VetsOne Dr Sharon Marshall Small Animal Veterinarian Director Part 1 of 2 - ep. 1014

Julie South [00:00:05]: Welcome to Veterinary Voices: Employer brand conversations that help veterinary clinics hire great people. I'm Julie South and this is episode 1014. Veterinary Voices is brought to you by VetClinicJobs.

Build your employer brand. Do your own recruitment. Better.

Continuing our VetsOne Employer of Choice series, last week you met Brooke, a veterinary nurse who's discovered an unexpected passion for palliative and hospice care. You heard how she's found genuine support to pursue her special interests, how the team picks up the slack on rough days, and what it's like when your ideas for improving patient care are actually welcomed rather than dismissed.

But before we dive in, if you're a small animal veterinarian ready for a leadership role, but you've never had—and I use quotes here—you've never had "team leader" or "lead vet" in your job description, this conversation is for you. VetsOne is recruiting for exactly that position, and you're about to hear from the director who'll be supporting you in it. You can find more information at vetclinicjobs.com/vetsone.

Today we're meeting the third of VetsOne's three directors. But unlike the other two directors who remain primarily clinical, this director has transitioned into a strategic management role, thinking about where the business is heading and how to get there. Dr Sharon Marshall has been with VetsOne for over 25 years. She's raised her family in Hawke's Bay and has strong views about what veterinary care should look like.

In this first of two chats, you'll hear why Dr Sharon became a vet—spoiler, she knew at age five—how she reconciles business ownership with animal advocacy, what work-life balance actually looks like in real life, in practice, rather than just on paper, and why she believes getting the right team matters more than having the biggest team.

You'll also discover what it's like to deliberately step back from clinical work to build something bigger—a team and a culture that can care for animals long after she has retired.

Let's join that chat with Dr Sharon.

Dr Sharon Marshall [00:02:50]: My name is Sharon Marshall. I'm one of the veterinarians here. Although my role has many hats at various times, I'm also one of the directors and I've also been placed into the role of strategic manager, which is like practice manager but with a bit of a twist.

My role is to think about the business, think about the direction we want to head the business, look at things that will get us there, and then lead the team towards that direction. Things like right now, I'm looking at, say, AI and how we might be able to utilise that in the practice to support our vets. So that's my role and I'm spending more time in that role now than in the clinical role, although I have been a clinical vet for over 30 years.

Julie South [00:03:29]: So you're still hands-on as a small animal veterinarian, is that correct? A companion animal vet?

Dr Sharon Marshall [00:03:36]: Yes. But that time is becoming overwhelmed by the management time now.

Julie South [00:03:40]: Let's just talk about you as the professional vet first, because the person who joins you will be on your team. Why are you a veterinarian? What was it about veterinary medicine that attracted you in the first place?

Dr Sharon Marshall [00:03:54]: It was just one of those moments I remember, actually as young as five, which I guess is as early as anyone does remember. And I remember saying to somebody, "When I grow up, I'm going to be a vet." And they just sort of nodded. And it's kind of like any child saying, "When I grow up, I'm going to be a policeman or a fireman."

But from that moment on, I just knew I was going to be a vet. And it was perhaps just a real love of animals, a real enjoyment. I'd always had them growing up. So that was just always what I imagined myself doing. I never imagined myself doing anything else.

And when I was sitting my high school exams, which in Australia at the time decides whether you get into vet school or not, people said to me, "What will you do if you don't get in?" And it was strange—I'd never considered that option, not out of vanity, because I assumed my marks would be good enough, but just I had never imagined myself doing anything else.

And so yeah, it was just a belief that I had that I would be a vet and it was the role for me in my life because of my love for animals. And yeah, just the ability to use my skills to do that.

Julie South [00:04:59]: Has it lived up to everything that you thought, assumed it would be?

Dr Sharon Marshall [00:05:04]: I think the veterinary side of it has. Business ownership, maybe not so much. And it's always been a bit of a tension for me—did I want to go into the business ownership role versus being the clinical vet? Because that is what I had wanted to do all my life.

But I've never questioned that decision to be a vet. Even at 2 o'clock being called out to see some case that probably could have been seen in normal hours, even in those moments, I have always felt that being a vet was the right decision for me.

Julie South [00:05:32]: Let's talk a bit about leadership and business ownership. You were always going to be a vet. Was it a major decision to—I mean, obviously it was a major decision to buy the clinic, but when you buy a business, there's a management aspect involved. How did you reconcile that?

Dr Sharon Marshall [00:05:52]: Yes, that's a really good question. And I think when I got into business ownership to start with, it was because of my really strong views about how I wanted animals to be cared for in a veterinary clinic and that I felt business ownership would allow me to set that direction. And that's still true today.

