Organizing the Workplace: Job Descriptions, Individual Action Plans, Scheduling  

One of the two main assets you have in your practice does not appear on the balance sheet; namely your practice team; your personnel. The other main asset is your client base. Each is far more valuable than any piece of veterinary equipment.

For that team to function in the most efficient and effective manner, you need both the optimum number and type of individuals in your team. You need to communicate your vision for the business with the team as a whole and each team member needs to know their role in helping to drive the business form its current position to where you want to take it.

It is the owner of the practice’s responsibility to set the strategic objectives for the business, in terms of where it should be and by when. It is then the manager’s task, and that may well be the same individual, to formulate the tactics that will take the business there. The manager’s main role is to achieve those objectives through the efforts of the whole team by using each individual’s strength. It stands to reason then that the optimum team will comprise of individuals, who between them have all the necessary skills to do the job and that each individual will be used to the best advantages.

When you consider all the elements involved in a veterinary practice, from buildings and equipment, materials and the marketplace, money and manpower, it is not surprising that it may prove very difficult or even impossible to find the omni competent practice manager. In addition to, or instead of appointing a practice manager, you may want to consider appointing champions of specific areas or indeed specific projects. There may be somebody with a particular flair for organizing the waiting-room displays or somebody who is keen to take on the production of the practice newsletter.

One of the critical factors in building a first rate team is to recruit the right individuals in the first place, the individuals who already have the required skills, or who you believe can be trained to acquire those skills. This presupposes that you have carried out a critical evaluation of your current team to see where the gaps lie in terms of team skills. It also presupposes you have structured the interview process correctly and have asked the correct questions to enable you to find the best applicant. There is no benefit in recruiting the best of a bad lot; far better to re-advertise until you have found the right individual for the vacant position. Once you have found the right person, it is very important to provide them with a Contract of Employment which provides details of their remuneration, hours of work, holiday entitlement etc. It should also provide details of the Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures.

Once you have the team members, the strategy and the tactics in place you need to communicate to each team member their role in the practice’s journey. This requires delegation as opposed to abdication! Where delegation is concerned there are some simple rules. You need to explain to the individual what it is you would like them to do and why the task is important; you need to give them SMART objectives; you need to give them the necessary tools to achieve the task and you need to give them plenty of feedback during the whole process.

Feedback needs to be regular and should be given to the whole team as well as to each individual. In general terms each team member should have a Job Description which outlines their role, their areas of responsibilities and whom they report to. The Job Description needs to provide details of what the specific job entails but it should include a statement that emphasises that where an individual sees something urgent and/or important that needs to be done that falls outside their specific Job Description, they do it.

A structured Personnel Development Plan (PDP) which starts when the individual joins the practice and which continues throughout their employment is of benefit to the practice and the individuals alike. The purpose of this PDP is to support and develop each team member and needs to be structured for maximum benefit. New employees, especially those who are newly qualified will benefit from a mentoring system to provide them with crucial support in their first few weeks in the practice. Ongoing regular PDP meetings allow you to draw up Individual Action Plans for each team member.

Regular structured meetings, with agendas and action lists are crucial to document the practice’s journey, to facilitate 360° feedback and to reassess the strategy and the tactics. Practice meeting can take many formats, depending upon the size of the practice team, and the objectives of the meeting. They may involve the whole team or alternatively, representatives from the various practice departments. To be effective, these meetings need to be structured, regular and need to be arranged to ensure maximum attendance.

They say that the three most important factors in setting up a new practice are location, location and location; when it comes to running an effective and efficient veterinary team the three most important things are communication, communication and communication.