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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Calling All Managers!



Would love to meet some other managers in the area for lunch to discuss the following topics this Friday, June 24. Anyone in the area interested in meeting and bettering our management skills?

Agenda: June 24, 2011

• Contrast business management and business leadership and
describe when each skill set might be used to best advantage

• Understand and apply the five practices and ten commitments
of leadership as described by Kouzes and Posner

• Understand and be able to facilitate an effective dialogue and
decision-making process for the individual and within work
groups

• Conduct effective, efficient and productive team meetings and
trainings sessions

• List the characteristics of a high performance work team and
demonstrate the ability to form, build and support effective work
teams

• Learn how to effectively coach practice employees to assure
consistent and exemplary results

• Develop comfort and skill in having difficult conversations and in
applying disciplinary policies as required

• Outline how one might motivate employees and apply employee
performance management techniques in a veterinary practice

• Create a specific action plan to exert a positive leadership
influence in their own veterinary practice

Monday, June 20, 2011

So Long; Farewell; Auf Wiedersehen; Goodbye!




Exit interviews can be such an impactful and intriguing experience. This is your time to find out the answers to any burning questions that you may have. Some specific questions that I typically ask during my exit interviews are:

1) Why have you decided to leave the organization?

2) Was a single event responsible for your decision to leave?


3) Did you share your concerns with anyone in the organization prior to deciding to leave?


4) Could anything have been done to prevent your departure?


5) What things did the organization or management do to make your job more difficult/frustrating/unproductive?


6) What extra responsibility would you have welcomed that you were not given?


7) What can the organization do to retain its best people (and not lose any more like you)?


8) What training and development that you had did you find the most helpful?


9) What specific suggestions would you have for how the organization could manage issues better in the future?


10) What could your direct manager do to improve his or her management style?



Many of these questions can give you insight as to current employees---what could you be doing to make them happy...to retain them as team members. Questions like number 3 can also give you additional insight beyond whether as a manager you ignored requests or concerns by that team member may have made...It tells you if they have "vented" to your remaining staff-potentially stirring the pot or raising concerns or creating "fires" before their departure. Having the opportunity to sit down with your team and address these issues head on will gain you respect among your staff and will boost morale.

Your team wants to know you are listening and that they are being heard. If you don't take time out of your day to be the mentor, counselor, friend (in the office--never outside--but that's another blog rant), and a teacher, your team will stop coming to you for assistance, advice, concerns and will begin to go to their co-workers. When employees start to take their concerns to other staff members, you have lost control and are no longer seen as someone who is able to "fix" their problems. They are trying other outlets.

When I performed (or tried to perform) an exit interview recently, I was told that that particular employee preferred not to participate in the exit interview. This is always their choice. However, a comment she made really struck a chord. She said "I decline to participate, but I think those would be great questions to ask your current staff". It was beside the point that we have provided this survey to the staff twice in the time she had been employeed--her memory did not recall that she had been given an outlet a couple of times to anonymously answer these questions. I quickly went home and created a survey on http://www.surveymonkey.com/ so that the staff could answer these questions candidly and from the privacy of their own home. I hope to get some good answers and be able to address any issues that may come up that we have not realized. The fact that this employee told me I should do this gave me the sneaking suspecion that she had heard some grumblings.....you know...those grumblings that everyone else in the practice hears and never make their way firsthand to management.

Have an open door policy. Take the time (at least a couple of hours per day) to do walk around management---listen to the staff; listen to how the staff communicates with one another; listen for patterns or grumblings and see if you can address them as a mentor/friend/coach.

Do you perform exit interviews? If so, what questions do you ask your staff? Do you give them verbally, written, in a survey form, etc?

We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. ~Epictetus

Monday, June 13, 2011

We promise to always...

Recently, I stayed at a Fairfield Inn while visiting friends in Norman, Oklahoma. I was given a card on my pillow that said:

We promise to always
-Make you feel welcome
-Give you a room that's clean, fresh and reflects the highest quality standards
-Respond promptly to any need you might have
-Give you the service that will make you want to return

If, for any reason, you believe we're not keeping our word, please tell us immediately. After all, a promise is a promise.


I know this is such a simple little thing, but it made me feel comfortable and at ease. I decided we were going to "borrow" this approach for our Pet Hotel. We were going to give every client a little card when they drop their pet off that says we are going to provide their pet with the best possible care while they are gone. We posted a sign in the Pet Hotel office that says "HOME AWAY FROM HOME" and we all signed it.

But, what good is just saying you will do something? What other things have you put into place to really SHOW people that you are taking good care of their loved one? We send email and text videos and photos of the pets while they are with us. How do you show people you are taking good care of their animal while its boarding at your facility? If you don't work in the veterinary industry, how do you show patients, clients, etc that you care about them?