In this episode, Dr. Cari Wise emphasizes the critical role that veterinary technicians play in the veterinary field. She encourages listeners to express appreciation for the contributions of veterinary technicians, underscoring that their involvement is essential for creating a sustainable career environment in veterinary medicine.
Dr. Wise urges veterinary technicians to recognize that while they share common challenges, their individual responses to these circumstances are crucial. Many technicians fall into a cycle of negativity, which can detract from patient care and client service. Veterinary technicians possess the power to influence their work environment positively. She encourages them to take ownership of their attitudes and interactions, regardless of their feelings of being underappreciated.
The podcast highlights the importance of maintaining a positive attitude, even amidst the chaotic circumstances that are inherent in veterinary medicine. She asserts that technicians can choose their responses and moods, which can significantly influence their colleagues and the overall workplace atmosphere. A positive demeanor can create a ripple effect, encouraging others to adopt a similar outlook, thereby fostering a more supportive and collaborative environment.
Key takeaways include:
- Technicians often feel undervalued and face challenges like client dissatisfaction and workplace negativity.
- A positive mindset in response to workplace circumstances will benefit all veterinary professionals
- Technicians should engage in constructive discussions about their needs, such as pay and scheduling.
- A positive attitude among technicians can enhance the entire veterinary team’s culture.
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
This transcript is auto-generated and may contain typos.
Hi there. I’m Doctor Cari Wise, veterinarian, certified life coach and certified quantum human design specialist. If you’re a veterinary professional looking to uplevel your life and your career, or maybe looking to go in an entirely new direction, then what I talk about here on the Joyful DVM podcast is absolutely for you. Let’s get started. Hello, my friend. Welcome back to the Joyful DVM podcast. This week is Vet tech Week, and so we must celebrate our veterinary technicians here on the podcast.
So this is my reminder to you to not forget to tell your veterinary technicians just how much you value the contributions that they make to your organizations. The way that we create a sustainable career field in veterinary medicine requires us to utilize veterinary technicians. It makes the jobs of the veterinarians easier, and it makes the jobs of the entire veterinary team much more enjoyable when we are all empowered to do the things that we have been trained to do.
Now, with this all in mind, I want to shift my conversation to the veterinary technicians themselves. Because, my friends, what you may not realize as veterinary technicians is just how powerful you actually are. Veterinary technicians, in my experience, often underestimate the impact that they are having on veterinary culture as a whole. Instead, they often feel victimized. They often feel underutilized, underpaid, underappreciated. And let’s face it, a lot of the time it is a veterinary technician that catches the brunt of a client who is unhappy.
Because if they’re our first line of defense, if you will, if they’re the first person in the room with a client and that client is already in an agitated state, the veterinary technician is going to be the one that receives that kind of communication from the owners. So I get that the job of a veterinary technician has a lot of challenges that come with it. So I never want to minimize that.
But I do want you, veterinary technicians, to understand that the way that you respond to those pressures that come your way in your job plays a huge role in contributing to the culture of your organizations as a whole. It’s very easy for all of us, veterinarians, veterinary technicians, assistants, the entire team, to fall into a habit of commiserating about how hard this job is. It’s very easy to fall into a habit of complaining about our schedules and our pay and our lack of respect and the people that we work with and the leadership and the ownership and all the things.
It’s very easy to fall into a habit of blaming other people for the reason why you’re unhappy in your job. And I really want to encourage you veterinary technicians to take a step back and stop giving your own personal power away, just like all the rest of us in veterinary medicine, we all have circumstances in our lives, and those circumstances include things like the hours that we work, who we work with, the amount of money that we make, the way that everybody else interacts with us throughout the day, the things that clients say and do, what happens with a case, whether it gets better or not, all of these things are just the circumstances of our lives.
And in veterinary medicine, we share common circumstances, but how we react to those circumstances is always an individual decision. Unfortunately, what has happened in many of our veterinary hospitals is that our veterinary technicians and our support staff as a subgroup have begun interacting with those circumstances through negativity. Now, I’m not saying it’s isolated to you, so please do not misunderstand. This is not a podcast episode that is supposed to be in judgment.
I’m trying to create some awareness for you, because on the other side of this habitual complaining and commiserating that often takes place is this huge opportunity to make a positive impact, a quick impact on culture as a whole in your organizations. The veterinary technician holds a lot of power because of the influence that you have on everybody else around you. And so, just like it’s no fun to work with a sniper angry doctor, it’s no fun to work with a snipey or angry technician either.
And unfortunately, whenever any of us are acting that way, we often feel justified. Your opportunity instead is to ask yourself, how do I want to behave today? How do I want to interact with others today? And even if you do believe that you’re being underutilized or underpaid or disrespected, that doesn’t mean that you have to interact with everybody around you from that place of being offended or frustrated or angry, that part is always going to be optional.
Instead, I recommend that you channel that frustration into a conversation with somebody who can actually make a change for you. So, if you want a raise, have you had the high value conversation with somebody to request that raise? If you want a different schedule, have you asked about getting a different schedule? If there’s a concern as far as medical quality or the interactions with people within the organization, have you talked to somebody who actually has the ability to have your concern elevated to somebody who can actually make a change?
