May 27, 2022 • 24 mins
In This Episode:
Listen in as Mandy Billinger and Brad Jonesburg from the Vet2Pet staff chat about 5 ways you can support your team during a busy summer!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. Stacee (00:03):
Welcome to #IVETSOHARD, technology and
workflows that really work thenot so serious podcast for
seriously busy veterinary teamsbrought to you by Vet2Pet.
Dr. Caitlin (00:13):
Listen for quick fun interviews with veterinary
professionals, who've retrievedand actually held onto their
sanity, happiness, and successby learning a few new tricks and
embracing efficient processesthat actually work.
Dr. Stacee (00:26):
I'm Dr.
Stacee Santi
Dr. Caitlin (00:28):
And I'm Dr.
Caitlin Dewilde,
Dr. Stacee (00:30):
And this is #IVETSOHARD Hey everybody, it's
Stacee and I'm so excited today.
We're gonna take a departurefrom our normal# IVETSOHARD
episode because we recentlyhosted a great webinar with two
seasoned practice managers,Mandy Billinger, and Brad
Jonesburg.
(00:50):
They both work for Vet2Pet andthey gave five amazing tips on
how you can navigate and survivethe busy summer coming your way.
So join me, stick around andcheck out this special episode
of#IVETSOHARD where we're gonnashare this webinar with you.
Hope you enjoy it.
Brad Jonesburg (01:11):
Okay.
Let's jump right into our tipsfor the five ways to help your
team during these crazy busysummer months.
The first one that we have hereis to be creative with your
scheduling.
For me, I found that it waspretty imperative for my team to
always have something to lookforward to.
So I definitely made sure topush all of my staff to put in
(01:32):
some PTO, to have something tolook forward to.
I knew the summer crunch wascoming, but happy employees are
happy employees.
And if they've got something tolook forward to, that definitely
keeps them going through thatpinch through the grind.
So definitely encourage yourteam to, to take that PTO and to
schedule it, cuz that way youcan prepare your schedule
accordingly.
(01:52):
The other ways that I wouldconsider are maybe give a
holiday in your practice, youknow, take a Friday off.
Or if you work weekends, maybeclose for that Saturday morning,
having the full team get aweekend together can do wonders
for mental health for, for teambonding for, for just feeling
like we're gonna get throughthis summer in one piece, for
(02:12):
sure.
The last thing to do would be torotate your major holidays.
Nothing will give some ill willif, uh, your senior CSR has
every major holiday off andeverybody else is working every
single holiday.
So keep those, those threeholidays in a rotation.
If you get the 4th of July off,maybe that person works labor
day.
If somebody works Memorial day,they can work the 4th of July or
(02:34):
take that 4th of July offrather.
And if the team needs to switchthings up, they can take that
amongst themselves and, and passthat around.
Mandy, did you have anything toadd to this point?
Mandy Billinger (02:46):
No, I think, um, it's a great segue to
leading into what I'm gonna betalking actually about next,
which is let's start now.
Let's prepare now.
And what I mean by that is whenwe look at the upcoming
holidays, we've got three, likeBrad mentioned, we've got
Memorial 4th of July and laborday.
(03:06):
They all fall on Monday thisyear.
So get that on your calendars.
And let's prepare, let's preparenow for those Tuesdays, because
as we know, when we come backfrom those holidays, we have, of
course the barbecues that we'rerecovering from, where the dog
was given a corn cob or a bonewas given to him, or maybe we
(03:26):
have some serious stress goingon.
Um, and anxiety from thefireworks.
We know we're gonna get aninflux those days after the
holidays.
So let's make sure we startputting in blocks.
Now start getting those intoyour practice software.
I know it seems like, wow, it'sonly may, but I promise you the
sooner, the better it's alsoreally important to let your
(03:48):
clients know about alternatemethod methods in which they can
start getting requests to you.
So as we know, as we get busier,our phones are gonna be busier.
Other communication methods aregonna be busier and we're gonna
be in with more appointments,thus all leading into how
helpful it could be for them tobe able to place an order
(04:08):
online, to request anappointment online and just
having, you know, theaccessibility to get what they
need through the summer, butmaybe not have the only stream
of communication is to call into your practice.
You can also make sure that youlook into hiring relief.
That is one thing, you know, I,as a previous practice manager
(04:30):
was guilty of being involved inif one technician takes off the
Friday or Saturday.
Well guess what, we're justgonna ask the rest of our team
to work overtime.
Unfortunately, that causes a lotof resentment from the staff and
then guilt going into thatvacation.
Um, can you imagine feeling theguilt of your entire team having
(04:51):
to work overtime just so youcould get away with your family
or friends?
We don't wanna, we don't wannarecommend that.
So we know vacations are gonnahappen in the summer.
There's beautiful weather.
We've got holidays.
So prepare now for that.
You can look at additionalrelief options.
One that we actually featuredhere on#IVETSOHARD was relief
(05:12):
Rover.
And that one is a great idea tostart thinking ahead of time,
even doctors don't forget aboutyour doctors.
You know, I have also seen wheredoctors, all of a sudden are
working seven days a weekbecause another doctor is taking
off.
So look at those relief optionsand use them, you know, whether
you're gonna pay overtime orrelief, it usually comes out
(05:32):
pretty close I'm on a financialstandpoint.
So I think your team would bemuch, much more happy, um, and
feel like they're really beingtheir, their mental health and
probably their physical healthare being considered when we,
when we're planning for theseholidays and time away with our
family and friends.
