I work in a large veterinary practice. It’s actually more than just a veterinary practice—-we have two locations that are located half a mile apart. Add in a full-time dog training facility a mile away at a stand alone location, an employee daycare (for the 2-legged children of our employees), and a management consulting firm, and….well, welcome to my world!

I could not do what I do everyday without the management team that works with me. They are the greatest group of people I have had the pleasure of getting to know over the past few years. They keep me sane! But most of all, they keep the wheels on the bus each and every day through their dedication to not only the practice, but also to me, and to the rest of the team. For this, they get very few “thank you’s” and not enough pats on the back. What they DO get is a lot of grief when things aren’t running perfectly, and I know exactly how they feel.

People are so quick to point out everything that is wrong, and so slow to point out or notice the things that are good….or even great!  I have at least two friends who were CVPMs who have left our industry (which is a crying shame) because they ultimately weren’t appreciated for the blood, sweat and tears they poured into their practices. They walked away because they reached the point where no one in their world appreciated what they brought to the table anymore. I never want to see that happen to my management team! They are so talented and giving of themselves that it pains me when I see them under-appreciated by others. That’s why I devote my annual “Administrative Professionals Day” post to recognizing my management team, individually and publicly for the whole world to see!

Let’s do things alphabetically this year:

• Aaron: Human Resource Director is his title, but that has branched out in several ways. When he suggested we open an employee daycare a few years ago, I told him to “go for it”. And go for it, he did! Right down to assuring we are a state-licensed facility, with a healthy, safe environment for the kids at all times. He has made it his personal mission to assure that the children of our employees are always treated with respect and dignity. He has made sure that our employees have a private, comfortable place to nurse their infants when they return to work. I thought I knew the scheduling inside and out—-now he has to factor in scheduling the kids right along with the staff schedule! We would not have an employee daycare without Aaron—–I know this, and I want to thank him for making the lives of our employees better every day.
• Amber: Patient Care Director is her title, and keeping our team of talented Registered Veterinary Technicians at the top of their game is her never-ending quest. At our practices, patient care is the reason we exist. Every protocol, every program, every little thing we do as an organization goes back to the question, “how does this impact patient care?’. Every fiber of Amber’s being at work is to focus on assuring the highest level of patient care—and it shows. And do you know what she’s done in her spare time this past year? She’s been going to school full-time to earn her certificate in veterinary practice management at St. Petersburg College! She completes the program next month, and I couldn’t be prouder if I tried. She’s on track to earn her CVPM designation in a few more years and I’m cheering her on, because I know she’s going to be fantastic!
• Brad: Director of Pet Behavior Services is just a fancy way of saying he knows dogs inside-and-out! Not only does he “know dogs”, but he has a way with them….and the people who love them. Brad is a true animal advocate, always looking at the little things from the pet’s perspective, then translating that into firm but gentle guidance—whether it’s a family member, or a staff dog trainer. He always looks out for the best interests of our family’s pets. We would not have Bark Tutor School for Dogs without Brad—-I know this, and I want to thank him for making the lives of dogs and their families better, every day.
• Melinda: Director of Client Service and Loyalty, as a title doesn’t do justice to the fiery passion this manager has for our practice and the families we care for across our organization. She pores her heart and soul into raising our client service abilities, while always keeping patient care in mind. Her laughter fills the office when she’s here, which tends to bring a smile to everyone’s face. A manager who truly “walks the walk”, Melinda makes decisions and choices as if she were the owner of the practice—a quality and instinct that is hard to come by. I wouldn’t love my job as much as I do, if it weren’t for Melinda—and I’d like to thank her for that.
• Monika: Inventory and Patient Supportive Services Director might be a mouthful to say, but it doesn’t even begin to explain the valuable role that this person plays in our organization. She manages medical inventory and office supplies for four businesses and then some! A quiet but compelling leader, Monika has the organizational skills to tame the most chaotic spaces that you can imagine. When I have practice managers visit us, I make it a point of showing off central supply (which is our basement), because I am in awe of Monika’s handiwork every time I walk through. Thoughtful, conscientious, and determined—-I wouldn’t trade her for the world!
• Tonya: Our BRAWC Office Manager is like the eye of a hurricane—-no matter how things might seem to spin out of control, she remains a calming presence to everyone around her, an attribute I admire greatly. A team member for more than 15 years, she is one of the most loyal, dependable and flexible people I have ever had the pleasure of working beside. Clients love her…..staff love her…..and Kaboom (our office kitty) definitely loves her! Sometimes, I just like to hear her voice—because she always manages to put a smile on my face.

