Let Managers Manage

Posted by dcjack on May 7, 2010 under Articles |

Recently I completed a teaching assignment at Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario for their new Veterinary Hospital Managers’ Program.  The 3 day course was one of four modules addressing the core competencies of veterinary hospital management.  During the course of this assignment I had occasion to chat with some of the clinic managers and determined that a common concern expressed by a majority of those participating was that the practice owners often restricted the ability of the manager to exercise discretion in decision-making.  While the owners had made a decision to deflect the administrative elements of the practice to a dedicated manager, too often, the owner would re-intervene and, in some cases, contradict the decisions made by the manager.  While there is no doubt that ultimately the hospital ownership has every entitlement to ensure the proper and efficient operation of the practice, it would appear (at least from the current group) that there is a growing sense of frustration for managers that feel that their autonomy is challenged.  Owners and managers would likely benefit from some candid discussion about the vision and purpose of the clinic to ensure that they share some common ground.