So, you know, we gotta preparenow and get ready for the
(05:55):
summer.
Brad, what do you think?
Brad Jonesburg (05:57):
Oh, I think it is super important to prepare
for work for sure.
I also think, and here's my bigsegue.
I think it's very important toprepare for the fun too.
So like I would do someplanning, get, take advantage of
this beautiful weather and thewarmer temperatures and start
thinking of some really goodteam bonding activities for my
(06:19):
staff.
We really loved ax throwing.
We did ax throwing a coupleyears in a row.
You're looking at the two timesCPH ax, throwing champion.
Thank you very much.
And for my Philadelphia crew, we, that was something that was
ever a really big deal.
We, we went to B Y O Bfacilities, we'd bring in some
beer and wine and it isunbelievable how ridiculous the
(06:40):
laughing, the cheering, the, butit was just wonderful to do like
some kind of competitiveactivity where everybody was
cheering.
Everybody on the camaraderie atthe end of that couple hours was
like off the charts.
And we went into the next weekof our schedule, like on a, on a
high, as a result of it.
Other really cool ideas.
I've heard I'm gonna stick withPhiladelphia for a second.
(07:01):
But one of my manager, friendsthat I know did a build your own
cheese steak bar, which Ithought was like the cutest
thing ever.
And you can accommodate likeyour vegans with some like vegan
meat and stuff like that for the, for those people.
And you can also do a projectorand beam a movie on the side of
your practice is a really cuteidea.
I'm a big fan of how to trainyour dragon for veterinary
(07:22):
teams.
I think it's a really cute moviefor everybody to watch, cuz it's
just cats with wings.
It's pretty wonderful.
If you are, uh, moreathletically inclined, you could
do team yoga.
That sounds really bendy to meand my back already hurts
talking about it.
But I think that's a really cuteidea to get everybody involved.
Goat yoga's really funny or theydo now dog yoga now wreck it
(07:42):
rooms.
Oh, that's where you can likebash plates with bats and stuff
like that.
That's crazy.
I've heard of that as well.
It's so fun.
Top golf is a big one.
I've heard here lately.
You can schedule a pool day withyour staff and their pets is a
really adorable idea.
You don't even need to go thatfar out of your, your spear,
even though if you wanted to setup like a field day on your
(08:04):
property or in your parking lot,make up some little games or
like the throwing the, the cornhole game is a really good one.
Um, you don't have to, to golike crazy outside of your
sphere, outside of your budgetto really create some really
excellent team bondingexperiences.
Uh, Mandy, do you have any otherreally cool ideas on that?
Yeah,
Mandy Billinger (08:24):
I do.
Actually, when I was inpractice, we did a hot dog bar
and what sounds kind of weirdabout it, but you actually got
to pick what kind of dog youwanted.
And so we did like a littlestation where there was, you
know, maybe a miniatureschnauzer or there was a lab
dog.
And depending on the differentbreeds of dogs, that's the
(08:45):
toppings you added to your hotdog.
And it was a fun littlebarbecue.
It was just at a local park thatwas right on the road.
And we just closed the practicefor two hours over lunch.
And we went and had lunch to thepark and you know, you got to
say, oh, well I'm gonna have aHusky dog today, or I'm gonna
have a lab dog today.
And it was fun.
It was creative, so cute.
(09:05):
And it was just a fun way to,you know, really break up the
day.
But it didn't take too much awayfrom, you know, getting away
from the practice.
We were able to, you know, makeit happen just over the lunch
hour.
So
Brad Jonesburg (09:15):
What's cool about that idea, Mandy is that
like, I know a lot of peopledidn't want to do after hours or
like come out on the weekendskind of thing.
So having that at lunch is areally cool idea.
I think whether you do it atlunch or on, you know, off time,
the big thing is to put it onthe calendar, make sure people
know way ahead of time so theycan plan their schedule and you
(09:36):
can get a good head count of howmuch, you know, how many hot
dogs you need or how many axesyou're gonna throw you, get that
on the calendar.
So you can let everybody knowwe've got this coming up and we
can schedule accordingly fromthere.
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Mandy Billinger (11:10):
To our fourth topic, which is treats.
And probably honestly, one of myfavorite topics to be talking
about today.
I think it's so important toconsider so many different
factors.
When you're talking aboutbringing treats nowadays, we've
got allergies, we've got dietrestrictions and we've just got
(11:31):
preferences.
Um, so guess we did have vegandogs and we had all sorts of
different dogs, but change itup.
And I think that's the mostimportant thing we've all been
guilty of.
Oh, let's just do a pizza party.
It's easy.
They deliver it's cheap, but itdoesn't always, you know, it
just is like, oh, great.
Another pizza.
So consider changing it up.
(11:52):
I personally, when I was aformer practice manager, I
teamed up with my drug reps thatI was spending the highest
amount, giving them most of mymoney.
And I actually had them come bywith an ice cream truck that
they were able to rent and thatice cream truck, uh, truck
parked right in front of ourpractice.
And it was really fun to justhave, um, all of our entire team
(12:14):
be able to go out front and, youknow, pick out a different ice
cream.
But again, going back toconsider those preferences and,
and, you know, offer, you know,different popsicles that don't
have dairy and making sure thatyou have maybe some just fruit
pops in there, or if someone hasa special allergy or preference,
you take all of that intoconsideration.
(12:36):
Cause there's nothing worse thanfeeling left out.
