Career Development

According to Gallup's annual Personal Finance poll, American's top financial worry is retirement.

Enjoy a happy veterinary career by leaving your angst at the door.

Even small businesses create hundreds of transactions during a month. And when you add your personal banking to the mix, it's easy to become overwhelmed, especially if you don't like bookkeeping.

Think you're working too much? Odds are you're not delegating enough to team members-who are hungry to help.

When you remove barriers, you're free to realize your true potential.

During the first few years of practice, it's not unusual to dig through textbooks, go online, or read up on cases during spare time. But somewhere around the third year of practice, most of us gain a level of comfort with medicine that stems late-night reading. We go on autopilot.

Commit to these 10 culture changes to build a terrific practice.

Studies show morale and turnover improve when team members feel appreciated.

I've played hockey for many years, often once or twice a week. One day it dawned on me I wasn't improving. Instead I was doing the same wrong things over and over--I was playing but not practicing. Finally, I took a skills class and was amazed at how much I didn't know.

Work better with goal planning.

Different people find different situations stressful, but some stressors transcend personal differences and affect a majority. Many such key job stresses are associated with these six categories:

Use these strategies to make sure tension never becomes toxic for you or your team.

Last month, we discussed the power of crafting a compelling practice vision. The next step: putting your vision in writing. As you're writing, see your vision as an already-accomplished reality, not merely as something you hope will happen. Write in the first person and present tense, creating a vivid mental image with as much detail as possible to bring your vision to life. Use all your senses—sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste—to develop your description.

You're enjoying practice, and your clients and team members are happy. But don't let complacency take hold. These common pitfalls can bump you off track.

Buying into a practice could bring great opportunities or heartache. The key: Know what you're getting into.

Facing a big change in your role? The resources can help!

Every year, practice owners review their employees, telling them what they did well and how they could improve. But have you ever taken time to give yourself a year-end review? Whether you're the boss, an associate, or a support staff member, you can benefit from evaluating your year, says Jinny Ditzler, author of Your Best Year Yet! A Proven Method for Making the Next Twelve Months the Most Successful Ever (Warner Books, 2000).

The leader's role changes at each stage of team development. Are you doing the right things to help your team grow and go?

Growing up in the South, I quickly learned that there were certain subjects one simply should not talk about in mixed company--religion, politics, and money. There are similar touchy topics in business, such as pay raises and compensation plans, staff disagreements, a desire to make important changes in the practice, and disagreement about management styles. Although we'd like to avoid these topics, they need to be discussed.

How much am I expected to contribute to my associates' retirement plans? Does this count as part of the compensation my associate earned based on production?

Set a date for your associate's buy-in, then use this timetable for a smooth transition.

Professional reward... is closely aligned with a thoughtfully managed hospital.

When you know what goals you really want to accomplish, the path to your dreams becomes clear. Here's how to harness the power of goal setting for your practice.

I rewrote my original column for this month. Originally it was written as a blueprint to prepare for the credentialing processes of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners.