Redraw your problems

Let's take a look at your hospital. What challenges does it face? How are you solving them? How is your solution working?

Often we all solve problems by going backwards. We do this because the past was where the problem doesn't exist. Here and now the problem does exist, so clearly we need to go back to where the problem didn't exist and double down on what worked then.

Of course, there is at least a fifty percent chance that you will be doubling down on the very solution that got you where you are today. If you're lucky your solution will merely be ineffective as opposed to actively digging your hole deeper.

Lets look at a common complaint in veterinary medicine: declining veterinary visits. Now a simple solution to this may be that fewer people are finding your hospital, so the next time the Yellow Pages guy comes in to re-up your ad, you make it bigger. Ta da! Problem solved. Only, it's not, because several things were left out of this very simple equation.

Putting a bigger ad in the Yellow Pages is akin to doubling the number of smoke signals you send. No one is seeing them. Second, you are assuming that fewer visits mean fewer new clients, what if it has nothing to do with new clients? Maybe you have less loyal clients, or your clients are going to shot clinics, or your clients hate your receptionist.

There are a thousand reasons that you could have declining visits, and doing anything before you know why is akin to treating a disease before diagnosing it: you could get lucky, but it isn't likely.  Additionally, doubling down on what you're currently doing may lock you into a situation that closes other doors. That Yellow Pages money would be better served on Google, or a better website, or hiring a new receptionist, or training your staff to schedule clients for their next appointment as clients are leaving.

You can guess what's happening all you want "The shot clinic is stealing my clients!" But the solution has to lie within your control, so the problem needs to be within your control. If you externalize the problem (shot clinics) you externalize the solution (you need to burn down the shot clinic).

Internalizing solutions can be hard, but that needs to be your default position. Once again, I encourage you to tell your staff what you think, either one on one or in a meeting. Ask them what they would do to help you raise client visits - after all, hopefully they see a correlation between your success and their paychecks. Be leery, however, of a group solution if you believe that one or more employees are part of the problem. They may open up privately to you, but in this case you may be better off bringing in a disinterested party to help you sort out your issues.

Be aware too that the answers could be very complex and involve more than one moving part. But the only way to solve the problem is to properly diagnose it.

Group learning

If you are like most veterinary hospitals, you receive half a dozen magazines a month discussing everything from industry news to a discourse of fluid choices to a JAVMA article on eye prolapses in lemurs. Even after removing the Lemur articles (unless you work with lemurs, in which case: cool) there is a ton of information out there. Add to that whatever your various reps are bringing in, and whatever the latest CE offerings in your town are, and you will spend every waking minute learning how to run your practice and treat your patients instead of actually doing either.

So, what do you do with this massive amount of information? Do you create Stonehenge-like terraces of the stuff in your office, saying someday you'll get to that interesting looking article about new recommendations on feeding cats, or do you simply assume that whatever you're currently recommending will eventually come back into vogue?

I once spoke with a veterinarian whose hospital was in financial trouble who told me she had stopped reading Veterinary Economics years ago because they always say the same thing. Another veterinarian spent his afternoons reading Time and National Geographic because his days were only 1/3 full. He figured he was getting all the CE he needed by going to Las Vegas every other year.

But, doing the opposite is no good either. I read all of the same magazines that we're talking about and I get email updates from Animal Health SmartBrief, LifeLearn, Partners For Healthy Pets and many more. They're all thankfully digital, but still they take time. The difference is that I'm not working full time at a veterinary practice, racing from room to room, eating lunch at my desk and staying late to suture up both combatants in a family dog fight.

Successful hospitals are progressive hospitals. Especially with the level of information that your clients are reading (because, they do have time to read all of their various pet care magazines and blogs) you need to be moving ahead, and to do that you need to know where the industry as a whole is going. One annual conference is unlikely to help you see the bigger picture that all of those magazines provide.

The most successful way that I have found to keep up with what is going on in our industry, and the bigger outside world is to create a learning team. You have a hospital full of people who care just as passionately about animals as you do. Hopefully you have staff members who care deeply about keeping your hospital progressive and helping you serve your clients better.

A simple way to encourage a learning team is through staff meetings. After all the housekeeping and announcements ask everyone to provide some tidbit from something they read since the last staff meeting. It can be anything: a tip from Veterinary Economics, a whole article in DVM360, or something they learned outside the profession about social media or websites or a local rabid skunk story.

You will find that team meetings that encourage your staff to show what they learned does several things: first, it reinforces your belief in knowledge, second, it demonstrates your respect for your team, and lastly, if you listen carefully, it tells you where your team is going.

I'm sorry, you cannot delegate those JAVMA articles, but everything else should be brought to you by your team. They should share your vision for the hospital and therefore the articles they find most interesting will be the ones most relevant to your hospital. If someone brings up a great article, post it on the board for everyone to read.

Remember, you're not the only one in your hospital that needs to keep current. If you want your team to follow you where you're going, or better, yet, lead the charge, give them the tools and encouragement to help them help you fulfill your hospital's promise.