You know, I, I definitely can'timagine being lactose
intolerance because my love forcheese and ice cream is probably
little too much, but I wouldfeel really left out if no one
thought of that as they weresurprising our team with treats.
So, you know, definitely takeinventory if you can.
(12:58):
Now, while you're talking aboutupcoming vacations and planning
ahead and seeing, Hey, who'sneeding Memorial day off, who's
needing 4th of July off, who'sneeding labor day off.
Maybe you also pass around asheet that says, Hey, give me a
list of your top three treats.
And then, you know, maybe ifthat, that special technician or
that special receptionist wentabove and beyond and you know
(13:20):
that they like a Grande Javachip, light ice, no whip almond
milk.
You can surprise them with that.
Cuz you know, it's, it'sdefinitely a very independent
thing and you know, some peopledon't drink milk.
Some people don't drinkcaffeine, but you can get them a
black iced tea or um, you know,just anything that maybe
Starbucks has to offer.
(13:41):
They definitely offer a varietyfor you.
So think outside of the box ofpizza, um, have fun with it, but
also know maybe what their topthree treats are for them and
take that into consideration asyou're planning, you know, a
treat maybe that week or thatbusy Friday that you have coming
up.
I definitely think that wereally need to be more aware of
(14:04):
all of our employees and whatthey're liking and what their,
you know, maybe their certainrestrictions are.
So that's kind of one of my tipsfor, for my, my five tips for
the summer.
Brad, you have any other ideas,
Brad Jonesburg (14:19):
Right?
Just to, to belabor the point alittle bit, like nothing made my
like vegans feel seen more thanme having something for them
that wasn't fruit, u m, or maybejust a piece of fruit, like, but
something as substantial a swhat the rest of the team is
getting, I think is a, awonderful thing to do.
And it's not only going to makethem just feel good in the
(14:40):
moment, but you're gonna buildGoodwill with them because they,
they will feel like you arelistening to them.
And I think it's a very powerfulthing.
A a a s little as it is, it isextremely powerful and v aluable
for just s taff building and, and morale in general.
Mandy Billinger (14:55):
Yeah.
A hundred percent.
I agree.
Brad Jonesburg (14:57):
Well, let's pivot to our fifth point and
this is gonna be to like get alittle more creative with just
your workforce in general.
Um, for my staff, it was, uh, inkind of imperative for us to, to
pivot pretty quickly to adigital position, uh, in the
early days of COVID.
And one of the cool things thatI learned during COVID is this
remote position could be used ina, a bunch of different ways,
(15:20):
whether it's somebody's stuck inquarantine for COVID than, or
we're just gonna have a, afull-time digital coordinator.
Offsite is a really cool idea,but using this in conjunction
with the summer, why not give arotation of your CSRs a Friday
digital coordinator shift, it'llkind of feel like they're
getting a long weekend, butthey're not taking time off.
(15:41):
They're not using their PTO.
You are not losing productivity.
And in the meantime, your teamfrom home can handle their
Vet2Pet requests that come inall of the emails, they can
triage telemedicine, any of thethings that you are doing
digitally, you know, everythingshort of speaking to somebody in
person or answering a phone canbe done off site.
(16:02):
Definitely make sure you'reusing a cloud based software for
that, for sure.
But even if you're not, thereare a whole bunch of ways, like
log me in where you can use anon-cloud based PIMS and log in,
uh, from an offsite location.
Um, I definitely found that myteam appreciated to be able to
work in their pajamas fora day and, and kind of ease into
(16:26):
their weekend.
And like I said, it did feellike a long weekend for them and
a little time away from thepractice, even just that that
one shift will make them feel,you know, a little more removed,
a little clearer headed for thenext shift that they do come
into the building.
And we have a digitalcoordinator guide, uh, that, uh,
our marketing people havewhipped up a couple months back.
(16:47):
So we'll make sure to, to linkthat here in the chat as well.
Uh, Jessica had a really goodquestion.
How do you make that fair fortechnicians?
If you're utilizing some kind ofpharmacy tech that is someone
that can absolutely handle that,uh, you know, those requests
approving the requests,forwarding messages to the
doctor, they can do all thatfrom home digitally.
They don't need to be at thepractice.
(17:08):
So you can rotate yourtechnicians in that, that remote
pharmacy tech position and, andkind of do the exact same thing.
Mandy Billinger (17:15):
Yeah.
And they do offer, um, labelmakers now that you can actually
have wireless connection thatyou can remote in.
Like Brad said, there are a fewdifferent options for those
practice softwares that are notcloud-based.
There is, you know, like forinstance, with Avimark and
intra, which was what I wasusing in practice.
We use the LogMeIn splash top orteam viewer for our doctors to
(17:38):
be able to go home and entersome notes, but still be able to
make it home and have dinnerwith their family.
Same thing with technicians,they would be able to remote in
and maybe get those orderrequests approved and printed
for you guys so that you canjust fill them very quickly.
And again, doing that from home.
Dr. Stacee (17:56):
Wow.
This is so great.
You guys, I have a couple ofquestions I'm gonna pose to you
now.
Okay.
And these are from some of ourguests today.
What is your opinion for whenyou're trying to plan?
I've certainly had this, so I'mtrying to plan something super
fun.
I'm working at it really hard.
I'm gonna close the clinic even,and maybe go to the movies for
(18:19):
two hours and I've got somenegative Nancy that's like, I
don't wanna see that movie or Idon't wanna go there.
I don't like the movies.
Do we make it mandatory or do wemake it come if you want,
otherwise go do you, which Iworry, like no one will come to
my movie.
