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The Veterinary Leadership Skill We Don’t Talk About Enough: Whole-Practice Leadership
- Myra Houser
- May 14
- 2 min read
“Managing up” is an important skill for veterinary practice managers.
Healthy communication with ownership and leadership matters deeply in any practice.
But many practice managers are carrying a responsibility that extends far beyond simply managing upward.
They’re often helping hold together the operational, emotional, and cultural health of the entire practice.
That feels less like managing up…and more like whole-practice leadership.
Whole-practice leadership recognizes that healthy veterinary practices are not built through hierarchy alone. They are built through communication, psychological safety, shared responsibility, and leadership teams willing to listen to every level of the organization.
Because the truth is:
The people closest to the work often see problems, inefficiencies, communication gaps, and opportunities long before leadership does.
But if team members don’t feel emotionally safe enough to speak honestly, those insights stay buried until they eventually show up as:
burnout
resentment
turnover
compassion fatigue
disengagement
conflict
operational breakdown
Research on psychological safety consistently shows that teams perform better when employees feel safe contributing ideas, voicing concerns, asking questions, and participating in discussions without fear of embarrassment or retaliation.
Google’s Project Aristotle famously identified psychological safety as the single most important factor in high-performing teams.
That matters deeply in veterinary medicine.
And I think practice managers are uniquely positioned to help create that kind of environment.
Not by trying to make everyone happy all the time.
That’s not possible.
But by helping the entire practice function in a healthier, more collaborative way.
Sometimes that means advocating privately to leadership when communication has become unclear or inconsistent.
Sometimes it means helping ownership understand the operational impact of decisions before they affect morale.
Sometimes it means helping teams understand the pressures and realities leadership is carrying behind the scenes.
That’s not “taking sides.”
That’s leadership stewardship.
One practice structure I’ve always believed can be incredibly valuable is what I would call a “Vision & Voice Gathering.” Quarterly or biannually, leadership presents upcoming ideas, goals, changes, or challenges openly to the team, not simply as announcements, but as conversations.
The team then has space to contribute:
ideas
concerns
workflow observations
researched solutions
opportunities for improvement
And one important rule: “No comment is a bad comment.”
Not every idea will be implemented.
But every respectful contribution deserves to be heard.
Over time, this builds something incredibly important: shared ownership.
People become far more invested in the health of a practice when they know their perspective matters.
Also, these conversations become far more productive when team members are encouraged to bring thoughtful observations and researched possibilities rather than feeling pressured to either stay silent or present fully formed solutions alone.
Leadership shouldn’t carry every answer in isolation.
But teams should also understand that constructive participation matters.
And when ideas from team members are implemented?
Give them the credit publicly.
That reinforces trust.
It reinforces psychological safety.
And it reminds the team that their voice has genuine value inside the organization.
I think some of the strongest practice managers are the ones who understand this deeply:
Every person in the practice has value.
Every role contributes to the client and patient experience.
Every voice deserves dignity.
Whole-practice leadership isn’t about avoiding hard conversations.
It’s about creating healthier ways to have them.
Advocate privately.
Support publicly.
Lead collaboratively.
And never underestimate the impact of making people feel heard.
