Moving forward for those who come next
If practices have employees who have expressed interest in management positions, we need to start training them now! If they can get the formal education and CE to help them be prepared for all the crazy things that come flying at veterinary practice managers, they will already be steps ahead of where I started! Having a healthy CE budget will allow managers to learn the vast variety of tasks we complete every day and strengthen weaker areas to build healthy, successful practices. The return on investment is evident in every aspect of the hospital including marketing, customer service, people management, sales, and financials.
Practice owners, if you know your manager is thinking about retiring, open the conversation early and discuss what the practice needs to move forward. Have a list of goals and time frames for the new manager to achieve them. If you can have some of the larger goals completed before they leave, that will also put the practice in a much better place for a new manager to learn the ropes.
Practice managers, if you are thinking about leaving for whatever reason, do your replacement a solid and write down not only what you do daily/weekly/monthly, but why you do it. Understanding why you need a Balance Statement and a Profit and Loss Statement is crucial to really knowing your practice's financial health. Knowing the why behind different HR rules will help them not make some of the mistakes and missteps I made along the way. Give them a list of trusted resources and people they can use to ask questions or get guidance. They will need a support system to navigate this challenging profession, if we get that set up beforehand, the transition will be so much easier.
