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When you – or your team – show up for work at your vet clinic, what is it you want them to feel and think about working at your clinic?

Do you – or they - feel excited or exhausted?  Delighted or filled with dread?  Full of optimism or cynicism?

Culture exists whether you like it or not.   

Whether the culture at your clinic is positive or negative, you’ve still got a cultural vibe happening.

Signposts indicating whether the culture at your clinic is positive or negative include employee turnover, absenteeism (eg, sick days), productivity and engagement levels.

A positively-cultured vet clinic will have low employee turnover and absenteeism and high productivity and engagement levels.

A negatively-cultured clinic will have the opposite – high turnover and absenteeism and low productivity and engagement levels.

People leave workplaces because of the people.

Before you can start working on the four steps to celebration-worthy clinic culture though, you need to answer five preliminary questions first.   

These questions are:

1. How well does your team enjoy their work?   You want them to be excited about turning up for work on Monday mornings – not dreading the end of the weekend.  
2. Are there levels of accountability and responsibility in place for each team member?  Allowing individual team members to take a level of ownership helps them feel connected.
3. How engaged is your team – collectively and individually?  Do they believe that what they do matters to the clinic they work at – not just the lives they save?   Is your clinic’s mission one that is inspirational and commit-worthy?  
4. What is your team’s sense of camaraderie and respect? People like to be involved and know their word and work are trusted.
5. How does your clinic invest in your employees?  How do you show recognition for jobs well done and people who’re valued?  

Four Steps to Having Culture Worth Celebrating

#1 - Lay the foundation - determine your clinic's

• Your clinic’s MISSION statement: This tells the entire world – yes, everyone – your employees, your clients and your suppliers – why your clinic’s in business. It’s a brief statement.
• Your clinic’s VISION statement: This is an aspirational statement of what your vet clinic envisions to be down the road. It should be emotional and motivation.
• Your clinic’s VALUES: These are what everyone on your team believes and wants to uphold.  Your clinic’s values hold everyone to the highest, or let everyone get away with the lowest, acceptable behaviour.  These are the foundation of your clinic’s culture.  

#2 - Take your clinic's culture temperature

• culture / engagement survey

#3 - Get Buy-in

• focus groups
• Do you have the right leadership team in place that models your clinic’s values?
• When you recruit, does your clinic naturally at

VetStaff
leading veterinary sector recruitment in New Zealand | veterinarians | locums | nurses

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