Have you had a good day at work? It is a simple question, but how would you answer today? What makes you say that? What might make you answer differently?
We understand that being a veterinary professional is not easy and, in these unprecedented times of uncertainty, it can feel like we are being pulled in different directions with conflicting demands and expectations. In this constant environment of ‘busyness’, it can seem like our only solution is to try and keep up — we are simply surviving. Good days at work might happen by chance but they do not have to. This article will look at the practical ways that we can help ourselves and our teams to all have more good days in practice.
Key outcomes
After reading this article, you will:
- Know what makes a good day in practice for you by defining what is important to you
- Recognise the key things that might stop you from having a good day and what challenges you take on
- Be able to use the CIA model to respond to challenges
- Understand the importance of being proactive rather than reactive
- Have identified actions and strategies to enable you to have more good days and thrive at work, rather than survive.
Note: throughout this article, we refer to ‘practice’ as work, however, not everyone reading this will be in practice and the tools and strategies are applicable regardless to your workplace and also to your role!
What makes a good day for you?
Let us start by considering ‘what makes a good day for you?’. Whenever we ask this question to veterinary professionals during coaching, in practice or on our courses, we get a similar set of responses.
As you can see from Figure 1, there are many different aspects of practice life that are mentioned, ranging from work–life balance, patient outcomes to personal development. People often talk about feeling like they have been productive and efficient — they have achieved something or ticked items off their to-do list.
Are you in the green zone?
Consider the model in Figure 2, the ‘good day at work’ model which is based on the human pressure–performance curve. It is an effective model for starting conversations with individuals and teams about their experiences at work.
What about you — what's your green zone?
Take a few minutes to think about what makes a good day in practice for you. Grab a pen and paper and make some notes. Be specific and include the time before work and when you get home:
- What does a good day look and feel like for you?
- Roughly what percentage of your time do you spend in your green zone?
- What would happen if you had more good days?
When we are in the green zone, we are having a good day. The pressure we are under matches our mental and physical resources and we feel focused and motivated. We have the energy and skills to perform the tasks at hand and we feel supported to stretch ourselves to try new things.
Spending as much time as we can in the green zone is important for many reasons. If we are feeling good and performing well as individuals and as teams, we will deliver better patient outcomes and provide improved customer service. Happy, healthy and connected people have greater wellbeing and are more productive at work (Robertson Cooper, 2016). Simply put, if we all have more good days at work, it will be better for us, our patients, our businesses and the profession as a whole.
What stops you from having a good day?
Now you know what a good day looks like, take a moment to think about what stops you from having one. In this unprecedented time of uncertainty, when what we know is being challenged on a day-to-day basis, it may be that, as a profession, we are finding all the change unsettling, distressing and stressful, tipping us out of our green zone. Take another look at the good day at work model.
If we are in the red zone, we are feeling out of control and this is what we recognise as stress. This could be something like snapping a tooth root during a dental, through to feeling completely overwhelmed and eventually at the state of burnout.
In the blue zone, it is the opposite — we are lacking motivation. We feel disengaged and disheartened; we know what we should be doing but there does no t feel like there is much point. Take those days with lots of routine visits or surgeries — you feel bored and lack stimulation to grow. The blue zone can also sometimes be the result of chronic stress — you want to care, but you do not have the mental or physical energy.
What about you?
Think about all the things that get in the way of having a good day, both at work, before you get there and even when you get home. Make some more notes:
- What tips you into the red zone?
- When are you in the blue zone?
- What percentage of time do you spend in each?
Common things are common
Although challenges in the current climate will vary depending on the type of practice you are in and the position you hold, when we ask people what they find challenging about practice, the most common stressors always come back:
- Overbooking of the diary
- ‘Can you just…’ demands from other members of the team
- Client complaints or rude clients
- Not having time for breaks
- Difficult conversations with colleagues or clients
- Making a mistake
- Long drives between calls
- Other people being in a bad mood
- People not doing what they were told to do
- Leaving late
- Not getting lunch.
What's in your control?
‘Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle. Some things are within our control and some things are not’
Epictetus
In life and at work, we often have expectations about other people or situations that are outside of our control. When these expectations are not met, we become frustrated, hurt, angry or disappointed. In reality, however, the only things that we can control are our mind and our actions — what we choose to think and what we choose to do.
The CIA model (Thompson and Thompson, 2008) is a thinking construct which takes this principle further. It is a useful tool for helping us to navigate challenges, roadblocks and hurdles. It can also help you to enhance your time management skills, work more effectively with others, develop healthy coping strategies, so you can take on challenges with renewed purpose and energy. For any given situation, it encourages us to ask ourselves:
- What is within my control?
