Balancing Leadership and Management: Getting It Right for Your Veterinary Team

However this shift is not always straightforward. Leadership skills are not innate abilities; they are professional disciplines that can be studied, practiced, and developed together. As an accreditor for the Great Workplaces by BVA scheme, I look at how the BVA accreditation framework evaluates both leadership and management to help practices build an environment where everyone can perform at their best.

The Distinct Roles of Leadership and Management

To create a values-driven workplace, you must understand how leadership and management differ yet support each other. Leadership focuses on capability, role clarity, and inspiration, relying heavily on emotional intelligence and effective communication. Management handles the practical, day-to-day HR processes, including reward and recognition, structured recruitment, and organized staff inductions.

True excellence avoids "toxic positivity" and instead builds a genuinely supportive environment where everyone knows what behaviours are tolerated and how to navigate difficult conversations. When we evaluate a practice for accreditation, we look for an environment where staff feel empowered to speak openly about their challenges and goals. This means moving away from casual, informal chats toward clear frameworks that map out individual aspirations. It also means involving the wider team in hiring decisions, such as asking for staff feedback after a candidate spends a trial day.

My Advice for Practices Seeking Accreditation

If you want to prepare your practice for Great Workplaces accreditation, my single biggest piece of advice is to stop, pause, and reflect. To align your practice with gold-standard evidence, I recommend focusing on these core leadership actions:

• Evaluate your promotion history to ensure you give newly promoted managers real guidance rather than leaving them alone.
• Align message delivery with reception so what leadership says matches what the team actually understands.
• Foster genuine psychological safety to draw out feedback so staff confidently discuss concerns without fear of reprisal.
• Proactively pursue leadership training to treat management as a serious skill rather than just a title.
• Remove structural ambiguity by creating clear backup plans for when a key manager is absent.
• Commit to internal reflection by identifying what you do well and what you can do differently.

By starting this internal reflection, you align perfectly with our accreditation process. I truly believe that to provide the best care for our patients and clients, we must get the workplace right first. The Great Workplaces scheme is uniquely designed to celebrate your existing strengths while giving you a clear roadmap to evolve.