Normally when I think of or discuss professional growth I am the focus. I mean who am I to tell someone else what their direction of their professional growth should be right? Well sort of. Today I feel like screaming from the roof tops about owners and their path to professional growth if they hire a manager.
Time and time again I hear from frustrated managers who were hired to run the practice and are told daily that they are in charge. Unfortunately they are in charge in a practice with an owner who refuses to let go of control to allow them to be in charge. Don't get me wrong. Owners are the most vested people in any practice and I don't care how passionate or dedicated you, as the manager are, you are still NOT the owner. That being said, if you are the owner and you hired a manager to run your business then allow them to do so. Micromanaging at every opportunity or offering your two cents on every single subject, regardless of how insignificant, undermines your manager, confuses your team and is the fastest path to burn out I have ever seen. I suppose, as in any profession, there are managers who are there just for the paycheck. (Not sure why since veterinary medicine is not known for being the most lucrative career choice)..... but that is not the norm....far from it I would argue. 99.9% of the managers I meet are so dedicated to this profession and their practice it is heartwarming. They enter with wide eyes, huge dreams and visions and goals galore only to find out that that they really are just puppets whose moves are controlled by the owner who can't let go. Soon, these once aspiring dreamers stop reaching for the stars and enter each day with plans to go through the motions and wait to be told what to do or not to do. How sad. What a waste.
So, owners - grow professionally! You have 2 choices. Be owners and doctors who also manage or hire managers and let them manage and you oversee your visions be developed by them. They can do it. Let them try. Guide them. Tell them your dreams and goals so that they can help achieve them. Check in with them regularly, after all it is your investment and I wouldn't be foolish enough to tell you to hand it over without question to anyone. No matter what though....don't nitpick. Don't micromanage them in to depression and frustration. If you want to choose what color pens the practice uses then you are not ready for a manager so don't try. What I can tell you is that if you are ready to be a partner with a true professional then hire a practice manager and you will never regret it. (If you do don't call me - kidding!)
Professional Growth is yours my dear owners. Go out and conquer!
Donna Bauman, CVPM
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