Building Business Expertise
By the time you’ve read two or three articles on this site, it will be clear that Evidensia and IVC staff are passionate about many things – their company culture, their own practices and of course, the welfare of their animal patients.
But what will be equally clear is that years spent training to be a veterinary professional rarely help to build administration and finance skills. To anyone starting out in their career, this isn’t an issue. However, since Evidensia is keen to promote career advancement, a lot of practicing vets move up to Clinical Director roles, which require a broader set of skills.
To address this, Evidensia Norway started its Boost workshops in December 2017. Open to all employees, these aim to give teams an understanding of how every part of a busy clinic is connected. For example, how much does it cost to run a clinic for a day? How many patients are required to break even?
A COMMON GOAL
The Boost workshops are run by Caroline Burum-Auensen, a veterinarian, clinic leader and Head of Operations in Norway. She was trained by Christian Kolthoff, whose PraQtice consultancy (praqtice.dk) advises on strategy and communication within the retail and dental sectors as well as veterinary practices.
“The main point of the workshops is to build better teams, where we set our common goals and work out how to get there,” says Caroline. “The ROI – return of investment – comes first and foremost in our employees. I find running these workshops rewarding because it gives us time to dive into many subjects. We are able to get the teams to work more closely and create a common understanding going forward.”
CUSTOMER-FACING BUSINESS
It’s still early days for the programme but the staff who have already gone through it have clearly learned a lot.
“During the workshop, we created an action plan that included various focus areas specific to our clinic.” Mona Bjerkvik – Clinic Manager, Evidensia Bærum Dyreklinikk
“We have now placed that action plan at work so that everyone can see it and stay updated regarding our progress. It includes long-term projects such as optimising the presentation and itemisation of our billing receipts. It also contains smaller adjustments in how we run the daily business. We have already seen great results with the steps we’ve taken this far.”