As a veterinary practice in Arizona, you and your team take care of many pets. However, with evolving medical techniques and new technology, you may implement changes and new policies within the practice. Sometimes it’s challenging to handle new things, but luckily, we have some great tips for managing change in your veterinary practice.
Make Communication a Top Priority
Within any medical field, communication is a top priority, but it’s especially important when you’re managing change. If you’re updating policies, hiring new employees, or enhancing patient care, you must communicate it to your employees. Doing so will remove any chance of miscommunication. After all, identifying and eliminating bottlenecks are one of the practical ways to boost efficiency in your veterinary clinic because it prevents communication “roadblocks” among staff.
Don’t Rush Into New Plans
You must understand that successful change doesn’t happen overnight. It takes detailed planning, strategizing, and gradual implementation to roll out new things. At the same time, you can’t expect every employee to grab onto new policies and be excited about change. Therefore, you shouldn’t rush into new plans. Talk to staff members about changes and create a feasible timeline to roll out new plans. For instance, you can mention a new policy but give employees a specific date when the plan goes into effect.
Highlight Each Staff Member’s Strengths
While you’re implementing change, remember that you’re not working alone. You have a highly skilled veterinarian staff that will help you. Involve them in new plans by highlighting their strengths and talking about individual skills they bring to the veterinary practice. For instance, if you’re rolling out a new telemedicine system, you can tell employees with great organizational and communication skills that the system will help them organize patients more efficiently and make their job easier.
Be Open to Feedback
Feedback from your team allows you to fine-tine new plans and manage change better. Seek out their opinions and talk about areas of improvement. Ultimately, feedback bridges the gap between new policies and full implementation because your employees will be the ones to execute your plans. You can hold meetings or open forums that allow staff members to talk before introducing changes.
Implementing change and new policies within your workplace can sometimes be challenging. However, we hope these tips for managing change in your veterinary practice have been helpful. We encourage you to refer to these tips anytime you introduce something new to your practice.
