EP24 - Why Veterinary Managers Should Stop Doing Tech Work

In this episode of The VetPractice Playbook, we tackle a challenge that quietly impacts countless veterinary clinics: managers and practice owners getting pulled into technician work. While stepping in may feel helpful in the moment, it often comes at the expense of leadership, strategy, and long-term clinic growth.

We discuss why so many veterinary leaders fall into this pattern, the hidden operational and financial costs it creates, and how role confusion can keep practices stuck in reactive mode. Most importantly, we walk through a practical solution: conducting a simple time audit to uncover where your energy is really going and how to start reclaiming time for true leadership responsibilities.

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Timestamps
00:00 Intro
02:13 Stop Doing Tech Work
05:51 Impact on the Team
07:41 The Hidden and Financial Cost
10:10 What If The Work Doesn't Get Done?
12:10 Importance of Role Clarity
14:40 Fixing the Problem with Time Audits
18:51 Outro 

Transcript

Intro

SPEAKER_02 0:10

Welcome to the Vet Practice Play Broad, brought to you by Vet Practice Pro, where we talk all things veterinary leadership, management, clinic ownership, and more. I'm Dr. Emily King, joined by John and Kayla Biddles. And we're here today to talk about some interesting topics.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

One in particular. Stop doing tech work.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Right.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

There it is.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Let your techs do the tech work.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

Amen. Okay. Listen, don't forget to check us out at vetpracticepro.com because that's where all the good stuff lives.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Yep. And our circle community, make sure you check us out on Circle. Um, it's a great way to um talk to other veterinary professionals. You can ask questions. We post stuff on there. Um, just a great resource for you guys.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

And finally, don't forget to join our email list. Yeah. So important to have you guys connected with us.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

Absolutely. And you know what? I just finished the last day of the six-week mastermind on becoming a clear and confident leader in veterinary medicine. And one of the people on there uses some of the tools that we have on the website. And she says they're very helpful. And so that's really good because actually I was talking to, we were talking about something venting and gossiping, and she was like, How do I develop a system, you know, so that everybody I people want to come tell me their problems. And so then I was talking about the SOP about how to get people to put their problems and like be able to understand whether or not it's really a problem, you know, and then it's and then how to, and so we had this SOP on how to do that. And so she was the one who goes, I think you actually might have an SOP on that. I was like, actually, you're right, we do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

So um jokingly, somebody posted in Circle about SOPs, and she was like, I know you're gonna say you need an SOP for everything, right? And I was like, You are right. You are right.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

Also, rounding, rounding will get you that too.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

Yep. So there's there's so many things on there. Go check it out because it's all of our problems fixed.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Yes, it's a good way to say it.

Stop Doing Tech Work

SPEAKER_02 2:10

Yeah. Okay. All right. So today's episode might hit a little nerve, but it's something that needs to be said. If you're a practice owner, a veterinarian or a practice manager still regularly doing tech work, then that's a problem. Yep. We need to talk.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Yep. So here we are.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Step away from the patient.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

No, just kidding. Yeah. So I'm sure you're all like, but I have to. We're short-staffed. I have to help. Stop touching stuff.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

That's right. That's right. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Um, but every minute you spend functioning as a tech is a minute you're not functioning as the owner or the manager. Um, and so all that stuff gets put on the back burner as well.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

So and then there's a real cost to it over time. Yeah. So, you know, one of the one of the associate veterinarians at All Star would take her patients out of the room herself and then walk them to the back and then stand there waiting for the technician to take the dog. So, like if you multiply that amount of time times however many patients, times however many days, right? And I finally was like, listen, you have to, there are so many other things that you could be doing, even though it doesn't feel like a lot of time that you could be doing that only you can be doing like your charting and not staying late doing your charting. Not being late.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Yeah. Is someone who's Six Sigma certified? Yep, I was gonna say this is the whole entire goal is to find these inefficiencies. How much are you paying for wasted time where you are able to lead in a higher capacity than the tasks that you're doing? Um, the clinic needs to get the most out of you, and that is not the way to do it.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

