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Building the workplace you want to see with Charlotte Weir · My Veterinary Life

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Welcome to this week's episode of the My Veterinary Life podcast.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: I'm your host, Dr. Annie Chavant, and my pronouns are she, her.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: And our guest today is Charlotte Weir. Charlotte is the
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Vice President of Partnerships for Roo, an online veterinary staffing
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: and careers platform, and the founder and co-owner of a
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: small animal hospital. She is also the winner of the
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: 2026 AVMA Unsung Hero Award. I am so excited to
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: share Char's story today, but before we do, I want
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: to give a thank you to our podcast partner, NBA
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: General Practice. NBA helps great vets become even greater with
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: multiple paths to build a career that's uniquely yours. Lead
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: a team, explore a specialty, own a practice, or shape
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: care across our network of over 900 neighborhood clinics. Wherever
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: you want to go next, NBA has a path to
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: help you get there. Visit careers.nba.com to find your next role.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: And with that, welcome to the show, Char.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: Hi, thank you so much, Annie, for having me. Really excited.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Oh, it's going to be a great conversation. I am
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: really looking forward to it.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: But before we jump into the full arc of your
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: career story, let's start at the very beginning with how
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: did you first become interested in this field?
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: I think like everyone else in the field, I'm the
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: person that gravitated to the animal in the room before
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: the humans. And that's just been pretty much my entire life.
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: I'm also a science geek. So I wanted to know
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: how everything worked for animals inside and out. And so
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: I started as a vet tech and I really loved
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: being hands-on. I love solving problems, working with pets who
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: didn't have necessarily a voice, advocating for patients. And just
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: being a part of a team that kind of had
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: like a tangible difference on pets' lives every day, that
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: was the start of it.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: Yes, I think many of us can identify with gravitating
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: towards the animal in the room.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: And also it's a safe space for science geeks here.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: So you're in great company. I like that.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: So you mentioned that you started in this profession as
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: a veterinary technician. What did you learn in that role today?
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: And then in your next role as practice manager that
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: have really kind of stuck with you throughout your career?
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think being a tech and a practice manager
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: actually has some parallels there because people are everything. When
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: you're working as a technician, you have to address the
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: client's concerns, client education, and have rapport with a client
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: to even reach the animal. And I think obviously with
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: your team, being a practice manager, your people are everything.
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: They're the heart and soul of your entire practice. And
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: with both, whether you're working with a client or tech
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: or a CSR, your trust is earned. Your words and
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: your actions really do matter. And your success is built
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: on kind of your team's success. And I think it's
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: kind of like you can have these beautiful facilities, amazing technology,
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: great systems, and incredibly talented doctors and techs and CSRs.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: But if that team doesn't trust each other and don't
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: communicate well, everything throughout the day just kind of gets harder.
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: So as a tech, I really learned what it felt
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: like to be on the roller coaster, on the floor,
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: the person doing the work. I remember the crazy days,
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: the emotional cases, the client conversations, being short-staffed, jumping from
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: one emergency to another, and somehow doing it with a
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: smile on my face. Because at the end of the day,
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: I really love what I do today. And I think
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: moving into being A practice manager really taught me something
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: equally important, and that's just leadership isn't about staying above
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: the chaos. Sometimes it means just jumping right into it.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: And I think that's what's really pulled me in about
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: vet med period is that the profession itself is more
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: than the medicine alone. It's the people. Obviously, we're caring
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: for animals, but it's the communication, the trust, the education,
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: the leadership. And sometimes just honestly helping someone through the
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: hardest day of their life. And over time, I just
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: realized that was fascinating to me how that worked. And
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: so moving into leadership, how can I make that easier
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: for the people that serve these animals, all of us?
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: How can I improve that work environment?
