‘Thriving in Practice’ is the overarching theme of SPVS Congress 2023, taking place on Thursday 26th, Friday 27th January, plus Saturday 28th morning workshops. https://spvs-congress.co.uk/
Three of SPVS most inspirational board members, Ami Sawran, Vicki Farbon and Olivia Oginska, talk to Veterinary Woman about what practice teams can look forward to from the event and share their tips about how this theme can be enacted in practice.
Dr Ami Sawran BVSc CertAVP (CP) PGCertVPS PhD MRCVS
Ami graduated from Liverpool University in 2011 and completed her PhD on dairy cattle lameness and genomics. She took on the role of Clinical Director at Westpoint Chelmsford in January 2019 and her clinical interests include small ruminant health and welfare, and medicine of camelids. She holds a Certificate in Advanced Camelid Practice, and runs the Camelid Special Interest Group for VetPartners. Ami sits on the VetPartners Clinical and Farm Executive boards, and is particularly driven to improve wellbeing in the veterinary workforce, steering Westpoint Chelmsford to a win at the 2018 Veterinary Wellbeing Awards. It is her firm belief that a safe and fulfilled team is key to a smooth running practice and client service. Ami has continued to develop ideas on how to improve wellbeing across her group, also working within the BVLGBT+ committee and alongside BVEDS as an ally to foster inclusivity and promote diversity in farm practice.
Ami, diversity and inclusivity is a topic close to your heart. How is SPVS working to support this in the profession?
The first step that SPVS took towards promoting inclusivity was realising the value of diversity and being open to listening to the organisations that are based placed to speak on their experiences. Inviting collaboration from the likes of the Chronic Illness Support Society, BVEDS, BVLGBT+ and recognising the great work already undertaken in this sphere by BVNA was a great step, and I’m sure that we will share this at congress. SPVS’ overarching theme this year is Thriving in Practice, and it is my firm belief that you cannot thrive unless you feel, wanted, safe and accepted in your workplace. We spend much of our time at work, and if that is not a welcoming atmosphere, then you are never going to feel fulfilled and perform at your best. Listening to the perspectives of others who have different backgrounds and lives to us helps us understand potential barriers to thriving, and SPVS hopes to deliver useable, practical tools to help everyone break down those barriers – through interactive seminars, and our upcoming online hub.
One of the key elements of ‘Thriving In Practice’ is leadership. What can delegates look forward to at congress on this theme?
There’s a whole stream on leadership, ranging from obtaining qualifications in the field, tackling difficult situations, and moulding practice culture. There will also be some focus on ensuring you, as a leader, thrive – leaders’ needs can often be overlooked as we strive to improve work life for our team.
We have to look around our practices and try to assess how accessible they are to people different from ourselves, and the systems we need to put in place. Hopefully the sessions at congress will inspire some perspective for those who might be struggling to do that. The session leaders are experts in their field and their insight into how we can improve practice culture is invaluable. It’s rare that I look at an entire congress programme and think ‘I want to go to everything’ but there really seems to be something for everyone – and all on really relevant, actionable themes.
“Ultimately, our teams are able to perform at their best when they feel welcomed, accepted, and able to be themselves at work.”
Ami Sawran
Could you share your vision for how increasing diversity in farm practice could benefit the profession?
Diversity benefits everyone. Through removing the barriers to entering and thriving in practice, we get to enjoy being part of a profession that represents the wider society it serves. I appreciate that agriculture isn’t quite as diverse as it could be, but we can lead the way in reflecting the wider society that our farmers cater to. By gaining some cultural humility, we begin to appreciate what is important to others, fostering communication and progress. Ultimately, our teams are able to perform at their best when they feel welcomed, accepted, and able to be themselves at work. If this isn’t going to be the case, the applications will not come, and retention will suffer further. One of the biggest complaints that we have across the farm veterinary industry is that staff turnover harms continuity of care, and makes clients ill at ease. Inability to bring in vets and keep them, means that some areas (that aren’t even all that remote) are facing the possibility of having no farm vets in the region. This is catastrophic for animal welfare and farm businesses – and leads to a knock-on effect of those remaining in practice to pick up the slack. It isn’t sustainable. People make our industry, serve our clients and build our communities – helping as many people as possible enter, stay in and return to our profession is only ever going to be a good thing.
