The Middle Manager Gap: Why Your Leaders Feel Stuck

Veterinary practices often promote their best people and then wonder why things aren't working. Sound familiar?

In this episode, Brenda Tassava Medina, Amy Brauns, Melissa Mauldin and Angela Gainey dig into one of the most overlooked problems in practice leadership: what happens after the promotion. Too often, new leaders are handed a title and left to figure the rest out on their own. No coaching, no resources, no roadmap. Just sink or swim.

The panel also tackles the question of what would change everything for a new veterinary leader if developed early!

If your middle managers feel stuck, this episode will tell you why and where to start!

Resources mentioned:

• Leadership scorecards - email Brenda at brenda.medina@encorevet.com
• Book - From Bud to Boss

Host: Brenda Tassava Medina, CPVM, CVJ, MVLCE

Panelists:

• Amy Brauns, RVT, CVPM, Hospital Administrator at Everhart Veterinary Group
• Melissa Mauldin, CVPM, SHRM-CP, ACC, Vice President of HR at Encore Vet Group
• Angela Gainey, CVPM, Practice Administrator at Uniontown Veterinary Clinic

Thanks for listening!

Website: https://encorevet.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/encoreveterinaryconsulting

Instagram: @encorevetconsulting

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/encore-veterinary-consulting

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:10

Welcome aboard. You're listening to Flight Plan Quick Consult, your go-to podcast for veterinary insights that are fast, focused, and designed to elevate your practice. I'm your host, Brenda Tasma Manina from Encore Veterinary Consulting. Whether you're between appointments or heading into a strategy session, we've got takeoff-ready tips, tools, and takeaways to keep your team storing. So buckle up as we set a course for the middle manager gap, why your leaders feel stuck. Today's panel includes Melissa Maudlin, Angela Gainey, and Amy Bronz. Melissa, tell our listeners a little about yourself.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Yeah, thanks, Brenda. My name again, it's Melissa, and I live in Orlando, Florida. I've been in veterinary medicine for about 20 or so years. Um, been working with practice leaders directly for about 12 of those years. And I'm currently serving as the VP of HR at Encore Becker, and um love coaching and developing our leaders.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

Thanks, Melissa. Next up is Angela Gainey. Again, my name is Angela.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

I am a veterinary practice. So how are you? Um three practices in that territory. And um on the side, I enjoy practice coaching as well. And I've been in the industry for about 16 years and held my C VPM for about eight years.

SPEAKER_03 1:42

Great, nice to have you on the on the episode today. And not to be missed, Amy Bronze, who's been with us before, but re-familiarize everyone with who you are.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Thanks, Brenda. Um, Amy Bronze. I have been in the vet mail uh vet field, sorry, for about 28 years. Um, have pretty much worked in every position of the practice except for vet. Um, and I'm currently the hospital administrator for a privately owned practice in Baltimore with three locations. I have my RBT and um CVPM.

SPEAKER_03 2:13

Excellent, excellent. Well, I brought the three of you together to talk about a very big topic, um, which is that middle layer of manager. And I want to start off with helping our listeners understand what is the biggest mistake practices make immediately after promoting someone into a leadership role. Let's start things with you, Amy.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

So I had a couple different things, but it sort of had to rewind a little bit because honestly, I think one of the biggest mistakes that we do is we find this stellar employee that is just killing it in their role, whether they're a technician, a CSR, whatever. And the next logical step would be to um promote them into a management role without really thinking about some of their inherent characteristics and qualities that would allow them to be go from this fantastic technician on the floor to a great leader. Um, so I think, you know, doing that and sort of giving them this sink or swim mentality of, all right, you're a great tech, guess what? You're now a practice manager or a supervisor, here you go, um, and not really provide the resources, the coaching that they need, um, or that they don't even know if they need. Um, it's just sort of hand it to them and we expect them to do it. And I think that's one of the biggest things that we've seen in our practice multiple times. It's been a hard lesson to learn.

SPEAKER_03 3:50

I think that's an interesting point, what they're about to, what they're about to experience, because I think that they're totally unprepared for that moment when they walk through a door and everybody stops talking. And I've heard that again and again. Um, when it first happened with my team in in Indianapolis, I think I just uh promoted someone to lead technician. She came to our leadership meeting and she's like, I walked into treatment, everybody stopped talking. I said, Welcome to leadership. Yeah, that sounds all right.

unknown 4:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:25

What are your thoughts on this, Angela?

SPEAKER_02 4:28

Yeah, I I agree with everything that Yumi said. I think that there is a point that we don't really see firsthand. We're thinking about oh, this individual would be great for this position because they're so good at these skills. And we just need to own them and let's have them lead these individuals and teach them to be as optimist they are. Uh, but there is a key mistake that can be made if you don't recognize that transition from fear to leadership, that is a huge adjustment for that individual. Um socially, um, but also I think mentally, because they are going to be in a position where they feel like they need to prove themselves to everybody on why they should have this position and you know that they deserve this and that they have earned this position and they want to do a good job. And sometimes that means they feel that they have to do everything, and they don't a part of leadership is is delegation of certain tasks so that you can focus on the things that a leader really needs to develop and and and figure out with different team members and time to implement systems and strategies and that mind that you're you're not doing your primary closing checklist because the things that you need to do are different than what the rest of the team does. And so I think that providing support structure and frequent check-ins to make sure that you know you don't want to, you know, talk to me. I am now your sounding board. They cannot go to their buddy anymore about issues, and so you need to be their sounding board and their support system that they're doing a great job. Some people might be critical of like of them because they got chosen, um, and and their friend didn't. And you we just really need to feedback about them support them and tell them that they're going a great job. You a hundred percent believe in them that they that they can do this, and you were there to provide support, whether it be from a systems and strategies implementation, or a you know, just just being that that solid shoulder that they can rely on to, you know, people prepped up in the in the process.