I see myself as guiding the team into reaching our goals. And one of our really strong goals is advocacy—a world where the animal-human bond is as good as it can be. And that can only be through animals having good health. That was what was the drive of business ownership for me, was to actually be able to be really involved in setting those directions.

That's still true today. When I started moving away from clinical to business, a lot of people said, "Well, are you happy with that because you always wanted to be a vet?" And I guess because it still allows me to help animals, but in a different way. It's not me, the individual helping animals, but it's me creating a team that can do that.

And so for me, I'm still achieving the goals I had for myself personally. I'm just doing it through my team and not through me. I guess the big thing I miss the most is the time with my really loyal clients. I've been at VetsOne for over 25 years. I've got a large number of clients who are used to seeing me and letting go of that has been really difficult.

Julie South [00:07:14]: When I'm talking with a lot of vets, they tell me that when an animal, a four-legged heartbeat walks through the door, it's attached to a two-legged heartbeat. So vets need to know how to communicate with humans as well as pick up what's going on with the animal.

And I am constantly reminded that veterinary is hard right now. Being a business owner—and I can attest to that—being a business owner is hard right now with the economy that we're in. You didn't go to vet school to be a salesperson. How do you reconcile that? As a business owner you've got to make the sales, you've got to get the people through the door. And yet at the same time it's looking after, not being mercenary and always push, push, push with the sale.

Dr Sharon Marshall [00:08:15]: I actually find that really easy because for me, I look for those opportunities that are a win-win-win. And my firm belief is that if you put the animal first and you advocate for the animal and needs of the animal, then the animal wins, the client wins because they now have the ability to care for the animal the best they can.

And so they get that reassurance that they are doing the best for their animal, and they get to enjoy that bond because the animal is healthy. And I think when you achieve those two things, the business goals will look after themselves just as a matter of course.

So I never see it as selling to a client. I see it as a client walking through the door asking me for my opinion on how we together can help that animal. And then the client choosing whether they accept that or not. And when the client chooses to accept it, then that is income for the business, and it should just come automatically through advocacy.

So I look for things like dentistry. We do a lot of dentistry work, and we get a large number of grade fours. These animals need hours of dentistry work. And the first thing I'll think about is, "Wow, that's an animal now that won't have sore teeth tomorrow." But also, of course, that helps the bank balance. Getting that animal in for a grade four dental is a significant income for our business.

But the first and primary goal is always to get those animals cared for and have their teeth looked after. That should be just the first thing we're thinking about. We're not salespeople. We're animal advocates.

Julie South [00:09:47]: Let's talk about the role that you're recruiting for right now, the veterinarian role. Tell me a bit about that job.

Dr Sharon Marshall [00:09:57]: Sure. VetsOne has some very firm goals, the direction that we're heading, which is that animal advocacy and that human bond. And we're growing a beautiful team of vets that are all in touch with that. That's all central to their why. They're all here because they're animal advocates. They're all here because they want to be in partnership with that client to develop that bond.

So we're looking for people who—that's their why as well, that connects to them. What we're missing in our team is that really experienced veterinarian, that person who's been there, seen a little bit, done a little bit. Because I'm stepping out of that role. That was my role up until recently.

And I need somebody who can guide. They're not a young team, but they're not a team that has 10-plus years experience. They're a great team, but they could do with somebody who has just had that wider depth of experience over the years.

And we also need a team leader. I'm currently filling that role, but as I'm not with that team, as I'm getting to be with that team less and less, it's not appropriate for me to be that team leader. I need to have somebody who is with the team, spending all day with the team, able to make decisions that are immediate to help that team to be the very best it can be.

Julie South [00:11:18]: It's likely that the person will probably come from outside Hawke's Bay. You've been with the clinic for 25 years. Does that mean that you've raised a family in Hawke's Bay as well?

Dr Sharon Marshall [00:11:30]: Absolutely, yes. I actually came from Australia. That was my first living area and then spent five years at Massey in Palmerston North and then spent five years down in Invercargill. So I've moved around the country a bit.

When I had done my five years, it was a great job. It was a terrific job for a first new graduate. Very, very well supported. I learnt a lot from that manager of the practice. And I was extremely well supported in my first five years and very sad to leave. But for me, I always chased the sun. I had decided that if I didn't leave soon, I would never leave.

And I had a very short list of three places—Coromandel, Whangarei, Hawke's Bay or Nelson. And a job came up in Hawke's Bay and my husband and I moved up here. About five years later we started having a family. So I've got two boys who are now grown up. They've gone through the schooling here, had numerous cats and dogs, so getting a collection of those.

I wouldn't live anywhere else. I've made a deliberate decision to be here in Hawke's Bay because of its weather, because of its lifestyle. You have everything you want here, yet you're five minutes from anything. So I love provincial New Zealand and Hawke's Bay is certainly the place that I intend to live forever. I keep getting a little bit of pressure to go back to Australia from my family, but I just can't see myself living anywhere else.

