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Transcript Overview Resources This concludes Part I of our three-part course where we explored the five components of human engagement: Fairness, Value, Clarity, Contribution, and Connection.  I would encourage you to use the tools included in the course materials to reflect on where your practice stands with these five key components. In Part II of this

Transcript Overview Resources Connection is the fifth part of engagement.  Without connection, there is no engagement for long, even if the other components are present.  According to a Veterinary Hospital Managers report from 2016, when asked about the secret to hiring and retaining qualified technicians, the top ranked answer was “the clinic’s friendly, respectful, and

Transcript Overview Resources So, let’s do a quick a recap of what we know so far.  We know that a fully engaged team makes businesses happier, healthier, and more profitable.  We also know there are five key components to creating an engaged environment that attracts and keeps talented, engaged employees.  We’ve reviewed three so far:

Transcript Overview Resources Whenever we enter a new community of people, we look around to get clarity on how things work.  We look for cues about how to fit in.  What’s accepted here?  What do the people with status or power do each day?  We will also look around to get clarity about our role,

Transcript Overview Resources In the previous module, we talked about how a work environment that is perceived as fair by its employees is critical to creating a fully engaged team of people. A second component of employee engagement is value.  What I mean by this is how much employees feel valued by the place where they

Transcript Overview Resources Fairness is one of the five critical components needed to create a fully engaged practice team. People are significantly more engaged in an environment where they believe they are treated fairly. Neuroscience has been very helpful in helping us understand why that’s the case.  The human brain responds to being treated fairly the

Transcript Overview Resources The key to a thriving veterinary practice is hiring people who have a history of being fully engaged and also creating an environment where people stay fully engaged.  The engaged environment piece is essential because, over time, it will actually attract fully engaged people and also help those who are already there

Transcript Overview Resources In order to talk about engaged team members or an engaged practice environment, we need to define employee engagement. Sometimes employee engagement is confused with employee satisfaction, but it’s incredibly different.  You can have highly satisfied, but disengaged employees.  Satisfaction means people like the job, but it doesn’t mean they are performing at

Transcript Overview Resources Employee engagement.  It’s probably a term you have heard before and if you’re leading a team, something you might have thought about.  There are some good reasons that leaders are thinking more and more about it.  If you look at the research done on the effects of employee engagement, you will find

Transcript Overview Resources Challenging client conversations are an incredible opportunity.  Every business will encounter them and certainly every veterinary practice.  But you are now equipped with a process that helps you deal with them well.  I’ve seen people in practices become so comfortable with this process that they begin to enjoy turning the day around

Transcript Overview Resources We have talked about lots of different kinds of judgments we make about our clients in our veterinary practice.  But one judgment we make that is particularly common is about money and we should probably spend just a few minutes on money alone. Imagine this scenario – a client, from their outward appearance,

Transcript Overview Resources So far, we have been addressing issues where the client is frustrated with us and brings that to our attention, or we notice that they are upset, and we engage them.  But we also need to talk about some situations where we are uncomfortable, even when the client is still at ease. Think

Transcript Overview Resources The final step in working through any challenging conversation is follow-up.  We have listened, learned, partnered, solved, and built a stronger bond with our client.  We’ve helped them through a stressful situation where they might not have been at their best and we’ve supported them through the entire process.  Checking in with

Transcript Overview Resources The last kind of solution that I would like to address is a relationship solution.  These are sometimes the toughest challenges because they involve deeper relationship issues that are far more personal than the other kinds of things we might face.  These challenges involve situations where people have become disconnected, lost trust,

Transcript Overview Resources There are different kinds of solutions that might present themselves as we work through this conversation with our client: informational solutions, transactional solutions, additional resource solutions, and relationship solutions. Informational solutions are ones that reveal a misunderstanding, some information that was needed and not shared, or a simple communication that can fix the

Transcript Overview Resources So, we know that we need to listen and we know that we need to partner with our client, but when do we actually get to fix the problem or help them resolve the issue?  We have to do that at some point, right?  Absolutely, and remember that starting well, with listening

Transcript Overview Resources In the last module I mentioned partnering.  It might be helpful to go a little deeper into what I mean by partnering and how to do it well during our challenging client conversations.  Partnering is simply the act of working together with your client on their problem.  Think of it as being

Transcript Overview Resources Earlier we discussed what happens in the brain to cause an emotional response in our clients when something they didn’t expect, or thought should be different, happens.  Now we will work through how to help them return to a place where reason and logic matter and to a thinking state where we

Transcript Overview Resources To deal with challenging conversations effectively we have to be fully engaged, but not emotionally involved.  In order to learn more about the process for succeeding in these types of challenging conversations, let’s first briefly discuss how our brains work. The front part of the brain, specifically the orbital frontal cortex, directs our

Transcript Overview Resources To be at our best as we handle challenging client conversations, we need to keep the client’s world and their situation front and center. You have an awesome job and you have a ton of knowledge that’s gained from your training and from working in a veterinary practice.  You understand a lot more

Transcript Overview Resources Think about this for a minute.  What if every client who visited your clinic thought you were the most accommodating, most compassionate, and most helpful place they had ever been?  Can you imagine how you would feel as a client of a place like that?  Can you imagine what it would be