#9 - Shaping the Veterinary Leaders of Tomorrow Through Education and Innovation

Veterinary care goes beyond the pets we nurture; it's about cultivating the people who heal them. That's the conviction Alyssa Mages from Empowering Veterinary Teams brings to our discussion, with a career spanning almost two decades dedicated to enriching the veterinary community. Alyssa, a beacon of inspiration, elucidates the multifaceted programs tailored to diverse learning styles, and the pulsating anticipation for MentorVet's next cohort. Her involvement with AHA's technician utilization guidelines showcases a commitment to innovation and excellence in veterinary practice.

The tapestry of a veterinary team is woven from threads of diverse backgrounds, and this episode emphasizes the critical role of DEIB and workflow efficiency. Alyssa and I dissect the journey from technician to entrepreneur, unraveling the empowerment tied to each step. We navigate the nuances of AHA's guidelines, advocating for a collaborative spirit that elevates patient care and unifies team efforts. Through Alyssa's expertise, learn the significance of well-structured organizational systems and legal comprehension, forming the backbone of superior patient treatment and seamless team operations.

As we close, the focus shifts to the blueprint of veterinary education and career advancement. We address the urgent call for standardized training, credentialing, and well-defined career paths, essential for ensuring exceptional care and professional satisfaction. The episode not only champions the importance of scientific understanding over rote learning but also adapts training to resonate with a digital generation. Alyssa and I share insights on cultivating leadership within teams and how external support systems can bolster practices in integrating new talent. Elevate your practice with this episode's enlightening perspectives on nurturing a thriving veterinary team.

Guest Info:
Alyssa Mages BS, CVT
Empowering Veterinary Teams
linkedin.com/in/acmcvt2019evt
ealyssa@empvet.team
mpoweringveterinaryteams.com 

Host Information

Bill Buter – Contact Information

Direct – 952-208-7220

https://butlervetinsurance.com/

bill@butlervetinsurance.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/billbutler-cic/

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

If you don't have to start from scratch, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Here's a framework to a foundation to build upon.

Speaker 2: 0:14

Welcome to the Veterinary Blueprint podcast brought to you by Butler Vet Insurance. Hosted by Bill Butler, the Veterinary Blueprint podcast is for veterinarians and practice managers who are looking to learn about working on their practice instead of in their practice. Each episode we will bring you successful, proven blueprints from others, both inside and outside the veterinary industry. Welcome to today's episode.

Speaker 3: 0:38

Welcome to this episode of the Veterinary Blueprint podcast. I'm your host, bill Butler, and today we are joined by Alyssa Mages from Empowering Veterinary Teams. Alyssa combines 19 years of experience in multiple disciplines of veterinary medicine coaching, teaching and she does all this to inject creativity and positive energy into the veterinary industry. She's a public speaker, she's a content creator, collaborative coach and focus. Her main focus is growth and development of teams within the veterinary medical field, and what just really impressed me most recently is she was involved with AHA's guidelines. She was a guidelines contributor for AHA's technician utilization guide, which came out October of 23. So I went through a lot of that stuff and I'm super impressed and excited to have you on the podcast today. So welcome, alyssa.

Speaker 1: 1:33

Well, thanks so much, bill.

Speaker 3: 1:34

It's great to be here, I appreciate it All right, so we're going to dive right in, but you are involved, as we were chatting right before we hopped on. You are involved in a number of initiatives, so Empowering Veterinary is your main gig, but you're involved in MentorVet and a whole bunch of other things. So just a little bit about you and your 19 years of experience, because you've done everything.

Speaker 3: 1:58

Oh no, that's why I'm still here, that's why you're still here, ok, so why don't you bring our listeners up to speed on Alyssa and what she's doing now?

Speaker 1: 2:05

Yeah, I appreciate it. So Empowering Veterinary teams, like you said, were focused on growth and development for all members of the veterinary team, but primarily focused on the support team members. So your receptionist, your assistants and your veterinary technicians, we're really, really pumped that this upcoming year we're going to be launching a lot of more interactive and accessible programs, so not just live boots on the ground training but on demand through our website and really excited what that's going to look like, some keen strategic partnerships coming up to for some training materials. So really, really passionate about that piece, especially because there's so many different learning styles and communication styles. We really want to weave that in.