Julie South [00:12:49]: As a parent, what's it like bringing up a family in Hawke's Bay? Because somebody with eight to 10 years of experience will be, I would imagine, have a family or considering a family. So therefore one of their considerations will be: could I actually settle and raise my family here? So as a parent yourself, how's that been?

Dr Sharon Marshall [00:13:16]: I think it's been wonderful. We're spoilt for choice for schools. Probably our biggest dilemma was when the children were going to high school, we had two or three to choose from and it wasn't a hard decision because there were no good schools. It was a hard decision because we had too many options.

I was very, very pleased with the schooling the boys got when they went through. Both went to university afterwards. One went to Auckland and did a conjoint degree in science and business and the other one got into honours in engineering in Christchurch. So the schooling here is excellent, whether you go through the public system or the private system.

The ability to do sport here is great for the kids. My boys did soccer, but there's so many different sporting activities. Obviously we have the lifestyle of the outdoors. There's lots of hiking and walking. Biking is very, very big here. Lots of opportunity to spend time with families.

And the great thing about the job at VetsOne is we're very, very family-orientated. We value the time that is your time at home. All three directors have had children. Two of them still have reasonably young children and are going through that themselves. And so we all understand what it's like to need to get home and spend time with your family. And for us, it's really important that you get to do that and relax and come back the next day ready to go again.

Julie South [00:14:43]: A lot of clinics say they have this work-life balance. Come here. We respect work-life balance. How does that genuinely play out at VetsOne? What does that look like?

Dr Sharon Marshall [00:14:58]: Well, for one thing, if I'm about to go home and I still see people still at their desk working, I tell them to go home. I say, "What are you still doing here?" I don't expect the staff to be here after hours catching up on their work and I appreciate that they do, but I'll say time to go home.

We have a system for staff where if they have appointments—if they have doctor's appointments or things like that—that's not considered time off in terms of a balancing act. We just go, "Of course, just go and have that appointment." We have some staff who say, "Well, I need to get to my child's parent-teacher evening. Can I leave a couple of hours early?" Absolutely. We just need to make sure you're not leaving your own team in the lurch. But apart from that, there is absolutely no questions asked.

One thing we're implementing just this month is VetNotes, which is AI consult scribing. Because one of the things that probably keeps the vets back too late at night is having to catch up with their notes after a busy day. And so we're investing in VetNotes so that those clinical notes will be scribed on the go and hopefully reduce any pressure on the team that way.

We're very fortunate this year. We've got an after-hours clinic that has been developed. We don't have to have any after hours, so no on-call for the veterinarian who takes this position. And at the same time, we reduced our weekend hours because there is now some cover for us on the Saturday and Sunday. So we're still open on weekends, but reduced it down to one o'clock finish. So you've still got a good part of your day left, whereas before we were open a little bit longer because it allowed us to care for any genuine emergencies that went a little bit later in the day.

So there are all small things, but they're things that we do to make people spend as much time at home. And so when they're at work, they are enjoying work, that they want to be here. They're not feeling resentful about the time they spend here. They're giving us everything they've got to give in terms of that animal advocacy and caring for clients. But they get to go home and then give everything they've got to their family and to themselves and to relax and enjoy themselves.

Julie South [00:17:13]: And when they go home, they don't have to put the kids to bed and then write up notes.

Dr Sharon Marshall [00:17:18]: No, no, leave it at work. That's always been my philosophy. One thing I do is I go home at lunch. That's always been—for the 25 years I've been here, that's been my thing—I go home and I have some private time at home. It allows me to then come back and give everything I can to the business when I come back.

So that's just always been my little thing. And I can count on one hand a handful of times where that hasn't worked out for me because there's been a genuine animal emergency or something like that. But that's just my little moment of work-life balance where I say, "This is my me-time." And yeah, it's just respected.

Julie South [00:17:54]: Sharon, you've got a programme in place to recognise longevity at your clinic. What does that look like?

Dr Sharon Marshall [00:18:01]: Yeah, well, for us, we really want to encourage people to consider this their lifelong home. We understand that people will be transient, come and go and sometimes we're not the place for every job. But we really would love to have a team of people who just go, "Yep, I found the place that I want to spend all of my time working."

And that's something that we really want to make the culture such that people do want to do that—there's no reason for them to leave. And I guess part of that with the longevity scheme that we have is just to reward people along the way, just to celebrate those milestones that people have so that we just go, "Look, we just want to acknowledge that you've been with us for this length of time."

It starts on your first year and once you've been with us through your first year, we give you your birthday. If it's a work day, it's a paid day off. We get you to go home. Don't even come in, have the day off. You shouldn't be at work, you should be off with your friends celebrating or having a lunch or something. And it's a small thing but it's just a little recognition and saying that now that you've worked with us for a year, every time you have a birthday on a working day, we're going to tell you to take it off and go and celebrate your birthday.