If I say that, like, should teamfun be mandatory?
(18:42):
What are your thoughts on this
Mandy Billinger (18:44):
Personally?
When I was in practice, Idefinitely, um, I had that
happen all the time.
I had a lot of people withdiffering interests, especially
when it was like, oh, let's do apaint and wine night.
Well, I don't like crafts.
And so I definitely feel that.
But what I learned is when youget, I don't know, one or two
people that are like jazzedabout it, and then they start
talking and they're spreadingthe word and they're like, oh,
(19:05):
who cares?
It's gonna be free wine.
Or who cares?
We're gonna have fun.
I think that if you get a coupleof cheerleaders in your corner,
I think that's where the key'sat.
No one wants to be left behindor feel left out.
And if they do miss that onemovie, they're gonna hear about
it the next day.
And they're gonna hear about howthey missed out.
(19:26):
So I think as they say, FOMOwill kick in.
And I think that next timeyou'll have better success.
Brad Jonesburg (19:33):
And I also think planning, you know, in hospital
things make it convenient foryour people.
You know, not everybody hasaccess to immediate
transportation, but we expectthem to be able to come into the
office.
So if you do something likeMandy had said, like, uh, bring
in that ice cream truck duringoffice hours, then people are
not, you know, feeling apressure to come in on their off
(19:54):
time.
They're not sacrificing their,they're not work time to be with
work people again.
And then you're not having anyof that.
It will, if you do have a teamthat is all about meeting up
outside, go to happy hours, thenyou may not have this issue
whatsoever.
But I do think to have, youknow, vary it up and have some
in, in practice things and thenoutside of the practice, uh,
(20:15):
make sense.
So you can collect as manypeople into the fun as possible.
Dr. Stacee (20:19):
Yeah, I think that's right.
It's and, and also remindingthat kind employee that say,
okay, it's actually less abouthow to train your dragon as a
concept.
It's more about hanging out witheach other and just having fun.
But if it's not your cup of tea,we respect that.
And then just let'em off thehook.
(20:41):
But I do think if you force it,like it's not, they bring down
your fun ultimately.
So, and, and then providing avariety of activities.
So if that person came to youand said, I don't wanna do that
say, okay, well, what would yousuggest?
Let's plan our next activity.
And then you sort of put'em backin the driver's seat on it.
(21:01):
So they can't say no.
So I like that littlepsychological twist on them too.
okay.
We have another question for youguys.
And this one is you talked aboutletting team members work
remotely.
What if I have a team memberthat lives out in the boons know
(21:21):
wifi and they can't workremotely and they're gonna be
all jealous that they don't getthis perk and they're being
punished because they have toshow up at work.
Should I just not do this for ifI can't do it for everyone,
nobody gets it.
Or how do I navigate that?
Like, like is that's a toughone.
(21:43):
What do you have any advice?
Mandy Billinger (21:44):
Are you talking about Brad over there in Hawaii?
Brad Jonesburg (21:47):
Look, I
got my wifi working this way.
Mandy Billinger (21:51):
no,
there's um, there are additional
tasks.
So I would talk to that specificmember and see if there's a way
that you can think of ideas thatit may not necessarily be, um,
tech.
Uh, I don't wanna say technicianbased, but where they
necessarily need a computer, butmaybe there's something else
that you're needing help with inthe practice.
So, I mean, who knows?
It could be that you needsomeone to go in and type up
(22:14):
some medical notes or some newpolicies and protocols, and you
just need to have a, a computer.
It doesn't need to be connectedto wifi, but kind of think
outside the box and find outwhat would make them feel
included so that you could findadditional projects and, and see
what you can do and, and cometogether as a team and, and work
on that.
Brad Jonesburg (22:33):
You might even have people that prefer to be at
the practice.
So to take you even a stepfurther Stacee, and what I would
maybe recommend is like, you cantake them off the floor.
They don't have to, if they'regonna work, they don't have to
be on a phone.
They don't have to be at in yourlobby.
So you know, that CSR put themin your office and let them sit
at a corner to do that digitalcoordinator stuff.
(22:56):
Heck we can even still let themcome in in their pajamas.
So it really is an official,like relaxing day in, in their
workplace kind of thing.
And, and it could work with thetechs.
Um, my doctors, we even rotatedthem telemedicine from home and
some doctors definitelypreferred preferred to be in the
practice.
We just set them up in, in ouradmin office office to do that.
(23:18):
So they could more quickly getsome answers if they needed to.
But some of them definitely tookadvantage of the telemed from
home thing, you know, telemed intheir pajamas.
And I think it is just a reallygood way of keeping people
productive while also givingthem a little brain, uh,
relaxation.
Dr. Stacee (23:35):
Well, I love y'all's ideas.
Thank you so much for bringingthem up for this webinar.
I, what I'm hearing you say torecap is treat your employees as
individuals build the fund,build the schedule, get in front
of the chaos, be prepared asbest you can plan.
(23:56):
Know, you know what days aregonna be a hot mess.
So beef up staffing on thosedays and be flexible, but start
the conversation now.
So you can make sure that eachemployee as best you can, can
have a fun summer.
And don't forget about your ownself in that whole thing too.
Speaker 7 (24:16):
Yes.
A hundred percent.
Dr. Stacee (24:21):
Thanks for joining us for today's episode of
#IVETSOHARD
Dr. Caitlin (24:25):
Don't forget to head over to IvetSohard.com to
download our top five takeawaysfrom this episode, we'll see you
right back here.