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: So many valuable lessons learned. And I love that you
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: appreciated the experience of being in it. And then having
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: to manage that team, that dynamic, and then also be
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: that guiding force or setting the tone for keeping that
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: day running smoothly and keeping everybody really feeling that trust
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: because you're absolutely right. It's completely contagious to the clients,
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: at least in my experience.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: So yeah, very cool.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: It really is. I'm a big fan of the player
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: coach model, right? I also play, I play soccer still
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: at my old age. I still play soccer, but I
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: coach from the field. I have a women's team and
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: some of these women have played collegiate soccer. Some have
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: never played soccer before in their life and they're all welcome.
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: And we get together every Sunday and I play on
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: the field. I coach from the field and I do
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: the same in my day-to-day role in my practice. I
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: do it with Rue. I like to be a part
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: of everything shoulder to shoulder on the field, same goal.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: same roles. We've got the same referee. And that's just
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: like really special to me. That's where like the teams
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: are built. But I think it, it really does create
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: like an environment where everyone's open with each other and
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: having that player coach mentality, you're able to hold a
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: high bar, but you're also able to have accountability and
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: compassion meet. They don't, you don't have to choose between
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: the two. I think that's been like really important to
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: learn for me in my journey.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: That makes a lot of sense.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: And I love that you get to experience that both
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: within your professional life and also in your extracurriculars and
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: personal life. And it's obvious to me, even just from
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: what you've said so far, that leadership and people management
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: and being in the clinic is something that really fuels
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: you and excites you. So I want to next ask
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: about that transition then.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: You're excited about being a practice manager.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: So what attracted you to the world of startups then
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: and specifically Roo?
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah. So it's kind of funny. Again, there's like parallels there.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: I love to build things. I like to solve problems
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: and I'm a risk taker just by nature. And I
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: think that's just like the epitome of entrepreneurship, right? Is
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: just being able to hold on when things get a
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: little ranchy. I'm a cowgirl by nature also. So I
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: really love the chaos of it. I love finding the problem,
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: knowing the impact, understanding the value you can bring to
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: solving that problem. I spent a lot of time in
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: veterinary operations and I worked with Petwell and that gave
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: me kind of an incredible view of our industry at scale.
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: And that's not something I was accustomed to. Like I'm
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: a tech, I'm coming from a tech background and then
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: building out this corporate entity and being employee one for that.
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: But I loved it because going from a tech to
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: a practice manager and then having a chance to like
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: build out every practice was so different, but there was
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: one thing in common and that was that DVM capacity
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: was tough and burnout was high. And so my opportunity
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: to leave Patwell and start Roo as employee one was
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: that we could actually make a difference. Like I wanted
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: to fix this. I didn't just want to have the
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: conversation about filling an empty shift or coverage, but I
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: really wanted us to rethink how vet professionals work and
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: how we can empower professionals to write their own career story.
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: That's really powerful to me. Startups also just fit my personality.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: And I think Roo just gave me an opportunity to
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: take everything I've learned inside vet hospitals and sort of
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: help solve problems for thousands of hospitals. And quite frankly,
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: just have fun doing it. Our team at Roo is
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: so cool. And I've met so many incredible people building Roo.
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: It's unreal. Like I have friends in MetMed across the
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: US and that's just, again, it's fun. Why not have fun?
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: Why not have fun? That was a great question to ask.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: And you mentioned that you were employee number one at
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Roo and things have grown since then to put.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: It quite lightly.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: So can you next talk about how your role has
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: evolved and then what have you learned collectively scaling. So
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: going from your personal experience in one practice to the
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: broader needs of vet professionals.
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's kind of interesting. My role at Root, we
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: have a joke. My title changes annually because my entire
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: role does change annually. I think the changes come because
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: our understanding of the problem has evolved. And we started
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: out with relief staffing because staffing is is and has been,
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: always will be a difficult problem to solve for, right?
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: And I think just thinking through how flexible staffing can
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: be incredibly powerful for practices, when you have people calling
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: out or your team is stretched thin, your doctors definitely
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: need PTO. They need some work-life balance as well. And
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: having accessibility to a trusted veterinarian or a technician to
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: come through your door and help your team sort of
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: activates a better mood for all of us, which is cool.
