Banishing Negativity From Your Veterinary Practice

The workplace often contains an interesting mix of people. If you're lucky, your coworkers are all people that you connect with on a personal level—folks you'd choose to go to the movies with, grab a drink with, or invite over to your house. More often than not though, your coworkers will run the gamut from the considerate to the...well, not so considerate. They may have interests and personal lives that run counter to what you value or believe in. But regardless of what personality types you prefer, the harsh reality is that you have to work with them all. 

Most of the veterinary professionals I have had the opportunity to work with have been great. But every now and then, you come across those individuals who appear to have more bad days than good, more difficult clients than pleasant, and storm clouds just hovering over their heads. At my practice, one person in particular always seems to be in a bad mood-—irrespective of the day, clientele, or hours worked. Sometimes it can be difficult to not allow her bad mood to affect me, especially when it seems that she is determined to let me (and everyone else) know what a bad day she is having.

When I first began practicing veterinary medicine, I would engage her and ask why she was having such a bad day. I'd inquire about whether or not there was anything I could do, listened to her frustrations, offered constructive solutions to coworker issues, and asked about her home life to see if perhaps some personal problems were causing her negative attitude at the clinic. I have even talked in "hypotheticals" when given the opportunity to discuss the negative work environment and how venomous that can be to everyone around them. To my surprise she wholeheartedly agrees! Oh, the irony.

I have also tried to position the conversation in other ways regarding her actions—but she immediately gets defensive and almost combative. She is so sensitive to any minor criticism that any positive influence I intend to deliver gets lost in the anger and defensiveness, regardless of the way she is approached.

I wonder at times if she realizes how negative she is. In a previous work evaluation this issue was brought up and she did not take this as an opportunity to learn anything, but instead took the attitude of "they just don’t get it" and became even more negative. Coworkers and myself have tried to help, but it doesn't seem to change anything. She continues to have perpetual bad days. I recently have stopped asking her what was wrong because it seems no matter how much I offer to help, or how much I try to put positive spin on things, that in the end she always ends up being negative.

In a strange way, this has helped me learn to be a better veterinarian. I watched Dr. Ruby's video “How Big is Your Wake?" shortly after I started this job and it made me think about how my actions truly affect those around me. Peoples' wakes are often so large—and not in a positive way, that I am now more cognizant of my own actions and how those are impacting my colleagues.

Although I have always considered myself a considerate person and a team player, I now make an extra effort to be positive and see the positive in each day, case, client, and co-worker. Ultimately I have found that when I change the way I look at things, the things I look at change.

If I find myself getting negative about an experience with a client or the way a case is going, I always try and find the positive. “Well they don’t have the money for an ultrasound, but at least I was able to do the blood work.” Or, “It took them 3 days to bring in their sick dog—at least now they are willing to spend the money to treat him.” This is a valuable lesson that I think I have my coworker to thank for—because had I not been surrounded by her negativity I would not have searched harder for my own positivity.

But as a new veterinary professional I'm interested in knowing: how do you handle the negative people in your practice? Do you engage them? Ignore their behavior? Try to improve your outlook? Terminate them from your staff? What's the right answer?