- What can I influence?
- What do I need to accept?
Depending on our answers to those questions, the model then shows us that we have a choice of either action or response (Figure 3).
Taking action
If the situation is within our control, it is up to us and no one else to choose what action we take in order to move forwards; essentially it is our responsibility.
Sometimes, there are elements of the situation that we can influence but not control, such as our interactions with other people. We might be able to influence them through our own behaviour, but ultimately, we cannot control what they do, nor what they think of us.
Acceptance
When situations are out of our control, something a lot of us may be feeling at the moment, we need to practice acceptance. This does not mean we have to actively like the situation or give up, it simply means that we need to accept it rather than expend mental energy fighting it or being upset by it. If we do not accept it, we end up with all those negative emotions that we discussed earlier which do not help us or the situation.
It is more important than ever to note that practising acceptance does not mean that you do not care about the situation. The question to ask yourself is always ‘can I control this situation and if not, what attitude is going to help me move forwards effectively?’
Practice makes progress
Like any tool, the CIA model only works when we use it. We get into ruts of thinking and behaviour and changing these does not happen overnight. Similarly, practising acceptance will be easier in some situations than others. In any situation, remember to be mindful. Recognise your response and check in with yourself. What actions and what attitude will help you to stay in the green zone?
Be proactive
‘I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.’
Dr Stephen R. Covey
In his best-selling book The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People (Covey, 1989), management expert Dr Stephen Covey emphasises the importance of being proactive — so much so that he made it the first of his seven habits!
If we adopt a proactive mindset and approach, we are taking active steps towards having a good day rather than reacting to whatever life throws at us. We are focusing on the outcomes that we want to achieve and acting on the areas that are within our control. Being proactive also means taking time to think what might get in the way of the outcome and whether there is something you can do to mitigate this. In practice, this could involve a morning huddle to set the team up for the day and identify any potential challenge points so that you can be on the front foot to deal with them. Being proactive means making decisions and taking action — as individuals and as teams — in order to have more good days rather than being hostage to circumstance.
How can you be more proactive about having a good day?
- What could you do for yourself?
- What could you do as a team?
- What difference would it make?
What about you?
Take a look at the notes you have made about the things that represent your green, red and blue zone. Ask yourself:
- What is within my control about this situation — what can I do?
- What is out of my control about this situation — what is the most helpful response for this?
For each item, make a note of actions that you can take to make it more likely that you will have a good day, or a strategy for dealing with it if it is outside of your control.
Often we recognise things are within our control, but we still do not take action to resolve them, making us frustrated and resentful. It might be that we do not want to have a difficult conversation with someone (e.g. to say ‘no’ when they interrupt us) or feel guilty (e.g. about leaving on time). Check in with your lists and be honest with yourself about what is in your control and what might stop you from taking action or choosing a different attitude. If you find this particularly difficult, talking to someone objective to check your perception of the situation or even to get some advice might help. Coaching can help challenge the thoughts that keep us stuck and help develop new, empowering beliefs.
Top tips for thriving rather than surviving
Ultimately, working in veterinary practice is an extremely rewarding career even in challenging times like these, and as Martin Cake discusses, provided that the basic needs are looked after, the work that we do every day sustains us (Cake et al, 2015). Listed below are ten ‘top tips’ to get you started on improving your wellbeing in practice.
- Prioritise sleep and practise good sleep hygiene
- Eat a balanced diet and stay hydrated
- Take regular breaks through the day
- Get outside once a day (ideally in nature)
- Move daily — in whatever form of exercise works for you
- Have tech-free down time each day to relax and recharge your mind
- Be purposeful — know what is important to you and what gives you meaning in life and at work and take steps every day to work towards your purpose
- Build and actively maintain personal and professional relationships that support, challenge and nurture you
- Set and manage expectations with others and check in with your expectations of yourself
- Be assertive — be honest and open about what you want and what is important to you while respecting the views of others.
Conclusions
Having a good day in practice is something that we all aspire to but more importantly, it is something that we can all work towards. While reading this article, you will have identified what good days look like for you and the steps you can take towards making them happen. You have hopefully also identified the challenge points and steps you can take to either mitigate or reframe them. All this can help you to take back control, develop a confident approach and get more from your life in practice. Why not consider putting the ‘good day at work’ model somewhere that you can see it and discuss it with the team — what can you all do to have more good days in practice?
KEY POINTS
- Take time to identify what makes a good day.
- Understand what drains your energy levels.
- Consider what you can manage and influence.
- Choose where to spend your energy on a daily basis.