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: And I think the longer I've been at Roo and
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: the more vet professionals I've talked to, it's clear that
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: it's because staffing is only like one piece of the
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: bigger picture type thing. People want a lot of flexibility
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: in the career, but they also want growth. And I
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: think that... pivot for me, this is where like my
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: practice manager background comes in. So all practice manager and operators,
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: this is applicable, large scale, listen up. Knowing that your
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: team wants growth, that's not a small scale problem. That
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: is a entire vet med problem. Everyone wants growth. Everyone
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: wants community, mentorship, opportunities. You want to keep learning. You
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: want to feel like the profession is somewhere you can
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: call sustainable. You can fulfill your career. And I really
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: hate hearing operators say they feel isolated. Like that hurts
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: my heart. It also like feels real because I've been there, right?
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: And that's a little soul crushing. So I was really
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: excited about Haruk and kind of like support that beyond
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: staffing and So bringing that skill sets, practice manager, knowing
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: what teams were seeking, how could we build that on
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: a larger scale at Roo? And I think over the
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: past seven years, Roo's just developed such an amazing community
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: of people, an entire vet med ecosystem that moving into
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: our next sort of season for Roo, we're looking at
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: developing CE and content, career development, because it's what we
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: keep hearing. It's what I heard as a practice manager.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: And I think how it ties in is, It's really
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: difficult to retain staff in a practice. I know here
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: in my practice, we've just recently done a baddies project
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: and each individual, each of my vet techs, CSRs, they're
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: picking an area that they're passionate about, that they want
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: to learn more about, that they want to bring to
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: the practice. And I'm funding it through CE equipment. We're
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: having those conversations. And over the next year, that influx
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: of information and education is going to pass to our clients.
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: It's going to help our education grow And it's exciting
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: for them because again, retaining staff, allowing that opportunity for
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: growth is really difficult in a private practice. I think
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: acknowledging that on a large scale is really what was
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: motivating to bring our RU CE library on demand, our
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: career opportunities and education, like building out that part of
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: the platform. And I think just building in with partners,
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: we have all these hungry vetment professionals. We have relevant
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: education floating around. I don't want it to be like,
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: just check a box for CE. I want it to
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: be like, if I miss this, I have crazy FOMO.
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: And I want my team to feel passionate about their
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: growth and investing in them. And I want to be
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: able to go to each of my baddies, nutritional baddie,
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: feline baddie, and know that we're up to date in
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: practice and that we're bringing that to our clients. So
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: it was very interwound on why I thought this would
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: be just epic for Rue to take that next step
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: and where that practice, day-to-day knowledge base has helped move
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: that needle on a national company scale. So there's a
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: lot of parallel there.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: Very exciting.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: Yes, I can see how that evolution would be motivating
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: as a big problem to solve, as you said, because
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: we are seeing a lot of career transitions, even with
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: our early career veterinarians. And So thinking about first just
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: filling the open spots and how much that can help
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: the culture at a practice. But then also what's that
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: next thing? Like what do we need for those folks
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: to feel fulfilled, motivated, energized? And it sounds like that
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: continuing education piece is really important there. And so I'm
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: curious from your perspective as someone who's thought about that
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: what makes them stay question frequently on your day-to-day, what
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: have you found specifically with early career veterinarians that might
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: be a secret to success you can share?
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think.
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: Early career veterinarians are my personal fave, especially as a technician.
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: I used to work in surgery with new grads and
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: it was so fun. I think the stronger community you
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: have as a new grad coming in, the more successful
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: you are, quite frankly. You build confidence. You find collaboration.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: It's just like human nature. You have a support system.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: You feel really good about what you're doing day to day.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: That makes a lot of sense.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: Creating that community, feeling that support, and from that foundation,
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: being able to take those risks or challenge yourself professionally
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: or push yourself to that next phase, whatever that might be.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: So you've obviously done a lot of great work at
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Roo so far, done some big picture thinking about our profession,
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: but that's.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: Not all that you're up to. So you also own a.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: Vet hospital, 2525 Sunset. How has that changed your perspective
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: on vet med? What is that experience like?
