Facilitating open communication between your front desk and back practice staff is crucial when running a veterinary practice. Learn five ways you can increase employee communication without stress below.

The front desk staff at your veterinary practice is the first line of communication between clients and your back practice staff. Without the proper training and technology, communication breakdowns can result in dissatisfied clients and scheduling errors. You can avoid these problems by following five simple practices that streamline communication between your veterinary front desk and back practice.

1. Ensure That Your Employees Share a Common Purpose

Veterinary professionals work better as a team when they share a common purpose. 

For example, most practitioners dedicate themselves to caring for animals and serving their clients with outstanding care and ethical treatments. 

It’s important to ensure that all your employees know which values your veterinary practice promotes to avoid conflicts of interest. Encourage a friendly and productive environment, giving staff a reason to come to work and stay engaged throughout the day. 

One way to accomplish this is by greeting your front and back practice employees each morning as a group. Alternatively, you could host company events that give your staff time to socialize and connect outside regular practice hours.

2. Establish Accessible Pathways for Communication

Depending on the size of your veterinary practice, communication between staff can be challenging without internal systems of communication or a shared network. Team Chat solutions like Slack or Discord allow your veterinary front desk staff to send instant messages to the back practice when clients arrive or have questions.

3. Coordinate Employee Responsibilities Clearly

Coordinating employee responsibilities is vital for your veterinary practice management. Each of your employees should understand their individual roles in the practice and how they contribute to the team.

You should invest time and money in quality training for veterinary front desk new hires. This way, they are confident in their ability to greet clients and correctly communicate information to the back practice. The more someone is confident in their job and enjoys it, the less likely they will leave.

Set clear expectations to prevent back practice employees from demanding more from veterinary receptionists than their job requires, or vice versa. 

Adding extra responsibilities to their role can slow down daily operations and lead to miscommunication. 

Hosting a weekly meeting is an excellent way to coordinate responsibilities between your employees, discuss expectations, and let your staff offer recommendations to improve workflow.

Alternatively, you could arrange short huddles in the morning between your front desk and back practice employees. Chckup’s Morning Huddle dashboard makes it easy to run through your schedule and make plans for the day.

4. Designate a Space for Employee Concerns

Many veterinary practices do not offer a way for employees to communicate concerns to staff openly or anonymously. This can create resentment amongst your team, ultimately hindering communication between the front and back practices. 

Create a safe space for your team to communicate problems, and provide non-judgemental solutions.

Try to discourage staff from airing their grievances during routine morning huddles. 

Instead, set aside time or an anonymous suggestion box for employees to discuss group cohesion and problems they may be experiencing.

5. Always Work Toward Better Solutions

One or two meetings will not be enough to establish strong communication in your veterinary practice. You and your staff must continue to work toward better solutions to improve the efficiency and performance of the front and back practices.

Your veterinary practice may need to re-adjust when inactive clients return or you add new team members. In these scenarios, it’s always a good idea to regroup with your team and discuss effective ways to move forward.

You can determine what works by reviewing communication strategies that failed in the past. 

This way, you don’t repeat the same mistakes. Remind your veterinary teams that they have shared values, and continue to acknowledge their hard work to build trust.

Veterinary Practice Solutions That Improve Communication In Your Workplace

Facilitating productive communication between your veterinary front desk and back practice is essential for your practice’s success. With these communication tips for improving veterinary team performance, you can explore new ways to manage your staff without stress and deliver incredible customer service to your clients.

At Chckup, we help you build your strategy from the ground up with convenient tools like our Daily Huddle dashboard, Online Scheduling, Payments, and more. 

Schedule a demo today and learn more about we can help you improve communication.