Dr. Stacee (24:32):
Same time, same place next week
Dr. Caitlin (24:35):
Until then here's to putting your technology to
work for your practice.
Welcome to #IVETSOHARD, technology and
workflows that really work thenot so serious podcast for
seriously busy veterinary teamsbrought to you by Vet2Pet.
Dr. Caitlin (00:13):
Listen for quick fun interviews with veterinary
professionals, who've retrievedand actually held onto their
sanity, happiness, and successby learning a few new tricks and
embracing efficient processesthat actually work.
Dr. Stacee (00:26):
I'm Dr.
Stacee Santi
Dr. Caitlin (00:28):
And I'm Dr.
Caitlin Dewilde,
Dr. Stacee (00:30):
And this is #IVETSOHARD Hey everybody, it's
Stacee and I'm so excited today.
We're gonna take a departurefrom our normal# IVETSOHARD
episode because we recentlyhosted a great webinar with two
seasoned practice managers,Mandy Billinger, and Brad
Jonesburg.
(00:50):
They both work for Vet2Pet andthey gave five amazing tips on
how you can navigate and survivethe busy summer coming your way.
So join me, stick around andcheck out this special episode
of#IVETSOHARD where we're gonnashare this webinar with you.
Hope you enjoy it.
Brad Jonesburg (01:11):
Okay.
Let's jump right into our tipsfor the five ways to help your
team during these crazy busysummer months.
The first one that we have hereis to be creative with your
scheduling.
For me, I found that it waspretty imperative for my team to
always have something to lookforward to.
So I definitely made sure topush all of my staff to put in
(01:32):
some PTO, to have something tolook forward to.
I knew the summer crunch wascoming, but happy employees are
happy employees.
And if they've got something tolook forward to, that definitely
keeps them going through thatpinch through the grind.
So definitely encourage yourteam to, to take that PTO and to
schedule it, cuz that way youcan prepare your schedule
accordingly.
(01:52):
The other ways that I wouldconsider are maybe give a
holiday in your practice, youknow, take a Friday off.
Or if you work weekends, maybeclose for that Saturday morning,
having the full team get aweekend together can do wonders
for mental health for, for teambonding for, for just feeling
like we're gonna get throughthis summer in one piece, for
(02:12):
sure.
The last thing to do would be torotate your major holidays.
Nothing will give some ill willif, uh, your senior CSR has
every major holiday off andeverybody else is working every
single holiday.
So keep those, those threeholidays in a rotation.
If you get the 4th of July off,maybe that person works labor
day.
If somebody works Memorial day,they can work the 4th of July or
(02:34):
take that 4th of July offrather.
And if the team needs to switchthings up, they can take that
amongst themselves and, and passthat around.
Mandy, did you have anything toadd to this point?
Mandy Billinger (02:46):
No, I think, um, it's a great segue to
leading into what I'm gonna betalking actually about next,
which is let's start now.
Let's prepare now.
And what I mean by that is whenwe look at the upcoming
holidays, we've got three, likeBrad mentioned, we've got
Memorial 4th of July and laborday.
(03:06):
They all fall on Monday thisyear.
So get that on your calendars.
And let's prepare, let's preparenow for those Tuesdays, because
as we know, when we come backfrom those holidays, we have, of
course the barbecues that we'rerecovering from, where the dog
was given a corn cob or a bonewas given to him, or maybe we
(03:26):
have some serious stress goingon.
Um, and anxiety from thefireworks.
We know we're gonna get aninflux those days after the
holidays.
So let's make sure we startputting in blocks.
Now start getting those intoyour practice software.
I know it seems like, wow, it'sonly may, but I promise you the
sooner, the better it's alsoreally important to let your
(03:48):
clients know about alternatemethod methods in which they can
start getting requests to you.
So as we know, as we get busier,our phones are gonna be busier.
Other communication methods aregonna be busier and we're gonna
be in with more appointments,thus all leading into how
helpful it could be for them tobe able to place an order
(04:08):
online, to request anappointment online and just
having, you know, theaccessibility to get what they
need through the summer, butmaybe not have the only stream
of communication is to call into your practice.
You can also make sure that youlook into hiring relief.
That is one thing, you know, I,as a previous practice manager
(04:30):
was guilty of being involved inif one technician takes off the
Friday or Saturday.
Well guess what, we're justgonna ask the rest of our team
to work overtime.
Unfortunately, that causes a lotof resentment from the staff and
then guilt going into thatvacation.
Um, can you imagine feeling theguilt of your entire team having
(04:51):
to work overtime just so youcould get away with your family
or friends?
We don't wanna, we don't wannarecommend that.
So we know vacations are gonnahappen in the summer.
There's beautiful weather.
We've got holidays.
So prepare now for that.
You can look at additionalrelief options.
One that we actually featuredhere on#IVETSOHARD was relief
(05:12):
Rover.
And that one is a great idea tostart thinking ahead of time,
even doctors don't forget aboutyour doctors.
You know, I have also seen wheredoctors, all of a sudden are
working seven days a weekbecause another doctor is taking
off.
So look at those relief optionsand use them, you know, whether
you're gonna pay overtime orrelief, it usually comes out
(05:32):
pretty close I'm on a financialstandpoint.
So I think your team would bemuch, much more happy, um, and
feel like they're really beingtheir, their mental health and
probably their physical healthare being considered when we,
when we're planning for theseholidays and time away with our
family and friends.
So, you know, we gotta preparenow and get ready for the
(05:55):
summer.
