How to recruit and retain happy productive staff - Ep38

Shelter Success Simplified

GUEST: Dr. Steve Kochis is chief medical officer at the Oregon Humane Society. His veterinary specialties include infectious diseases, immunology and emergency medicine. He received his Bachelor of Science in Animal Sciences and DVM from Cornell University. Dr. Kochis has served as President of the Portland Veterinary Medical Association and currently serves on its Executive Board.

MAIN QUESTION: How can an organization create a happy, productive team and retain staff?

TAKEAWAYS:

* Creating a positive culture of trust and respect where people are valued helps with staff retention, recruitment and leads to happy clients and successful medical outcomes.

* Making staff feel valued can include relatively simple and inexpensive things such as celebrating birthdays, bringing in healthy snack foods, or a coffee cart where everyone gets to pick their favorite fancy drink. For bigger organizations, such options could include a food truck or shaved ice truck once a month where the organization pays for staff to pick something they like.

* When seeking new team members, hire someone who is a good fit with the team; someone you'd want to go to work with each day can be more important than experience because kindness and respect are harder to teach.

* Staff on site might not know about or appreciate the hard work of those working remotely so it’s important to let people know what others on the team are contributing.

* Remember that some people don’t like public recognition so find other ways to let them know their work is appreciated.

* Veterinary social work – that area where human needs arise in the practice of veterinary medicine – is an important area of work that nonprofit clinics and shelter clinics can benefit from exploring.

LINKS:

* Oregon Humane Society

* Contact Dr. Steve Kochis at [e-mail]

* Leadership recommendations:

~ Article: "How nice leaders create team drama"

~ Book: "No-Drama Leadership"