Is there room on your throne for new ideas?

The owner of a five doctor veterinary practice in Afurpiecefrumhear, Missouri loved to hunt. Every year, he would take one of his associates with him into the wilderness to test their skills against non-patients.

They would hire a floatplane into the wilds of Alaska. This year when the floatplane returned to pick them up, the pilot told them that the weight of the two moose, one bear and two mountain goats would make the plane too heavy to lift off. Nonsense said the veterinary practice owner! We had two bears last time, and we were able to take off.

Gerald Snyder VMD

Well, the pilot said, I'm new to this air service, but I'm as good a pilot as anyone and if it's possible, I'll fly you out of here.

So, using the longest possible stretch of the lake to build up speed, the plane lifted off with 2.37 feet to spare, clipped the tops of a few trees but could not gain enough altitude and crashed into the treetops on the top of the mountain.

No one was really hurt and when they were able to climb down out of the trees that cushioned their crash, the younger veterinarian said to his employer, "Where are we?"

The senior veterinarian looked around and replied… "Oh, about three miles from where we crashed last time."

Isn't it a fact that we, as professionals, can get our healing act together, but as business managers, we still keep making the same mistakes over and over?

Cold, hard fact

In practice, silence is not golden and ignorance is definitely not bliss. In fact, too much of either one could be a bear trap ready to slam shut and wound us grievously. "My staff was the best I've had in years. Things were going along so great! And then … chaos overnight! There must be some troublemaker on my staff!

After Caryn, my partner in business and life, conducts on-site interviews as part of our consulting service, she often discovers that the problem really isn't new at all and that it very often lies with the owner. It has been brewing for some time but it is finally boiling over because of some particular issue.

Here are some symptoms that the practice problem may be you:

• Things are quiet in spite of your "I'm always available policy."

Silence produces a false sense of security. "Open Door" policies are passive and lazy unless you use proactive communication designed to get a whiff of over-ripe staff issues before they really begin to stink.

If you're marching from one patient to the next, you are often unavailable for the teeny tiny disturbances that have a nasty tendency to get worse with age. Staff will be less than eager to knock on the open door if you appear too busy to be bothered.

Ask each staff member, at a quiet time, when only the two of you are in the room, "How are things going for you here?" Stay in touch with your talented staff, providing them with many private meetings during each month where they can dredge up what may be bothering them. Then, when all you hear is silence, you can sleep a bit easier knowing that the waters are calm.

• You say your employees don't disagree with you?

Ah, sweet mystery of life... your team is in hog heaven. Or, is it? It's natural and healthy to disagree. In fact, staff members who push back and voice their honest opinions are telling you that they trust you.

Staff members who constantly agree with you are a signal that there is a fear factor at work. They may be afraid to be differ-beggars if you are a "my way or the highway" kind of boss. Perhaps you shot down their ideas one too many times and they've simply given up, since you're going to do things your own way anyway.

To make sure that silence does indeed mean agreement, let staff know that it is O.K. to disagree if they feel strongly about a new policy and thank them for their honesty when they do. At staff meetings, set aside some time to brainstorm solutions to a problem and then ask the whole staff to choose a solution and act on it. Start rewarding constructive ideas on those vital quarterly employees' performance reviews that you have been meaning to initiate.

You say …"I'm the one with the experience, so I expect that they would need to come to me for approval and guidance, right?" El toro poopoo! Unless you are working with a completely new team of rookies, you are just holding the reins too tightly and employee productivity and creativity is being strangled just because you and the legendary Pharaoh are too insecure to let your people go.

You may be unnecessarily micromanaging your staff. Most veterinarians are staff management challenged. They don't have a clue how to train, delegate, coach, and grow their staff. They only know how to practice medicine and think that the best way to get things done right is to breathe down the neck of each staff member, (whom, they are convinced, could never learn to do the work as well as they can).

Back off, Simon LeGree! You are tromping on the creative spark and initiative every practice needs to prosper. If being a perfectionist is more satisfying than seeing others get satisfaction from personal achievement than you get from a surgery well done, give up your practice owner hat and go work for another practice as an associate. At least that way, you are sure to get a guaranteed vacation.

When you go on vacation, you should not have to call in daily. When people come to you with questions, ask them , "What do you think is the best solution here?" The best practice owner managers are confident enough to welcome strong employees who challenge, question, and think on their own.

When they suggest something that you had never considered before, don't shoot it down like our owner hunter who began this article or you may be making the same mistakes over and over.