Brad, what do you think?
Brad Jonesburg (05:57):
Oh, I think it is super important to prepare
for work for sure.
I also think, and here's my bigsegue.
I think it's very important toprepare for the fun too.
So like I would do someplanning, get, take advantage of
this beautiful weather and thewarmer temperatures and start
thinking of some really goodteam bonding activities for my
(06:19):
staff.
We really loved ax throwing.
We did ax throwing a coupleyears in a row.
You're looking at the two timesCPH ax, throwing champion.
Thank you very much.
And for my Philadelphia crew, we, that was something that was
ever a really big deal.
We, we went to B Y O Bfacilities, we'd bring in some
beer and wine and it isunbelievable how ridiculous the
(06:40):
laughing, the cheering, the, butit was just wonderful to do like
some kind of competitiveactivity where everybody was
cheering.
Everybody on the camaraderie atthe end of that couple hours was
like off the charts.
And we went into the next weekof our schedule, like on a, on a
high, as a result of it.
Other really cool ideas.
I've heard I'm gonna stick withPhiladelphia for a second.
(07:01):
But one of my manager, friendsthat I know did a build your own
cheese steak bar, which Ithought was like the cutest
thing ever.
And you can accommodate likeyour vegans with some like vegan
meat and stuff like that for the, for those people.
And you can also do a projectorand beam a movie on the side of
your practice is a really cuteidea.
I'm a big fan of how to trainyour dragon for veterinary
(07:22):
teams.
I think it's a really cute moviefor everybody to watch, cuz it's
just cats with wings.
It's pretty wonderful.
If you are, uh, moreathletically inclined, you could
do team yoga.
That sounds really bendy to meand my back already hurts
talking about it.
But I think that's a really cuteidea to get everybody involved.
Goat yoga's really funny or theydo now dog yoga now wreck it
(07:42):
rooms.
Oh, that's where you can likebash plates with bats and stuff
like that.
That's crazy.
I've heard of that as well.
It's so fun.
Top golf is a big one.
I've heard here lately.
You can schedule a pool day withyour staff and their pets is a
really adorable idea.
You don't even need to go thatfar out of your, your spear,
even though if you wanted to setup like a field day on your
(08:04):
property or in your parking lot,make up some little games or
like the throwing the, the cornhole game is a really good one.
Um, you don't have to, to golike crazy outside of your
sphere, outside of your budgetto really create some really
excellent team bondingexperiences.
Uh, Mandy, do you have any otherreally cool ideas on that?
Yeah,
Mandy Billinger (08:24):
I do.
Actually, when I was inpractice, we did a hot dog bar
and what sounds kind of weirdabout it, but you actually got
to pick what kind of dog youwanted.
And so we did like a littlestation where there was, you
know, maybe a miniatureschnauzer or there was a lab
dog.
And depending on the differentbreeds of dogs, that's the
(08:45):
toppings you added to your hotdog.
And it was a fun littlebarbecue.
It was just at a local park thatwas right on the road.
And we just closed the practicefor two hours over lunch.
And we went and had lunch to thepark and you know, you got to
say, oh, well I'm gonna have aHusky dog today, or I'm gonna
have a lab dog today.
And it was fun.
It was creative, so cute.
(09:05):
And it was just a fun way to,you know, really break up the
day.
But it didn't take too much awayfrom, you know, getting away
from the practice.
We were able to, you know, makeit happen just over the lunch
hour.
So
Brad Jonesburg (09:15):
What's cool about that idea, Mandy is that
like, I know a lot of peopledidn't want to do after hours or
like come out on the weekendskind of thing.
So having that at lunch is areally cool idea.
I think whether you do it atlunch or on, you know, off time,
the big thing is to put it onthe calendar, make sure people
know way ahead of time so theycan plan their schedule and you
(09:36):
can get a good head count of howmuch, you know, how many hot
dogs you need or how many axesyou're gonna throw you, get that
on the calendar.
So you can let everybody knowwe've got this coming up and we
can schedule accordingly fromthere.
Nicole Clauson (09:50):
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Mandy Billinger (11:10):
To our fourth topic, which is treats.
And probably honestly, one of myfavorite topics to be talking
about today.
I think it's so important toconsider so many different
factors.
When you're talking aboutbringing treats nowadays, we've
got allergies, we've got dietrestrictions and we've just got
(11:31):
preferences.
Um, so guess we did have vegandogs and we had all sorts of
different dogs, but change itup.
And I think that's the mostimportant thing we've all been
guilty of.
Oh, let's just do a pizza party.
It's easy.
They deliver it's cheap, but itdoesn't always, you know, it
just is like, oh, great.
Another pizza.
So consider changing it up.
(11:52):
I personally, when I was aformer practice manager, I
teamed up with my drug reps thatI was spending the highest
amount, giving them most of mymoney.
And I actually had them come bywith an ice cream truck that
they were able to rent and thatice cream truck, uh, truck
parked right in front of ourpractice.
And it was really fun to justhave, um, all of our entire team
(12:14):
be able to go out front and, youknow, pick out a different ice
cream.
But again, going back toconsider those preferences and,
and, you know, offer, you know,different popsicles that don't
have dairy and making sure thatyou have maybe some just fruit
pops in there, or if someone hasa special allergy or preference,
you take all of that intoconsideration.
(12:36):
Cause there's nothing worse thanfeeling left out.
You know, I, I definitely can'timagine being lactose
intolerance because my love forcheese and ice cream is probably
little too much, but I wouldfeel really left out if no one
thought of that as they weresurprising our team with treats.
