A question of management styles...

A question came in our Power Team Builder workshop with regards to what management style was best for the practice? The horizontal, we're all friends working together in harmony, on a level playing field, or the more vertical, commands from the top down from seniors to juniors style? It's a good question isn't it? I think it comes down to what is ultimately the most effective in terms of impectable cusomer and patient service and what creates to best staff morale! We sorted this out by running some timed trials that involved getting a simple task done. The "I'm ok, your ok, we're all friends" style resulted in lots of smiles but poor customer service. It simply took too long with all the politeness and lack of decision as to who was going to do what! The vertical, get it done via friendly orders from seniors to juniors consitentely beat the clock and delivered high speed customer service. The morale from this team was higher from their stellar performance, not from their "taking care of friends" approach. Tip? Try giving some friendly direct orders to your staff. Do ask for their permission - just give them a nice snappy order and see what happens!

Some recent success stories from our Executive Training Academy...

“I really feel this course has really helped me to be able to understand others better, to be able to keep the positive in any situation, and to be able to detect problems in the workplace. I am really happy I attended this course through my stay here. I
experienced some educational dreams. I am really impressed with this course.”

DH, Practice Manager
Course: How to Get Along With Others


“I really liked this course because it taught me how to analyze statistics and what to do to improve them. A lot of the time I may know that a certain area of the business is not doing well but I really did not know what to do about it until I took this course.”

Dr. ST, Practice Owner
Course: Formulas for Business Success


“This course, How to Write Effective Company Policy, was useful to identify the
difference between policy and orders and what can be some pitfalls of not setting
policy which causes confusion among all staff and creates randomness in what we do. If policies are written and hopefully understood they act as a guide to what is
acceptable in the company.”

Dr. CB, Practice Owner
Course: How to Write Effective Company Policy


“This course has taught me how to effectively manage my work and communications with fellow staff so that a maximum of valuable production occurs with a minimum of wasted time and effort.”

JT, Practice Manager
Course: How to Increase Efficiency in Your Company


“A working organizational board for our hospital is a big step to a more efficient
operation where my people can really understand the dynamics of servicing a client and their pet. I am very excited to move ahead from this point.”

Dr. MA, Practice Owner
Course: Basic Organization

Day 1 in blogisphere...

Good morning! I've been wanting to start a blog like this for quite a while to express the daily, weekly, monthly goings ons that happen around our offices at Veterinary Practice Solutions. I'd like to share our clients wins within the veterinary community and let people that we are making a difference in private practice life. Maybe some of you will find this interesting and maybe not. I'd like to hear from you either way! So... more on this later. START!
JP