That is not the way to do it, you know, or being the one who just has to pull the hair out of the ears when they have an ear infection and it's a really dog with a ton of hair in its ear, and you got to get it out of there to treat it. You don't need to be the one doing that, right? Like that's an entire appointment's worth of time if you're doing both ears that you could have been doing something else. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Yeah. I do think it also blurs the line when you have somebody functioning in two different roles on what your staffing and workforce needs actually are. Because if you're filling tech responsibilities, do you really have enough tech support to make your practice successful? Or does it depend on you and contribute to your burnout, which we also have a ton of information on? Yes, absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Yeah. So um, I can kind of speak a little bit of why this tends to happen because I was in this role. So I started out as an R V T and then, you know, got into leadership role, practice manager role. Um, and so to me, it was like, oh, I'll just jump in because I know how to do it. I'm a tech, like, I'll do it. Um, but again, it would take away from the manager side work, but then also kind of John's point of do we really have a hole? Do we need to hire another technician or do we need to change up staffing or because I kept filling that role? So it was really hard to like, I can help, but I'm not gonna help.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

Well, I think people feel really guilty delegating.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Yeah.

Impact on the Team

SPEAKER_02 5:04

You know, so like it's not that people don't know how to delegate, it's the feelings that come with delegating. You know, so like I think that when like the what I hear from people is like, oh, I'm dumping work on somebody else by giving them more work. But you're actually, or maybe you're making their day harder, or so then I'll do it. I'll take that patient to the back. I don't wanna, your day's already hard enough. You're already doing x-rays, like, I'll do it for you. Right. But I think that then you're not doing the other things, like you mentioned, finishing your notes or putting your orders in or, you know, figuring out your dosage of medication. So now you're not doing any of those things that only you can do. You know, and it's people need to stop thinking about it as like putting work on other people and more about putting the work where it belongs. Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

I think there's two reasons this happens. It can be narrowed down to a couple of different reasons. The first reason that people keep these responsibilities, they feel guilty for delegating. And usually it's because of their they already see burnout in their staff and that they're overwhelmed. So they don't want to add anything to their plate, so they do it themselves. Right. And the second reason is that leader, that practice owner, that that um that veterinarian has control issues and they don't feel like it's gonna be done properly unless they do it themselves. And you have to learn to let go and drop back into a teaching role, teach how you want it done, so that way you would eventually have an off-ramp and you can step away from it. Yeah. Um, both of those can be fixed by evaluating the amount of your time that you're spending doing it, um, just deciding whether you need to add more staff to help your staff with the burnout, and also drop you back into free you up to drop you back in a teaching role so things can be done to meet your expectations.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Yeah. I, you know, you're not asking them to do your work. You're asking them to do their role. And when you practice below your role, then you're taking away from allowing other people to grow into what they're doing. So you think you're being helpful, but you're not.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

If you've ever been on the receiving side of it, the technician who has the veterinarian jump in, you, if you're successful, you have a system to yourself and you're messing up their system. Whether you think you're helping or not, you're screwing their day.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

But I think too, as a technician, like let them do like they went to school, like let them do the job. Like the doctors don't be drawing blood, they don't need to be plucking the ears, like Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

It's like a TV medical drama where the doctors do everything for the patients in real-world hospitals. That never happens.

The Hidden and Financial Cost

SPEAKER_02 7:38

Oh gosh, that's so funny. Okay, so what is it really costing them when they do it?

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Well, so um, as managers, I guess I'll speak into the manager position. Um, so like performance conversations aren't happening, team conflicts, they go unaddressed because you're too busy doing the tech work or whatever. Um, you know, you have scheduling issues that's just put on the back burner so they never get fixed. Um, all the KPIs aren't reviewed. So all of that world is just put on the back burner so the cost of the clinic goes down as well, um, because they're all stepping in doing tech work. So I don't know on the DVM side if you want to jump on.

SPEAKER_02 8:18

I mean, I think it is you you just aren't delivering the same type of, you know, patient care, like, or you're not able to get as much done during the day that you normally would be able to. Um if you're doing other things outside of your role. And then what happens over time? So, you know, we were laughing because again, I was talking about this master with this person in mastermind, and we were talking about, I was like, oh my God, you're a gap filler.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

Like filling in the gaps. That's what, because she was saying yes to everything because she felt like that was how she was being helpful. And she was like, Oh my god, I am, you know, and it's like, yeah, well, now you are keeping, like to your point earlier, management from being able to figure out where the gaps are.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:03

You know, like if you're doing their role now, how do they know that they need an extra person or that that person's not performing up to par or standard?

What If The Work Doesn't Get Done?

