As a modern veterinary nurse, reading this article, you will almost certainly either be leading, or caught up in, some kind of corporate change at the moment.

There was a time when people considered a job was for life. Then people accepted they might move through several different jobs in the course of their career. For many reading this article today, even that will seem outdated. Several career changes are not uncommon.

Portfolio employment – balancing several different roles concurrently – is becoming more common, allowing workers to build experience and work in ways that fit their circumstance, trading off security against flexibility. But whether it is a restructure, innovation, learning, or development, the reality is “change is here to stay.”

This is the first of three short articles exclusive to the VNJ about the changes we have been making at the BVNA over the last year.

Each article will get past the detail to highlight a different principle. The principles are sound and apply equally well to the practice and corporate environment.

Our governance review included a whole section dedicated to the hard-working team in Harlow who make the BVNA work, so this article focuses on the “people” part of change and building the right team (our next article will focus on the structures and Council members).

As the BVNA had grown, each member of staff had been given different areas based on tasks that needed doing at different times. The team worked well together and served BVNA members with passion, watching out for each other and applying themselves to whatever was thrown at them. But in a growing organisation, there comes a point where “all hands to the pump” stops being effective. People need to specialise and develop expertise and ownership for their area.

Together with staff we identified the three core activities of the BVNA: education, membership and our congress. We then worked together to define the key roles needed to deliver these functions. As we did so, we spotted exciting opportunities to do things in new ways. For example, a combination of circumstances and planning meant we could combine the separate roles of supporting CPD, managing the VNJ and developing the Congress scientific programme into a single “Head of Learning & Development” role. This now carries a management responsibility for the Profit & Loss of the education business unit (now called Learning & Development) as well as delivering strategic objectives for veterinary nursing in the UK. It is also being shaped by the skills and experience of our new team member, Stacey, into one of the most exciting roles in the sector.

The new structure and the new roles presented choices to the staff team. Some saw where they could add value within the new team – others decided that this was not for them. But more than just being about roles, skills and experience, we were keen to set an approach to the way we do things. As the slogan of a company once said, “We don’t train our people to be nice. We hire nice people.” You can't train attitude and we wanted to ensure we kept the passion for the BVNA and support for its members as well as bring in new qualities to strengthen them.

A team of people with a can-do attitude, looking out for each other and the people they are working for, living the values of the organisation is “frictionless”. The gears run smoothly. Successes are celebrated and shared. Lessons are learned together. Differences are resolved.

In short, there are many factors in achieving long term, sustainable success. In truth you can’t plan for all the challenges and obstacles along the way, but you can start by “getting the right people on the bus.”

Author

Robin Millar Strategic Director

Veterinary Nursing Journal • VOL 33 • October 2018