had just got in an argument and her emotions were all over the place. Her husband gets in the car, they finished unloading the groceries. She puts the shopping cart [00:51:00] back and as she's walking around the back of the car before she walks to the side and gets in.

Rob Best: She was shaking it off, right? Like she's literally practicing what she preaches. One of Janine's girlfriends was on the other side of the parking lot. She didn't see her. So as soon as Janine gets into the car with her husband, her girlfriend calls her and says, Oh my gosh, Janine, I saw you shaking it off.

Rob Best: What happened? Are you okay? Right. And she's like, no, I just got an argument with my husband. No big deal. Like I was just shaking it off so I could be. present and more positive for the drive home. So there's lots of little things we can do for resets. That's a really good one. when the pandemic was here and we weren't allowing clients into the hospitals.

Rob Best: I remember hearing a lot of hospitals having random dance parties. And I couldn't tell you what great news that was to me because it was a perfect example of people were literally shaking off a portion of this stress and anxiety that we were experiencing with the pandemic. So whenever the [00:52:00] hospitals would stop and have these random dance parties, It was giving their teams an opportunity to shake off for just a moment, a little bit of that tension, and it's such a healthy thing to do.

Rob Best: So if, you need a good reset, start there, go someplace where you feel comfortable, shake it off and start from scratch. If the next step is the mirror, get that mirror and grab that power pose and reestablish some confidence before you walk into the next room. 

Megan Sprinkle: I love that; people need to rename the bathroom, like power pose room or something, especially for us introverts when you say dance party, I was so glad to hear that, but like, for me, I'd be like.

Megan Sprinkle: I'll go over here. We need private, you know, dance parties. That's okay too, but yeah, no, I love that. That, um, you know, really that, I think that's why a lot of people say it's so good to exercise. I mean, there's a lot of reasons why you should exercise, but that physical movement, there really is something about it that really helps. if you don't have time [00:53:00] to go for a run, shake it off.

Rob Best: Yes. Yes. And yes, a hundred percent. I love it. 

Megan Sprinkle: Well, before I let you go, I like to end the podcast with a final question. And that is, what is something that you are most grateful for? 

Rob Best: Oh my gosh. Um, I love this question so much. When I do workshops, we always, end with an attitude of gratitude and everyone talks about what they're grateful for.

Rob Best: And I, I always try to go last and each time, much like right now, I find myself challenged to just go for one thing because there's so many reasons to be grateful. right now, I want to say, I'm so grateful that my wine Reiner behind me, let us have this conversation without interrupting us.

Rob Best: I want to say that I'm, grateful that, the internet has worked well. Like there's all these little, but the real overwhelmingly. I don't know the right words right now, but the piece of gratitude that surfaces with the greatest emotion for [00:54:00] me right now is trust and access.

Rob Best: So I'm grateful for your trust. And allowing me to have access to your audience. it comes with an appreciation and a respect for the responsibility. anyone who happens to listen to these words and who can see the nonverbals in the messaging. if there's even a hint of influence, I hope that it's positive and my intentions are for it to be positive and helpful.

Rob Best: and the trust that you've given for this access and believing that this would be a positive, experience for your listeners is something I'm very appreciative of. So thank you. [00:55:00]