The Art of Leadership

Just over a week ago I hopped on an early morning GO Train (albeit 10 minutes late, and after having the doors of the previous train slam in my face despite a full-out sprint) and headed to Toronto.  I was meeting Katie and Steph (Campbellville and Niagara Office Manager and Operations Manager, respectively) en route to The Art of Leadership conference at the Toronto Convention Centre.  The Art of Leadership conference (http://www.theartofleadership.ca/) is a one day meeting where five speakers share their leadership expertise and knowledge with an audience consisting of managers, staff members, and employees from organizations across Canada.  I have to admit that within ten minutes of the first presentation (Pat Lencioni) I was captivated.  I will be sharing in greater detail what the speakers’ had to say in some of my upcoming blogs.
What I want to briefly explore in this post is what I believe an RVT has to gain from attending such conferences.  Generally  speaking, I believe that technicians can benefit from attending a variety of continuing education opportunities, including those that, at first sight, may not appear to be closely related to veterinary technician practice.  Topics such as practice and business management, leadership, team dynamics, culture, decision making, marketing and social media all fall into this category.  Improvements in these areas can add value to a practice, for example, by improving staff morale and investment, thus creating internal customer happiness and job satisfaction.  In turn, this improves the experiences of external customers (e.g. patients and clients) when they interact with us.    Above all, learning about these things make us stronger, better, and more informed people, and that cannot help but make the organizations to which we belong healthier.