SPEAKER_03 7:15

Thanks for those thoughts, Angela. That's that's a lot to think about. Um, Melissa, what do you see as the biggest mistakes practices make when they promote somebody into this these types of roles?

SPEAKER_00 7:27

Yeah, I definitely agree with Amy and Angela on you know, not recognizing that that technical skill set is different. It's a completely different skill set than leader or managerial skill skill set. So that is definitely a big one. What I would add to that also is unintentionally undermining our managers once they are in the role. So the manager, the team can be so used to going to the doctor, the practice owner to get their questions answered. And instead of redirecting them to the practice manager, they may continue to say, Oh, yeah, I got you, or oh, I'll talk to you about that, or yes, I'll get that answer for you. And it ends up undermining the manager, or even worse, disagreeing with the manager and saying, Oh, she didn't give you that day off. Don't, you know, she just didn't know. That's okay, you can take that day off. And it unintentionally undermines that manager's authority and ability to build a relationship and trust with their team as a leader. And it's not intentional. It's from it's coming from a place of support and help and following through with just learned behaviors and you know, habit, but it does. It really impacts the the manager's ability to lead.

SPEAKER_03 8:46

I agree. It's it's like a habit and to just go ahead and solve the problem instead of really thinking about I need to contribute to this transition and getting this person up and running as successfully as possible. Yeah, very great points. Um, Amy, what's one skill that you believe if developed early would dramatically change the trajectory of a new veterinary leader?

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Again, I sort of sat and came up with this like giant list of things. Um, and as I started to try to, you know, combine and consolidate what are these all, like what's the root of some of these skills? And for me, really, it's looking at their emotional, um, like their emotional intelligence. Are they able to, you know, again, read the rooms, have that self-awareness? What are their emotional triggers so they can teach themselves how to be responsive and not reactive, how to have that maturity level of separating, right? These used to be my friends and peers, and now I'm their supervisor, and there's a different relationship inside of work than there is outside of work. Um, and am I able to handle that as a person? Um, so I think really drilling down into that, and you know, one of the things that we've started doing is if we start to see um a light or a spark in some of these staff members that we think could be great leaders or develop these new roles for them is we try to sort of look at emotional intelligence and not necessarily put them in situations, but look at how they respond to situations to get an idea of where they are on that emotional intelligence and then use that to sort of train or build up so that when they are put into this role, they have a better understanding of what we need to do. And of course, you know, we make them read the book, um, but that always helps. But I think at the end of the day, like if they can master and understand those key concepts, the rest is it's gonna be a tough job, but the rest should at the end of the day fall into place if they can master and learn those like four or five key components of of emotional intelligence for us.

SPEAKER_03 11:11

Great. Angela, do you have another skill that might uh be honed in order to help um a new leader be successful?

SPEAKER_02 11:20

I do. The importance of the business side of the veterinary practice. A lot of these individuals, they they don't get in it for business. You know, they're they're in it for taking care of pets and taking care of team members and you know doing a great job and kind of providing your work and and growing in your career. Um and a lot of people don't understand how much those KPIs that you know people might gloss over or you know, the goals of the company, those are actually the keys to building exactly what they want in the role and exactly what they want for their team. Everything that comes through with those KPIs gives you the tools that that you want, whether it's you know, pay benefits, whether it's things to do to appreciate your your team, uh providing better patient care and really understanding the business side of that, it helps you understand why owners and other managers talk about this and why there is a whole trend regarding this at just about every conference that you go to. It's because it's so important. And even if it's not your jam, understanding it can really give you the fuel and excitement to achieve those goals so you can achieve other news goals.

SPEAKER_03 12:56

I love that, Angela, because you're so right. It's so hard to make those connections as a new leader. And we recently developed scorecards for each of those team lead positions that have very specific KPIs for their individual role. And that's helping them to understand how their actions and their leadership truly impacts certain areas of practice. And so if any of our listeners would like to try out those scorecards, just uh give us an email, Brenda.medina at oncorvet.com, and I'd be happy to send those to you. Um, Melissa, a skill that that would really help get them off on the right foot.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

Yeah, I think that in addition to the ones already mentioned, um, the one that comes to mind for me is managerial courage. Um so managerial courage, not everybody has it. Some people are good leaders and some people really struggle with standing strong and making tough decisions and having tough conversations. And as a manager, you're gonna have to have tough conversations and you're going to have to make decisions that aren't popular. You're gonna have to make trade-offs that you don't want to make because that's just part of the job sometimes. And if we sit on those too long and we fret over them or put them off because they're tough and we don't want to have them, makes things worse in the long run. And I think if we can learn early on to stand strong in our thoughts and opinions and know what's right, um, it can really help us be successful as a leader.

SPEAKER_03 14:32

Agreed, agreed. Um, I love all of your points, and I think that that's gonna be really helpful as people um think through promoting um their team members into these roles. Um, one book, because I'm always asked, you know, what's what's a great book, one book that I I always recommend is From Bud to Boss. And I think that really helps with these these team members making that transition from being a peer or a buddy to those hard, difficult steps of, hey, now I'm in charge, and they were my friends. Um that's that's another great resource. Well, I'd like to thank all three of you for being on the podcast today, and thank you to our audience for flying with us on Flight Plan Quick Consult. If today's insights helped you climb to new heights, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with your crew. Until next time, keep your mission clear, your team aligned, and your practice soaring.