And then we go through a range of increasing value things as people have been with us for a while, going up to 20 years. And we actually have three staff that have been with us for over that length of time. And the longevity programme allows them to go and have an overseas holiday with a partner. Again, another way that we celebrate family and say, "Look, thank you for being a team member for so long and we want you to just go and rest and relax and enjoy some time with your partner."

So I'm actually off to Tasmania in January. The airfares and things being paid for by the longevity scheme. So I'm quite excited about that. Amanda, who is one of our other team members, has just had a trip to Australia as well through that scheme. And it's just really designed to say thank you, thank you for being here, thank you for staying with us, thank you for just being a team member for so long and just rewarding those years, little stages as you go through life.

Julie South [00:20:10]: That's lovely. That's special. Is there an opportunity, obviously for the right person—if somebody wants to buy in with a shareholding, not director, not necessarily director, but shareholding?

Dr Sharon Marshall [00:20:24]: Yes. That's always been our goal to be open to somebody who wants to. I mean, I won't be here forever. Looking to retire probably in the next five to 10 years. And the other directors, I guess they won't be here forever either. And this is something that is our stewardship for a number of years.

But when we moved into this building, it was our goal that VetsOne would be here for long after we've moved on. And so we need to have some dedicated people who love it like we do, who want to stay here and make this their business and give it the heart and soul that we've invested in it.

So yeah, if that's you, then absolutely. If it's not you, that's fine, too. There's certainly no pressure for succession, but the door is open for anybody who would like to consider that as an option for them as their goal progresses. We would welcome them becoming shareholders and/or directors, if that's where their heart lay.

Julie South [00:21:22]: You've just heard the first part of Dr Sharon's story—a veterinarian who knew at age five what she wanted to be, who's built a 25-year career in Hawke's Bay, and now who's deliberately stepping back from clinical work to build something bigger: a team and a culture designed to outlast her and the other directors.

What stands out in this perspective is how Dr Sharon has reconciled the tension between being a veterinarian and being a business owner. For her, they're not competing priorities. They're the same goal approached differently. Animal advocacy doesn't stop when you move into management. It scales.

So far in this VetsOne series, you've been hearing from team members across different roles and experience levels. What's emerging is a consistent pattern. This isn't a clinic where one charismatic leader sets the tone and everyone else follows. It's three working directors with genuinely different approaches—large animal and companion animal, clinical and strategic—who have built systems that allow their individual team members to pursue their interests while remaining accountable to shared values.

Team members have discovered palliative care interests, brought herbal medicine side hustles, developed weight clinics and hospice protocols. And as you've heard, these aren't pet projects that just get tolerated. They're actively supported because they align with the core mission: advocacy for animals and strengthening the human-animal bond.

A quick note about what you're hearing in this series. This depth of employer brand storytelling—multiple team members, genuine stories, cultural specifics beyond just job requirements—this is what makes recruitment actually work.

When clinics struggle to get suitable applicants despite advertising for months, it's because they're posting job ads without genuinely showing who they really are. Veterinary professionals can't choose you if they can't see whether they'd actually fit.

VetsOne isn't just posting a job ad hoping the right person sees it. They're showing veterinary professionals, hopefully like you, what working there genuinely looks like through real veterinary voices sharing real veterinary stories. That's employer brand marketing in action. And that's why they attract people who actually want to be there—people who, as you're hearing in this series, are genuinely proud to work at VetsOne.

Now, if you're responsible for recruitment at your clinic, and maybe you're listening and thinking "we have stories like that, but you don't actually know how to capture them," then please email me directly at julie@vetclinicjobs.com. I'd be happy to chat about how we can help clinics build this kind of genuine employer brand story through our REAL+STORY programme.

And if you're a small animal veterinarian with leadership potential or experience and you're thinking about making your next career move, you owe it to yourself to consider VetsOne. For the position details, including the salary range, the leadership development support that you'll receive, and the team structure, head on over to vetclinicjobs.com/vetsone—and that's one as in the word one. All the information is there.

Next week we'll continue with part two as Dr Sharon talks about what the team leader role actually involves, how VetsOne's values were developed, what equipment and clinical capabilities they've invested in, and why their approach to referrals is different from many first-opinion clinics. That's coming up in episode 1015.

Until next time, this is Julie South signing off and inviting you to go out there and be your most fantabulous self. Because as you've heard today, sometimes the biggest impact you can make isn't through your own hands—it's through building a team that can carry the work forward long after you've gone.

Until next time.

Referenced URLs:

• https://vetclinicjobs.com/vetsone
• https://veterinaryvoices.com
• mailto:tania@vetclinicjobs.com
• mailto:lizzie@vetclinicjobs.com
• mailto:julie@vetclinicjobs.com