Making progress in a veterinary practice, no matter the subject, depends upon leadership and implementation. The leadership must establish a vision and expectation for where the practice is going and in setting objectives to which the team will be held accountable. In addition, effective implementation requires sufficient alignment of incentives with your team.
Coming in with a new idea or plan and simply telling your team that you expect something to be done won't work. If the team doesn't understand or believe that it is in their best interests to do what is being requested, they will not implement your plan to success. They will either avoid implementing your plan, or they will find creative ways to undermine the team's half-hearted effort to implement. In either case, the result will be failure and status quo.
On the other hand, if a leader comes in to key personnel to discuss an objective that needs to be accomplished, and why it is in the best interests of the team to accomplish that objective, then the team can be a part of developing and implementing the solution. This method is necessary for successful implementation to occur. To summarize:
- Identify an objective that is necessary or desirable
- Get agreement from your team on that objective
- Engage the team in creating and implementing the solution
Keep it simple and empower your team. You will make great progress by implementing in this manner.
