Can You Teach An Old Dog New Tricks?
Five Steps to Changing Your Veterinary Clinic’s Culture
Some say you can’t change an organizational culture, but we’ve seen it done. Follow these steps:
- Define your outcome(s). Is it a paperless clinic? Zero-tolerance for errors? A fun place to work? Improved clinic retention? All of the above? Be sure your staff understand your standards and expectations.
- Assemble your leadership, followed by the whole staff, to clarify your vision. Invite questions. Listen to and empathize with reactions, hesitations, doubts and fears.
- Consistently and constantly communicate what is important. If you fail to do so, conversation will go on among employees anyway, and the opportunity to shape the dialogue will be missed. Be creative. Paint a compelling picture for your team members.
- Break down each of the goals and develop strategies that will inform, inspire and motivate your team to move toward your vision.
- Believe in change. Consider the larger culture: society has moved away from a smoking society to one far less tolerant of smoking. By law, smoking is largely prohibited in public places. Those members who cannot break their old smoking habits must now be isolated.
In the veterinary clinic, it may be that employees who refuse to accept the new modus operandi dictated by the computer will no longer be able to function in your clinic. Not all of the team members can make the cultural change, but most can – with training, patience and encouragement. Believe in them!
That’s it for today.
Drs. Carolyn Shadle and John Meyer
www.VeterinarianCommunication.com
P.S. Watch our forthcoming blogs. We’ll be detailing some of the strategies we’ve seen or heard about that can change your culture.
P.P.S. Be sure to tell us what changes you’ve made and how you brought them about.
ICS WorkplaceCommunication, Carolyn Shadle, PhD, and John Meyer, PhD