SPEAKER_01 9:12

You know, I think if you're in a position of leadership, ownership, management, you we need to talk about actual cost too, not just the the invisible cost, but literally dollars and cents. You are being paid at a premium dollar to do premium tasks, like handle any sort of issue that's going on in the clinic, whether it be with your staff, your client experience, to have oversight on how you can improve, to measure outcomes, those type of things. That's what you're being paid to do. And you are shortchanging your business by dropping into that lower role that can be paid for at a lower rate. Uh, so when you're really looking at your staffing, what you're spending on staffing, make sure that your premium pay is doing premium jobs. All right. Um, because it's very easy to hire somebody in at a lower rate to take some of these tasks so that you're performing at the top of your abilities. And it will literally cost you dollars and cents as an hour.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

What do you guys think when somebody's like, but the work won't get done?

SPEAKER_00 10:16

It will, I think. Like, I mean, it always gets done, right? Um yeah, that's where I think you have to know then. Do I need another technician or doctor, whatever? Um, or do I need to lead these people up?

SPEAKER_01 10:30

If you feel like the work won't get done, my best advice to you is to take a day or two, a week. It may seem like you can't do this, but step back and watch. You need to sit back and watch how fast are your techs moving? How efficient are they? Are they scrolling on their phones and not getting it done? Or are they just buried all day? And and we've said it over and over again so far in the short podcast that you need to evaluate your staffing. And do they have the resources they need or do they need coaching on efficiency and systems? What do you as a leader need to do to remedy that? And the answer is not do tech work.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

Well, yeah, because I think that the more you do it, like you feel like as the veterinarian that the work won't get done. You have no one to hand off the work to. So that's the dilemma that you have then is it's just easier if I just go and do it. But if the other party responsible for fixing the problem doesn't feel the pain, then there is you're gonna be in that you're in that loop forever. You are permanently, then that is how you're going to exist. It is not something that you can that's gonna come and go. Like, and that is why I feel like you have to have that boundary because the party that's able to make a decision to change that has to feel that pain in order to know that it is a pain point. The technician needs to feel overwhelmed such that she complains to her practice manager that she has no one to hand the work off to. The practice manager then needs to feel like I'm filling in so many holes. I don't, this is ridiculous. I can't do my work. I need to hire whatever, whatever. Like without feeling those pain points, nobody knows where. So otherwise you're just covering.

Importance of Role Clarity

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Yeah. I think that you need to understand seasons in business. That is this a season? Or sure. Yeah. Is it because there's gonna be seasons where it's just busy, right? Things are gonna happen where it just gets busy. And are you working in these type of roles to to get through a season? Do you have somebody on maternity leave? Do you have or a medical leave of some sort and this is a season? But you cannot fall into the trap to your point, saying that this is the way it's gonna be forever, because then it becomes part of routine and you you put yourself in a survival mode. I think that's just how burnout and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_00 12:43

Then people end up leaving and quitting.

SPEAKER_02 12:44

Yeah, there's a malalignment now, you know, with what your expectation was and what your role was gonna be as a veterinarian and what the practice is requiring of you. And that is no longer in alignment.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

It also blurs the lines of leadership. If you're a leader and I report to you, but you're functioning on my level, and I'm supposed to be a leader, but you're here in it. Who do the people that report to me report to? Do they report up to you because you're the end-all be-all boss? Right. Or do they still report to me? You might end up undercutting a a technician leader by being involved in that because you're blurring the lines of hierarchy. Right. Good point. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

Um I must also say, too, like, we're not here to say, like, if you're a practice manager or a DVM, like, don't ever help. Like, I want to make that clear of like, you're gonna have to step in and help sometimes. But if it's a daily thing where you are literally acting as a technician, like red flag, like you need to change something.

SPEAKER_02 13:42

Yes, you're a manager. I think you had written in there, you're a manager who does tech work sometimes, right? Not a technician who manages.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Isn't that kind of like the the thought that, you know, yeah. You can do if you're not careful, you'll devalue people. You know, I in my model at work, I I run a desk and there are certain administrative tax tasks that I have a secretary, we call it a unit representative, that they do. And if I try to do that to be helpful, you can tell that she's like, no, this is my job. This is what I'm here for, this is why I'm paid, this is why I'm valued. And when you do that, what am I supposed to do? Right. You know, and so you just have to tread this really lightly. And the best answer is to stay out of it. Stay out of it.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

Well, I think too, that goes to like as an RVT, like if there was somebody else doing the job, like a DVM or whatever, it's like, well, no, like I can do that. Like, you go do something else.