Speaker 1: 2:53

I'm also going to be launching another company called Nurture with my current business partner and two other founding members. That will be coming early Q1. And it's focused solely on communications training with the Gimma Fine avatar which is it's just. I get all like goosebumpily because it makes me really happy that we're focusing on that key skill that so many of us don't get the training on in veterinary technician programs or veterinary medical schools. So that's the other big project. And then I am so proud to work with the mentor that team as the director of mentor that tech. We have our. We're halfway through our first official cohort. The pilot was incredibly successful over the summer and the second cohort is going to launch here in January. So it's just rolling right along and then you know, just for fun. But the other things I love to get involved with and are super important, especially because our profession is the whitest one in the United States is the realms of DEIB, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.

Speaker 3: 3:58

We have an issue in the insurance industry as well. It's a lot of lack of diversity in the insurance industry as well. So I think we're we're competing with each other about who can be? Most diverse and trying to get diversity rolled in, so that's awesome.

Speaker 1: 4:12

It's. It's. It's something that you know, I those of you that may know who I am, I don't look like your cookie cutter white chick, but there's definitely too many of us and it's beyond that right. The diversity piece isn't simply melon and concentration, right. It's ability, status and socioeconomic standing and veteran status and religion and all those things.

Speaker 1: 4:32

So it you need to take that the whole person into account and how we can make everyone feel a part of it, and they want to be there. So the work with plausibilities and blend, that is a huge part of the work that we're all proud to be a part of. So never a dull moment.

Speaker 3: 4:50

So it sounds like not only do you have an extensive background as a, as a CVT, and you're based in Pennsylvania, so like each state has its own licensing requirements and I will screw this stuff up, but because it's OK, but from so you have an extensive background in the, in the technician support world, and but you're also a serial entrepreneur. It sounds like in some way, you know that's so funny.

Speaker 1: 5:16

I definitely did not think I would ever be that, and that's, I think, the other thing I loved to when I'm working with, with practices and individuals is, you know you're not pigeonholed. No one's just anything. So if there's something that you're really keen to learn about and to do more of here, you know, and that's that's why we we named the company Empowering Veterinary Teams. I can't empower anybody, but I give them the tools, the resources and the support for them to empower themselves, and that's the ultimate goal is so that you know we come in and wean ourselves off so that you're stronger and better with us, and then you can do it on your own.

Speaker 3: 5:54

Well, I'd like to start with the end in mind. We we chatted about some things that we wanted to make sure that we would cover today and and I took a little bit of a deep dive into the the AHA guidelines that you helped as a contributor on, and you know appropriate integration of workflows. I mean, everything can be systematized to a point, but when we were talking about bringing you on the podcast, you had talked about underutilization and, I think, talking about retention in the industry. Yet recruiting is important, but retention it's easier to keep the employees you have than it is to go out and find a new one, right. So why don't you walk through the evolution of the utilization guide and why that's so important, with workflow efficiencies and how to integrate that into a practice?

Speaker 1: 6:49

I will do my best. There's a lot to digest there, as you so eloquently stated, and I was one of many. It was an entirely yeah it was like a dozen.

Speaker 1: 6:59

Yeah, it was a big group effort, which is no small feat considering we're all throughout North America. We had a Canadian RVT in there as well and a couple of veterinarians to make sure that we had the full perspective and we all come from different backgrounds, experientially, and belief structures in such that some are proponents for the nursing title, some are not, some believe in this those kinds of belief structures, just to be clear on that word. So just for reviews, but we were really. We had an excellent facilitator, dr Meena Carey, and the whole AHA team was just really incredibly inclusive and supportive. So it was really making sure that we could take it into sections. That makes it understandable, approachable and applicable. That's the big thing, right, it's not just. Here's this great idea. Enjoy it.

Speaker 3: 7:53

Yeah, how do you implement it right?

