Natalie Fayman, DVM, ACC, CPC, CPQC
In veterinary medicine, employee engagement isn’t just a buzzword; it has a significant impact on operational efficiency, avoidable mistakes, turnover rates, and overall patient care. Improving engagement isn’t about “cracking the whip”. It’s about creating an environment where both staff and doctors can thrive.
An engaged team is capable of providing better-quality care to our patients, and a more profitable workflow to the practice. This article will explore effective strategies for enhancing employee engagement in veterinary practice with a focus on teamwork, cross-training, and prioritizing mental health.
Defining Employee Engagement
Employee engagement means the emotional commitment that each team member has towards their work, each other, and the practice’s goals. High levels of engagement can lead to benefits like:
Better Performance: Engaged teams are more productive, more efficient, and deliver higher quality care to patients.
Increased Job Satisfaction: When team members feel valued and involved, they have more job satisfaction, which reduces turnover.
Better Communication: Engaged teams communicate more effectively, which is vital in a clinical setting where communication can impact patient outcomes.
Stronger Resilience: Engaged teams are better equipped to recover quickly from stressful events and navigate challenges more effectively. This translates to less friction in the workflow.
Fewer Costly Mistakes: Engaged employees are more conscientious and detail oriented. They’re more likely to ask questions if they’re not sure what to do. In other words, they want to get it right! That translates to fewer medical mistakes (which is a benefit to your patients), or other mistakes that cost the practice money to fix.
Emphasizing Teamwork and Shared Vision
Teamwork is vital for the success of any veterinary practice. Everyone from doctors to technicians, CSR’s and admin staff plays a vital role in delivering the client and patient experience. One of the most important elements of team-collaboration is establishing a shared vision and a unified direction. Every team member should participate in this conversation. What is the experience they want the client to have, from the beginning to the end of the visit? What level of care do they want the patients to receive? And what does each member of the team contribute to that experience?
Consider the use of cross-training in your organization. When team members learn firsthand what’s involved in all the different jobs that must be done within a veterinary practice, they gain empathy for the challenges each team member must face. Reducing the “us vs. them” mentality strengthens relationships and creates a more cohesive environment. It boosts morale and enhances service delivery. Cross-trained team members are more likely to jump in and help when there’s a gap, instead of criticizing or complaining.
Creating a Positive Work Culture
Nothing suffocates engagement faster than a negative, critical, or toxic workplace culture. Team members who don’t feel safe asking questions, raising concerns, or seeking help will become a source of friction and resentment for the team. And they’re unlikely to stay.
When team members are afraid of “looking stupid”, being criticized or even retaliated against, it creates a high-stress environment that might not even be obvious to everyone on the team. What one senior team-member might see as giving a correction, could be perceived by another as bullying.
Team members who don’t feel safe speaking up might make more mistakes, try to hide the evidence of their mistakes, or refuse to speak up when they see someone else making a mistake.
A culture of psychological safety where employees feel supported, respected, and included is necessary for true engagement. Any new hires should be evaluated with the team culture in mind, to ensure smooth integration. And difficult choices might need to be made, if seasoned staff members who are valued for their skills are found to be the source of friction or oppression within the team culture. Many practices (including mine) have experienced the loss of multiple good employees due to the leader’s reluctance to fire a highly skilled but toxic team member.
Supporting Mental Health
Supporting employees' mental health is not just an act of compassion; it’s a strategic investment in the success of the business. In a high-stress environment, employees face unavoidable emotional strain as a direct result of what’s required of them every day. Helping your staff feel supported and valued will nurture their resilience and mental well-being, which means they’ll do a better job for you. Healthy employees bring a better version of themselves to work, and they’re less likely to infect the team with negativity.
An inescapable part of supporting mental health is defining a reasonable work-life balance. Too much work with too little recovery time will burn anyone out. And an expectation that employees should respond to emails, texts or phone calls outside of work is a guaranteed recipe for festering resentment.
A supportive environment with healthy work-life boundaries can significantly reduce absenteeism and turnover rates, which would otherwise undermine your practice’s operational costs. Simply stated: happy, fulfilled employees are more productive, and they usually don’t quit.
Celebrating Achievements and Contributions
Recognizing your employees’ efforts is a powerful tool for engagement. When people feel that their contributions are seen and valued, they feel more connected to their work. Simple gestures like praising employee achievements during team meetings, or starting an employee recognition program can make a huge difference.
Many of us fall into the trap of assuming that the people we work with already know how much we appreciate them. So we only speak up when we’re not happy. This can unintentionally send the message that we’re never happy if other people hear more negative than positive from us. This is how team-meetings can develop a reputation of being “gripe sessions” that nobody wants to endure.
Remember: no one can read your mind, so say the compliments out loud. Your coworkers need 3 positive interactions with you to undo the damage of 1 negative interaction! That means we all need to be actively looking for more opportunities to encourage and praise our teammates.
Invest in Professional Development
Encouraging ongoing learning and development elevates engagement. Providing opportunities for training, attending conferences, or participating in online courses equips staff with the latest knowledge and skills, and shows that the practice values their growth.
This applies equally to technical skills and medical knowledge as it does to “soft skills” like communication, conflict management, and learning better ways to motivate others.
Empower your team to take charge of their personal and professional development. Even starting a mentorship program can help less experienced staff gain confidence and advance their skills, while more seasoned staff can find satisfaction and pride in helping to develop new additions.
Conclusion
Improving employee engagement in veterinary practice is a multi-faceted process that requires patience, consistency, and commitment. Building effective teamwork, supporting mental health, recognizing achievements, promoting professional development, and insisting on psychological safety will empower your staff to thrive at work and at home.
Engaged employees support each other, make fewer mistakes, work more efficiently, and deliver better-quality care to your patients. All of which directly impact your bottom line, in the best possible way.
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Want to find out how engaged employees can make your practice more profitable, and more fun? Talk to me in person: https://calendly.com/nolimitsnatalie/free-discovery-call
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