SPEAKER_02 14:35

Yeah, like having a voice, make sure you don't, you know, don't be afraid to speak up.

Fixing the Problem with Time Audits

SPEAKER_00 14:39

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 14:40

So, okay, they recognize there's this is a problem. How are they gonna fix it? If that's the case.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

So I think it goes back to what John was saying, kind of like an audit of your day. So keep track of how much time you spend doing this or doing that. Um, so then I think you'll see, like, oh gosh, I spend 90% of my day doing tech work and I only spend 10% on own like running the clinic. Um, so writing that down, doing a kind of like a time audit of your I love time audits just in general, like for lots of different purposes.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

I think it serves a great purpose here. I think an other purposes because people have what we call the veterinary gut feeling. They think that they're spending this much time or it only requires this much time. And then when you actually measure it, you're like, oh, yeah. I didn't realize it was taking me 10 minutes to make my incision into the abdomen.

unknown 15:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

I could probably speed that up. Like and get another surgery in, you know, like so. Time audits, I think, are extremely helpful. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

I think your time audit should reveal, or your goal should be, that you spend the majority of your time as a leader eliminating barriers for the people below you rather than jumping in and doing it. Yep. You have to fix the root of the problems as a leader, yeah, and that will show the type of support they need. They don't need you in there with them. That blurs everything and it makes it muddy. If you can come and you can watch and you can listen and you can hear their issues and then develop, work with them to strategically develop ways to eliminate these walls that they're hitting to streamline their work, that's where your time tool should show the majority of your time you're spending too much time in the business and not on the business. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:22

I like it. Setting the time blocks for working on things, I think is really valuable. You know, if you don't schedule your priorities, then the urgent screams louder.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

Yep. And I think too, like for some people, you have to put it in your calendar.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

So from like nine to eleven, you are doing manager, business, owner stuff. Um, because if it's not on your calendar, you're just gonna go on about your day.

SPEAKER_02 16:46

Yeah. And I think the time auditing even goes for how you spend your week. You know, if 10% of your time is supposed to be spent on the floor, what does that actually look like? It's 30 minutes every day, or if it's 10 minutes twice a day. What is that? You know, 90% or 60% needs to be this, 30% this. You know, like what is your day supposed to look like? What's your week supposed to look like? It's much easier than trying to be like, oh, I haven't done that this week. I'll do it now. Yep. And you spend eight hours working as a receptionist.

SPEAKER_01 17:13

Well, the problem with that is you get home and you sit down, you get done with dinner, kids are in bed, whatever it may be, and you spend your whole entire downtime when you're supposed to be watching some serious Netflix. Right. Thinking of all the things this week that you haven't done that you should do and why. It's always because I spent too much time doing something I shouldn't be doing.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

Or when you can't answer the question, what did you do today?

unknown 17:35

Right?

SPEAKER_01 17:35

I don't know all of it. I have no idea what I did. Running around putting out fires.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

Yeah, not that you mention it, I'm not sure what I did today.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:42

Oh gosh. What else?

SPEAKER_00 17:46

Um, I do think they need to make sure they communicate the shift as well. So they need to let their team know because otherwise they can be like, well, now I'm like, she's too good to help me now. Like type of feeling.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

Um, I do think that's the first big step. You're right. It has to be, there has to be some communication about it. Hey guys, I looked at my time block. I am not functioning where I need to be. And I think I can help us all if we shift to this. Support me in it, help hold me accountable. They need you need somebody who can hold you accountable. That when you try to jump in, they're like, hey, no, nope, is this on your time block? Yeah. Is this the best use of your time? We will be okay. Right. But is this where you need to function? And if you don't have people like that, build them. Yep, build them. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

Yep. Um, yeah, then I think lots, I mean, really just identifying the root problem. So do you need staff? Is it a scheduling issue? Is it a training issue? Like what's going on? Like, why is why are you getting pulled in?

SPEAKER_02 18:43

Yep. Identify that.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Yep. Identify it and then spend your time fixing it.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

There we go. I love it.

Outro

SPEAKER_00 18:49

Okay. Some very practical tools right there. So that's it for today's episode of the Vet Practice Playbook. We hope you get a few plays to use for yourself or for your clinic. If you enjoyed this conversation, share it with others, leave us a review, and check out vetpracticepro.com for tools and courses that can take your clinic to the next level. See you guys next week.