Speaker 1: 7:55

Right. So here's all of this information, here's some case studies. Let's show you what it looks like when you actively utilize your team members effectively. And I kind of go back and forth on liking that word or not. I'm not a tool, right, I don't want to be utilized. But so I think Integrate is a really good way in power, which has been it's a buzzword lately, but really I think Activate is another good one too. Just like how do you fire people up? So making sure that there's a real clear organizational structure, not hierarchical, but from a team base. So you take that hierarchical original chart and lay it down, and you put the medical director and everyone in the middle, and then your veterinarians and your credential technicians and your associates and everyone, and you all work together. So it's not a upwards and a downwards, it's an all around together Collaborative yeah.

Speaker 1: 8:50

Exactly, and so, if you look at it from that regard, it's all intertwined. And then, what do your assistants do? What do your receptionists do? What do your credential technicians do? What do your veterinarians do?

Speaker 1: 9:01

Okay, now, it's not that you stay in your lane and you can't leave. That's not what we're saying. It's simply this is what you are legally allowed to do, this is what you're really good at doing, and this is how we can all do our perspective respective jobs together in a way that it totally emphasizes a more clear cut and efficient workflow and ultimately provides the better standards of patient care. So you can have one doctor and one credential technician and two assistants. You know the ideal ratio is one to three. How are you training them? Right on the job training it's not the best. It's necessary. You absolutely have to sometimes learn as you go, but you really have to make sure that you have a structure in place, and that's what these guidelines are for.

Speaker 1: 9:50

It's here's how you can establish a competency based framework to assess your team and make sure that they're in the correct roles, because until we have a universal title for all of us you know, I'm a CVT, a certified veterinary technician there's registered veterinary technicians. There's licensed veterinary technicians. There's licensed veterinary medical technicians that's in Tennessee, they're the only ones, they're super special. And then there's registered veterinary technologists, those that have gone to a four year program. We, you know so okay, that's why we, if you're reading through that and you see the acronym uppercase C, lowercase RVT, it's for credential vet tech, so it encompasses all of those and it's really so much fun to take a look at now, at the completed work, to see like the flow charts and the infographics and the the actual things all come together.

Speaker 3: 10:45

I was like, how do I take this?

Speaker 3: 10:46

I was actually so I'm involved in some coaching programs in my industry and I was actually meeting with one of my coaches and I said, hey, you know, I'm going to have this guest on my podcast next week and she helped develop this, this guideline, and I showed it to him and he goes send me a link to that. Because, like I think you know, while we think of an industry in its own silo every business, whether it's insurance we have account managers doing customer service work, and how do you best utilize their gifts, talents and attributes so that they can maximize their performance and feel that they're being utilized, to use the utilization term and getting fulfillment out of their job, versus just saying I'm filling the role of button pusher, whatever that might be and whatever role you are in the industry, and so increasing efficiencies and improving productivity. Well, that really boils down to training your team to be optimally trained to best utilize them so they're operating a maximum of efficiency, because if they don't know how to do something confused, people don't act.

Speaker 1: 11:54

Right. And then I mean we already have organized chaos in the ER. We don't need to add to that. But I love how you put that, how we silo it and that's it's so true. I think it doesn't matter what industry anyone is in. We tend to see our problems as our problems, when it's really a universal concern of you. Know who's gonna do what? How are we gonna get them to the next level? How are we gonna increase the bottom line? What's our ROI on this and it really comes down to a very simple truth is identifying the strengths in your existing team and playing to those skills right?

Speaker 1: 12:31

So in veterinary medicine, especially in a small animal practice which is the predominant one cats and dogs there's no offense to any other ferds, scaled or winged creature. I love them all, but that is the primary general practice and specialty centers throughout the US and North America. Really, you have your cat people and your dog people and I am a spicy perrito lady all the way I can. I love the feisty lines, but an aggressive dog, I have to really, okay, buck myself up and do it. I'm not your go-to person for that Fulvotomy absolutely anal glands, I'm out, you know.

