Consolidate That!

Dr. Andrew Ciccolini joins Ivan and Ryan to discuss creating a non-profit component within an organization. As the Director of Non-Profit Initiatives at Galaxy Vets and Medical Director at the National Mill Dog Rescue, Dr. Ciccolini leads the mission of Galaxy Vets Foundation, strategic corporate social responsibility, and elaborates on how the organization can benefit from the charity element.

Donate: Official account of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: https://bit.ly/3NvODNm

Topics discussed:

- Andrew’s career story in the vet industry

- Galaxy Vets Foundation's mission

- What is corporate social responsibility

- Where a Foundation fits into an organization

This week on Consolidate That! Ryan and Ivan are joined by Laura Durfee, Vice President of People and Culture at Galaxy Vets, for a discussion about employee satisfaction and the importance of the feedback loop.

Laura shares her vision about the bottom-up approach to culture and the role data plays in employer success in retention.

Donate: Official account of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: https://bit.ly/3NvODNm

Join our webinar “Measuring to Improve: A Data-Driven Approach to Employee Well-Being”: https://bit.ly/3a5jrW4

Topics discussed:

- Human approach to culture

- Ways to measure and promote employee satisfaction

- What role does data play in employer success in retention and culture

- Importance of the feedback loop

This week, Ryan Leech and Dr. Ivan Zak sit down with Tina Stofiel, VP of Membership Services at Galaxy Vets, for a conversation about the membership services.

The conversation starts off with a brief understanding of what memberships are and how they differ from wellness plans. Hear about the Galaxy Vets’ vision of the holistic approach to membership services and the opportunities to increase access to care.

Donate: Official account of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: https://bit.ly/3NvODNm

Topics discussed:

- Tina’s career story in the veterinary industry

- The difference between wellness plans and membership models

- The holistic approach of membership services

- Designing the personalized care concept

- Opportunities and expectations from Galaxy Vets membership models

Dr. Taylor Miller of Not One More Vet (NOMV) talks about how wellness education and normalizing mental health conversations can help vet professionals deal with challenging client relationships.

Dr. Miller expands on her belief that our own health begets improvements in client health.

Topics discussed: 

• Impact of curbside practice on client communication
• Impact of the pandemic on mental health
• How anxiety changes the way our brain processes information
• Consequences on client relationships and veterinary professional QOL
• The Veterinary Oath initiative and NOVM statement

Donate: Official account of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: https://bit.ly/3NvODNm 

This week on Consolidate That! Ryan and Ivan speak with Dr. Helene Seljenes Dalum, a veterinarian and  Ph.D. candidate at the University of Oslo. Helene shared some of the results of a recently published study on vets in Norway and outlines the necessary prerequisites to reduce mental health stressors.

Topics discussed: 

• About #NORVETproject
• The stigma of mental health
• What are the prerequisites to prevent mental health issues
• The role of the organization in helping avoid burnout

Donate: Official account of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: https://bit.ly/3NvODNm 

Dr. Sarah Wallace joins Dr. Ivan Zak and Ryan Leech to talk about Telehealth and its reach across the entire organization. Dr. Sarah guides us through her deep expertise of growing veterinary medicine virtually.

Topics discussed: 

• Dr. Sarah’s path to Galaxy Vets
• Increasing hospital capacity through the implementation of telemedicine
• The misconception that telemedicine is inferior to in practice medicine
• How a department should be viewed as an entire ecosystem in the Business Model Canvas

Donate: Official account of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: https://bit.ly/3NvODNm 

Ryan Leech and Dr. Ivan Zak of Galaxy Vets talk in-depth about the Business Model Canvas and how it beats out the old school business plan model! 

Our hosts share the details outlined in the Business Model Canvas, including value proposition, customer relationships, channels, revenue streams, and more. Tune in to hear all you need to know about the revolutionary new way Galaxy Vets is approaching its business model!

Topics discussed: 

• How Business Model Canvas serves to replace the old business plan
• The nine sections outlined in the Business Model Canvas.
• Three things a business model needs to achieve: create, deliver, and capture value.
• The importance of identifying and understanding the connection between the customer and the value proposition.
• The application of the Business Model Canvas within Galaxy Vets.

Donate: Official account of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: https://bit.ly/3NvODNm 

Galaxy Vets’ Head of Finance, RJ Peters, joins us to discuss M&A value stream mapping, creating a people-first culture and his early impressions of Kanban methodology.

RJ shines a light on what pawnshops, childcare, and the veterinary industry have in common! 

Topics discussed: 

• RJ’s unique background in consolidation
• Utilizing Kanban from day one
• Strategies for collaborating across the organization
• How happiness leads to success

Galaxy Vets COO Emmitt Nantz talks about the theory of constraints, value stream mapping, subjective-objective assessment plans (SOAP), and “the five why’s.” For each of these concepts, Emmitt provides an example of how they can be applied in a veterinary clinic setting in order to reduce bottlenecks, improve employee and client experiences, and ultimately make your organization run as efficiently as possible.

Topics discussed: 

• Applying the theory of constraints to veterinary industry consolidation.
• Challenges of scaling processes from one hospital to many.
• A key to preventing bottlenecks in your organization.
• Value of “the five why’s” concept and an example of how this could play out in a veterinary hospital setting.
• The method that Galaxy uses to find solutions to their problems.

Cory Friedman, Managing Director of the Veterinary Division at Alera Group, joined to talk about how consolidators approach health insurance and other benefits.

We tackled the question of benefits from an acquisition and integration standpoint and the inevitable challenges within consolidation. Cory shared some of the best practices when it comes to the delicate balance of consolidating benefits post-acquisition.

Topics discussed: 

• How to approach the question of benefits from an acquisition and integration standpoint.
• Incremental steps to take to achieve uniform benefits and the difficulty of doing so. 
• The best time to announce to your employees that your practice is being acquired.
• Advantages of acquisition and the importance of communicating them to employees.
• Why you should take the steps to consolidate benefits as soon as possible.
• The value of consulting an advisor in the consolidation process.