If your practice’s veterinarians are struggling with maintaining a healthy work-life balance, technology can help them out! Last week, ExactTarget launched the findings of their 2012 Channel Preferences Study. ExactTarget asked 1,500 Americans 15 years and older, about their usage of email, social media, and texting. Think social media is where your clients want to get deals and offers from your practice? Think again!

Only 4% of those surveyed expressed a desire to receive offers from trusted companies—-companies they choose to follow and interact with—-via social media. Consumers are saying, “We signed up to connect with one another, not companies.” On the flip side, 77% of those surveyed WANT to hear from you, and receive offers by way of email.

How does this help with your veterinarians’ work-life balance? If they would use email more often, they would spend much less time playing phone tag and then documenting conversations after they finally do get a chance to talk to your clients. If you’re not using email, then communication goes something like this:

1. lab results come back and the veterinarian analyzes the information, relevant to the pet’s medical history and symptoms
2. veterinarian attempts to call client to discuss lab findings, but ends up leaving a voice mail message
3. veterinarian repeats attempts to reach client, until they finally connect on the phone—usually after client has reciprocated with at least one voice mail message
4. veterinarian explains lab findings to client over the phone and recommends treatment
5. client wants to discuss with spouse before making a decision
6. veterinarian documents phone call in the medical record after phone conversation
7. client calls back with additional questions after talking to spouse
8. veterinarian and client play phone tag again, until they finally connect
9. veterinarian again documents phone call in the medical record after phone conversation

Brie Messier, Bash Halow, Brenda Tassava, and Phillip Barnes at the 9/11 Memorial

All this social media stuff….we hear about it day after day, to the point where some have thrown up their hands and said “What’s the big deal? I’m on Facebook….I’m doing it! But what’s it doing for me?”  That very question from a friend last fall, led me to a weeklong experience of teaching social media, and living and breathing the very notion of being social….not just “doing social”.

My very creative friend, Bash Halow dreamed up a day-long, hands-on experience where attendees would spend an entire day with experts, learning in a workshop environment how to be social, how  to implement a marketing strategy into their social media efforts, and how to measure their success. It was important to him that the practices walk away with real tools and resources to make an effective, positive change to what they were doing in terms of social media. He turned to me at the VHMA annual conference in San Antonio and asked me if I would be willing to take on a project with him. His idea evolved into a three-day tour of NYC, NJ and PA with visits to the BAVMA, the NJVHMA, and the newly forming Pennsylvania veterinary hospital managers’ group which is being organized by the PAVMA. It also brought a couple of years’ worth of social networking to a completely different level for me personally.

As we discussed plans for this workshop, we knew we were going to need several experts to work in a round table format with smaller groups of attendees. I had met and worked on several social media campaigns with Phillip Barnes and Brie Messier from NorthStar VETS, from a distance…..but had never met them in person. As they lived in the area and knew these social media platforms inside and out, it made perfect sense to reach out to them.

The big week came and we hit the ground running at Pace University in New York City, just blocks away from the 9/11 Memorial, which we visited at the end of the workshop day. Then on to NorthStar VETS in New Jersey on Wednesday, and Valley Central Veterinary Referral Center on Thursday. It’s now Friday morning, and as I reflect on the whirlwind of this past week I have come to appreciate being social on a whole new level.

Meeting and working with Brie and Phillip was a wonderful experience. It’s amazing how being social online can lead to instant friendships when you finally meet in person. I would work with this pair anytime, anywhere in the future! Then there was the chance to work with my friend Bash, who is always pushing new ideas beyond existing boundaries. Working with colleagues you respect and trust is such a fulfilling experience on so many levels. It’s also rejuvenating to me, as a hospital administrator to work with so many other veterinary professionals—the workshop attendees—who are working towards making their practices the best they can be. Tomorrow, I fly home, having gained so many new friends and colleagues. I cannot wait to hear how their social media efforts work for them!

I have a friend in Savannah, GA who does individual performance reviews on a quarterly basis. I am in total awe of her ability to do this (without flinching) for a staff of 20+ team members. And knowing her as I do, I’m sure she does it very well.

I have been failing miserably at performance reviews for more than a year! We are so far behind, it is almost laughable—-if it didn’t make me want to cry. Somewhere along the line, our annual performance review grew to more than 17 pages in length. We wanted to be sure we were addressing everything that we should, and that clear examples were being given to the team. With that particular format, I believe we were running 10-12 months behind schedule on delivering reviews. So, about three years ago, I revamped it, making it more streamlined and incorporating a Zoomerang 360 degree peer review. Things just went from bad to worse! What should have made things more efficient, only slowed down the process, waiting for a certain percentage of team members to submit their peer evaluations.