Speaker 1: 13:10

So it's really finding out who on your team is good at what and making sure that they're leading the charge right. It doesn't necessarily require a management title or a different set of letters after you're named to be a leader. It really just matters on how good you are and how passionate you are and how approachable you are and how you can convey that to the rest of the team. So, setting that up from your day perspective, if you have a slew of appointments and it's all cats, have your cat team ready to go right and figure it out how it's gonna work for your practice, right. But if you don't have to start from scratch, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Here's a framework, a foundation to build upon and then you can customize it and build it from there.

Speaker 3: 13:57

Another podcast guest, a mutual friend of ours, acquaintance Josh Weisman, tells a great story about and this is a veterinarian, but just teams where there was an associate who was not. I'm stealing his story, but he told it on the podcast in an earlier episode. I think he'll be fine with it. But he tells the story of a veterinarian who was just not good at surgery, didn't like surgery, didn't wanna do surgery, but in the exam room they sold product, they were personable, they just. But they were getting judged on and I'm butchering Josh's story, but they were getting butchered. They were getting judged on metrics, with how many surgeries and how much they were doing, and they left that practice, went to another one and they spent 98% of their time in the exam room with patients and doing exams and they were one of the top producers.

Speaker 3: 14:45

So it's business principles. It's where are your team's best attributes? In the right seats in the bus. You might you know dog or cat people. You might have somebody who's terrible at customer service but they're really good at accounting and being counting. Okay, well, don't not put them at the reception desk, we're gonna have them counting inventory. And so it's that utilization within the team. I think you have to understand everyone's strengths and weaknesses and not just think that everyone fits in the same like oh, you wanna be a vet tech or an assistant, you're gonna fit in this box, no matter what it is, because you love all animals.

Speaker 1: 15:20

Exactly, yeah, and I think you know to your point. There too, it's the human skills we tend to forget about right communication and emotional intelligence and de-escalation and networking and collaboration, not competition. So, again, those aren't skills that are addressed in our program. So it's something that you do have to learn, and once you apply those principles alongside of your clinical skills, it's amazing what happens. But I do not belong on overnight shifts and I did that for several years and it messed me up. But there's some incredible humans that have been doing that for 20 years and they can just get everything done and never fall to it.

Speaker 3: 15:58

Yeah, it turns them on. That's what they wanna do. They light up to do it.

Speaker 1: 16:01

Exactly so. When you're doing, you're onboarding and then, as you're going through, you know, past the first 90 days, what makes them tick, what makes them excited and instead of saying that's great, good to know, and doing nothing with it, actually putting it into practice and saying, okay, well then, let's put you here and I really didn't like this, and taking the feedback both ways. So really actually saying you have two-way communication and an open-door policy and following through on it is pretty key.

Speaker 3: 16:29

Yeah, one of the things that I get coached on all the time is that we have two of these and one of these and we need to use them in that proportion, and a lot of times we wanna just tell stuff that's happening versus asking a really good.

Speaker 3: 16:45

The better the question, the better the answer, and so if you're asking good questions of your team of where can we improve and using you know, like I said, the utilization guidelines are really amazing, and so for any you don't have to be an AHA member. Believe me, I'm not an outside vendor, but the resources that are out there for the industry are really quite amazing just to be able to say, hey, these are some guys, you know you don't have to put everything in place, but maybe just use those as, again, guidelines for what you can integrate into your practice. And it kinda goes to the next topic I wanna touch on is universal standardization, not just of competency-based training, but utilization of teams, and so why don't we kind of transition into how you think some universal standardization would really help the industry overall as far as foundational approach and competency-based training?

Speaker 1: 18:51

Absolutely, and I love that question and how you phrase it because it's when you look at it from an educational perspective. Every veterinarian in every school has to sit for the NADLE right. Every veterinary technician in every veterinary technician program in North America has to sit for the VTNE National Standards accrediting exams. We have to go to a university that's accredited by the AVMA standards guidelines, benchmarks. We have to take those things in order to achieve our credentials. So it's taking that similar principle and putting it into place for these training programs, for skills assessment, for how we advance progress in each position.

Speaker 1: 19:41

And, again, it's not cookie cutter, but you have to start somewhere, based upon what the governing bodies say, which would be AVMA and NAVTA, as well as AHAS guidelines, forming that structure and then building it from there. It's like, no, we can't say that you can do this or that, because this is what an assistant does, this is what a receptionist does and this is what a veterinary technician does. It gets a little fuzzy, though, because in over 30 states there isn't a clear definition and protected title for veterinary technicians, even where I'm in Pennsylvania. So anyone that is working in a practice can call themselves a vet tech without the appropriate credentialing and education, and that is a concern for me and several other of my colleagues for many reasons, but particularly for our community, because they don't know, when you say that you're a vet tech, it automatically has a negative connotation, for whatever reason.

Speaker 1: 20:42

We haven't educated them or the rest of our profession very clearly on what a vet tech is and what we do, and so they just assume that you're gonna do the best by their pet. And it's not that someone who isn't credentialed wouldn't. Of course they would. That's why they're in this profession. And it's not that they don't have the skills. They know what to do and a lot of them are really good at it, but they don't necessarily know the why.

Speaker 1: 21:06

So if you're administering a medication and you know what medication to give and at what time and what it's going to do in that instance, that's great. But do you understand the pharma kinetics of it and do you understand the mechanism of action and do you recognize what that's going to mean? If you need to give another medication, do you understand it at a cellular level, right? Those of us that went to school a long time ago, oh, still have to look that up. But we have it there and I am not taking away from the on the job portion of it. You have to. That's why you have externships, practicums and all of those things, your clinical years for veterinarians. You have to get your hands dirty, literally. It is a very kinesthetic way to learn. Especially, you can't feel a bouncing vein through a computer screen. It just doesn't work.

Speaker 3: 21:56

There's no substitute for the live, the real-life action.

Speaker 1: 22:01

But you do need to have a lot of the book learning to back that up. So what I would love to see, and a lot of the work that I'm pushing through with my team at EVT, is here's a program that starts you from beginning and takes you onwards right. So it's not simply here's your welcome packet, go have a great day. It's ease them into the team. These are the skills that you focus on for the first week, the first three weeks, the first month. This is how you advance and this is the modalities that they're presented to you.

Speaker 1: 22:35

We're working with generations that are digital natives. I remember when the internet came on right, so it's like that. They've never not had it. I know I totally dated myself. It's fine. Level four is great guys. So you have to meet people where they are with what they need. So is there an app for that? Yeah, there's an app for that and for those of us that like to write things down, because even in these younger generations, some of them like to write notes. My daughter is gonna be 16 next week. You should see her notebook for her courses. They're all color coded and indexed. It's why she's an A student and I was not. So it's, but it's really and I'm definitely rambling on this, I apologize, but it's definitely something that to start with, because if you don't have something that is standardized to start, you don't know where you're gonna end up and it's gonna be the mess we're in right now.

Speaker 3: 23:30

So, and also I think from a team member's perspective, it also gives them a roadmap right. So I just spent a couple of years in school. I just got certified, I passed my national certification. Woohoo, I'm now gonna go work at a vet practice and they give you the welcome to the practice. Here's your HR packet. You're in exam room three and that's your career and that's your career.

Speaker 3: 23:58

You know deer and headlights. Okay, I guess, I guess I'm on. And you know, one thing that I've integrated for for my business is here's what 30 days looks like zero to 30 days. Here's 30 to 90 days and 90 days to one year and the expectations of what it's benchmarks for success. Right, it's, you're expected to.

