9 Feb 2020
Many veterinary professionals aspire to ownership, but becoming a leader is not necessarily part of their dream. Yet practice ownership immediately places people in a leadership role, so why don’t owners always want to step up?
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There’s a lot to be said for practice ownership. High on the agenda of many people aspiring to practice ownership is self-actualisation – being all you can be – and financial rewards.
Some people also overlook the potential to improve quality of life – perhaps by ensuring the practice is a happy place to work or by adjusting your own hours (and those of others) to achieve work-life balance. You might want to champion flexible working so everyone has an equal opportunity to do a great job and the ability to work around family commitments. None of this is possible if dysfunctional or absent leadership exists within the practice.
Why might people avoid practice ownership? It could be because they are still influenced by the shadow of previous leaders who have not modelled positive leadership behaviour, despite their positions as practice owners. If we haven’t seen anyone who has shown us the kind of practice owners we could be, or could aspire to be, that in itself is a significant obstacle.
Although some joint venture models offer a potential route to a form of practice ownership, owning a truly independent practice, steering your own destiny and making your own rules may seem as if it’s beyond the reach of many veterinary professionals.
Add to that the burden of student debt and the difficulty of raising finance to buy into a practice and it’s clear that these could be seen as significant obstacles. However, as with student debt and a personal mortgage, it’s about your ability to earn a salary to pay these debts. When it comes to practice ownership, it’s the practice’s ability to deliver a return that allows owners to afford to buy a share of the business.
XLVets holds annual workshops for aspiring practice owners, and existing owners, to share their stories and tell it like it is. These workshops aim to be comprehensive; covering everything from how much a practice pays a director and how they share dividends, to presentations by financial experts who explain how to gain funding.
It’s important to understand that at different stages in their lives, partners can choose to exit the practice for many different reasons – family obligations, ill-health or even, sadly, burnout. This often leaves a gap both in terms of leadership and the skills of that particular director.
Many practices offer flexible solutions to fill those gaps. In several independent practices, directors are paid their “salary” and the dividend is split according to the additional responsibilities they want to assume or feel capable of filling and the extent to which they want to prioritise home-life.
In a perfect world, succession has already been considered and assistants may be offered the opportunity to take a small shareholding in the business. This reduces barriers to entry as the funds required for low-level buy-in are also much lower, new directors have a chance to put their toe in the water with relatively little risk and start to understand the business of leadership with the support of existing directors.
There can also be frustrations with this approach – a lower stake in the business means there are fewer opportunities to bring about the kind of wholesale change that may be needed to create the “dream practice”. If you have a strong vision of how the practice can move forward then talk to the other directors about it and check whether your vision for the future aligns.
One of the reasons that directors bring in new directors is to harness new energy, passion and ideas, so it’s important that they are at least prepared to consider the value of change. No business can ever expand beyond the horizons and bandwidth of its board. It’s one of the aspects that can be addressed in the partnership agreement, but as one practice owner put it: “You have to get along with your fellow directors. That doesn’t mean they need to be your best friends, but you do have to have mutual respect and the ability to communicate.”
If you need to consider a halfway house approach, due to lack of funds for instance, being a salaried partner is another option. It means you take on the responsibilities and ability to help steer the future, but ultimately, don’t benefit for any additional profit generated, unless specific profit share or bonus arrangements are made.
Of course, any salaried partner who has increased profit is unlikely to stay on the sidelines for too long and any smart team of directors will do all they can to bring people like this on board in some capacity to cement their relationship with the practice for the long-term.
It’s clear we don’t always equate leadership with ownership and, for some people, ownership is almost something to be ashamed or scared of and to be avoided at all costs. Many aspire to lead, but don’t want the responsibilities or “burdens” practice ownership implies.
In some practices, leaders can lead as a result of power vested in their expertise, charisma, or ability to share out rewards or punishment and sometimes those with status-based power might not always take an opportunity to lead.
Yet, ownership brings so many positive opportunities to improve the lives of people and patients and it’s often a “burden” that does not have to be carried alone. The support of partners and peers within the XLVets community has been invaluable to us in this respect.
Becoming a director can change your perspective. You may have to lead where leadership has been lacking, or find a way to overcome the effects of leadership styles that are having a negative influence on the practice. Many of us have become directors with the benefit of many years of education in clinical matters, but are wholly unequipped to deal with issues around finance, HR and leadership. The good news is, those skills can be learned.
Experience shows that you should never create a disconnect between leadership and practice ownership, no matter how much you might wish to sometimes.
If you are already a “natural” in the leadership stakes and taking responsibility in key areas, why not consider practice ownership? It’s not something that is only open to the elite or wealthy. Our profession will always need strong and visionary leaders who are not afraid of change in a rapidly changing environment.
As a partner or director, you can drive the kind of changes needed to make your practice successful and fit for the future, create happy teams and provide the level of care your patients really deserve. That has to be something worth reaching to achieve.
