The Human Side of Vet Med with Debbie Boone

As it is in human nature to be negative and fearful of the difficult and unknown, we most of the time tend to put more focus on looking for mistakes in the picture.

Did you know that it is through effective communication that every occurring problem gets to be cleared and solved?

You have to take the time to listen to what your team has in mind because more often than not, their ideas are actually better than yours.

Dig deep into the emotional aspect of practice and be driven by the purpose of you walking into that door every day as we interview Debbie Boone!

Debbie Boone strives to improve the lives of humans and animals by sharing her 35 years of experience and her communication expertise to enhance workplace culture, practice success, and the well-being of veterinary teams. She serves as the Vice President of VetPartners, and is hosting a podcast on YouTube called “The Bend”.

In this episode, Debbie talks about the key to the kingdom – the human part of Vet Med. Here, she mentions how improvement in human performance connects to the overall betterment of hospital performance, alongside the need to change focus towards positivity and the team learning effective communication skills.

 

What you will learn from this episode:

• Discover the reason why you shouldn’t rule your people to behave the way you want them to behave;
• Understand the causes of the dysfunction that’s present in your team; and
• Find out what the biggest game-changer in the Vet Med practice is.

 

“The truth in the matter is that if you don’t communicate well, you don’t get to practice medicine.” – Debbie Boone

 

Topics Covered:

03:14 – Debbie describes her ideal client: Practice owners who are looking for someone to coach them to improve their hospital performance.

04:17 – Problem she solves for her clients: Veterinarians’ challenges on their leadership in training phase – understanding how to motivate their people to lead the team and focus on the mission of the practice.

06:28 – The typical symptoms/pain points: A dysfunction – callouts, drama, low profitability, etc. – appear in the staff.

07:21 – The mistakes: Trying to rule people into behaving the way you want them to behave.

09:15 – Debbie’s Valuable Free Action: “Look for positive things to praise rather than look for mistakes to fuss about.”

11:44 – Debbie’s Valuable Free Resource: Visit Debbie’s website to access her blog and her recommended reading list of leadership books.

13:24 – Q: What is the biggest problem in Veterinary Medicine? A: The lack of advanced communication skills.

 

Key Takeaways:

“In my mind, improving the hospital performance requires improving the human performance in that practice. Some people like to look at numbers, and numbers are easy. The human part is the hard part, but the human part is the part that is the key to the kingdom.” – Debbie Boone

“A lot of people know that something needs to change. They just don’t know what it is and how they do it.” – Debbie Boone

“If your core values are different from those of your team members, there is always going to be discord there. You’ve got to make sure that everybody’s on the same page of beliefs with what you believe in and what it is that you want.” – Debbie Boone

“It’s so important that we get people to be purpose-driven and constantly illuminate the path to the purpose by walking in the door every day, rather than trying to beat them into submission.” – Debbie Boone

 

People / Resources Mentioned:

•  Debbie Boone’s blog
•  Debbie Boone’s recommended reading list of leadership books

 

Ways to Connect with Debbie Boone:

• Email: dboone@dboone2managevets.com 
• Website: https://dboone2managevets.com