The key to a brighter future in veterinary medicine

Veterinary technician content is sponsored by Elanco for the month of October.

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When it comes to a problem at the veterinary clinic, Tia Gregorio, DBA, MBA, BS, CVBL, CVT, believes it is important to remember the mindset should always be: the manager and the team versus the problem, never me verse you. According to Gregorio, having this mindset in a managerial or leadership position can really change the way that teams work together and can improve the overall culture of your practice.

On this week's episode of The Vet Blast Podcast, Gregorio and host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, discuss her journey after receiving her CVT, plus how to differentiate what it means to lead versus manage a team.

Below is a partial transcript. Listen to the full podcast for more.

Tia Gregorio, DBA, MBA, BS, CVBL, CVT: I'm always open, willing, and ready to take feedback from my team. I think it can be challenging to not take it a little bit personally, especially as a manager. Your heart and soul is in running your practice and supporting your team. So I always recommend doing like a day of shadowing. Shadow, your CSR's, shadow your technicians and your doctors, and really get a feel for what's happening in their day-to-day, that always gives me a little bit of a brighter window into what they're experiencing. Sometimes they don't even know how to bring their bottlenecks or what they're really feeling to the forefront.

So just being able to listen in on their conversations, and just be able to provide support in that way, has really been something for me that has worked tenfold. I'm able to see where their bottlenecks are, and just kind of point out to them afterward, 'hey, did you feel like that went well? Or did you feel like there were some conflicts of interest that you didn't really know how to process?' So just having a shift to shadow on the floor is always great.