So, you know, definitely takeinventory if you can.
(12:58):
Now, while you're talking aboutupcoming vacations and planning
ahead and seeing, Hey, who'sneeding Memorial day off, who's
needing 4th of July off, who'sneeding labor day off.
Maybe you also pass around asheet that says, Hey, give me a
list of your top three treats.
And then, you know, maybe ifthat, that special technician or
that special receptionist wentabove and beyond and you know
(13:20):
that they like a Grande Javachip, light ice, no whip almond
milk.
You can surprise them with that.
Cuz you know, it's, it'sdefinitely a very independent
thing and you know, some peopledon't drink milk.
Some people don't drinkcaffeine, but you can get them a
black iced tea or um, you know,just anything that maybe
Starbucks has to offer.
(13:41):
They definitely offer a varietyfor you.
So think outside of the box ofpizza, um, have fun with it, but
also know maybe what their topthree treats are for them and
take that into consideration asyou're planning, you know, a
treat maybe that week or thatbusy Friday that you have coming
up.
I definitely think that wereally need to be more aware of
(14:04):
all of our employees and whatthey're liking and what their,
you know, maybe their certainrestrictions are.
So that's kind of one of my tipsfor, for my, my five tips for
the summer.
Brad, you have any other ideas,
Brad Jonesburg (14:19):
Right?
Just to, to belabor the point alittle bit, like nothing made my
like vegans feel seen more thanme having something for them
that wasn't fruit, u m, or maybejust a piece of fruit, like, but
something as substantial a swhat the rest of the team is
getting, I think is a, awonderful thing to do.
And it's not only going to makethem just feel good in the
(14:40):
moment, but you're gonna buildGoodwill with them because they,
they will feel like you arelistening to them.
And I think it's a very powerfulthing.
A a a s little as it is, it isextremely powerful and v aluable
for just s taff building and, and morale in general.
Mandy Billinger (14:55):
Yeah.
A hundred percent.
I agree.
Brad Jonesburg (14:57):
Well, let's pivot to our fifth point and
this is gonna be to like get alittle more creative with just
your workforce in general.
Um, for my staff, it was, uh, inkind of imperative for us to, to
pivot pretty quickly to adigital position, uh, in the
early days of COVID.
And one of the cool things thatI learned during COVID is this
remote position could be used ina, a bunch of different ways,
(15:20):
whether it's somebody's stuck inquarantine for COVID than, or
we're just gonna have a, afull-time digital coordinator.
Offsite is a really cool idea,but using this in conjunction
with the summer, why not give arotation of your CSRs a Friday
digital coordinator shift, it'llkind of feel like they're
getting a long weekend, butthey're not taking time off.
(15:41):
They're not using their PTO.
You are not losing productivity.
And in the meantime, your teamfrom home can handle their
Vet2Pet requests that come inall of the emails, they can
triage telemedicine, any of thethings that you are doing
digitally, you know, everythingshort of speaking to somebody in
person or answering a phone canbe done off site.
(16:02):
Definitely make sure you'reusing a cloud based software for
that, for sure.
But even if you're not, thereare a whole bunch of ways, like
log me in where you can use anon-cloud based PIMS and log in,
uh, from an offsite location.
Um, I definitely found that myteam appreciated to be able to
work in their pajamas
(16:26):
their weekend.
And like I said, it did feellike a long weekend for them and
a little time away from thepractice, even just that that
one shift will make them feel,you know, a little more removed,
a little clearer headed for thenext shift that they do come
into the building.
And we have a digitalcoordinator guide, uh, that, uh,
our marketing people havewhipped up a couple months back.
(16:47):
So we'll make sure to, to linkthat here in the chat as well.
Uh, Jessica had a really goodquestion.
How do you make that fair fortechnicians?
If you're utilizing some kind ofpharmacy tech that is someone
that can absolutely handle that,uh, you know, those requests
approving the requests,forwarding messages to the
doctor, they can do all thatfrom home digitally.
They don't need to be at thepractice.
(17:08):
So you can rotate yourtechnicians in that, that remote
pharmacy tech position and, andkind of do the exact same thing.
Mandy Billinger (17:15):
Yeah.
And they do offer, um, labelmakers now that you can actually
have wireless connection thatyou can remote in.
Like Brad said, there are a fewdifferent options for those
practice softwares that are notcloud-based.
There is, you know, like forinstance, with Avimark and
intra, which was what I wasusing in practice.
We use the LogMeIn splash top orteam viewer for our doctors to
(17:38):
be able to go home and entersome notes, but still be able to
make it home and have dinnerwith their family.
Same thing with technicians,they would be able to remote in
and maybe get those orderrequests approved and printed
for you guys so that you canjust fill them very quickly.
And again, doing that from home.
Dr. Stacee (17:56):
Wow.
This is so great.
You guys, I have a couple ofquestions I'm gonna pose to you
now.
Okay.
And these are from some of ourguests today.
What is your opinion for whenyou're trying to plan?
I've certainly had this, so I'mtrying to plan something super
fun.
I'm working at it really hard.
I'm gonna close the clinic even,and maybe go to the movies for
(18:19):
two hours and I've got somenegative Nancy that's like, I
don't wanna see that movie or Idon't wanna go there.
I don't like the movies.
Do we make it mandatory or do wemake it come if you want,
otherwise go do you, which Iworry, like no one will come to
my movie.
If I say that, like, should teamfun be mandatory?
(18:42):
What are your thoughts on this
Mandy Billinger (18:44):
Personally?
When I was in practice, Idefinitely, um, I had that
happen all the time.
I had a lot of people withdiffering interests, especially
when it was like, oh, let's do apaint and wine night.
Well, I don't like crafts.
And so I definitely feel that.
But what I learned is when youget, I don't know, one or two
people that are like jazzedabout it, and then they start
talking and they're spreadingthe word and they're like, oh,
(19:05):
who cares?
It's gonna be free wine.
Or who cares?
We're gonna have fun.
I think that if you get a coupleof cheerleaders in your corner,
I think that's where the key'sat.
No one wants to be left behindor feel left out.
And if they do miss that onemovie, they're gonna hear about
it the next day.
And they're gonna hear about howthey missed out.
(19:26):
So I think as they say, FOMOwill kick in.
And I think that next timeyou'll have better success.
Brad Jonesburg (19:33):
And I also think planning, you know, in hospital
things make it convenient foryour people.
You know, not everybody hasaccess to immediate
transportation, but we expectthem to be able to come into the
office.
So if you do something likeMandy had said, like, uh, bring
in that ice cream truck duringoffice hours, then people are
not, you know, feeling apressure to come in on their off
(19:54):
time.
They're not sacrificing their,they're not work time to be with
work people again.
And then you're not having anyof that.
It will, if you do have a teamthat is all about meeting up
outside, go to happy hours, thenyou may not have this issue
whatsoever.
But I do think to have, youknow, vary it up and have some
in, in practice things and thenoutside of the practice, uh,
(20:15):
make sense.
So you can collect as manypeople into the fun as possible.
Dr. Stacee (20:19):
Yeah, I think that's right.
It's and, and also remindingthat kind employee that say,
okay, it's actually less abouthow to train your dragon as a
concept.
It's more about hanging out witheach other and just having fun.
But if it's not your cup of tea,we respect that.
And then just let'em off thehook.
(20:41):
But I do think if you force it,like it's not, they bring down
your fun ultimately.
So, and, and then providing avariety of activities.
So if that person came to youand said, I don't wanna do that
say, okay, well, what would yousuggest?
Let's plan our next activity.
And then you sort of put'em backin the driver's seat on it.
(21:01):
So they can't say no.
So I like that littlepsychological twist on them too.
We have another question for youguys.
And this one is you talked aboutletting team members work
remotely.
What if I have a team memberthat lives out in the boons know
(21:21):
wifi and they can't workremotely and they're gonna be
all jealous that they don't getthis perk and they're being
punished because they have toshow up at work.
Should I just not do this for ifI can't do it for everyone,
nobody gets it.
Or how do I navigate that?
Like, like is that's a toughone.
(21:43):
What do you have any advice?
Mandy Billinger (21:44):
Are you talking about Brad over there in Hawaii?
Brad Jonesburg (21:47):
Mandy Billinger (21:51):
tasks.
So I would talk to that specificmember and see if there's a way
that you can think of ideas thatit may not necessarily be, um,
tech.
Uh, I don't wanna say technicianbased, but where they
necessarily need a computer, butmaybe there's something else
that you're needing help with inthe practice.
So, I mean, who knows?
It could be that you needsomeone to go in and type up
(22:14):
some medical notes or some newpolicies and protocols, and you
just need to have a, a computer.
It doesn't need to be connectedto wifi, but kind of think
outside the box and find outwhat would make them feel
included so that you could findadditional projects and, and see
what you can do and, and cometogether as a team and, and work
on that.
Brad Jonesburg (22:33):
You might even have people that prefer to be at
the practice.
So to take you even a stepfurther Stacee, and what I would
maybe recommend is like, you cantake them off the floor.
They don't have to, if they'regonna work, they don't have to
be on a phone.
They don't have to be at in yourlobby.
So you know, that CSR put themin your office and let them sit
at a corner to do that digitalcoordinator stuff.
(22:56):
Heck we can even still let themcome in in their pajamas.
So it really is an official,like relaxing day in, in their
workplace kind of thing.
And, and it could work with thetechs.
Um, my doctors, we even rotatedthem telemedicine from home and
some doctors definitelypreferred preferred to be in the
practice.
We just set them up in, in ouradmin office office to do that.
(23:18):
So they could more quickly getsome answers if they needed to.
But some of them definitely tookadvantage of the telemed from
home thing, you know, telemed intheir pajamas.
And I think it is just a reallygood way of keeping people
productive while also givingthem a little brain, uh,
relaxation.
Dr. Stacee (23:35):
Well, I love y'all's ideas.
Thank you so much for bringingthem up for this webinar.
I, what I'm hearing you say torecap is treat your employees as
individuals build the fund,build the schedule, get in front
of the chaos, be prepared asbest you can plan.
(23:56):
Know, you know what days aregonna be a hot mess.
So beef up staffing on thosedays and be flexible, but start
the conversation now.
So you can make sure that eachemployee as best you can, can
have a fun summer.
And don't forget about your ownself in that whole thing too.
Speaker 7 (24:16):
Yes.
A hundred percent.
Dr. Stacee (24:21):
Thanks for joining us for today's episode of
#IVETSOHARD
Dr. Caitlin (24:25):
Don't forget to head over to IvetSohard.com to
download our top five takeawaysfrom this episode, we'll see you
right back here.
Dr. Stacee (24:32):
Same time, same place next week
Dr. Caitlin (24:35):
Until then here's to putting your technology to
work for your practice.
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