Staff training lays foundation for success

When veterinarians opt to leave private practice, they often cite frustrationsdealing with staff training and retention.

So before arriving at a breaking point, long-time practice manager KurtOster recommends seeking out professional advice.

After all, training doesn't have to be difficult, says Oster, who nowworks with Veterinary Practice Healthcare Consultants. With a little organization,communication and leadership, every veterinary practice has the potentialto run smoothly.

"All you have to do is put your hand up and ask for help,"Oster says. "The one statement that frightens me when I go to practicesis, 'We don't waste time training our employees because we know they'llquit in two or three months.'

"That's ridiculous. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy."

Nailing down job duties

Beginning or reviving staff training regimens should start with outliningjob descriptions.

"There's no magic bullet," Oster says. "It all goes backto the basics and an ongoing commitment to education between staff and thepractice leadership. And for that to start, everyone has to know where theyfit in."

For example, traditional receptionist duties consist largely of clericalwork, but the role often is meatier in the veterinary profession. "Thesereceptionists really should be called client care professionals," saysSusan Hoy, a private consultant.

And their improper training could result in legal woes, Gerald Snyder,VMD, adds.

"Imagine going into a veterinary hospital and the receptionist istotally ignorant of what your pet needs," says Snyder, owner of VeterinaryPractice Productivity, Inc. "A new employee should never speak to aclient unless they've had three days of intensive training. A veterinarianis legally liable for any advice his employee gives."

It's also useful for receptionists to emotionally connect with a practice'sclientele.

"Clients want to be coddled by caring and perceptive receptionists,"Snyder says. "So it's not unusual to have them be more in tune withthe receptionist than the doctor. These visits turn into social calls."

By the book

There are many ways to train staff, including classes, videotapes, booksand role-playing. And no matter what method is employed, training, in smalldoses, needs to happen once a week, Hoy says.

But according to Snyder, most practices do little of what's requiredfor basic instruction.

"Usually a doctor has a set of instructional videotapes sittingin his office gathering dust because the toughest word in veterinary medicineis 'implementation,'" Snyder says. "Tapes are an investment thatcan be used on hundreds of employees for decades at a miniscule cost.

"We're not talking about brain surgery. We're talking about clientcare, kennel care and customer service."

Education required

While training needs to be mandatory, Snyder says most on-the-job effortsare expensive and inefficient.

For that reason, Hoy recommends repetition. "It works," shesays. "Go over things again and again until your staff gets it right.True learning often calls for teamwork, and that means sitting down witheveryone, including the DVM."

The most common form of training is the phase method, Oster says. Fornew staffers, there should be concurrent performance appraisals followingcompleted tasks, set in a level format.

But everyone learns differently, he adds, so educators need to assesstheir student's potential and adjust accordingly.

"You can use a combination of techniques - role playing, one-on-one,procedure manuals, whatever. Mixing it up keeps things interesting."

The historic review

At the close of a training level or time period, performance reviewscan assess employee progress. But while they might keep staffers on theirtoes, they often tend to be counterproductive.

That's because reviewers usually remember only what's happened in thelast two weeks or recall just the critical incidents, Oster says. "Itdoesn't do any good to bring an employee in and hit him over the head withsomething bad that happened six months ago."

And it doesn't help when reviews appear identical year after year.

"I'm a slob," Oster says. "My desk is always dirty andI'm really bad with accounts receivable. So every year, my review says mydesk is disastrous and I'm bad with accounts receivable. What good doesit do to tell me that after five or six years?"

Instead, he recommends quarterly goal setting, which invites staffersto work in conjunction with a supervisor to learn skills or try new procedures.

"And that's what employee compensation can be based on," Ostersays. "This way, the emphasis is on learning new things and movingforward rather than beating the employee up with the past."

Keeping up with CE

No matter how comfortable an employee, training should never stop, Snydersays.

"There are always plenty of new things to learn. Every employeeshould be obligated to do one to two hours of training a week and attendat least one staff meeting a month," he says. "Drug distributorshave no qualms about sending someone to your hospital to present the prosand cons about new products, about which all staffers should be able toanswer client questions."

Hoy recommends employee travel.

"Have the staff attend seminars. Get them out of the office andinto classrooms with people who are learning the same things."

And as training should be ongoing, Oster says reviewing old techniquesand skill sets doesn't hurt.

"It's so important to keep up with things," he says. "There'san old saying I like to tell my clients: 'You can be on the right trackand still be run over by a faster train.' "