MANAGING and motivating your team, getting the best out of others was the general theme of London veterinary graduate Carolyne Crowe who delivered two presentations to the veterinary conference.

Crowe, who specialises in the area of management, told the delegates that the most important resource of any team is the people involved.

“Team vision and values are important. Enhance strengths and overcome weaknesses; identify any threats to team resilience and performance. It is about communication – regular, open honest feedback. You have to get on with them as well, you must be flexible in the workplace,” said Crowe.

Using behavioural profiling techniques, which groups people into four main personality types – Dominant, Influencers, Steady, and Cautious/Calculating – Crowe challenged the floor to self-assess.

Citing a UK Gallup Survey, Crowe said that it showed that only 13% of the workforce are engaged; 63% are not engaged or disengaged; 24% are actively disengaged and this lack of engagement costs UK businesses an estimated £70bn a year.

Providing an engaged workplace is “not about wine, chocolate and money,” it is about creating an environment where there is “purpose, autonomy, mastery.

“You must be friendly with people, you don’t have to be friends with them, but you must be friendly towards them. Focus on your own strengths and that of others and be aware of your own weaknesses and that of others. Ask yourself what is the motivation behind someone’s behaviour? Meet as a group regularly and make part-timers feel included,” advised Crowe.

The veterinary surgeon also spoke on Thriving in practice: Buidling resilience in yourself and others.

“If you are on the hamster wheel of life, if what you are doing over and over isn’t working, maybe it’s time to do something different. How effective are we with the time we have? Small tweaks can make a big difference. Press pause now and again,” Crowe advised.

PRESSURE VS STRESS

“We work in a pressurised environment but it does not need to be stressful. How we approach this is the important thing. What makes a good day? If we don’t know this, how can we know a bad day? Having an end goal in mind is key to achieving what you want in the first place. Ask yourself what am I in control of in a good day? At the end of the day, you must have the energy to go on to the next day. We can become a victim to our cases, colleagues and clients.

“Work does not need to be stressful, it is pressurised. What are the signs of stress in you? Stress affects how you feel, think, behave and how your body works. A constant bombardment is very damaging. It is not normal to have frustrations/headaches/be tired all the time – are you seeing signs in yourself or your colleagues?

“Pressure is good, we want this. If we have no pressure, our performance is low. The more pressure comes on, the more we get into a zone when the pressure is on, we are getting energy from our performance and it feels good. Burnout is the other end of the scale. Performance drops in burnout. You are dropping the balls. We burn out over a longer period of time. If we do not manage ourselves, we will end up in burnout,” she said.

Ways to recharge the batterys are exercise, yoga/pilates/socialising, watching televsion, but Crowe’s message was actively switch off, no matter what you are doing in your downtime.

Paying attention to your exercise regime, diet and time management are essential.

“Be the person you want to be and lead the life you want to lead – self-management. Simple things can make a big difference. In challenging situations, focus on the positives rather than dramatising the negatives, manage your emotions. Do something you enjoy, put your Positive Pants on, surround yourself with positive people, look after yourself and learn to say no,” concluded Crowe.