Have you got any advice from your own experience about how vet teams can support each other in creating an inclusive practice culture?
I certainly have examples of what has worked and what hasn’t, but I don’t pretend to be an expert on the theme. The key to driving a culture change in practice means speaking with your team mates individually – finding out what their needs and goals are, and seeing if they align where you want the practice to go. Your team need to know that their fulfilment and safety at work is a priority, and by approaching them as individuals, you get to know what is truly important to them. When your team knows that we are working to a common goal, they are more likely to dig deep in the tougher times, and celebrate each other’s wins in the good ones.
It’s also about practicing what you preach – it’s all well and good to talk about being LGBT+ friendly or ‘diverse and inclusive’ – but when something happens to threaten your team’s wellbeing – how you respond to that is very important.
Vicki Farbon MA Vet MB GPCert (SAM) PgC SADI MRCVS
Vicki graduated from Cambridge in 2003 and has worked in the same independent practice ever since, gaining her GP cert in small animal medicine and becoming an advanced practitioner in small animal diagnostic imaging.
She became a director of the business in 2013 and a shareholder in 2018. Alongside the clinical work she has a passion for business development, responsible leadership, promoting financial literacy within the practice and encouraging an excellent standard of EMS.
Vicki joined the SPVS board in 2021 hoping to make a difference and inspire and encourage more young women to join the organisation.
Vicki, you have special interest in encouraging financial literacy within practice. What can SPVS Congress 2023 offer to help vet teams to benefit in this area?
So, I am really excited about congress in 2023! SPVS is about helping the clinical staff not only understand but become more confident and thrive with the non-clinical parts of practice. Finances,( whether we like it or not!), are a large part of this. I appreciate they can be quite daunting to start with. However, with a bit of understanding and logic it can start to become interesting… With the current climate it is imperative vets have their pricing structure correct to continue to thrive as a profitable business. SPVS congress has a whole stream on finances. I know some of you may groan but this is actually relevant and pretty cool! We have lectures such as “Are you charging correctly?(i.e. how to work out your fees), does profit related pay work and how? (Peter Orpin is presenting and actually did this in his practice) and how to look after ourselves and out practice in these unstable times.
It is always great for the whole team to be involved to develop a deeper understanding across all staff – vets, nurses and receptionists. There is no better or more powerful way to do this than congress.
“It is great for the whole team to be involved to develop a deeper understanding across all staff. There is no better or more powerful way to do this than congress.”
Vicki Farbon
One of the aspects of the congress theme of ‘Thriving In Practice’ is practice management. What can delegates expect to take away from this to apply in their practices?
SPVS are all about providing practical solutions to use in everyday practice. Practice management is something most of us have learnt along the way, making mistakes and learning from these. At congress there is some great advice from Brian Faulkner for new start ups and for those of you factoring in more flexible working for your staff, Silvia Janska is talking about how to implement this. These lectures will be very practical to take back to your practice and make these positive changes in the best way possible.
You are involved with SPVS’ work on surveys to help practices with benchmarking information. Could you tell us more about this?
We now have three surveys that run through the year – salary, fees and profitability. They rely on practices answering them so the more responses we have, the more accurately we can benchmark.
The salary survey gives benchmarks for vets, nurses and practice managers for different ages, regions, genders and roles for salary, overall packages and satisfaction in the role. It is useful for people looking for new jobs or ensuring their current salary is fair. It is useful for managers to have an understanding of salary trends and again, ensure they are paying a fair wage. The fees survey gives median prices practices are charging for the most common consults, visits and procedures across small animal, large animal and equine. This is a great tool for practices to compare to their own pricing structure. The profitability survey has been formed in conjunction with Hazlewoods accountants . 2022 is the first year we have run this and we hope to provide significant benchmarks that will help ultimately with pricing structure, budgeting and profitability.