Speaker 3: 24:18

At the end of 30 days, you should know how to do this, this, this, this and this here at my insurance agency. Now you might have to do all those same things at a different insurance agency, but at least you see written down what the, what the standardized, you know levels of what. You know what is success look like. And then from from day 60 to 90. And at the end of a year, this is what you rounded out. And then from there it's okay. Here's, here is how you progress up the food chain in the expertise and experience within the industry, and I think that kind of encompasses everything right, where it's the training and education, but also utilization and says, okay, and now I see a career path versus just doing full body me every day for the rest of my life is here's, here's the career path and progression that I can be on, because there's some things written down Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 25:09

It gives roadmap. That's the best way you can say it. And for me, to the other thing, to, because we all want to do the fun stuff. You know, I want to book the veins, I want to, I want to do in a stage, I want to do the cool things, yeah, but these are living creatures and if you do it wrong, they might not be living. So you need to take it more seriously. I mean, I can't tell you how many conversations I've had where they asked me you know what? What do you do? I want my veterinary technician. Oh, I used to be one of those. Where'd you go to school? You know what did you do? And so, to really make sure that there is a sense of Well, I was assistant.

Speaker 1: 25:46

Right.

Speaker 3: 25:46

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 25:47

Exactly so and it's again, I'm not putting those those I was an assistant, I was a cocky assistant because I had a bachelor's degree. So, like I'm, I'm so much more, I was so much less, and you know it's hindsight is 2020 and all of those things, but really, you know taking pride in where you're at in your career and recognizing where you can go and how vital you are in every single role. You know, as a technician, I can't hold the patient and intubate. Well, I can. I shouldn't, right, and I can't answer the phones and do all those things that the people on at the front desk and in the business offices on the phones are the reason we have jobs. It's hard, people are not nice and you know the. When we're highly skilled and well trained and integrated and utilized, the doctors can do what they can do that we can't do, right. We all need to have that symbiotic relationship so everything works and our patients get the care that they deserve.

Speaker 3: 26:43

So you know, for me as a lay person in the veterinary world, you know I'm involved ancillary but you know from the from a client facing perspective. I walk into a practice, there's veterinarians and then there's everybody else and you know whether you're an assistant or a technician or a certified vet technician or a certified nurse and all the different labels and what you know the the perception for the consumer of the vet practices. Everyone's a technician or vet tech. They don't understand the different layering within that and they just assume everyone can do everything. They're not the veterinarian.

Speaker 1: 27:28

And that's where we have to do better. And there is a really great graphic in the guidelines and elsewhere. Actually, navc and NAVTA just put together something called trust your vet tech. So it's a poster that delineates who does what and why a veterinary technician is so vital and so important. So, and it's something to practice, that vernacular Right.

Speaker 1: 27:51

If you're not credentialed, you're not a vet tech, you're an assistant. So those are the three main roles other than a veterinarian is the customer service representative, the CSR or the receptionist, the veterinary assistant and the veterinary technician. So if you're, you know, want to correlate it and we try not to make too many parallels with human med, but it's our closest you know, cousin in the professions, it's akin to you know, a veterinary technician is an RN, bsn, right, and a veterinary assistant is like your radiology tech or your ER tech, things like that, and the gals and guys and all the other incredible humans that are at the front desks have a similar role. And then you have your practice managers, right. So those are like your you know, and then you have, if you have a huge hospital, you have an administrator, right. But those are the three main roles. So CSR, va, bt.

Speaker 3: 28:45

So, now that we've got all these people working at our practice, alicia, how do we team, how do we train them using a team centric approach, because I know that's that's a big thing for you and and your organizations that you work in and that you work with on practices. So how is that training and team centric leadership more beneficial to veterinary medicine versus just, you know, individual training and team leading?

Speaker 1: 29:11

It's a good point and I'm glad to talk about it. So, whether you're an athlete or not, it is a team sport, right. When you're doing CPR, especially on a tiny little dog, you are. It's contact right. There is no way you can't. You have to work together. You have to understand who's doing what, where, when, why and how, and so when you are creating a training program, you have to take that into consideration and thinking about all the skills you have to do at any given time on any given day throughout a crazy week. There's no downtime lately, right. So having your lead technician be in charge of training, not a bad idea, but when do they have time to do it?

Speaker 3: 29:51

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 29:53

Right and do the things that you need them to do.

Speaker 3: 29:55

if you're the practice owner, so how are you, how are you facilitating that as the leader in the organization saying okay, you're, you're in. Hey, bill, you're in charge of this training. Figure it out to train CPR for the rest of the team. I don't know what I'm, I know how to teach it.