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: I mean, this clinic is so special to me. When
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: I moved to Houston, Texas 16 years ago, I walked
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: into this practice as a newly hired practice manager uprooting
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: like my whole life in Connecticut and coming down here,
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: leaving family, friends. I'm doing like big city things. And
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: I was excited because naturally I loved cow horses and AQHA.
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: And so for me, Texas felt like the real fit,
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: not Northeast Connecticut. And so walking in this practice felt special.
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: It always had my business partner, Dr.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Paul Young.
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: He's 84 years old. He's the original founding owner of
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: this practice. And When he gave me a call five
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: years ago and said, what are you up to kid?
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: He asked if I wanted our practice back. And my
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: answer emphatically was yes. And working for Roo was amazing
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: because they gave me an opportunity to do that. And
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: so I think being able to handpick my team, being
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: able to reward people I've worked with previously.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: This team is just so freaking special. Like I just,
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: I can't even send enough accolades, but Owning a practice
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: keeps me in it. It keeps me connected to the day-to-day,
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: shoulder-to-shoulder with my team. It's interesting. It's like a duality.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: I can talk strategy at Roo and then go back
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: to my hospital and actually live it. I don't make
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: any decisions in a vacuum. I know the reality of
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: the situation because we live it day-to-day. We have patients
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: waiting in our waiting room too because an emergency popped in.
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: Clients need extra 20 minutes or so to understand their
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: pet's health journey. And that's our job. So we take it.
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: So this schedule is usually exploding by 11 a.m. Like
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: every other vet hospital, equipment breaks, my team's tired or
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: hungry usually by then. And somehow you still need to
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: make good business decisions as an owner while delivering exceptional medicine,
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: client service, and I think paramount taking care of your team.
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: Because again, they're the heart and soul of your practice.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: It keeps me incredibly grounded. Incredibly humble. It's a learning experience.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: And I think one of the biggest lessons I learned
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: is capacity isn't just a business metric. It's a people metric.
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: There's real names and feelings and lives behind that. So yeah,
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: balancing that is incredibly valuable. And knowing to take care
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: of your people and running a strong business isn't a
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: competing priority. They're actually super connected. So I've learned a lot.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: What an amazing opportunity to be able to have that
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: ownership stake in a practice that you had previously managed.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: It's very clear to me that this is a special practice.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: And so I'm glad that you had that opportunity and
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: felt comfortable and confident enough to step into that role.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: I know that practice ownership can be a little bit
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: intimidating for folks.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: We do talk about it from time to time on
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: the podcast. And so I think.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: Knowing your partners and knowing the practice and then recognizing
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: the value of having those two complementary roles in your life.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: I really appreciate that perspective. I think that makes a
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: lot of sense.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: It's certainly been fun. And I would love to talk
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: to other owners as well because I think it really
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: is that ownership mindset, that drive to solve the problem.
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: I'm not a problem dweller. I'm definitely a problem solver.
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: But yeah, sometimes the problems are, they're good to have.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: I mean, frankly, like I would be bored if we
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: didn't have problems circulating through or circulating through the practice.
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: So it's engaging and it's a fun activity too for
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: my team to solve their problems day to day. They
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: come through the door.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: I think that's a great framework for coming across challenges
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: and opportunities. It's like we need them to stay engaged,
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: to stay on top of our game, to innovate, to
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: find new ways to do something.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: So instead of.
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: Them being these barriers, trying to be more like your
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: mindset of what can we learn from this and let's
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: jump right in. I You've had experience in many components
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: of our profession at this point, veterinary technician, practice manager,
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: working at Roo at a then startup, now established corporation,
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: and a practice owner. So from your leadership lessons learned,
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: what advice might you have on how folks can create
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: healthier and more sustainable workplaces?
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, this is a good one. It's really intentional.
