I began working with a practice owner who impressed me during our first conversation. He shared some of the things he had learned as a leader in veterinary medicine, and what struck me was how eager he was to keep improving, even though he was already accomplished. He didn't talk like someone who had figured it all out. He talked like someone who knew there was more to figure out.

I've also worked with practice owners and managers who stopped learning about leadership a long time ago. No matter what the team, the practice, or the challenge, they stick with the same approach they've used for decades. And the gap between those two types of leaders shows up in everything, from how their teams perform to how their people feel about showing up each day.

Why Veterinary Leaders Who Keep Learning Pull Ahead

It's a pretty consistent truth that the leaders who focus on learning and getting better at their craft end up becoming the kind of leaders who can shift any practice. That part is not surprising. The surprising part is how many leaders lead today the same way they did ten or fifteen years ago.

The Difference Is Mindset, Not Talent

The best leaders I've worked with don't treat leadership like something they mastered years ago. They treat it like something they're still working on. That mindset changes everything about how they show up for their teams. If you want to become the kind of leader who can shift teams and build a practice culture that actually works, you have to be willing to stay in learning mode. Here are a few ways that plays out.

Test Yourself with the Hard Situations

We all have them. That person or situation we dread, the one we're not sure how to handle. It's easy to write off certain individuals. We tell ourselves we're just never going to be able to work with people like that.

Growth Happens in the Uncomfortable Conversations

But there's an opportunity to learn from those challenges. Even if you're working with someone who you believe is a poor fit for your practice and may need to leave, testing your leadership skills in that relationship still matters. The exit will go smoother. You might even positively influence how successful that person is in their next role.

Learning to work with people who think or behave differently than you do is a skill that leaders should keep building. It's uncomfortable, and that's kind of the point.

Find Leaders You Respect and Learn How They Think

Don't just ask what they do. Ask how they think about what they do. If they're preparing for a coaching conversation or working through a change in their practice, ask them what they consider most important to focus on.

Ask Better Questions

Ask them what they think the critical pieces are. Ask how they plan to get commitment from their team, not just compliance. Ask what ideas they want from their people and how they create the space for those ideas to surface. In my experience, what really separates great leaders from everyone else is how they think about leadership, not just what they do.

Learn from Failures, Not Just Successes

Leaders who struggle rarely get the chance to write about what went wrong. But there's plenty written about them, especially when their leadership caused a practice to fail. Make sure you're learning from both sides.

Look for What Lasts

When you study successful leaders, pay attention to whether their results held up over time. Plenty of practice owners or managers can look successful for a year or two. But only the ones who keep growing can build something that lasts. There are a lot of opinions out there about how to lead well. Read widely, and then compare what you're reading with your own experience. People can write anything. Follow the patterns that actually work.

Teach What You're Learning

One of the best ways to learn is to teach. It might sound counterintuitive, but as you work to help others on your team lead more effectively, you force yourself to put words around how you actually approach leadership.

Teaching Raises Your Own Standard

Some leaders are unconsciously competent. They do things naturally, out of habit, because it just feels right. Teaching those instincts to others forces you to think analytically about what you do and the effect it has on people around you. It also raises the bar you hold for yourself. It's hard to teach someone to be a better leader while not holding yourself to that same standard.

The Leaders Who Keep Getting Better

There are many ways to learn about how to lead others, and yourself, better. What matters most is that you keep at it. If you ever decide you've arrived as a leader, you've probably just started your decline.

The best leaders I've had a chance to work with seemed to believe they had only begun to learn about how to do this leadership thing well. I think they already knew a lot. But that mindset, the belief that there was always more to learn, is what ensured they kept improving. And because of that, the impact they had on the people around them only grew.

JFK wrote the line, "Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other." He wrote it for a speech planned in Dallas that he never lived to deliver. Even though he never actually said the words, I think he had it right.

If you're looking for ways to keep growing as a leader, the VetLead membership has tools and resources built for exactly that kind of work. 

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