Episodes

Send us a text EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE - EQ - part 2 (of 2) Strategies to become more emotionally intelligent 6 ways emotionally intelligent people lead #1 – Learn more about the inner workings of YOU #2 – Get an honest & objective assessment of YOU – from people you trust who’ll tell you how you are, not how you want to be #3 – Journal & Track – discover cause & effect # 4 – Listen #5 – Putting yourself in the other person’s shoes #6 – open yourself up NB: in the podcast I talk ...

Send us a text Today we’re looking at emotional intelligence (EQ) and how essential having a high EQ score is to your professional and personal success and development. In today’s workplace - workplace performance and career success, and even employee health, which were once thought to be a function of someone’s IQ – or intelligence quotient - are, in fact, tied in with EQ – or someone’s emotional intelligence. If you’re unfamiliar with EQ - it’s each person’s ability to recognise, understand...

Send us a text Has the idea of volunteering your amazing veterinary skills - either as a veterinarian or veterinary nurse - kinda got you a little bit excited? If so, then Dr Yvonne Clark's experiences - on beautiful holiday-resort islands - Sardinia in the Mediterranean and Rarotonga in the South Pacific - will give you a bit of an insight into what volunteering is like. Dr Yvonne Clark is a companion animal veterinarian who originally qualified in Australia. She's worked in the UK, Austr...

Send us a text 15 signs it’s time to change jobs + 4 next steps 1. By the time Sunday night comes around, you’re in “dread mode” – you dread going to work on Mondays 2. Time drags – you struggle to immerse yourself and be in the zone like you used to 3. Little things start getting you down and you no longer believe in the clinic like you used to … favouritism, perhaps things don’t get fixed fast – it’s always been l...

Send us a text The WHAT, WHY, WHEN & HOW to conduct EXIT INTERVIEWS at your Veterinary Clinic Questions to ask at Exit Interviews What is their reason for leaving?Do you feel you had opportunities for growth or promotion within this clinic?How well do you believe your work was recognised and appreciated?Do you feel you were given adequate training and assistance?How fairly were the rosters / after hours / on call requirements distributed among you and other veterinarians / peers?Working ...

Send us a text Asking good quality questions gets you good quality answers In this episode you'll discover 15 questions veterinary clinics can ask job applicants to help them determine whether the new-hire will mess or mesh with your veterinary clinic team. Determining and hopefully, matching clinic values, is imperative if you want your next new hire to mesh with your existing team. The alternative is to hire someone who messes with your team - usually because of a total mis-match in valu...

Send us a text Gen Z are those grads who started entering the workforce a few years ago. They’re also called the i-Gen – as in iPad and iPhone and Zoomers. Generational “personalities” Generational personalities don’t come so much from the actual year someone was born – or the span of years – but from events that a generation of people – a cohort – experience as they grow up at a certain time in society’s history. It’s these significant events that shape the values of a coh...

Send us a text This is part 2 of my catch up with (retired) veterinarian Dr Bryan Gregor. If you’ve been listening to my podcasts for the last 7 episodes or so, you’ll have heard me talk about the fan girl moment I had when Dr Bryan Gregor – show host of the VetPodcast called me out of the blue to talk ‘podcasting’. The Vetpodcast and Paws Claws & Wet Noses have complementary audiences - plus we're both a bit geeky when it comes to things podcast-y. As I’ve said a few times, The VetPodca...

Send us a text If you’ve been listening to my podcasts for the last 6 episodes or so, you’ll have heard me talk about the fan girl moment I had when Dr Bryan Gregor – show host of the VetPodcast called me out of the blue to talk ‘podcasting’. This is part 1 of 2 of my catch up with Dr Bryan. The Vetpodcast and Paws Claws & Wet Noses have complementary audiences - plus we're both a bit geeky when it comes to things podcast-y. As I’ve said a few times, The VetPodcast is where Paws Cla...

Send us a text This is a bonus episode because Immigration New Zealand recently announced that, effective 1 November 2021, employers who have migrant workers (visa holders) on their staff will now require to be accredited under the new Immigration New Zealand requirements. In this episode Richard Howard - Licensed Immigration Consultant - of Pathways New Zealand (based in Hamilton and Wellington) answers questions and helps allay fears some clinics may have. Richard recommends making sure y...

Send us a text Dr Megan Alderson of The Strand Veterinarian in Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand, talks about implementing various wellness progs into her veterinary clinic - her trials and tribulations. Dr Megan is very open and forthcoming with the information she shares: what's worked and didn't workher clinic's budgets and how much she budgets for staff wellness and wellbeingShe also shares how her personality style worked against her, until she realised she needed to change her approa...

Send us a text Part 2 (of 2) with Dr Francesa Brown on how to have a healthy vet clinic and a healthy bottom line. Dr Brown covers: What KPIs to measureWhere to start in supporting your team to be / get / stay healthyWhat questions to askHow to implement and how not to implementJohari WindowsThe real and true cost of staff turnoverShe also asks for input / support / information as she gets ready to start her next research project. VetStaffleading veterinary sector recruitment in New Zealan...

