One of the attributes I noticed in nearly every great veterinary leader that I’ve worked with is that they know how to get back up after they fall. I don’t think they fall any less than the rest of us, or any less hard. But they don’t stay there very long.

Great Veterinary Leaders Make Mistakes

I actually believe that leaders make more mistakes than most people, they just recover faster. Leaders are constantly pushing limits, challenging themselves, and trying new things. And often without the benefit of watching someone else do it. 

Leaders in veterinary practices are living in those places where mistakes are part of every day. It’s what they do immediately after they screw up that separates them from others.

Great Leaders Can Have Really Tough Days

They also have the potential for some really bad days. Leaders often take on more accountability and responsibility than others. They create situations where their days have more opportunity for something to go wrong and may be their responsibility to fix. They deal with more moving parts than most and that means things can go awry quickly.

Let’s face it, if you stay under the covers all day, you don’t put yourself in harm’s way. But leaders are out in the mix, where life is unpredictable.

What they do that enables them to survive and grow in a mistake-ridden, high responsibility world, is learn how to quickly get back up when they fall.

Three Things Leaders Do to Maker Sure Tomorrow is Better

 I’ve noticed three things that leaders do to make sure that while they might have a bad day today, they won’t have a second one tomorrow.

Whenever veterinary leaders get off track, they have a reliable method of getting back on. For some, it’s exercise, for others it’s reading or finding a quiet spot to think. Some need to do volunteer work or get out of their office and engage with a group of others. I even knew one person who cooked when they needed to get re-energized.

It doesn’t have to be a weeklong retreat either. In fact, if it takes us a week to get back up every time we fall, then we better not fall very often. It’s usually something simple and might only take an hour or two.

The key is that they recognize they are in the ditch and are determined not to stay there very long. So, they immediately change their environment and do something that shakes them out of their current pattern. These leaders have learned what activities do that best for them.

This is the biggest reason that great leaders, and those who aspire to become great at anything have a goal. The goal has to be clear, compelling, and something they are willing to work hard for. Now is the time when they read the narrative that they’ve written describing every detail of what they want to achieve and how it feels to accomplish it.

Having a goal helps you build a path to something. Also, it lets you know when you’re off that path and serves as a motivator to get back on it. If your goal doesn’t inspire you to get back up, you may not be working toward something you really want.

Ultimately, your goal should be what motivates you to not have a second bad day tomorrow.

This may be the most difficult of the three. When we’re having the inevitable bad day, it’s natural to want people around who will comfort us. But do we really want to become comfortable with having bad days?

Great veterinary leaders look for people who will help them get back on their feet, fast. That’s rarely comfortable. In the moment, it’s easy to wish they would just let us lie there. But after leaders stand back up and move forward, they know they need a push. So, they seek out those who are willing to push them. 

This is why many leaders hire coaches to help them deal with the many challenges they face. They need someone who will tell them the truth and push them when others might simply make staying down feel more comfortable.

Final Thoughts

Leaders fall a lot, just like the rest of us. But they get back up faster. Also, they have built a reliable, repeatable set of tools to help them do that. It’s easy to think that leaders have a natural gift that allows them to be more successful.

However, the reality is they simply work harder to make sure they use their talents more often and more consistently. And that means knowing how to get back up, stand tall, and move forward, every single time they fall.

Ever had a day in your practice where nothing went right? How did you recover? Share your story in the comments below.