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: There's no shortcuts. It's intentional conversations, awkward conversations. I really
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: start with listening, truly listening. And not every problem does
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: require like a giant new initiative or program. Sometimes your
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: team is just telling you exactly what they need and
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: you just need to validate that. And it's really about leadership,
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: creating an environment where people feel comfortable enough to say it.
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: And then just helping your team create guardrails. Veterinary medicine
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: is incredibly challenging. compassionate. The people we attract are compassionate
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: and they'll give everything, which is wonderful, but they'll give
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: until there's nothing left. And I think leaders have the
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: responsibility to build systems that don't depend on people constantly
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: sacrificing themselves to run a hospital. And that could be
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: better staffing models. It might mean using relief strategically or
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: for growth. It might mean protecting your PTO, creating clearer schedules,
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: investing in development, or simply making it acceptable for someone
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: to say, I really need help. Finally, just, we need
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: to stop pretending that a healthy culture means everyone's happy
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: all the time. Healthy teams have our conversations. They have conflict.
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: It has to be productive though. So at my practice,
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: we talk about the good, the bad, the ugly, because
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: I would much rather know about a problem and have
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: it be uncomfortable and solve it than six months later
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: when my team's upset and leaving. And I think the
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: workplaces in the future that will thrive combine high standards
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: with humanity. Like they're not separate. You hold people accountable.
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: You give them opportunities to grow. You communicate honestly. Even
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: when you made a mistake, you make plenty. You ask
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: for feedback. I do want to know what I'm doing
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: well or what I can improve for my team. And
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: you give people flexibility where you can. And remember that
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: leadership isn't about having every answer. It's about creating a
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: team that trusts each other. enough to find the answer together.
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: It's okay for it to not be natural. Just because
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: it comes natural to me doesn't mean that I know
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: it doesn't come natural to others. And so how do
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: you make others feel comfortable? It's again, like I said,
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: intentional environment, intentional conversation, having the support and just like
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: safety and security, knowing that we're all different personalities and
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: we all can work together, but it doesn't diminish the
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: fact that it's difficult to have those conversations for a
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: lot of people. But I think avoiding them makes your
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: job a lot harder and your team's job a lot harder.
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: So how do we create that safety? How do we
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: create that trust, that environment? Come up with a formula
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: that works for you. Deconstruct a conversation and know where
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: you want it to end up and then practice that
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: in your mind before you set out to have it.
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: You want to state the intention, the situation. You want
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: to state the complication or the bottleneck. You want to
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: go through some questions about that. Like, what could we do?
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: And then you want to come up with a resolution together,
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: a solution as a team. I think that's another important thing.
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: It doesn't have to be on you as the individual
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: to resolve every conflict. It's up to your team to
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: do that too. And they have to do it cooperatively.
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: And I think knowing that you come up with a
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: construct that everyone feels safe and supported and knowing that
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: if they're bringing a conflict to the fore, they are
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: bringing also the questions and the solution as a team.
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: And so it's not on you, just as Dr. Annie
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: or me as Char, it's a team construct.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: That makes a lot of sense.
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: And as somebody who is admittedly conflict avoidant, I think
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: finding your fit with a diversity of folks on your team,
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: some more comfortable than others, and then having that safe
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: space Makes a lot of sense to me to be
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: the secret to success, to be able to talk those
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: through and lift each other up and get each other
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: through those objectively difficult conversations. So really appreciate that advice
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: and really appreciate you coming on the show and sharing
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: your career story, lessons learned, challenging us and giving us
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: lots to think about, Char.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: It's been great.
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much. It's been wonderful. Fantastic.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Fantastic.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: And thank you to each of you for joining us
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: on this episode of the My Veterinary Life podcast. We
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: love sharing this journey with you. And remember, we want
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: to hear from you. So please be sure to leave
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: us a rating, interview on Apple Podcasts or whatever platform
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: you listen to. And you can also email me at
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: mvlpodcast at avma.org.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: Take care and we'll see you next time.