The Choice Between Commitment and Compliance in Veterinary Teams

By Randy Hall

April 18, 2025

You don’t often get to choose your veterinary team on day one. But over time, you shape it.

Every time you make a hire, coach through a challenge, or take the lead on a task, you’re creating patterns. Do it often enough, and those patterns turn into habits. Over time, those habits shape your culture, sometimes into something you didn’t mean to build.

In most veterinary practices, that ends up looking like a compliant team. People follow instructions. They wait for answers. They do what’s expected and little more. But that’s not what most leaders want. What they want is commitment. What they want is a team that brings ideas, takes initiative, and owns the outcomes.

You can build that kind of team, but it takes more than wishing for it. It takes choice, consistency, and a willingness to lead differently.

Compliance and Commitment Are Not Opposites of Each Other

It’s easy to see compliance as a win. After all, it’s better than resistance. A compliant team follows orders, respects authority, and keeps the wheels turning.

But that’s a false choice. Compliance is only impressive when compared to chaos. The real comparison is between compliance and commitment. A compliant team does what it’s told. A committed team contributes. They solve problems. They ask better questions. They think about the practice’s future, not just the task in front of them.

This isn’t about saying compliance is bad. It has a place. But if we’re building a veterinary practice that grows, adapts, and thrives, we need something stronger.

Most Veterinary Managers Say They Want Commitment, But Their Habits Build Compliance

Many veterinary managers say they want a committed team, and they genuinely do.

But their daily habits often lead somewhere else. They solve every problem. They answer every question. They lead every meeting. They review every decision. Without realizing it, they teach their team to wait for direction.

Most of the time, it’s not intentional. It feels helpful. It feels efficient. But over time, it creates dependency.

Take something as simple as listening. It’s easy to say we want to listen more. But in real life, that gets harder when someone starts talking at length about something that doesn’t feel relevant. Staying present in that moment takes practice. Without preparation, our intention to listen gets overruled by impatience. And nothing changes.

The same goes for leadership. If we want a more committed team, we need habits that reflect that goal, not just the hope that things will improve on their own.

Your Leadership Habits Influence the Team You Get

Leadership Habits Influence Veterinary Team

You don’t need a brand-new team to build a more committed one. But you do need habits that reflect the kind of culture you want to create. Commitment doesn't come from intention, it comes from repetition.

Here are two leadership habits that shift teams from simply doing what they’re told to showing up with more ownership.

Make Time for Growth-Focused Conversations

Some leaders set aside time each quarter to meet with every team member, not to talk about tasks, but to talk about development. These conversations sound more like: “What do you want to learn next?” or “Is there a part of the practice you’d like more exposure to?” They explore what team members enjoy, what challenges them, and where they want to grow.

Done consistently, this habit builds trust. It also helps team members see themselves differently, not just as people who get things done, but as people who are growing and contributing in meaningful ways.

Let Team Members Lead Your Meetings

Another habit that builds commitment is sharing facilitation. Instead of leading every meeting yourself, consider rotating that responsibility. Beforehand, help the person prepare by clarifying the meeting’s purpose and what kind of discussion they want to create. Afterward, take time to reflect with them: What went well? What might you do differently next time?

This isn’t about handing over control. It’s about creating space for others to step up, take ownership, and build confidence in a setting where they feel supported.

Leaders who build habits like these - even with the same people - often end up with a very different team. Not because the individuals changed, but because the culture did.

Five Key Differences Between Compliance and Commitment

Let’s look at what changes when you start leading for commitment, not just compliance. These five areas are a helpful way to check where your team stands today.

Change: In a compliant culture, change can happen quickly. You announce it, and people move. But it doesn’t last. It needs constant reinforcement, or it fades. Committed teams take longer to adopt change, but once they do, it sticks. They understand it because they helped shape it, and they build the habits that sustain it.
Time: In a compliant team, leaders spend their time solving problems and putting out fires. Team members wait for direction, and every roadblock ends up at the manager’s desk. Committed teams free up the veterinary practice manager’s time. People take ownership and make decisions. The leader gets to focus on the future instead of cleaning up the past.
Focus: Compliant teams focus on instruction. People wait to be told what to do before they act. In contrast, committed teams operate on capability. They think through challenges, take initiative, and stretch beyond what’s assigned because they’ve learned they’re trusted to do so. That shift in focus changes the entire dynamic inside your practice.
Legacy: A compliant team leaves behind followers. When the leader steps away, things slow down or stop altogether. A committed team leaves behind leaders. People step up, take on more, and continue growing, even when the person who started it all is no longer in the room.
Agility: Compliant teams move slowly. Every decision has to travel up and back down, and it becomes a bottleneck. Committed teams are nimble. They collaborate, adapt, and act without needing constant sign-off. Agility is one of the biggest advantages you gain when you lead for commitment.

Five Key Differences Between Compliance and Commitment - VetLead

What Committed Veterinary Teams Need from Their Leaders

Commitment doesn’t come from pressure or reminders, it comes from how leaders show up. These three areas of focus, when practiced consistently, help team members think differently, take ownership, and stay engaged.

Involvement

Bring your team into conversations earlier. Don’t wait until you’ve already made the decision. Say, “We’re still thinking this through, but I want your input.” That kind of involvement creates ownership.

Investment

Set aside time that isn’t about tasks. Ask your team what they want to grow into. Support that growth with development conversations, exposure to new parts of the business, or coaching moments. The more you invest in people, the more likely they are to invest in the team.

Empowerment

Find places to give away responsibility. Let someone else lead the meeting. Let someone else decide how to solve a problem. Start small, but keep going. Autonomy builds accountability, and commitment follows.

Choose the Team You Want to Lead

Most veterinary managers say they want a committed team, but not all of them are willing to make the choice that gets them there. That choice isn’t one big decision. It’s dozens of small ones, like where you spend your time, who you trust with responsibility, and how you react when something goes wrong.

Everything you do as a leader gets magnified, and even your smallest actions have an impact. The kind of team you lead next month, or six months from now, starts with what you choose to do differently today.