Oftentimes what I have found is that our support staff and our veterinary technicians don’t take that step. Instead, they get stuck in this commiserating and complaining and blaming, not on their own, by the way, because often veterinarians are right there with you. But however, if, when we get stuck in this cycle of that, then what happens is we just keep. Keep teaching each other to behave that way in the workplace, which doesn’t make any positive change at all.
It also detracts from patient care and our client service, and patient outcomes can suffer because of it. This is where the power that you have really needs to be remembered. Because even though you might feel very justified in complaining about your position in doing so, you’re forgetting that you always have the power to make a different choice for yourself. So that choice may be having a high value conversation with somebody in the organization that can make an adjustment in something that you think needs to be adjusted.
It also means that you can say, yes, these things about this job or this situation kind of suck, but I’m not going to let that thing, that circumstance, decide what mood I’m in today. This is the most powerful thing that you can do. You can decide in advance what kind of day you’re going to have. And then you can keep having that kind of day even as the chaotic circumstances continue to unfold around you.
In veterinary medicine, chaotic circumstances are just part of the deal. But that does not mean that they have any power at all to ruin our days, to make us frustrated, to overwhelm us. That part is always going to be optional. And when you, as a group of veterinary technicians, roll with the chaos of the day, roll with the changing circumstances, and you stay upbeat and happy and joyful despite it, the influence you have on people around you to do the same is exponential.
It’s amazing to see how a small group of happy veterinary technicians. Can actually positively influence the entire organization. So, my friends, please do not underestimate the influence that your own mood is having on everybody else around you. Yes, every one of us gets to decide for ourselves what kind of day we’re having. But as a veterinary technician, people are looking up to you. Especially veterinary assistants and kennel help, and even practice managers and even veterinarians especially.
Especially if you’ve been a veterinary technician longer than they have been a doctor. Veterinary technicians are the anchor of many of these hospitals. And if the veterinary technicians are walking around commiserating, complaining, blaming, feeling offended, stirring the pot, getting stuck in little clicks, getting all caught up in gossip and drama, then you know what happens. Everybody follows you there, including your veterinary staff. Instead, use your power to create the culture that you want to experience.
Stop waiting for somebody else to be friendly and joyful and happy and proactive and effective before you display that yourself. If that’s the kind of job that you want to have, then create that for yourself. Because what you’re going to notice is that when you start to shift the way that you interact with the circumstances of your veterinary career, and you start to shift that to a positive experience for yourself, that other people will follow you, even people that you may believe are higher than you right now.
So maybe a veterinarian or a practice manager or an owner, if you come in joyful and in ease and flow and in happiness every single day, and you stay there even when the shit hits the fan, people will notice that even if it doesn’t seem overtly obvious, they will start to interact with their circumstances in much the same way. And this is where veterinary technicians have an amazing ability and an enormous power to positively influence culture.
This is power that most of you don’t even realize you have. Because you’re still stuck believing that your circumstances around your job are keeping you from enjoying your job and being happy. And I want you to know that that is just never true in veterinary medicine. The way that we create a sustainable career for all of us includes you being in it. So we need you here. And if you haven’t been told lately how much you are appreciated, then please hear me say it right now.
We can’t do this job without you. We don’t want to do this job without you. Or at least I don’t. Because I find it way more fun to work with my veterinary technicians and the rest of my support staff than I ever did trying to do all of this by myself. And I know as a profession, we have a long way to go in cleaning up our practice acts and utilizing you more effectively in paying you better.
I know that we do. But I also know after 25 years, that we are making some progress. That’s not an excuse. But I just want you to know that if it doesn’t seem like it’s happening fast enough, just know that it is happening. And there are a lot of people who are advocating for your place here in this profession. If you are not feeling valued where you work, I want you to consider having a high value conversation with somebody.
So that’s just a fancy way of saying an uncomfortable conversation with somebody who can help you to understand the value that you bring to the place where you work, and also what your opportunities are for advancement. Because if that’s something that you want, you need to know whether or not those opportunities exist where you are. Don’t limit your own career progression because you are afraid to have a conversation about what is possible for you where you are.
Don’t get stuck in the trap of believing that the practice will not survive. If you decide to move on to a position that is better for you. It is never your responsibility to keep everything afloat. And I know sometimes our veterinary technicians feel like that’s exactly the case. So, my friends, as we celebrate you this week, I want you to celebrate yourselves. And I want you to just try out what I’m telling you about.
About coming in with a completely different attitude, with lifting people up, with maintaining your own peace and joy, and recognize and notice how the entire culture of the place where you work actually can start to follow you into that more positive place when you just decide to go first. All right, my friends, we appreciate you. We can’t do this job without you. And I am so thankful for every veterinary technician that I’ve ever had the opportunity to train through the academic programs that I used to run and every single one that I’ve ever worked with.
Because, my friends, I can tell you for sure and for certain that in my early days as a veterinarian, it was my veterinary technicians that taught me how to do this job. All right, my friends, have a wonderful weekend. I’ll see you soon. Bye for now.