As with all surveys, the more responses we have, the more reliable the benchmarking so we would love to have a record number of responses in the coming year.
What would be your top piece of advice to others in the profession for encouraging and developing young vets?
Try to create a no-blame culture. Be pro-active about this and don’t just say you have one! I know this may be easier said than done and takes time. Learn to talk about your mistakes. Show the developing vets you are not invincible. Consider M and M meetings regularly to really encourage the whole practice to speak about mistakes in an open and honest way. We have built this into our practice meetings and it is fabulous. We have a structure for the meetings if anyone would like a copy please get in touch at: vicki@scottveterinaryclinic.co.uk
Olivia Oginska MRCVS
Olivia is a veterinary surgeon, positive psychology coach, international speaker, certified workplace conflict mediator and creator of Vet Gone Real platform, through which she provides coaching and mental support to individuals and veterinary teams in Europe, North America and Oceania.
Liv, you have a special interest in positive psychology and emotional intelligence. What can SPVS Congress 2023 offer to help vet teams to benefit in this area?
For the Congress in 2023, I decided to bring the science of positive psychology and emotional intelligence to our delegates in the form of a talk, followed by a hands-on workshop on making difficult conversations – such as feedback, mental health enquiries or managing incivility – easier and more structured.
What is more, many other brilliant speakers will be sharing their knowledge and experience, and several of them are veterinary leaders who utilise elements of psychology in their leadership methods.
One of the aspects of the congress theme of ‘Thriving In Practice’ is team dynamics. What can delegates expect to take away from this to apply in their practices?
During my talk and workshop, delegates will have a chance to learn about the psychology of team dynamics, how they impact wellbeing of the team members and the workplace culture, as well as practical tips on communicating with one another in a safe, successful, and comfortable way. Such “recipes” for managing difficult conversations can be applied straight away and tailored to every person individually.
“It all starts with self-awareness and ends at a thriving workplace culture.”
Olivia Oginska
What do you feel is the greatest obstacle to individuals’ self-development within the profession, and how can we counter this?
I believe that most veterinary professionals are trained in a way that puts a lot of emphasis on perfectionism and knowing all the answers. Because of this pressure, we focus our energy on developing clinical skills and achieving the “gold standard”. As a result, we don’t have much time or energy left for the non-clinical introspection and our social conditioning – which prioritised IQ over EQ and can limit our behavioural and emotional self-awareness even further. This low level of self-awareness creates various blind spots (behaviours that don’t serve others or ourselves) and in a vicious circle, hinders our social interactions, decreases our clinical performance, and generates further loads of pressure and maladaptive perfectionism.
What would be your top piece of advice to others in the profession for successfully overcoming challenges?
To start observing ourselves and our colleagues at work and truly see how the social dynamics impact our performance and patient safety. Once we become fully aware of it, we can start working towards re-gaining control over our behaviours, emotional health, and team dynamics. It all starts with self-awareness and ends at a thriving workplace culture.
SPVS Congress takes place at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole on Thursday 26th, Friday 27th January, plus Saturday 28th morning workshops and has been built to inspire everyone in the team and help ensure practices are sustainable, profitable, happy and productive places to work. For more information and to take advantage of the early bird rate until 20th November 2022, visit: https://spvs-congress.co.uk/
For more information about SPVS and membership visit Join Us – SPVS Ltd
For exclusive access to more stories like this, subscribe to our monthly newsletter
You may also like:
Veterinary management or leadership: What’s the difference and why does it matter?
Team management skills: Steering the ship in a busy practice
Thriving in leadership: Doing the right thing when you’re in charge