Despite all this, the culture of our practice is good—-it’s really, really good. The only thing that has been missing in a big way was this elephant in the room called an annual performance review. How can that be? For one, when you are communicating frequently and consistently with your team, on an individual level, is an annual review even relevant? In January, my management team and I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t. What we needed to do was revamp the way we are currently sending messages to our teams, in a slightly more formal way, and on a monthly basis.

Monthly?!? I know what you’re thinking—-I just said I was behind to the tune of more than 18 months, and I think I’m going to do monthly evaluations? YES! I’ve already been doing a monthly evaluation with the Associate DVMs in our practice for going on five years now, and I never miss a month. In January, with the help of Randy Hall, the founder and principal of 4th Gear Consulting, we were able to slightly tweak what I had already been doing with the veterinarians in our practice, and apply it to the entire team. We pitched the idea to the team and they were completely on board—-honestly, what did they have to lose at this point?!?

After two full months, the Associate DVMs are very happy with the updated format (of course, they got to be the guinea pigs in this little experiment). At the end of March, the entire team, including my management team will get their first monthly report. Each report has two parts:

1. The first part includes solid numbers that can be tied to the specific job each team member performs. For doctors, the report includes production, patients seen per hour, and an average client transaction. It also benchmarks all this data to the same month from the previous year, and tracks everything on a year-to-date basis. For the management team, we are looking at overtime hours, open positions on the team, inventory-on-hand, and service area growth. For team members, we will look at service area growth, telephone quality scores, and client/patient compliance in key areas each month.
2. The second part is all about the overall package each team member is delivering each month: attendance, appearance, and performance. It is also about setting goals and getting feedback from the team member. We ask their thoughts on what they are doing well, and in what areas they need help.

The Canine Colors certification program has been remodeled into an online experience, making it easier for veterinary practices to bring the Canine Colors tools into their practices. The first online certification will take place on March 13-14, 2012 and will be taught by my good friend and Master Facilitator, Brad Phifer, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA.

Level 1 is a program geared towards decreasing conflict in your practice through enhanced communication and understanding of one another in the veterinary workplace. I began using the True Colors model after learning about it at a VHMA Management Exchange approximately six years ago. After becoming a True Colors Certified Facilitator, I was asked to customize the True Colors methods to the veterinary industry, which became part of the Canine Colors model. It was a truly rewarding experience to be able to create a workbook that is tailored to the veterinary profession, that I can use with my entire team to help them understand not only themselves, but their co-workers and how to better relate to one another while at work. The workbook that I authored led to the creation of the Canine Colors Team Leader Certification, which is encompassed in the Level 1 online certification program.

Level 2 is a program that not only teaches you how to use Canine Colors to enhance the relationships between people and their dogs, but also teaches you how to use Canine Colors to create new service areas in your practice including: pet selection with Canine Colors and Canine Colors Coaching (basic behavior counseling). Brad always does a phenomenal job at breaking down the Canine Colors process and helping everyone understand that just as we have needs based on our personalities, so do dogs. Understanding these needs is the first step towards breaking down barriers that we might have initially thought of as behavior problems. For more information about Canine Colors, or to register for upcoming online certification sessions, visit the Canine Colors website.

Are you managing your clinic’s social media or is it managing you? This is a huge concern for many practices, because by and large we are already very busy people whose main focus is on the care of our patients. If you are hesitant to get involved in the online world, let me reassure you that everything is extremely manageable, from a time perspective.

I was extremely disheartened to be sitting in an audience, while attending CE at NAVC 2012, only to hear a speaker tell us that managing social media is a 40 hours per week job. What!?! Even in my earliest stages of learning what social media was all about, I never spent my entire work week strictly on social media.

I suppose you could allow social media to suck up that much of your time, but truly there’s no reason to allow this to happen. I’m an extremely busy person, working full-time managing two veterinary practices, a dog training facility, an employee childcare facility, consulting with other practices, and speaking nationally two or three times each month. Despite all that, I can confidently say that I am an effective social media manager who spends 4-6 hours a week on social media for multiple platforms, businesses, and organizations. Oh….and I have a personal life, too!

When you are in the beginning stages of your social media efforts, there is a learning curve. You need to spend more time learning how the different platforms function, how to interact with people, and how to generate good content. You can expect the first six months to take approximately 12-15 hours each week. Once you get things flowing, with all your notification alerts in place, and a calendar to plan out posts and topics at least two months in advance, you should easily be able to streamline your time spent to a much more efficient 4-6 hours each week. The quality of your interactions should not suffer if you are taking the time to listen to your clients and interact with them (talk to them) within the platforms you have chosen. For more information about how to manage your time, pick up a copy of my book, Social Media for Veterinary Professionals. You can even download a copy from the iTunes store now!