Send us a text This week is part 1 of a two-part series with Dr Francesca Brown of Otago Polytechnic. If you don’t know Dr Francesca, she’s a veterinarian who graduated from Massey University’s class of ’98. After graduating and gaining experience in clinical practice Francesca moved to education and then into leadership in Allied Veterinary professional education, at both Otago Polytechnic, as the Head of the School of Veterinary Nursing and nationally as the Chair of the Educational ...

Send us a text The veterinary practice management software company ezyVet launched MindfulMay as a way to give back to the global veterinary sector. Starting in May 2021 with two webinars, ezyVet wants to create a worthwhile resources (veterinarian to veterinarian) that helps make a positive difference. In this episode Julie South catches up with Pip and Lance from the marketing department of ezyVet in Auckland, New Zealand. Mentioned in this episode: ezyVet Mindful May's resource page: &...

Send us a text Did you know there are questions you just can’t ask your coworkers … your colleagues... at work …? I’m not talking being PC-on-steroids type subjects, I’m talking Privacy Act breaches – and that’s what this episode of PCWN is all about. If you’re tasked with hiring OR you’re a job-seeker who’s considering your next career move OR you’re someone, like me, who often has to open their mouth to change feet, then this episode is definitely for you. Check out episode ...

Send us a text IndieVets - the collaborative and expanding group of independently owned and operated kiwi veterinary clinics - opened its doors early in 2021. Its ethos is "local vets for local pets". Julie asks Steve: What does he say to those people who think he sold out on the whole local thing because he created, then sold, Pet Doctors to an Aussie ASX corporate?Will he sell IndieVets? How can he guarantee that?Why should independently owned and operated clinics join IndieVets -...

Send us a text This episode is to help veterinary clinic employers AND employees navigate the troubled waters of Covid-19 vaccination rollouts Given there’s been a bit of talk in the media lately about vaccinations and testing – or lack thereof - and the government’s commitment to get Godzone Aotearoa New Zealand’s population vaccinated this year, today’s episode is all about the Covid-19 vaccination rollout and how to manage it in your clinic. In this episode: can someone decline to give "...

Send us a text Dr Alejandra Arbe-Montoya a PhD candidate from the University of Adelaide and Julie South discuss: Why veterinarians are leaving clinical practice,Moral Distress – what it is and why it needs to be included as part of the curriculum at vet school,How setting personal boundaries can help when you find yourself morally distressed,What types of communication you need to practice,How to handle Moral Conflict, andWhat being a Conscientious Objector means in the veterinary context.Wh...

Send us a text Does the thought of negotiating have you breaking out into a sweat or in hives? Would you rather do anything but negotiate? Many veterinary recruitment deals are lost - the dream candidate, the dream job - because the veterinary clinic or the candidate - didn't know how to make the job happen. There are many cases for using a professional recruitment agency in your veterinary clinic's hiring process. For me - Julie South - one of the really important aspects of...

Send us a text What's it like working in New Zealand as an overseas-qualified veterinarian? This episode is the first in the library collection about what it’s like for an overseas-qualified veterinarian to work in New Zealand as a veterinarian. Because, as I’m sure you know, not all overseas qualified veterinarians can actually work here as a veterinarian without re-qualifying first. Dr Rose Unsworth and I talked about all sorts of things: the differences in pet insurance upta...

Send us a text Today’s show is especially helpful for existing locums of any kind: veterinarians, nurses and vet techs as well as the clinics that hire them. If you’re a locum, you’ll seriously want to listen to today’s show because it could save you a whole bunch of financial grief and headaches. If you’re listening from Australia – or when the borders open up you’ll be heading off and working in Australia – then this is for you as well. This app takes away all the financial co...

Send us a text In today's episode: My thoughts on whether I think we have a veterinary shortage (or not). The shift I've noticed in the last nine months or so - since we've come out of AL4 Lockdown in 2021. Examples of a few job offers I've been involved in this year where each job-seeker has been over-the-moon with the offer of employment. One of the benefits of using a recruitment agency if you're a job seeker What needs to happen when you want to work only three or four days/week. Employee...

Send us a text This week I want to start a conversation, a discussion – with YOU. I want to know what YOUR thoughts, opinions and ideas are on a letter I received over the weekend. It’s an Open Letter written by a practicing veterinarian in a small town who tragically lost her veterinarian husband to suicide three years ago. The full text of Dr Jasmin's letter is on episode 18's Paws Claws Wet Noses show notes page for this episode so you can read it yourself. It’s writte...

Send us a text At the beginning of this year, I had the opportunity of catching up with a VetStaff locum for lunch. We solved all the problems currently facing the veterinary sector and the world. Over lunch, Dr Sam shared a book she’d read called Compassionomics – a book designed to answer a few questions – one of which was “does taking time for compassion make doctors better at their job?” I’m a Kindle woman, so I bought the Kindle version. It’s also available in paperback and ...