/// QUARTERLY BEAT / OCTOBER 2021
QUARTERLY BEAT / OCTOBER 2021 ///
No one should be permitted to yell at each other. It simply should not be tolerated. Throwing of items or slamming things on tasks should be immediate reasons that an employee is written up. While at times it seems like a casual place of employment, it is a working hospital performing medicine. It is a professional environment that many times employees forget to be professional in. If there is a heated exchange of words or actions it should be immediately corrected once the individuals have had time to reflect on the inappropriate behavior. They need to apologize in order to mend the relationship they have as team members. And while they may not agree with each other, they need to agree that they are working towards the same common goal and will treat each other in a more respectful manner moving forward. Team members should not be permitted to curse frequently. There may be a rare instance where cursing happens. The team member who said the bad word, should apologize and make it known that it was inappropriate behavior but that they were reacting to the situation. Cursing directly at a team member is grounds for immediate action from a manager. Above all else, it is important to remember that every team member works in a professional environment. Maintaining professionalism and being polite and respectful is important to good team health. Own Your Mistakes & Be Honest This one always made the list because it was so important for people to work with an honest team member. Everyone makes mistakes. If they don’t trust each other, then they will struggle to work with each other. This trait is about team members being able to trust each other. One of the first things that we can do in a leadership role is to ensure that we cultivate a team where mistakes are not at the forefront. If we have our employees fearing they may get in trouble, then they are less likely to communicate an issue or be honest when it is necessary. Instead, we must praise those that are honest. We do need to correct mistakes, but those corrections should be few compared to the praise and admiration we provide to our teams. We often see a lack of communication between the doctor, veterinary technician, and front office. Many times, the front office and the veterinary technician are afraid of telling the doctor that a mistake was made. After all, they are the doctor. They don’t want to get yelled at, made to feel stupid, or have the doctor not trust them. We need to ensure that our teams know how to communicate between all areas of the hospital. We need to have a hospital where honesty is valued and praised. Be a Cheerleader Not every team member is going to be vocal and cheering everyone on all the time. That’s okay. However, whether you are an introvert or an extrovert, it’s important to give praise to your team members when they do a good job. Be genuine about your appreciation to the person. “Good job getting that catheter in,” or “Great job dealing with the difficult client,” is essential to maintaining the best team. So many times, I hear from teams, “Our manager doesn’t praise us at all. She doesn’t even know what we do.” They are right. The manager has no idea what they do. Most
VETgirl U HIGHLIGHTS
10 KEY TRAITS OF BEING A GREAT TEAM MEMBER
AMY NEWFIELD, MS, CVT, VTS (ECC) Veterinary Team Training Goodbye Toxic Team
1. Start the Day Off On a Good Foot 2. Be Kind, Respectful, & Polite to Each Other 3. Own Your Mistakes & Be Honest 4. Be a Cheerleader 5. Be Helpful 6. Be Engaged & Have a Good Work Ethic 7. Don’t Gossip & Assume Good Intention 8. Remember It’s ONE team 9. Create Moments of Laughter & Fun 10. End the Day With a Unicorn Flying By
In this VETgirl Technician Webinar, “Goodbye Toxic Team: Converting the Negativity to Positivity,” veterinary technician Amy Newfield reviews how to convert negativity to positivity in the veterinary clinic.
Working in veterinary medicine can be difficult because it involves working in a team. So many went into the industry thinking that they enjoyed animals more than people only to find out that they work with people the same amount, if not more. In hospital settings it is a matter of life and death on a daily basis for patients. In order to perform even the simplest task, like drawing blood, team members must work side-by- side with each other. This is unlike human medicine, where oftentimes the registered nurse performs phlebotomy solo. The stress of day-to-day experiences, coupled with having to work so very closely, if not on top of each other, can result in a stressful work environment. Being a great team member not only allows for better experience for everyone else but yourself as well. The Team Members People leave managers, not jobs. That saying is mostly true, but it can be argued that people also leave bad teams with bad morale. Usually, the teams that have bad morale and high turnover are the direct result of also bad managements. Rarely, but sometimes, a team member may leave a job simply because they want a challenge outside of what the company can offer. That said, I personally worked in a veterinary hospital where the management was terrible, but my team was amazing. I stayed because of the amazing team members that I had working alongside me. A team is made up of many individuals, all with different personalities. There are many personality testing software and theories out there that attempt to classify one’s personality. There is no exact or perfect testing method, but certainly having a good understanding of the different types of personalities out there allows any team member to interact with their coworker in a more productive manner.
personality types. It is based on the conceptual theory that was proposed by Carl Jung and created by Katharine Cook Briggs in the early 1900s. It is such a popular personality classification system that numerous websites, including www.16personalities.com, offer tests to classify you into one of the 16 different personality types. There are four main groupings of personalities with two choices in each group. • People tend to be either extroverted or introverted. - Extroverts tend to draw energy from action. They like crowds and they react first and think later. Solitude is stressful to them and takes more energy than interacting with people. Being with people recharges them. - Introverts tend to draw energy from inaction. They are thinkers first and react second. Crowds are stressful to them and take more energy than being alone. Being alone recharges them. • People tend to be either sensing or intuitive - Sensors tend to focus on real senses they can see, touch and feel. They trust the information that are tangible and that they can see. - Intuition individuals tend to focus on possibilities. They learn from larger experiences and can apply it to what could be in the future. • People are either thinkers or feelers - The thinkers tend to be overanalytical and they do not use feelings to place judgment on a decision - Feelers tend to look at the impact it would have on those around them and take into consideration others’ feelings - People are either judging or perceiving. Judging individuals like to live in a very organized manner. They feel satisfied when a plan comes to a closure. They like planning and organization. - Perceiving individuals like to keep options open. They are spontaneous and adaptable. While there are plenty of ways to categorize human behavior, the Myers-Briggs method is certainly one that many people enjoy and can relate to. There are certainly people who are
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very extroverted and people that are very much thinkers. There are also people who fall in the middle. Having the team take a Myers-Briggs test or other personality test will allow the members to understand how best to interact with each other. Starting the Day In veterinary medicine, all team members perform shiftwork. It might be an overnight shift or day shift, but team members are expected to arrive and end the shift at a certain time. In order to start the day off on a good foot (or perhaps it’s the night you are starting) you must arrive on time. This doesn’t mean just in the nick of time. You must arrive before your shift, put away your belongings, check your cell phone one last time, and be ready to work at the start of the shift. Say hello to your team members. Say something nice. The first words out of your mouth should not be complaining. Starting the day off with a complaint sets the tone for the rest of the day. No one wants to hear about how you’re tired and you didn’t want to come into work. Probably several other team members feel the same way. Complaining just breeds negativity. Don’t let it be the very first thing that exits your mouth when you walk into work. Instead, put in a few positive sentences before maybe adding in about how you are tired and would rather sleep in. Be Kind, Respectful & Polite To Each Other This seems to go without saying, but it is difficult to remember this when there is a patient who is not doing well or a client yelling at you. If the exam room appointments start getting backed up and a technician is taking longer than usual to read a blood smear or a few things get said that are not kind. One of the largest issues in veterinary medicine is that people forget to be polite, kind and respectful to each other.
One of the more popular methods is the Myers-Briggs personality test which categorizes people into 16 different
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