Speaker 1: 30:09

I know how to do it. I know how to do it.

Speaker 3: 30:12

But how do I train my, my counterparts and my peers in a training session to do that?

Speaker 1: 30:17

Right, and so what it it needs to do is kind of like what we were talking about before, is kind of taking a step back and, you know, flipping that org structure on its side and finding who's good at what, making sure that you do have someone within each track, within the practice. So you have a lead CSR, you have a lead, an elite assistant and a lead bet tech, and they work together to formulate these plans. Now can you do it internally 100%, and I'm not saying you shouldn't, might not have the time or the resources to do it, and so that's where we come in with what do you need? Well, we have a team in place. Okay, do you have the templates? Do you have the software team.

Speaker 3: 30:59

You have a team lead for the team.

Speaker 1: 31:01

What's that you?

Speaker 3: 31:01

have a team lead for that team.

Speaker 1: 31:03

Exactly Right, and that's not going to be feasible for, say like, a four doctor practice, right, with a total of 24 team members. You're not necessarily going to have all of those leads or the, the, the people power to have a training team within that, and that's okay. You have to simply take a look at who's really good at doing what. How can we structure their schedule On this day, their training?

Speaker 1: 31:25

This is what onboarding looks like. This is what growth and development looks like for us, and it is a lot of work. So if you are going to sit down and do that, you're going to have to dedicate a couple of months to developing this. Or you can give us a call where we can walk you through it. Right, we come in and take a look at your workflow. We sit down with you and formulate your org structure. We make sure that every member of the team gets a one on one. So this is where they're at clinically skills. This is where they're at human skills. This is their designated level or progression from our evaluation standpoint, and this is where they need some work. And then here is your skill set to work on. Here's how we're going to do it and here's your one on one time.

Speaker 3: 32:11

And you know, one of the things that that I think shouldn't be missed in that is when you're onboarding a team member, you say look, welcome to the team, welcome to Butler veterinary practice.

Speaker 3: 32:22

And here's here's the roadmap for you know, not only just utilization and training, but we have team leads here at the practice and if you want to work your way up to a team lead, here are all the things you need to do along the way and it helps build that career progression versus just you want to have a little bit of career progression potentially within the industry Instead of just flattening everyone.

Speaker 3: 32:43

Say everyone here is equal, all assistance are equal, all technicians are equal. No, we actually have a couple of people that are elevated and you have the opportunity to work your way in that and it does everything within the practice of saying not only are we doing training and education and team centric approach, but we also have some career progression and not everyone's just a technician or not everyone here is just an assistant. We do have some elevated positions and that helps you as the overall. You know I'm putting on my entrepreneur, I own the business hat of not everyone's always equal. You do have those better team members and how do you reward them and show them that career progression within the practice and laying that out day one, versus saying, all right, six years in you're threatening to leave. Why don't we make you a team lead?

Speaker 1: 33:26

Exactly, and it's definitely something to say for incentivization as well.

Speaker 1: 33:30

Absolutely the parties only go so far. The other part that goes along with all this is when you're getting them on is you know, spend a couple days, get them through all their paperwork right and then ease them into it like, have them shadow people and don't let them jump right in right away Like the deer in the headlights. I did that right. I started at a 50, like 40 doctor practice on my first ER shift, like, oh, I'm so glad you're here. We have a bulldog that you know we need to sleep for the next 12 hours. That's you. You know we're going to do a two bag and for 12 hours, right, can?

Speaker 3: 34:03

I you said I can I must be able to.

Speaker 1: 34:09

There's some people that thrive on that type of energy. I was one of them, but that doesn't work for everyone. So it's also when you're onboarding people and I hate that that interview question what are your? You know strengths and weaknesses. Switch that up as the interviewer like in what areas are you really passionate about, and on what areas Do you feel you would like to grow? Because for me, you know, going from GP into the emergency and specialty medicine, that's a big jump For someone and there's a lot more practices.