If someone tries to convince you that social media should consume a person’s full time work week, then I say that person doesn’t fully grasp the concepts of being social in today’s world. In the rarest of situations where you have a 20+ DVM practice that is open 24/7, you might need a full time dedicated social media manager, who also handles all of your practice’s marketing strategy, including events, your practice’s newsletter, etc. But in most cases, where you have a two or three doctor practice, you can expect to spend 4-6 hours a week working on your social media efforts. Social media is a tool that is going to help your practice succeed today and in the future by connecting you to your clients. It’s a communication tool that you can effectively manage, freeing you up to care for your patients, which is why we’re all here in the first place.

It’s Day 2 from the North American Veterinary Conference and I’ve been experimenting with fresh technology that enhances the conference attendee’s experience: an app! The NAVC app was brought to my attention the day before the conference started by way of an email welcome announcement from NAVC. This free download was designed so that you could leave your copy of the official program in your room, or perhaps go green. I think this is a fabulous idea, but was surprised when the 1-inch thick program was pre-packed in our conference goody bags. With the implementation of an app, I would hope to see fewer programs printed next year, perhaps allowing attendees to pick up a hard copy, if they want one.
 
The NAVC app features the following functions on the dashboard:
 

• General overview of the NAVC
• The complete scientific program, which allows you to build your own program schedule gives you control over creating a custom program schedule for each day of the conference.
• A speaker list that is completely searchable by name, with photos and biographies.
• An exhibitor list that is completely searchable by name, giving you a complete index of vendors with one-touch connectivity to their websites and a map location of where to find them in the exhibit halls.
• Maps of each exhibit hall and program rooms for both the Gaylord and the Marriott.
• Social media connectivity allows users of the app to post to their Twitter or Facebook feeds directly from the app.
• A news feed pulls all Twitter posts with the #navc to the app for a convenient one-stop view of who’s posting what, live from the conference.
• Surveys for each session are built into the app, giving you the power to submit your feedback for sessions in a more convenient manner.
• Extras include FAQs about the conference center, recommendations for places to eat, information about the hotels, and an on-call button that puts you in direct contact with an NAVC staff volunteer if you have a problem.
• Your user portal gives you access to the digital proceedings and your session attendance records, which are tracked digitally.
• An attendee list, which is searchable by last name. If you gave permission to publish your email address, the app allows you to connect directly with other conference attendees.
• Messages can be sent to you from the NAVC through the app.

My goal has been to streamline my “baggage” throughout the day. I have been able to carry just my iPad for taking notes and my smartphone with the app to keep me on schedule and guide me through the day. The app does tend to crash on occasion, but overall I have been very pleased with its functionality. My hope is to see this option available at other major conferences, as I see real value in this tool.

One of my favorite bloggers is Chris Brogan. I subscribe to his e-newsletter and try to keep up with his blog posts. He also wrote one of my favorite social media books Trust Agents, with Julien Smith.

Today, I received an email from Chris that I found inspiring at this time of year and it simply planted three little words in my subconscious. His message was, find three words that you can connect with in the coming year—-three words that sum up how you will focus in the coming year. After about half an hour of thought and coming back to the email a few times, I chose my three words: Balance, Believe, Celebrate.

Balance

This is something I’ve been aware of and working on in the past six months. As my book, Social Media for Veterinary Professionals has taken off, my work-life balance seems to have gotten a little off-kilter. Some months are great with maybe one week of travel, while others have consumed most of my time in traveling from one coast to another, with little time at home. In July, I really started focusing on getting more balance in my life, limiting my travel schedule to one or two trips a month (don’t ask me about April 2012, though! It got a little ahead of me).

As an added twist to finding balance, I also moved my art studio to a commercial location down the street from my home. Getting my artistic work space out of my home was crucial to carving out time for myself. My spare bedroom was bursting at the seams with supplies and equipment, with not a single 2-foot space to work at when I had the time. Now, I have 450-square-feet of paradise at Encaustication! The key in the coming year for me will be balance.

Believe

This word speaks to my heart because in the past ten years I have found myself evolving from a glass-half-empty person into a glass-half-full person. I believe this is a direct result of moving myself and my family to Indiana and embracing an environment that I found to be full of positive energy. This is where I work each and every day—Broad Ripple Animal Clinic and Wellness Center! We’ve all been rocked by the economy, the state of our government, and world events in the past five years. I need to keep my positive energy flowing, because others are counting on me to lead. Therefore, I need to believe that the world is not ending, the sky is not falling, and people will wake up and find their humanity once again. I believe in making a difference. Do you?

Celebrate

The coming year brings many reasons to celebrate for me and my family. My only child will turn 18, she will graduate high school, and she will begin her college education! As the mother of an only child, I need to remember these are moments to celebrate, despite that knot in my stomach at the thought of my little one reaching these milestones and leaving my nest. I also need to look forward to all the great things to come in our lives at home, and at the practice and always remember to celebrate the little things in life. We all have so much to be thankful for—our health, our families, our careers. Business might be off for some, but I always look at that as an opportunity! Let’s re-set, lay down some goals, work hard and then we can celebrate when we make a difference.

What are your three words?

No matter what kind of year 2011 has been for your practice, as managers and owners it’s that time again—time to set goals and budgets for the coming year. I can’t imagine any practice not setting growth goals, and laying plans for how they hope to accomplish next year’s growth. How many of you plan to strengthen the pillars in your practice? How many of you need to create new pillars in order to grow at all?

What’s all this crazy architectural talk about pillars, you ask? Look at the success of your veterinary practice from an architectural standpoint. A strong foundation is created when you have a cohesive, complimentary owner-manager team. This foundation is the base for all future growth, but without pillars the walls and roof will be weak. In this analogy, the walls are your team and the roof is the amount of production the team can handle. Without pillars, your walls may crumple under the weight of the roof. You need pillars for stability and growth!

A pillar is a team member who has willingly given 100% of themselves to the success of the practice. Pillars are your natural leaders, your big picture thinkers, and innovators. They are the people who see problems and want to fix them, rather than wait for someone else to notice. They are the people who take pride in your practice and come to work everyday, treating it as if it were their own.

In The Innovator’s Toolkit: 50+ Techniques for Predictable and Sustainable Organic Growth (Silverstein, Samuel, and DeCarlo), the authors say, “organic growth takes a lot more than ideas. It takes galvanizing leadership and a sustainable growth engine. It takes deep understanding of key concepts and a robust managerial process. It also takes a groundswell of employees who can skillfully apply all the necessary techniques and tools of innovation…”. Those employees are your potential pillars!

It’s very easy to create new pillars in your practice by paying attention to, and tapping into the natural talents of your team members. I learned long ago that shaping people to fit a particular job description doesn’t necessarily work. I actually tend to rewrite job descriptions around people’s talents, and fill the gaps by balancing them out with people who have completely different strengths. One of my all-time favorite management books, First, Break All the Rules (Buckingham and Coffman) explains these concepts more in-depth than I ever could in a blog post.

Now that you have practice pillars, how does one go about strengthening them? Start by making sure you are providing them with a solid foundation—do you make yourself available for coaching and support? Are you providing them with continuing education opportunities? Do they have all the tools they need in order to do their very best? Do they have close friends at work? These are all things that will strengthen your pillars, and in the long run will grow your practice year after year. Rather than focusing strictly on spreadsheets and numbers, be sure to incorporate your pillars into your growth plan. The more you put into them, the more your practice will reap in return.

Several weeks ago, the Broad Ripple Animal Clinic and Wellness Center’s Facebook page passed the 2,000 “likes” mark. It has been a slow and gradual process where we have nurtured the fire we kindled a few years ago as part of our social media strategy. It seems like just yesterday that we passed the 1,000 fan milestone, but it was actually a little more than a year ago.

What are my thoughts on Facebook for veterinary practices after doubling our audience? Quality beats quantity every time, and we must all remember that we are merely “leasing” space on Facebook.

While I am very proud to have passed the 2,000 “likes” mark, I know that it is simply a number. When it comes to social media, you can’t always look at the bare bones numbers. The more important value is the quality of the interactions you are seeing when you use the tool that is Facebook. Are your posts generating “chatter”? Do you ask relevant questions that spark comments and conversations within your practice’s online community? Do your clients use your page to thank you and your staff, or to post photos of their pets? If you can answer YES! to these questions, then you are seeing a return on your social media efforts.

Why am I calling Facebook a tool? I want you to remember that you are simply leasing a little bit of space on the Facebook platform. It is not the end-all, be-all saving grace that is going to grow your practice all by itself—it’s a tool in your online toolbox. This virtual toolbox should contain many tools including:

• First and foremost, a solid website that is relevant and fresh and can be easily found through online search
• A content-rich blog that is attached to your website, and updated regularly
• Your Facebook business page
• Your practice’s Twitter profile
• A YouTube channel for your practice
• LinkedIn profiles for each of your practice’s veterinarians
• Your practice’s Google Places page has been claimed by You and has been completed in its entirety