Speaker 3: 34:41

I mean, I'm working with some practices now they're opening up saying I'm gonna do urgent care only. No scheduled appointments, normal business hours, but urgent care, and so you know it's a. It's a different model that it used to be in the in the veterinary world, where you have veterinarians going. I'm there's, there's a gap in the market that I think I can fill, but now you've got to find the team members who thrive on that type of environment. Versus the, you know, I'd say more standardized scheduled yeah, we're booked out three weeks and this is the appointments for today versus I don't know what's gonna walk through the door in the next 20 minutes.

Speaker 1: 35:17

Right and it's. And that's where you have to really kind of filter out, not only from a you know, a business owner standpoint, but from a team member as you're going in there. Is this what you want? You know, and taking a look at how the the industry is evolving, is there someone that's been at your practice for 20 years and they're so good, but our knees and our backs after 20, 30 years of throwing big dogs around, we don't throw them. I promise we don't throw them. We're very kind but it takes its toll. So how can you take them out of the main workflow? Hey, there's your lead trainer right there. There's someone that can get on the phone and, do you know, get the training.

Speaker 3: 35:57

Institutional experience.

Speaker 1: 35:59

Right, let's have them do all the lab callbacks. Let's have them do all of the scheduling. Let's have them do this. Let's have them take care of this. What can they do to still be a functional and happy Member of the team, right? Not talking about the positivity like good vibes only? I don't like that. I do not subscribe to that.

Speaker 3: 36:16

There's not like in all transparency. No matter what business you're in, nothing is all happy times and and puppy dogs and unicorns, and so yeah, but there's ways that you can get there to a more steady state, right.

Speaker 1: 36:34

So it's it's taking a look at what you've got. How can you utilize what you already have? Identify those existing you know leaders within your team. Do you have some structure already? Great, here's how you can make it better. Oh, by the way, this is going to adhere to the recommended guidelines from the, the industry standards, and you can move forward Together as a team.

Speaker 3: 36:57

Yeah Well, if somebody wants to move forward together as a team with empowering, empowering Veterinary teams, ebt, where can people find you and the rest of your universe of excellence out there in Utilization and team training and and everything that you have good going on out there?

Speaker 1: 37:19

We're on all major social platforms, so you can find us on Instagram at empathetic EMP that team, or Facebook and LinkedIn. Our website is our company name empowering veterinary teams, calm and there's a bunch of stuff on there. So if you need, you know templates just to download we have digital downloads and things like that and the first consultation to meet with Me or one of our lead trainers the first 30 minutes is free. We want to make sure that we can figure out what you need well, I would.

Speaker 3: 37:49

I would recommend anyone out there listening who says I want to better utilize my team, to reach out to you and empowering vet teams because You're just super passionate about it. I can tell the training, training, you know, I have a background in the military and if you, if you're we always said train like you, fight in the military, because that's really what it boils down to and if you're not training your team and you're not utilizing them to their fullest extent, you've got blind spots that you don't even realize as a business owner, as a practice owner out there and as a practice manager. So that's why I really wanted to have you on and We'll have all your contact info out there. You and I connected on LinkedIn, but we'll make sure to have that out there. So what is the one thing that you wish everyone would do out there that you work with, on your, on your practices, that you collaborate with? I?

Speaker 1: 38:41

Want everyone to remember that no one is just in air quotes anything. Yep own the awesome that you are. Get out there and do it 100% Well.

Speaker 3: 38:53

Thanks for joining us in this episode of the veterinary blueprints podcast. As, as always, remember to like, subscribe and review the podcast. And Thanks so much to Alyssa for joining us today and empowering vet teams and every everything awesome she's got going out there. Thanks everybody for tuning in.

Speaker 1: 39:11

Have a great day, thank you.

Speaker 3: 39:13

Thanks for tuning in to veterinary blueprints. If you have any thoughts, questions or suggestions for an episode, I would love to hear from you. Email me at Bill at butler vet insurance. Calm, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, and if you could do me a huge favor you know it helps with the algorithm. If you can like, share or comment on the post, leave a review, I would love it. Thanks for tuning in and until next time you